Abba Hushi
Encyclopedia
Abba Hushi was an Israel
i politician who served as mayor of Haifa
for eighteen years between 1951 to 1969. Hushi was one of the founders and activists of Hashomer Hatzair
movement in Poland
. In July 1920, he immigrated to Palestine
with a group of 130 Jewish pioneers. In Palestine, he took the Hebrew surname "Hushi", a translation of his original name, Schneller. He built roads and drained swamps, and helped to found kibbutz Beit Alfa
. He was one of the founding members of the Histadrut
labor federation. In 1927, he settled in Haifa
and joined the Ahdut HaAvoda
party, which later merged with Mapai
. He was secretary of the Haifa Workers Council from 1931 to 1951. Hushi was elected to Israel's first Knesset
in 1949 as a member of Mapai
. Before the 1951 elections
, he left the government to become mayor of Haifa
. As mayor, he helped to found the University of Haifa
, the Haifa Theatre
, the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art
, the Mane-Katz
Museum and the Carmelit
(Haifa's subway
).
Abba Hushi was the father-in-law of Knesset member Amnon Linn
.
(today in Ukraine
, from 1919 to 1939 in Poland
). His mother, Liba, ran a small farm, where she grew fruits and vegetables. After divorcing her first husband, Liba moved to Turka and married Zisha, a haberdasher
. To avoid the draft, Zisha changed his name to Alexander, took Liba's surname, "Schneller," and hid in the attic of Liba's farmhouse.
The Schnellers had six children: Ettia, Abba, Hinda, Ya'akov, Rosa and Malka.
. He spoke Yiddish
, German
, Hebrew
, Ukrainian
and Polish
, and knew some Greek
and Latin
. He planned to study medicine and even wrote "Property of Medical Student Abba Schneller" on his notebooks, but his plans were disrupted by the outbreak of World War I
in 1914. The Schneller family fled to Bohemia
.
After the family's return to Turka in 1918, the city fell under Polish rule. Antisemitism was on the rise, so a group of members of Hashomer Hatzair
organized into an independent Jewish protection force. They were successful in Turka and stopped pogroms and other attacks, although in other cities throughout Poland these attacks continued.
On 4 and 5 August 1918, a Hashomer Hatzair conference was held in Turka. Hushi was one of the chairs of the conference, and there he called for immigration to the land of Israel. In the spring of 1920, at another Hashomer Hatzair conference in Lviv, Abba read publicly for the first time the words to his poem "In the Galil, at Tel Hai" inspired by the courage of Joseph Trumpeldor
at Tel Hai
. Indeed, the decisions made at the conference mirrored the spirit at Tel Hai: it was decided that the graduating group of Hashomer Hatzair would make Aliyah, and the workers of the movement would assist in the realization of this decision.
The work office of the Hapoel Hatzair
movement took responsibility for finding employment for its members of who had recently arrived in Palestine. Hushi's group found work in paving roads, a project initiated by the first High Commissioner of Palestine, Herbert Samuel
. Hushi worked on roads around Rosh Pinna
, and in 1920 and 1921, Hushi was the head of the "Shomria Unit," the group that paved the Haifa
-J'da (a.k.a. Ramat Yishai) road.
. The "Workers of Israel" fund received the contract to unload the coal, but the Haifa workers refused to unload the coal. Hushi and his co-workers volunteered for the difficult work, which left them covered in soot and often led to eye infections.
.
, where they paved the entrance road to the moshav
and also worked in drying and draining the surrounding swamp
s. Abba Hushi petitioned on behalf of the entire group, for land in order to establish a settlement in the Jezreel Valley
. In 1922, the request was approved and Hushi was among the founding members of kibbutz Beit Alfa
.
to raised funds in Poland
. The money would be used to buy land and establish settlements. Hushi was accompanied by Meir Ya'ari
. In 1924, Ya'ari and Hushi arrived in Danzig
, where they attended two conferences; the Hashomer Hatzair conference and the "Youth Covenant" movement conference (which David Ben-Gurion
also attended). At the Hashomer Hatzair conference, Hushi was chosen for the board of the world Hashomer Hatzair movement.
After the conferences, Hushi and Ya'ari continued their fund-raising efforts on behalf of the JNF. They also visited local branches of, and summer camps run by Hashomer Hatzair throughout Poland in order to encourage the youths to make aliyah
. Throughout the entire trip, Hushi corresponded with his girl friend Hannah, who remained in Beit Alfa. As part of his travels, Abba arrived in Turka, where, in February 1925, he convinced his family to make aliyah.
1926, the Chief Rabbi
of Haifa, Rabbi Kaniel, officiated at their wedding. On 29 March 1927, their daughter Ruth was born. Hannah remained in Beit Alfa while Hushi went to Haifa to help his family run the restaurant and continue his activities on behalf of the Histadrut. Hannah joined him in June. In September 1930, their son, Gadi, was born. Gadi died in an accident on 12 January 1932. Another son, Dan, was born the following year.
and then Mapai
parties.
In 1934, Jewish contractors experimented with Arab workers, who were less expensive to employ than Jewish workers. The Histadrut responded with strikes and protests. The height of the controversy was in the Borovsky House construction site, where the contractor employed exclusively Arab workers, and didn't "reserve" any jobs for Jewish workers. As a reaction, Hushi sent workers to picket the site, who disturbed the building process. The contractor complained to the police, and the picketing workers were arrested. Nevertheless, Hushi continued to send workers to protest. The protests continued for 684 days, and a total of 2259 days of jail time were served by workers who had picketed. By the end of the conflict, the contractor gave in and was forced to employ Jewish workers who were members of the Workers Council.
Due to the great stress that existed in Israel in the 1930s, Hushi worried about the unemployed workers in his city. As the secretary of the council, Hushi persuaded the other members to establish a staff that would look after the unemployed workers, and provide them with temporary work. The staff would find places of employment and divide the work among the unemployed workers, meaning that full-time workers had to give up on some work time to allow the unemployed people to come in and work. This style of diving work differed from that used in other workers councils used throughout Palestine. Among other things, the organization forced young workers and workers with other options to relinquish their jobs to older, more seasoned workers, who had lost their places of employment.
One of the first organizations that Hushi supported in Haifa was the Hapoel
sports club. He was assisted by members of the organization "The Organizer's Division," in order to protect the institution of, and obedience to, the Histadrut and the Workers Council.
With the founding of the port of Haifa, Baruch Uziel, who had made Aliyah
from Thessaloniki
, Greece
, convinced the Workers Council to bring on Aliyah Thessalonikian port workers, in order to guarantee a majority of Jewish port workers. As a result of Uziel's request, Hushi traveled to Thessaloniki, where he successfully convinced the Jewish port workers to make Aliya with their families.
Following his success in Thessaloniki, Hushi traveled to Poland and managed to convince Jewish porters there also to make Aliya. The Aliya of the Thessaloniki port workers caused there to be a majority of Jewish workers in the port. This allowed operation of the port and the un-interrupted export of Jewish goods during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. On May Day
1936, since there was a fear that the port workers would strike, Hushi ordered them to work, despite the fact that it was Workers' Day, and the port-workers strike was avoided. On 8 August 1936, the Arab workers ceased to come to the port to work, and the port was operated solely by Jewish workers for a number of months.
On 29 December 1938, while loading citrus
fruits onto the German
ship "Bamburg" in the Port of Haifa
, the second officer of the ship said to the port worker in charge of loading the fruits that "the Jews have no place in the world, not even at the North Pole
,[...] the only option was to send all of the Jews to 'the second world.'"
The Jewish workers who heard the officer's words informed other workers, and word reached the administration of the Haifa Workers Council, who decided to stop loading the ship. The administration of the Council also instructed the Arab workers not to work, and the port stopped servicing German ships. Hushi informed Dov Hoz
, the chairman of the State Committee of the Jewish Agency, of the decision. David Hacohen
informed Hushi of his disapproval of the decision, since it had not been approved by the official organizations of the Yishuv
, despite the fact that the Workers Council of the Histadrut had approved the new policy.
On the following day, 30 September, the German consul in Haifa turned to influential Olim
from Germany to have them convince Hushi to call off the new policy. The consul announced that the Second Officer would apologize and would be punished for his offensive remarks, but Hushi did not relent, and the boat returned to Germany empty.
In order not to hurt the interests of the Jewish Yishuv, Hushi contacted "Citrus Center" in Jaffa
with a request to find other ships with which to send their produce to Europe. He wrote to them: "We do not want to cause you [financial] loss, and therefore we are giving you options and time to organize the matter. We are not able to overcome our emotions, and the emotions of our workers, to continue to load German ships."
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i politician who served as mayor of Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
for eighteen years between 1951 to 1969. Hushi was one of the founders and activists of Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...
movement in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. In July 1920, he immigrated to Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
with a group of 130 Jewish pioneers. In Palestine, he took the Hebrew surname "Hushi", a translation of his original name, Schneller. He built roads and drained swamps, and helped to found kibbutz Beit Alfa
Beit Alfa
Beit Alfa is a kibbutz in the Northern District of Israel, near the Gilboa ridge.-History:The kibbutz was founded in 1922 by Hashomer Hatzair volunteers. The first members came from Poland. In 1940 some of the members, affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair, moved to Ramat Yohanan kibbutz, in exchange...
. He was one of the founding members of the Histadrut
Histadrut
HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael , known as the Histadrut, is Israel's organization of trade unions. Established in December 1920 during the British Mandate for Palestine, it became one of the most powerful institutions of the State of Israel.-History:The Histadrut was founded in...
labor federation. In 1927, he settled in Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
and joined the Ahdut HaAvoda
Ahdut HaAvoda
Ahdut HaAvoda was the name used by a sequence of political parties that existed firstly during Mandate Palestine and later in Israel. Its original version, led by David Ben-Gurion, is one of the main ancestors of the modern-day Israeli Labor Party....
party, which later merged with Mapai
Mapai
Mapai was a left-wing political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in 1968...
. He was secretary of the Haifa Workers Council from 1931 to 1951. Hushi was elected to Israel's first Knesset
Israeli legislative election, 1949
Elections for the Constituent Assembly were held in newly independent Israel on 25 January 1949. Voter turnout was 86.9%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset...
in 1949 as a member of Mapai
Mapai
Mapai was a left-wing political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in 1968...
. Before the 1951 elections
Israeli legislative election, 1951
Elections for the second Knesset were held in Israel on 30 July 1951. Voter turnout was 75.1%.-Results:¹ Rostam Bastuni, Avraham Berman and Moshe Sneh left Mapam and set up the Left Faction. Bastuni later returned to Mapam whilst Berman and Sneh joined Maki. Hannah Lamdan and David Livschitz left...
, he left the government to become mayor of Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
. As mayor, he helped to found the University of Haifa
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
, the Haifa Theatre
Haifa Theatre
The Haifa Theatre is the municipal theater company of Haifa, Israel.Haifa Theater, Israel's first municipal theater, was established by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi.Founded in 1961, the Haifa Theater employs Jewish and Arab actors, and has an international reputation for performing provocative works...
, the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art
Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art
The Museum of Japanese Art on the crest of Mount Carmel is dedicated exclusively to the preservation and exhibition of Japanese art works, and is the only one of its kind in the Middle East. The Museum is a municipal foundation, set up in 1959, on the initiative of Felix Tikotin of The Netherlands,...
, the Mane-Katz
Mane-Katz
Emmanuel Mané-Katz, born Mane Leyzerovich Kats , was a Jewish painter born in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, best known for his depictions of the Jewish shtetl in Eastern Europe.- Biography :...
Museum and the Carmelit
Carmelit
The Carmelit is an underground funicular railway in Haifa, Israel. Construction started in 1956 and ended in 1959. The Carmelit was closed in 1986 after showing signs of aging...
(Haifa's subway
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
).
Abba Hushi was the father-in-law of Knesset member Amnon Linn
Amnon Linn
-Biography:Linn was born in Mishmar HaEmek to Hava and David Linn. He became a member of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement in 1940, and in 1942 joined the Palmach, fighting in Haifa. He met his wife, Ruth Hushi, daughter of Abba Hushi in 1945, and married her later that same year...
.
Family Background
Abba Hushi was born in 1898 in Turka, Galicia, then part of Austria-HungaryAustria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
(today in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, from 1919 to 1939 in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
). His mother, Liba, ran a small farm, where she grew fruits and vegetables. After divorcing her first husband, Liba moved to Turka and married Zisha, a haberdasher
Haberdasher
A haberdasher is a person who sells small articles for sewing, such as buttons, ribbons, zips, and other notions. In American English, haberdasher is another term for a men's outfitter. A haberdasher's shop or the items sold therein are called haberdashery.-Origin and use:The word appears in...
. To avoid the draft, Zisha changed his name to Alexander, took Liba's surname, "Schneller," and hid in the attic of Liba's farmhouse.
Education
After attending a heder, Hushi studied at the local gymnasiumGymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
. He spoke Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
and Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, and knew some Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
. He planned to study medicine and even wrote "Property of Medical Student Abba Schneller" on his notebooks, but his plans were disrupted by the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1914. The Schneller family fled to Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
.
Involvement in Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...
organized into an independent Jewish protection force. They were successful in Turka and stopped pogroms and other attacks, although in other cities throughout Poland these attacks continued.
On 4 and 5 August 1918, a Hashomer Hatzair conference was held in Turka. Hushi was one of the chairs of the conference, and there he called for immigration to the land of Israel. In the spring of 1920, at another Hashomer Hatzair conference in Lviv, Abba read publicly for the first time the words to his poem "In the Galil, at Tel Hai" inspired by the courage of Joseph Trumpeldor
Joseph Trumpeldor
Joseph Trumpeldor , was an early Zionist activist. He helped organize the Zion Mule Corps and bring Jewish immigrants to the Land of Israel. Trumpeldor died defending the settlement of Tel Hai in 1920 and subsequently became a Zionist national hero...
at Tel Hai
Tel Hai
Tel Hai is the modern name of a settlement in northern Israel, the site of an early battle in the Arab–Israeli conflict, and of a noted monument, tourist attraction, and a college...
. Indeed, the decisions made at the conference mirrored the spirit at Tel Hai: it was decided that the graduating group of Hashomer Hatzair would make Aliyah, and the workers of the movement would assist in the realization of this decision.
Road Worker
Hapoel Hatzair
Hapoel Hatzair is a Zionist group which was active in Palestine from 1905 until 1930. They were founded by A.D. Gordon, Yosef Ahronowitz, Yosef Sprinzak and followed a non-Marxist, Zionist, socialist agenda. In accordance with A.D...
movement took responsibility for finding employment for its members of who had recently arrived in Palestine. Hushi's group found work in paving roads, a project initiated by the first High Commissioner of Palestine, Herbert Samuel
Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel
Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel GCB OM GBE PC was a British politician and diplomat.-Early years:...
. Hushi worked on roads around Rosh Pinna
Rosh Pinna
Rosh Pinna is a town of approximately 2,500 people located in the Upper Galilee on the eastern slopes of Mount Kna'anin, the Northern District of Israel. The town was founded in 1882 by thirty immigrant families from Romania, making it one of the oldest Zionist settlements in Israel...
, and in 1920 and 1921, Hushi was the head of the "Shomria Unit," the group that paved the Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
-J'da (a.k.a. Ramat Yishai) road.
Haifa Port
Abba Hushi and the other members of his group volunteered to unload coal at the Port of HaifaPort of Haifa
The Port of Haifa is the largest of Israel's three major international seaports, which include the Port of Ashdod, and the Port of Eilat. It has a natural deep water harbor which operates all year long, and serves both passenger and merchant ships. It is one of the largest ports in the eastern...
. The "Workers of Israel" fund received the contract to unload the coal, but the Haifa workers refused to unload the coal. Hushi and his co-workers volunteered for the difficult work, which left them covered in soot and often led to eye infections.
Founding the Histadrut
In December 1920, the "Shomria Unit" send two representatives, one of them Abba Hushi, to the "First General Conference of the Workers of Israel." By the end of the conference, the delegates decided to establish a union for the Hebrew workers in the land of Israel; the HistadrutHistadrut
HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael , known as the Histadrut, is Israel's organization of trade unions. Established in December 1920 during the British Mandate for Palestine, it became one of the most powerful institutions of the State of Israel.-History:The Histadrut was founded in...
.
Drying swamps and founding Beit Alfa
In 1921, the members of the group transferred to NahalalNahalal
-External links:** UNESCO* Jewish Agency for Israel*, "Jews made a garden" - aerial photo of Nahalal , and a girl from Girls' Agricultural Training Farm , at Google Books....
, where they paved the entrance road to the moshav
Moshav
Moshav is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists during the second aliyah...
and also worked in drying and draining the surrounding swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
s. Abba Hushi petitioned on behalf of the entire group, for land in order to establish a settlement in the Jezreel Valley
Jezreel Valley
-Etymology:The Jezreel Valley takes its name from the ancient city of Jezreel which was located on a low hill overlooking the southern edge of the valley, though some scholars think that the name of the city originates from the name of the clan which founded it, and whose existence is mentioned in...
. In 1922, the request was approved and Hushi was among the founding members of kibbutz Beit Alfa
Beit Alfa
Beit Alfa is a kibbutz in the Northern District of Israel, near the Gilboa ridge.-History:The kibbutz was founded in 1922 by Hashomer Hatzair volunteers. The first members came from Poland. In 1940 some of the members, affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair, moved to Ramat Yohanan kibbutz, in exchange...
.
Delegate in the Diaspora
After the establishment of the Kibbutz, Abba was sent by the Jewish National FundJewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
to raised funds in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. The money would be used to buy land and establish settlements. Hushi was accompanied by Meir Ya'ari
Meir Ya'ari
Meir Ya'ari was an Israeli politician, educator and social activist. He was the leader of Hashomer Hatzair, Kibbutz Artzi and Mapam, and a member of the Knesset.-Life:...
. In 1924, Ya'ari and Hushi arrived in Danzig
Free City of Danzig
The Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig and surrounding areas....
, where they attended two conferences; the Hashomer Hatzair conference and the "Youth Covenant" movement conference (which David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
also attended). At the Hashomer Hatzair conference, Hushi was chosen for the board of the world Hashomer Hatzair movement.
After the conferences, Hushi and Ya'ari continued their fund-raising efforts on behalf of the JNF. They also visited local branches of, and summer camps run by Hashomer Hatzair throughout Poland in order to encourage the youths to make aliyah
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
. Throughout the entire trip, Hushi corresponded with his girl friend Hannah, who remained in Beit Alfa. As part of his travels, Abba arrived in Turka, where, in February 1925, he convinced his family to make aliyah.
Moving to Haifa
In 1925, Hushi took a year off from the kibbutz to help his family settle in Haifa, and become acclimated with Israeli life. Hushi initiated the creation of a working-class restaurant that his family would own and operate, thereby earning a living. While in Haifa he continued his public service: on 19 April 1925, Hushi hosted a meeting of representatives from Kibbutzim that had foreign youths.Additional delegation abroad
Following his great success on his previous trip to Poland, the Zionist committee asked Hushi to go abroad again. This time, he requested to travel with his girlfriend Hanna. The members of the kibbutz argued against his and Hanna's departures. Hushi wrote to Hanna:Marriage to Hannah
Hushi's relationship with Hannah grew closer while they were in Turka, although Hannah's father was not happy with the match. On Lag Ba'omerLag Ba'omer
Lag BaOmer , also known as Lag LaOmer amongst Sephardi Jews, is a Jewish holiday celebrated on the thirty-third day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of Iyar. One reason given for the holiday is as the day of passing of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Modern Jewish tradition links...
1926, the Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of Haifa, Rabbi Kaniel, officiated at their wedding. On 29 March 1927, their daughter Ruth was born. Hannah remained in Beit Alfa while Hushi went to Haifa to help his family run the restaurant and continue his activities on behalf of the Histadrut. Hannah joined him in June. In September 1930, their son, Gadi, was born. Gadi died in an accident on 12 January 1932. Another son, Dan, was born the following year.
Activity for the Histadrut in Haifa
In 1925 Hushi moved to Haifa in order to assist his parents, but he continued being politically active. In 1926 he began to work for the Histadrut in Haifa, and would eventually become a central activist in the Ahdut HaAvodaAhdut HaAvoda
Ahdut HaAvoda was the name used by a sequence of political parties that existed firstly during Mandate Palestine and later in Israel. Its original version, led by David Ben-Gurion, is one of the main ancestors of the modern-day Israeli Labor Party....
and then Mapai
Mapai
Mapai was a left-wing political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in 1968...
parties.
Treatment of the workers in the Port of Haifa
In his first position in the Histadrut, Hushi substituted for Yaacov Razili, who failed to settle to confrontation between the longtime laborers in the port, and the new immigrants who were sent to work in the port by the Histadrut. After much hard work and tremendous effort, Hushi convinced the port workers to sign an agreement with the Histadrut.Secretary of the Haifa Workers Council
In 1932, Hushi was chosen chairman of the Haifa Workers Council (a position that he held until 1951). He believed that it was upon the Council to create a connection with every worker in its jurisdiction (the city of Haifa). He also saw to it that in every workplace a "worker's committee" was established (in workplaces where only a few people worked "trustees" were appointed) that would maintain contact between the workers and the Histadrut. Hushi's actions caused a great increase in the number or workers who were associated with different labor organizations.Building controversy
Assisting the unemployed
Due to the great stress that existed in Israel in the 1930s, Hushi worried about the unemployed workers in his city. As the secretary of the council, Hushi persuaded the other members to establish a staff that would look after the unemployed workers, and provide them with temporary work. The staff would find places of employment and divide the work among the unemployed workers, meaning that full-time workers had to give up on some work time to allow the unemployed people to come in and work. This style of diving work differed from that used in other workers councils used throughout Palestine. Among other things, the organization forced young workers and workers with other options to relinquish their jobs to older, more seasoned workers, who had lost their places of employment.
"Hapoel" Organization
Hapoel
Hapoel is an Israeli sport association. It was established in 1926 as a union of the Histadrut, and represented the workers class...
sports club. He was assisted by members of the organization "The Organizer's Division," in order to protect the institution of, and obedience to, the Histadrut and the Workers Council.
Bringing Thessaloniki Port workers to Haifa
With the founding of the port of Haifa, Baruch Uziel, who had made Aliyah
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
from Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, convinced the Workers Council to bring on Aliyah Thessalonikian port workers, in order to guarantee a majority of Jewish port workers. As a result of Uziel's request, Hushi traveled to Thessaloniki, where he successfully convinced the Jewish port workers to make Aliya with their families.
Following his success in Thessaloniki, Hushi traveled to Poland and managed to convince Jewish porters there also to make Aliya. The Aliya of the Thessaloniki port workers caused there to be a majority of Jewish workers in the port. This allowed operation of the port and the un-interrupted export of Jewish goods during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. On May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
1936, since there was a fear that the port workers would strike, Hushi ordered them to work, despite the fact that it was Workers' Day, and the port-workers strike was avoided. On 8 August 1936, the Arab workers ceased to come to the port to work, and the port was operated solely by Jewish workers for a number of months.
German boats in the Port of Haifa
On 29 December 1938, while loading citrus
Citrus
Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...
fruits onto the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
ship "Bamburg" in the Port of Haifa
Port of Haifa
The Port of Haifa is the largest of Israel's three major international seaports, which include the Port of Ashdod, and the Port of Eilat. It has a natural deep water harbor which operates all year long, and serves both passenger and merchant ships. It is one of the largest ports in the eastern...
, the second officer of the ship said to the port worker in charge of loading the fruits that "the Jews have no place in the world, not even at the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
,
The Jewish workers who heard the officer's words informed other workers, and word reached the administration of the Haifa Workers Council, who decided to stop loading the ship. The administration of the Council also instructed the Arab workers not to work, and the port stopped servicing German ships. Hushi informed Dov Hoz
Dov Hoz
Dov Hoz was a leader of the Labor Zionism movement, one of the founders of the Haganah organization, and a pioneer of Israeli aviation.-Biography:...
, the chairman of the State Committee of the Jewish Agency, of the decision. David Hacohen
David Hacohen
David Hacohen was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1949 and 1953, and again from 1955 until 1969.-Biography:...
informed Hushi of his disapproval of the decision, since it had not been approved by the official organizations of the Yishuv
Yishuv
The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
, despite the fact that the Workers Council of the Histadrut had approved the new policy.
On the following day, 30 September, the German consul in Haifa turned to influential Olim
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
from Germany to have them convince Hushi to call off the new policy. The consul announced that the Second Officer would apologize and would be punished for his offensive remarks, but Hushi did not relent, and the boat returned to Germany empty.
In order not to hurt the interests of the Jewish Yishuv, Hushi contacted "Citrus Center" in Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
with a request to find other ships with which to send their produce to Europe. He wrote to them: "We do not want to cause you [financial] loss, and therefore we are giving you options and time to organize the matter. We are not able to overcome our emotions, and the emotions of our workers, to continue to load German ships."