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Maki (political party)
Political party in Israel From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Communist Party of Israel,[a] commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Maki (מק״י), is a communist political party in Israel that forms part of the Hadash political alliance. It was founded in 1965 as the New Communist List, or Rakah (רק"ח), after a split in the original Maki caused by Arab members' opposition to Zionism.
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History
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Rakah was formed on 1 September 1965 due to internal disagreements in the original Maki, which was split between a largely Jewish and Zionist faction led by Moshe Sneh that was critical of the Soviet Union's anti-Zionist stance, and a largely Arab faction that was increasingly anti-Zionist.
As a result, the pro-Arab / pro-Soviet faction (including Emile Habibi, Tawfik Toubi and Meir Vilner) left Maki to form a new party, Rakah, which the Soviet Union recognised as the "official" communist party in Israel. Shlomo Sand and Mahmoud Darwish were also Rakah activists.[1]
The Eurocommunist faction, led by Sneh, remained in Maki.[2] It was reported in the Soviet media that the Mikunis–Sneh group defected to the bourgeois-nationalist camp.[3]
The 1965 Israeli legislative election saw Rakah party win three seats, comprehensively beating Maki as it slumped to just one. Rakah's opposition to Zionism and the Six-Day War meant that they were excluded from the national unity governments of the sixth Knesset. In the 1969 Israeli legislative election Rakah again won three seats. During the 1973 Israeli legislative election Rakah saw a rise in support as the party picked up four seats.
Before the 1977 elections the party joined with some other small left-wing and Arab parties, including some members of the Israeli Black Panthers to form Hadash. After the original Maki had disappeared after merging into Ratz in 1981, members of Rakah decided to change the party's name to Maki in 1989.[4] The party remains the leading force in Hadash, and publishes the Al-Ittihad newspaper.
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Ideology and positions
Maki is an anti-Zionist, Marxist–Leninist communist party.[5][6][7][8] In an interview with American socialist magazine Jacobin on 17 November 2023, Eli Gozansky, a Jewish member of the party leadership, opined on whether the creation of a binational state was possible:
In theory yes, but in reality no. For several important reasons: The first is that the Palestinian people want and have the right to independence. Second, mutual disbelief [in the possibility of one binational state] is enormous, certainly even more so after the latest massacres involving the two nations. Third, Israel is much stronger economically, so if the single state is established now, without a phase of independence for the Palestinians, apartheid and Jewish economic control will be perpetuated. In the future, after both countries exist in peace and prosperity, this solution is a possibility.[9]
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Election results
Gallery
Logo of Rakah in 1965
Rakah members in 1969
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Notes
References
External links
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