This is an election poster created by the Mapai Party in 1951. The poster is divided into two: the right side, under the letter “א”, represents the Mapai party; the left side, under the letter "צ", represents the General Zionist party.
The right side of the poster shows the various types of housing projects that Mapai invested in over the years. There are illustrations of both public buildings and housing projects for which the party provided money. The colour red – associated with socialism – is very visible on this part of the poster. There are illustrations emphasising construction projects that were carried out in the State of Israel in its early years, primarily large-scale social projects for needy sectors of the public – new immigrants, elderly people, and workers.
The left side of the poster is a criticism of the General Zionist Party. It contains two drawings of what is described as a “luxury home.” The upper illustration features a spacious two-storey house with a convertible in the parking lot and a couple playing tennis in a private court in the garden. The lower drawing is of a living room with a couple sitting on comfortable armchairs reading newspapers. There is a small bottle of alcohol on the table and the room is furnished with a lamp, a plant, flowery curtains and a carpet. It can be assumed that the poster is aimed at working-class voters or new immigrants, who are not among the established middle class, and is stating quite clearly that the socialist Mapai Party is concerned with the welfare of all members of society – the workers, the immigrants, the old people, and indeed the entire nation – while the General Zionists are only focused on the wealthy members of society.
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Mapai – Mapai (an acronym for Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael—The Workers Party of the Land of Israel) was the dominant political party in Israel until it ceased to exist as an individual party and merged with others to form the Labour party in 1968. Established in 1930, Mapai’s base of support was the Histadrut (Labour Union), the kibbutzim, and the moshavim. Mapai was a socialist-Zionist party and focused on meeting the needs of the working class including health care, employment, youth groups, and sport. David Ben-Gurion was Mapai’s most prominent figure, serving twice as prime minister (1948–1953 and 1955–1963). In later years, additional Mapai leaders held the position of prime minister: Moshe Sharett, Levi Eshkol, and Golda Meir. The party was seriously damaged by the Lavon Affair, a failed undercover operation that brought down the government in 1961. In 1968 Mapai joined with the parties Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi to form the Labour party and led the Israeli government until Menachem Begin’s Likud party came to power in 1977. Mapai’s election symbol was the Hebrew letter aleph.
General Zionists – The General Zionist Party, indicated by the letter tzadi, was a centre-right political party which existed from the 1930s until the 1960s, when it became the Liberal Party. It later joined other parties to form the Likud. It was a liberal party believing in the free market and capitalism and thus opposed Mapai’s socialist ideology. This position, expressed in their slogan “Let Us Live in This Country” and their struggle against the tzena (austerity measures) imposed by Mapai in the 1950s, brought the General Zionists many votes.
