Crooners: Israeli folk singing duo and married couple Hillel and Aviva Raveh recorded on the Smithsonian Folkways label and toured New York City in the 1950s with Hillel on flute and Aviva on a timbrel. Image by Murray Kass/ Forward Association

1914 • 100 years ago

A Lion of Socialism is Dead

Daniel De Leon, leader of the Socialist Labor Party, died of a heart attack at Mount Sinai Hospital. The news that De Leon is dead will call forth the deepest feelings of sadness in every Socialist’s heart. A lion has passed. Figures such as De Leon are few in our movement, not only in America, but throughout the world, as well. Born on the island of Curacao to a family of Sephardic Jews, and sent to Europe to study when he was a young man, he later settled in the United States and founded a Spanish-language newspaper. He later attended Columbia Law School. During the 1880s he became interested in revolutionary Marxism and began working as the editor of the New York Daily People. We at the Forward had our differences with De Leon, but now is not the time to discuss them.

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1939 • 75 years ago

Retaliation after White Paper

After the publication of the British government’s “white paper” on Palestine, English soldiers are standing guard, awaiting outbreaks of violence. Extremist Arabs are furious that the British did not give them more concessions, and are expected to attack both English and Jewish targets. The Jewish population, which is also very unhappy with the results of the latest white paper, is planning a general strike. Special police battalions have been stationed in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Jaffa and Haifa. The British military has also accused the Revisionist Zionists of destroying British property. But even the rest of the Zionists are spoiling for a fight: “Jews — prepare yourselves for a battle for your national home!” a leaflet from the Histadrut announced. Even the rabbis are in on the act: Leading Ashkenazi and Sephardic rabbis have declared fast days, special prayers and shofar blowing in connection to the white paper.

1964 • 50 years ago

Khrushchev Speaks Against Israel

The Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev, is visiting Egypt as an honored guest of the country’s dictator, Gamal Abdel Nasser. It is hot in Egypt, and even hotter when Khrushchev talks to the large crowds of poor Egyptians assembled for him. During these speeches, the Soviet premier exhorts his Arab audiences to organize and mobilize against Israel and the West. Thus far, Khrushchev has accused Israel of stealing water from the Jordan River and, somewhat ironically, he attacked America, from whom Egypt receives huge numbers of money and wheat.

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