This 110 page Report is definitely historical – it is 50 years old and therefore claims its place in my library of Anglo-Judaica. It is one of a long series of similar reports, and I have previously written about that of 1945. However, much of the 1972 Report is about the British Zionist Federation’s 71st Annual Conference in 1972, at which I, and my friends, took an active part. (The report mentions an organized disturbance and turbulent scenes!)
As can be seen from the scans below, the British Zionist Federation of 1972 was an umbrella organization which was central to much Jewish communal activity in the British Isles. It had stagnated a bit since its focus on political Zionist under the leadership of Chaim Weizman in the days of the Palestine Mandate, and the leadership had aged. At the previous year’s conference there had been a successful attempt by the more youthful activists to remove the chairman of the Zionist Federation Youth Committee, who was celebrating his 80th birthday, and this year’s conference had its boisterous moments. On the other hand, there had been an attempt to involve students and youth. The students and youth realized that if they acted together and ignored party political groups, they (we, at the time!) could get themselves elected to the Executive Committee and even as Vice-Presidents (which I was, in 1971).
The report was printed at the Narod Press in Whitechapel, which had been founded by the late Israel Narodiczky.
Jewish Miscellanies 