Mapam

Mapam (in Hebrew: מפ " ם - מפלגתהפועליםהמאוחדת - Mifleget HaPoalim HaMeuhedet which means " Unified party of the ouvriers") Zionist is an Israeli political party, with Marxist ideology . He is active within the Israeli policy until the years 1990.

Birth

The party is born in January 1948 from the fusion of the movements Hachomer Hatzaïr , left Pôle Sion and Achdut Ha' avoda (these the last two parties had already approached not very front). Mapam is then the left wing of the movement Kibboutz , with its federation of the Kibbutz Artzi .

In the beginning, Mapam is created by small parts of extreme left Zionist which militated for a State Judéo-Arab. But Mapam accepts the Plan of division of Palestine of 1947. Its “programme of unit” of January 1948 specifies in a rather contradictory way: the party, while remaining basically hostile with the principle of the territorial division, will take part with all its forces in the construction of the Jewish State and its defense .

Development

Mapam is the second greater political party in Israel with the elections of 1949, with almost 15 % of the voices, behind the Workers party, and this statute is preserved until the middle of the years 1950. Mapam has until this date an ideological orientation clearly pro Soviet Union, with a strong Stalinist political line.

As from the beginning of the year 1950, the the USSR of Stalin lance a violent campaign anti-Zionist. In 1952, Jewish Communists are accused of “Zionism” during the Procès of Prague. Then in 1953, of the Jewish doctors are blamed in the “Complot of the white blouses”. These evolutions shake enormously the partisans of the Stalinisme. In 1954, the right wing of the party, Achdut Ha' avoda, leaves Mapam, refusing alignment on the USSR.

In 1955, Mapam undergoes an electoral reverse, passing from 12,5 % with 7,3 % of the votes. The party then decides to take its distances with the USSR, but remains positioned on the left like the party Zionist of the country. The same year, the left wing of the party criticizes the distance of with the Soviet Union. Under the direction of Moshé Sneh, former chief of Staff of the Haganah, it joined the Communist party of Israel. It reinforces there the Jewish tendency most favorable to the Sionisme (even if it is not claimed any more officially).

These two departures, as well as the bonds passed with the USSR, weaken Mapam clearly. With a narrow sociological base, that of the Kibbutz im, Mapam finds its original influence never again. The party indeed never succeeded in being established in urban environment, whether it is in the proletariat or the middle-classes. As well its electoral base as its social project are closely related to the kibbutzes. It is not that during the 1950 qu years ' it succeeds in gaining voices in other mediums. It reaches that point more and more with difficulty with time.

From November 1955 in November 1961, the party belongs to the government. It returns in January 1966 there, and will remain there until 1977.

As from the elections of 1969, Mapam is presented to the elections on same the lists of candidates as the workers party, but without amalgamating (the second alignment, or Ma' arakh). It continues this policy until the elections of 1988, for which it is again only presented. The departure of Mapam of the left coalition is related to the refusal of the government of national union which sees the Likoud (nationalist right) and the members of the Labor Party to control together of 1984 to 1990.

This long period without true political autonomy amplified the decline of Mapam. Undoubtedly he also suffers from the crisis of the ideologies of left in the country: the left, and with it Mapam, lost the capacity in 1977. With the elections of 1988, it obtains only 2,5 % of the votes.

Electoral results of Mapam

(*) for this period, Mapam is presented with the members of the Labor Party of the Mapai on a joint list, “alignment”.

Source: the site of Knesset.

Meretz and the disappearance of Mapam

In 1992, Mapam is linked with the Ratz and the Shinouï to form the electoral trust Meretz, representing the “camp of peace” Israeli (favorable to a withdrawal of the occupied Palestinian Territoires and hostile with their colonization.

Mapam amalgamates officially with Ratz and a wing of Shinouï in 1996 and ceases existing as a distinct party.

In 2004, Meretz amalgamates in its turn with the Shahar, a scission of the Workers party directed by Yossi Beilin, and the Parti the democratic choice carried out by Roman Bronfman to form the Yachad.

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