two speakers asked, instead of validating the anti-Semitic canard that Jews,
the stereotypical aliens, constituted a nation within a nation? Implicit in
those remarks was the assumption that since Jews were protected as citi-
zens of the country, a defense organization was tantamount to a show of no
confidence in America. Inevitably, the discussion led to Zionism. The
Zionist participants, who favored the congress idea, clashed with antina-
tionalists, who maintained that Jews were no more than a religious group.
Clearly, the ramifications of a congress, which was initially understood as a
means of serving beleaguered foreign Jews, could not ignore the elemental
question of American Jewish identity.^75
Schiff and his associates bowed to the inevitability of a permanent or-
ganization and staged a preemptive strike to avoid any wildcat action.
Louis Marshall candidly admitted: “Although we all felt the danger of
such a movement, it was the consensus of opinion that inasmuch as such
an organization was in the air, and would undoubtedly be formed by
somebody, in order to avoid mischief it was desirable that we should take
the initiative.” Accordingly, a small conference of prominent men (includ-
ing Magnes) from different cities was arranged to consider the feasibility
of a central agency and the basis of representation. Important Jewish
newspapers criticized the unrepresentative character of the invitees, but
the plan held and deliberations began. The word congress, which smacked
of nationalist assertiveness, was quickly dropped. Although a few objected
to domination by religious congregations or by the immigrant element,
the plan put forth by Schiff and Marshall called for an organization whose
members were elected by congregations. Designed to raise the fewest ob-
jections, it defined Jews as a religious group, it accepted democratic elec-
tions, it undercut claims to national leadership by powerful organizations
like the B’nai B’rith and Reform’s UAHC, and, officially at least, it broke
the oligarchy of the New York stewards.^76 It is unlikely that either Schiff
or Marshall feared that he personally would be displaced, since years of
communal service had won them the confidence of both German and
Russian Jews. Indeed, Schiff went beyond the acceptance of a democratic
body and spoke on the need to reach out to Jews unaffiliated with syn-
agogues. He said that a new Jewry had arisen in the United States since
1881 and their confidence was necessary for any general representative
body.^77
In the end, however, after months of wrangling and compromises, de-
mocracy received only token recognition in the establishment of a perma-
nent defense organization, the American Jewish Committee (AJC). In a
gesture aimed at broadening the base of leadership, the constitution pro-
vided for district advisory councils to elect the sixty-member committee,
which in turn would choose an executive committee of thirteen. But since
the idea of participatory advisory councils never materialized, leadership
The New Immigrants 111