ABSTRACT
Any summary of the history and vicissitudes of the Revisionist movement and its various — official and unofficial — offshoots during the period 1925–1948, as related in this book, is liable to be incomplete so long as we concentrate on ideology, political activities and the struggle of the underground movements. The involvement of the Right also left an imprint on other areas of Zionist history and on the evolution of the Jewish community in Eretz Israel. The fact that throughout this period the Right was in opposition, its virtual isolation from the sources of power in the yishuv, as well as its organizational and financial weakness in the Diaspora, seriously inhibited the freedom and scope of its development and initiative. The Revisionist ideology, which on grounds of principle objected to the interference of political parties in the economic and social life of the country, presented a further serious theoretical and practical obstacle to such an involvement. The Right proved unable to build up a centralized and multi-disciplinary social and political network, such as the Zionist Left had succeeded in creating for its activities in Eretz Israel. Even so, the need of the movement and its members to engage in practical activities impelled them to undertake a variety of initiatives, some of a pioneering nature. These were only possible due to the circumstance that the movement was not subject to the authority of the Zionist Organization or the institutions of the yishuv, as well as to the fact that various groups within the movement wanted to direct their activity into new and hitherto unexplored channels outside the existing political and ideological-educational frameworks, which in many cases were considered sterile.
