Bring the Troops Home! – Open the Gates of All Countries to the Jews¶
Core Argument¶
The chapter argues that the wave of terrorism and sabotage in Palestine in 1946 was a direct consequence of British imperialism’s broken promises to Jewish displaced persons after the Second World War. The Labour government, having made pre-election pledges to admit 100,000 refugees into Palestine on the recommendation of the Anglo-American Commission, reneged on those commitments. The Zionists in Palestine, facing the despair of continued confinement in camps and the betrayal of their hopes, turned to armed struggle.
The text is sharply critical of the Zionist resort to terrorism, particularly the bombing of the King David Hotel, which housed the British military headquarters. These acts, it contends, played directly into the hands of British imperialism by alienating rank-and-file soldiers and providing a pretext for the officer caste to unleash a vicious antisemitic campaign. The chapter details the brutal response: martial law in Tel Aviv, a curfew allowing only two hours daily for food, shoot-to-kill orders, beatings, and the destruction and looting of property in Jewish collectives. The author insists that these methods are identical to those British imperialism has historically used against Arabs and other colonial peoples.
The central polemic is directed against the Labour leaders, who are accused of presenting a fiction of British impartiality. The chapter strips away this veneer, asserting that Britain holds Palestine for its strategic importance to the Middle East and the British Empire. The British, it claims, gave only verbal support to the Zionist project, admitting just enough Jews to serve the classic imperial policy of divide and rule. The Jews were deliberately imported as a tool, a convenient force to be played against the Arab masses to keep them subdued and to brake their struggles for independence. The chapter draws on the historical context of British colonial methods and the immediate post-war situation of Jewish displaced persons, whose liberation had not brought the escape they were promised.
The text also attacks the proposed partition of Palestine into three zones—a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a British-controlled zone—as a sham. It argues that the most important functions of government (finance, police, trade) would remain unified under British control, meaning partition would not solve but exacerbate the country’s problems, giving imperialism an even tighter grip. The chapter’s title, with its demand to open the gates of all countries to the Jews, points to a Marxist internationalist alternative: the unrestricted right of movement for the persecuted, rather than the imperialist-managed and limited admission into Palestine.