Agudat Israel Workers
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Agudat Israel Workers (Hebrew: פועלי אגודת ישראל, Poalei Agudat Yisrael) was a political party in Israel. It was also known as Pai, its Hebrew acronym (Hebrew: פא"י). For its entire existence the party was led by Kalman Kakhana.
[edit] History
Agudat Israel Workers was an Ultra-orthodox workers' political party associated with Agudat Israel. They were also part of the Histadrut.
In the elections for the first Knesset, the party ran on a joint list with the other religious parties of the time, Agudat Israel, Mizrakhi and Mizrakhi Workers. The group was called the United Religious Front and won 16 seats. They joined David Ben Gurion's coalition government alongside Mapai, the Progressive Party, the Sephardim and Oriental Communities and the Democratic List of Nazareth.
However, the grouping created problems in the governing coalition due to its differing attitude to education in the new immigrant camps and the religious education system. They also demanded that Ben Gurion close the Supply and Rationing Ministry and appoint a businessman as Minister for Trade and Industry. As a result, Ben Gurion resigned on 15 October, 1950. After the differences were resolved, Ben Gurion formed the second government on 1 November, 1950, with the United Religious Front retaining their place in the coalition.
In the 1951 elections, the United Religious Front disbanded into its separate parties, and Agudat Israel Workers fought the election alone. Led by Kalman Kakhana, a signatory of Israel's [[Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel|Declaration of Independence, they won two seats and were included in Ben Gurion's coalition. However, they helped bring down the third government after disagreeing with Ben Gurion on religious education issues. They were not involved in the fourth, fifth or sixth governments.
For the 1955 elections, the party joined up with Agudat Israel to form the Religious Torah Front, which won six seats. They did not participate in the coalitions of the sixth or seventh governments.
In the 1959 elections they once again ran under the Religious Torah Front banner, which won six seats. Again, they did not join the governing coalition. Disagreements with Agudat Israel saw them split up into separate parties again, with Agudat Israel Workers taking two of the six. After the split, Agudat Israel Workers joined the coalition and Binyamin Mintz was made Minister of Postal Services.
In the 1961 election the party retained its two seats, and were coalition partners in the ninth, tenth and eleventh governments.
In the 1965 election they again won two seats and joined the twelfth government which collapsed when Levi Eshkol died. Agudat Israel Workers left the coalition Golda Meir took over as leader of the thirteenth government.
In the 1969 elections the party retained its two seats, but did not join the governing coalition.
For the 1973 elections the party joined up with Agudat Israel again to recreate the Religious Torah Front, which won five seats. However, the party split up before the end of the Knesset's session, with Agudat Israel Workers taking two of the five seats.
In the 1977 elections the party won only one seat. Due to its declining support, possibly caused by the declining number of Ultra-orthodox working, the party did not participate in future and merged into Agudat Israel.
The party was briefly resuscitated during the eleventh Knesset when Morasha, part of the governing coalition, split and former Agudat Israel Workers member Avraham Verdiger renamed his faction Morasha - Agudat Israel Workers. However, the party failed to win any seats at the 1988 elections.
Throughout its long existence in the Knesset, the party only had four MKs; Kakhana, Mintz, Verdiger and Ya'akov Katz.
