Zionist-Revisionism: The Years of Fascism and Terror

Menahem Begin's surprising rise to power in 1977, after a lifetime of opposition within the Zionist movement, created considerable interest in his personal career. However, for all his present fame and power, Begin would still refer to himself as nothing more than a disciple of Vladimir Jabotinsky (1880-1940), the founder of his ideological tendency within the World Zionist Organization (WZO), and the man he considers the greatest Jew since Herzl. Not to know Vladimir Jabotinsky is not to fully understand Menahem Begin-or contemporary Israel.

Lenni Brenner is the author of Zionism in the Age of the Dictators, ptublished by Croom Helm and Lawrence Hill in 1983. His new book, The Iron Wall: Zionist Revisionism from Jabotinsky to Begin, from which this article is excerpted, will be published by Zed Press (57 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DN, England) in Spring 1984.