There are two kinds of politics (just as there are two kinds of revolutionism).
One type can be called "unadulterated politics" - a kind of politics which is
abstract , tends to degenerate into sterile rhetoric, and is unable to provide
solutions to actual problems. This "unadulterated politics" promise, nevertheless,
to solve such problems through one act of such grand proportions that reality will be overwhelmed and irreversibly altered. This type of politics depends considerably on concepts such as "prestige" and "honor". It is built around the
cult of the leader and propelled through the extensive use of symbolism and exterior decorations. Politicians of this type disdain the quiet, steady, day-to-day grind of unpublicized activism and accomplishment. They are contemptuous of those who take the step-by-step approach. In this type of politics there is
no room for colonization or settlement which require long periods of hard,
steady work. In the Zionist context, this "unadulterated" politics promises
salvation through the ultimate act of the establishment of a Jewish state.
Most of its hopes are tied to the political calculations of the British empire. If we substitute "revolutionism" for "politics" and "social revolution with the aid of the USSR" for "creation of the Jewish state with the aid of the British empire", we will see that the concepts "unadulterated politics" and "truly revolutionary" are closely related. But there is another kind of politics (just as there is another kind of revolutionism). This second type of politics is based on unending endeavor; on the step-by-step process of building stone by stone and planting dunam by dunam. This second kind of politics is suspicious and wary of declarations and diplomacy and unimpressed by external forms and symbols. On the other hand, this kind of politics depends absolutely on its form and content, on practical activities which are personally meaningful and binding on their participants. This "practical politics" strives to create a new and different reality based upon cooperation and solidarity - a reality in which every action is judged on the basis of its cooperative content; a reality of settlement and development. Through this kind of "practical" politics, a nation forms its future and the-working class its hegemony. "Practical politics" is revolutionary in the sense that it seeks a total transformation of reality without worshiping the single grand revolutionary act. For the practitioners of this type of politics, the social-political revolution is, to use the classic term, the "midwife of history": the child itself is of ultimate importance.
There is a world of difference between these two kinds of politics (and revolutions). The difference is not a matter of goals but fundamental life styles and, therefore, the conflict between them is inevitable
Most of its hopes are tied to the political calculations of the British empire. If we substitute "revolutionism" for "politics" and "social revolution with the aid of the USSR" for "creation of the Jewish state with the aid of the British empire", we will see that the concepts "unadulterated politics" and "truly revolutionary" are closely related. But there is another kind of politics (just as there is another kind of revolutionism). This second type of politics is based on unending endeavor; on the step-by-step process of building stone by stone and planting dunam by dunam. This second kind of politics is suspicious and wary of declarations and diplomacy and unimpressed by external forms and symbols. On the other hand, this kind of politics depends absolutely on its form and content, on practical activities which are personally meaningful and binding on their participants. This "practical politics" strives to create a new and different reality based upon cooperation and solidarity - a reality in which every action is judged on the basis of its cooperative content; a reality of settlement and development. Through this kind of "practical" politics, a nation forms its future and the-working class its hegemony. "Practical politics" is revolutionary in the sense that it seeks a total transformation of reality without worshiping the single grand revolutionary act. For the practitioners of this type of politics, the social-political revolution is, to use the classic term, the "midwife of history": the child itself is of ultimate importance.
There is a world of difference between these two kinds of politics (and revolutions). The difference is not a matter of goals but fundamental life styles and, therefore, the conflict between them is inevitable
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