This dark purple poster was part of the 1955 Maki election campaign. The poster features the letter “ק” used by the Maki, the Israel Communist Party, and a rhetorical question, which asks viewers what the content of the Mapai party platform is. The answer to this question according to Maki is that Mapai only serves the interests of the wealthier members of Israeli society.
Of particular interest is that the Maki party chose to employ this line of attack against the Mapai party, a socialist party but presumably too moderate from the communist party's point of view.
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Maki – Israeli Communist Party - The radical communist party, Maki, held seats in the Knesset from 1948 to 1965. The party, then named the Palestine Communist Party, was first established in 1919 during the British Mandate. After the establishment of the State of Israel, the party joined an Arab communist party, and they ran together in the Knesset elections. The party, while not Zionist, recognised the State of Israel, supported the Palestinian right to a state in accordance with the UN partition plan, and denied the link between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora. Maki split in 1965 due to disagreements about the Arab-Israeli conflict and loyalty to the USSR. Today, a party with the same name is part of the radical left-wing Hadash party, but this is a new party that is not based on the historical Maki party.
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.
1955 Israeli General Elections – The elections for the 3rd Knesset were held on July 26, 1955. This campaign saw the return of David Ben-Gurion, after he had left political life and moved to his kibbutz, Sde Boker. Ben-Gurion’s return occurred following the Lavon Affair, which caused turmoil in the ruling party. These elections took place at the time of another scandal, the Kastner Affair, in which Israel Kastner, an important member of Mapai was accused of cooperating with the Nazis in Budapest. The election campaign was relatively turbulent, with bombs placed near General Zionist election meetings and the home of the Tel Aviv mayor, Israel Rokach. After Mapai’s seven years in power, much of the campaign was directed against the party, focusing on corruption and the centralist nature of the government. Other issues that were featured in the campaign were the reparations from Germany and the negative attitude of the government towards the immigrants. The main adversaries in this campaign were Mapai and the General Zionists. The elections resulted in a large decrease in the General Zionists’ representation, while the Herut party doubled its strength.
