Maki (historical political party)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Israel |
 This article is part of the series: |
|
|
|
Other countries · Atlas Politics Portal |
Maki (Hebrew: מק"י, an acronym for HaMiflega HaKomunistit HaYisraelit (Hebrew: המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית), lit. The Israeli Communist Party) was a communist political party in Israel. It is not the same party as the modern day Maki, which split from it during the 1960s and later assumed its name.
[edit] History
Maki was formed in 1948 from the remnants of the Communist Party of Palestine that were left within the borders of the new state of Israel, and had both Jewish and Israeli Arab members. The party was not Zionist, but recognized Israel, though it denied the link between the state and the Jewish diaspora and asserted the right of Palestinians to form a state in accordance with the United Nations resolution on partition. The party was part of the World Communist Movement and was an uncritical supporter of the Soviet Union.
In the first Knesset elections in 1949 the party won 3.5% of the vote and four seats, which were taken by Shmuel Mikunis, Eliezer Preminger, Tawfik Toubi and Meir Vilner. During the session, Preminger left the party and set up the Hebrew Communists before joining Mapam.
In the 1951 elections Maki won 4% of the vote and five seats, with Emil Habibi and Esther Vilenska entering the Knesset. During the session, the Prague Trials of 1953 caused the pro-Soviet Labour Zionist party Mapam to break with the Soviet Union. Unhappy at the decision, Mapam members Avraham Berman and Moshe Sneh left Mapam and set up the Left Faction before joining Maki. The party was also involved in the fall of the Moshe Sharett's fifth government, when it and Herut brought a motion of no-confidence over the government's position on the trial of Malkiel Gruenwald, who had accused Dr. Israel Kastzner of collaborating with the Nazis.
In the 1955 elections, Maki's share of the vote increased again as it claimed six seats in the Knesset. However, the 1959 election saw the party perform poorly, winning only three seats.
The 1961 election campaign was helped by the ruling coalition's involvement in the Lavon Affair and the party gained five seats. However, in 1965 internal disagreements saw a split between a largely Jewish group led by Sneh which recognized Israel's right to existence and were critical of the Soviet Union's increasingly anti-Israel stance, and a largely Israeli Arab group which was increasingly anti-Zionist. Sneh's faction retained the name Maki while the pro-Palestinian faction (Tawfik Toubi and Meir Vilner) left to form Rakah, which the Soviet Union recognised as the "official" Communist Party. It was reported in the Soviet media that the demerged Mikunis-Sneh group defected to the bourgois-nationalist camp.
The 1965 elections were a disaster, as the party retained only one seat, and was comprehensively beaten by Rakah who gained three seats. The party repeated its poor performance in the 1969 elections despite its support for the Six-Day War.
In 1973 Maki became part of the pro-peace party, Moked, and subsequently disappeared as an independent party. Moked won one seat in the 1973 elections. Later it became part of Left Camp of Israel (in 1977), then Ratz (in 1981).
In the meantime, Rakah had become the leading force in the Hadash alliance, which it joined in 1977. In 1989, several years after Maki's demise, Rakah decided to change their name to Maki to reflect their status as the only officially communist party in Israel. Maki remains the leading force in Hadash to this day.
[edit] References
- ^ ‘’Mezhdunarodnaya Zizhn’’ -- cited in edition ‘’Välispanoraam 1972’’, Tallinn, 1973, lk 147 (Foreign Panorama 1972)
[edit] External links
- Party history Knesset website (English)
