Jewish Colonial Trust

The struggle between these two principles continued at each succeeding annual Congress at the second and third held in Basel in 1898 and 1899, and the fourth in London in 1900, and the fifth in Basel in 1901.

On the one hand, the Zionists were feverishly engaged in the external organization of the movement, the consolidation of the Shekel Payer societies, the creation of the Jewish Colonial Trust and the Jewish National Fund, the conduct of diplomatic negotiations with the Turkish government and with the political representatives of other countries for the purpose of obtaining a guaranteed charter for a wholesale colonization in Palestine.

On the other hand, endeavors were made to nationalize the Jewish intellectual classes to promote the Hebrew language, to create a national school, and to conquer the communities for Zionism, that is, to strengthen the influence of the party in the administration of the Jewish communities.

The Convention of Russian Zionists held at Minsk in 1902 paid particular attention to the cultural aspirations of the party and adopted a resolution calling for the appointment of two committees, an orthodox and a progressive, to find ways and means for placing Jewish education on a national basis.

Yet the political and financial achievements of Zionism during that period of bloom, prior to the crisis of 1903, were insignificant.

The diplomatic negotiations of the Zionist leader, Dr. Theodor Herzl, with the Sultan of Turkey and his government, as well as with the German Emperor and several other European sovereigns, failed of their purpose, the obtaining of a Turkish charter for the wholesale colonization of Palestine.

The financial instrument of the party, the Jewish Colonial Trust, proved as yet too weak to collect the proposed fund of $10 million, a modest sum when compared with the purpose for which it was destined.

The colonization of Palestine proceeded at a slow pace, and its miniature scale was entirely out of proportion to the grand plan of establishing a national autonomous center in Palestine.