Jewish History (2007) 21: 341Y359

c Springer 2007

DOI: 10.1007/s10835-007-9041-8

Labor and land at the start of Jewish settlement

in Argentina
YEHUDA LEVIN
Independent Scholar, Carmia, Israel
E-mail: yelevin@walla.com
Abstract. Studying nearly two decades of activity as reflected in materials found in
the archives of the Jewish Colonization Association, this essay explores the early stages
of organized Jewish agricultural settlement in Argentina. JCA directors debated the
optimal size of land that could constitute an economically viable farm. The issues of
non-Jewish labor and the leasing of land to non-Jews were also a concern. The JCA
further promoted the ideal of settler Bproductivization^ through farming, a goal shared
by many settlers. The rising price of land, as well as shifts in national patterns of
economy and agriculture, brought about significant changes in the Argentine
settlement project. The JCA responded by increasing the size of allocated land,
introducing animal husbandry, and by recognizing the need for hired hands at harvest
time. Aided by the JCA, and despite objective and psychological obstacles, immigrants
from the Russian Empire established colonies that endured for decades.

In the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, both through their
plans and actions, Jews began to demonstrate a growing inclination to
return to the land. Among the more notable ventures were colonization in
South Russia in the early nineteenth century, Baron Maurice de Hirsch_s
Jewish colonization enterprise in Argentina, which began in the late
nineteenth century, and the Zionist movement in the Land of Israel.1
An original form of philanthropy was developing in France during
the Baron_s time. New philanthropists, who chose to do more than give
to charity, secretly or publicly, viewed their beneficiaries as proteges,
from whom they could demand moral conduct and economic productivity. Financial support now aimed at rehabilitating recipients and put
them on the Bright track^ toward their regeneration sociale. The new
philanthropists considered their potential proteges to be flawed
individuals in need of correction, and they saw patronage justifying
involvement in the moral conduct of their proteges.2
No doubt, it was in this spirit that Baron Maurice de Hirsch chose to
aid his fellow Jews living under oppressive regimes. He would see them
transformed into farmers in countries to which they would immigrate,
where the law and a high level of religious tolerance would ensure them
a dignified existence under good economic conditions. Thus in 1891 the

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Baron established the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) and

proceeded to buy land in Argentina.3
The idea of the self-sufficiency of Jewish labor has long been
embedded in the concept of Bproductivization.^ Initially it was linked
to the movement for Jewish Enlightenment, emancipation, and
normalization through farming. The developments discussed in this
article took place at a time when a movement orientated toward
agrarianism was taking root in immigrant states including the United
States, Canada, and Argentina. This movement attributed a moral and
economic value to agriculture, hailing the settlers working these
countries_ lands as the salt of the earth.
This essay examines the relationship between land and labor as it
developed during the enterprise_s first two decades, starting in the mid
1890s, and the positions taken by concerned parties regarding the
colonies in the broader context of Argentine agriculture.
JCA Y ideology
Baron de Hirsch_s decisions were influenced by the tenor of agricultural
life in certain parts of Europe where farming was, for the most part,
self-sustaining. Family life on those small farms centered on field work
carried out according to agricultural traditions handed down through
the generations. The existence of Jewish farms in South Russia also
made an impression on the Baron, as apparently did the Physiocrats_
school of thought which Y reacting to Mercantilist doctrines and to
industrialization Y perceived land as the source of a nation_s wealth.
Baron de Hirsch died in April 1896, but his vision continued to influence
his successors in the Association he established.4
The JCA aspired to fashion new resourceful Jews by transforming
them into farmers on Association lands that the settlers would cultivate
and pay for in yearly installments. The JCA planned to establish
permanent settlements, firmly rooted on the land, capable of developing
and existing for generations to come. Jewish settlers were to become
middle-class farmers, operating virtually self-sustaining family based
farms. This approach, together with the demand for self-reliant work,
led to the JCA_s decision to reject the candidacy of small families and
have the number of male adults in a family determine the family_s
prospects of selection for the settlements.
The JCA strategy was to apply the funds generated by the settlers_
annual fees toward the settlement of additional families. The
Association prohibited the establishment of industries or shops on

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343

its lands.5 It also regarded the process of forming a bond between the
settler and his land as a lengthy one. Settlers were not allowed to pay
off their debts prior to the date their contracts specified, nor was land
was not to be fully owned until the settler and his family were firmly
rooted on it. Settlers who sought to redeem their land prior to the
fixed contractual date often found themselves involved in litigation.6
Demand for self-reliant labor was also part of other settlement
enterprises in Argentina, not only Jewish ones, and it was written into
contracts signed by settlers living in a colony established by the General
and statesman Justo Jose de Urquiza in the province of Entre Rios, as
well as in other privately initiated colonies in the province of Santa Fe.7
Initially the concept of self-reliant labor was equated with manual
labor. The JCA attributed great significance to physical labor, as was
illustrated in 1897 when it refused to assist settlers of the Clara colony
in the purchase of harvesters for reaping alfalfa. The JCA feared the
settlers would not properly care for the equipment, but it also argued
that Bsettlers should become used to doing manual labor without the
need for sophisticated machinery and with the help of their own family
members, in order for them to become true farmers.^ Accordingly, the
JCA refused to provide loans or backing for purchase of agricultural
equipment in the initial years of Argentine colonization. The Association had also demanded that settlers clear giant trees off their land
without outside help, which would also provide firewood and get them
accustomed to intense physical labor.8
The JCA had objected to animal husbandry as a distinct branch of
farming, permitting the settlers to raise only animals necessary for
farm work or for the family_s domestic needs (poultry and a few dairy
cows). The JCA supported its argument by invoking budgetary
considerations, since breeding livestock was very expensive (necessitating the purchase of cows and bulls, fencing in fields, cultivating
pastures, and providing an adequate supply of good water). However,
the real rationale was ideological: breeding livestock was not
considered real farming. In addition, JCA administrators worried that
the settlers would abandon agriculture for livestock, and from there,
the path back to commerce was a short one. Some of the settlers
thought the same. Mordechai (Marcos) Alpersohn, settler, playwright,
and author, commented on keeping large herds in Mauricio Colony:
BThe colonists have forgotten their great aspiration, their sacred goal
of restoring agriculture among the Jewish People and demonstrating
to our enemies that we are not only merchants and traders but are
excellent farmers...^ A similar view had already been expressed in

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YEHUDA LEVIN

1896 by Jacob Kahansky from the San Antonio colony in an article

published in Warsaw_s Ha-zefirah: BThe whole purpose of the
distinguished Association is to bring us to a state of settlement,
showing the entire world how resourceful we are even in tending the
land....^ Responding to the offer to provide settlers with livestock for
breeding, he argued: Bevery man will become idle. Since our brethren
are so familiar with commerce and yearn for it, they will soon fill the
country with peddlers and tradesmen of our own.^9
The settlers_ motivation
The majority of Jewish immigrants who headed for North America at
that time settled in cities. By contrast, a high percentage of the
immigrants to Argentina, either with the JCA_s assistance or on their
own, chose to settle in colonies, either the Association_s or others. On
the eve of World War I, approximately a quarter of all Argentina_s
Jewry was engaged in agriculture.10
The Jews living under Tsarist rule in Russia, Ukraine, Poland and
Bessarabia were subjected to laws restricting their civil rights, forbidding
them from acquiring land, confining Jewish residence to a BPale of
Settlement^ and distancing them from economic and social life. The
possibility of obtaining much larger plots of land in Argentina than those
permitted in the Pale became an incentive for Jews living in overcrowded
areas, raising their hopes of eventually becoming landowners.11
In Bessarabia, Ekaterinoslav, and Kherson, as well as in other areas
in Russia, Jews were allowed to work the land. Having some inclination
towards agriculture, some of these families applied to join the
colonization enterprise in Argentina. Such Bagriculturally minded^
Jews were among those who wrote letters to Noe Cociovitch of the
colony Moises Ville while he toured Russia in 1902 looking for potential
settlers. The letters, kept in the YIVO archives in Buenos Aires and
published by Pinhas Bizberg, include requests by a livestock merchant;
a tailor tilling leased land; a dairy cow breeder whose farm folded after a
major client had died leaving his bills unpaid; a tanner, formerly a
barkeeper and miller in his village, who also leased a small plot of land;
and various others. Some writers engaged solely in agriculture, one of
them claiming that his entire household Bfrom the littlest ones to the
oldest, are well trained in using a scythe.^12
Many applicants expressed an ideological or moral outlook in their
requests: one claimed he was opposed to the business of trade, another
preferred working the land to living off welfare, a third remarked he

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345

would not fail the JCA, as he was not a Yeshiva student and his sons
also were not of the Bdreamy kind.^ Others wished to prove to the world
that Jews were not freeloaders, but perfectly capable of farming. Some
applicants emphasized an intention to quit their Bvirtual livelihoods^
and their hope to make farming their lifework.13
Others, influenced by Count Leo N. Tolstoy, were attracted to the
simplicity of farming and the idea that man should live only from the
fruits of his own labor. This paper will note two such individuals. Miguel
Sajaroff of Krym was brought up in a traditional family of wealthy
merchants, receiving both religious and secular education as a child. The
Bnumerus clausus^ regulations in Russia forced him to Germany, where
he studied agronomy. While in school, Sajaroff worked as a common farm
laborer. He read Tolstoy with a passion and became a disciple, anxious to
take up physical labor, serve the people and leave everyday pleasures
behind for a life on the soil. Sajaroff returned to Russia in 1899 and, with
his wife Olga, another Tolstoyan, began planning their immigration to
Argentina, where he eventually became one of the most noted leaders of
the colonies_ agrarian cooperative. Another follower of Tolstoy, Dr. Noe
Yarcho, settled in a JCA colony in the province of Entre Rios, becoming
a distinguished physician and social activist.14
The enthusiasm shared by those who had joined the JCA_s settlement
enterprise in Argentina is illustrated in literature from that era. In the
book by the writer and journalist Alberto Gerchunoff, Los Gauchos
Judios, he tells of a rabbi from his father_s hometown who made an
appeal to go to Argentina and work the land. Gerchunoff viewed immigration to Argentina as a continuation of the agrarian era described in
the Bible, and regarded Argentina and its religious freedom as the
extension of Zion. Marcos Alpersohn linked the immigrants_ transformation into farmers to their hope for freedom in Argentina: BWe shall
become land laborers, farmers Y emancipated Jews! No more pogroms!...^
Nicolas Rapoport, writer, physician, and public figure, son of one of the
first colonists in Entre Rios province, emphasized the connection
between ancient Zion and the migration to Argentina_s fields, a place
where Bthey sowed the divine seed with biblical devotion.^15
The pampas and the selection of Argentina by the Baron
From the 1880s until the outbreak of World War I, Argentina_s
economy developed on the basis of a vast supply of uncultivated land
and hundreds of thousands of immigrants eager to work it. A railway
system crisscrossed substantial areas, transporting agricultural produce

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YEHUDA LEVIN

(grains and animals) to the port in Buenos Aires en route to Europe,

where spreading urbanization resulted in a shortage of food supplies.
Complementing this was the adoption of advanced farming machinery,
pulled by strong crossbred horses (combining crossbreeding and fine
food) that replaced slow oxen. These developments were supported by
an efficient international system based on open commerce and the free
traffic of goods, capital, and immigrants. The decades 1870Y1890 saw
the establishment of 336 colonies in the provinces of Santa Fe and Entre
Rios, where immigrants initiated private farming and whose farms
concentrated on growing primarily cereals, significantly enhancing the
grain export industry.16
These developments were accompanied by a series of crises,
including the collapse of the stock market in the early 1890s, the result
of an imprudent fiscal policy undertaken by the federal government,
provincial, and municipal administrations, alongside private players. A
further complication was the collapse of the financially important
Baring Brothers Bank, a crisis that affected the entire stock market and
which was overcome only after the AmericanYSpanish war in the late
nineteenth century. When the Second Boer War in South Africa
(1899Y1902) created an acute food shortage at a time when Australia, a
major exporter of cereals, suffered a major drought, the international
market_s growing demand for Argentina_s cereals and beef led to a
significant expansion of its export industry. Other difficulties were
related to the breeding and export of livestock. Until the early
twentieth century, most export of livestock consisted of shipping live
animals overseas. An outbreak of plague at the turn of the century
halted the import of Argentinean meat by European markets. The crisis
ended favorably, with the development of packing plants that combined
slaughterhouses with refrigeration storerooms that chilled and froze
large quantities of beef, which could be easily exported on the new
refrigerated steamboats.17
As a person with extensive experience in banking and railroads,
Baron de Hirsch must have been greatly influenced in his decision to
select Argentina as a destination for Jewish colonization by the
knowledge of the smooth flow of immigration to the pampas, the
country_s assurances of civic freedom, and especially economic progress
in the realms of meat production and railways. The Baron no doubt
approved of the founding of colonies by immigrants aspiring to private
ownership, and he perceived the financial crisis of the 1890s as an
opportunity to purchase high quality land at low prices and to create a
territorial continuity of Jewish colonies.18

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347

During the crisis, there was both a nominal and an actual drop in
the price of land. This was followed immediately by a constant rise in
land value, which continued for many decades to come and is
explained by a greater demand than supply, the growth of farming
that enhanced the land_s value, and the development of transportation
infrastructure that made access all the more easy. One outcome of the
1890s crisis was a significant downturn in agricultural colonization
based on farms cultivated privately by immigrants hoping to acquire
the land through their labor. Large estate (latifundia) owners were not
inclined to sell their land, choosing to lease it instead. Tenants would
work the land for about 3 years, sowing grain, agreeing to return it
when it was covered with alfalfa, a perennial used for pasture and
animal feed. The tenants moved from one place to another, making
landowners wealthier, but with no hope of becoming landowners
themselves. Pasture land kept expanding while agricultural plots were
constantly reduced in favor of livestock breeding, thus enabling many
large estate owners to overcome the 1890s crisis. Franz Ku
hn, a German
geographer traveling in Argentina in the early twentieth century,
remarked: BArgentina does not have, aside from exceptional cases, small
farmers rooted in the land and cultivating it. Farming is done by
traveling tenants, always on the move.^ This practice was particularly
noticeable in the traditionally agricultural province of Santa Fe.
Whereas in 1895, tenants had comprised 32% of the province_s
landholders, by 1914 they constituted 68%. By the time JCA started
its operations in Argentina, the Baron_s chosen settlement method was
on the decline.19
Argentina_s reputation as an agricultural country was due largely to
the humid pampas, unfolding like a hand-held fan, in whose handle
rests the capital, Buenos Aires. An area larger than Spain, the pampas
has great diversity with regard to fertility, land formations, precipitation, winds, water supply, pests, and proximity to ports. The lands
agricultural advantages decrease the farther they lie from the capital:
the climate is harsher, the weather more unpredictable, and the
distance from major ports and market cities too great.20
The rising cost of land did not gibe with the Baron de Hirsch_s
expectations or the estimated budget for his colonization enterprise.
JCA attempts to buy more economical state-owned lands failed. Land
was purchased from private owners, meaning usually that the plots
were small, located in remote places, and had to be purchased at
soaring prices. Their fertility was often low. The costs were increased by
the need for land preparation: tillage, drainage, and soil improvement.

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The settlers had to pay inflated annual fees to the JCA and produced
crops of inferior quality, which cut heavily into profits and made
payment for the land much more difficult. Indeed, some of the plots had
been abandoned by previous settlers, not necessarily Jewish, who gave
up farming after years of fruitless struggle.21
Farming tactics and land dimensions
Baron de Hirsch determined that land given to settlers would serve for
growing crops, particularly wheat, flax and other grains. The method
was to be the same extensive farming that was common in the colonized
areas in Argentina. Initially there was no need for fertilizers, and
settlers paid no regard to crop rotation. In order to provide for the
settler_s family, a bit of land was also allocated for a vegetable garden
and as pasture for dairy cows. Some land was also provided for a
community pasture, where working animals were kept.22
The benefits of applying fertilizers were already recognized as
Bgiving back to the land that which yield took away^ as phrased by
Paul Cauwes, then a professor at the law faculty in Paris. He called a
farming system that disregarded this principle Bvampire^ agriculture,
because it rendered the soil barren and turned it into wasteland. The
choice between extensive or intensive farming, according to Professor
Cauwes, is dependent on capital, land characteristics, the market, and
its proximity to the fields. He stressed that intensive farming requires
fertilizers, including chemical ones. The Baron_s decision appears to
have been the consequence of wanting to accustom settlers to hard
labor, the development of extensive farming in Argentina, and his desire
to save on fertilizer-related expenses.23
Settlers were aware of the difference between Argentina_s extensive
agriculture and the European custom. Noe Cociovitch articulated the
difference: BThe Lithuanian farmer produces for his own consumption,
if he has extra, he sells... here the opposite is true, the farmer produces
wheat, flax, and perhaps something else to sell in the market, and then
he buys the things he needs for himself, as they do in the city.^ Their
diet also underwent change, as Argentina_s inexpensive beef took the
place of Russia_s herring. MoNse Guesneroff, a graduate of the Mikveh
Israel agricultural school near Jaffa in Eretz Israel, who had settled in
Clara in 1897, wrote to Joseph Niego, the school_s headmaster: BOur
plots are like factories that produce wheat and flax,^ adding that
advanced machinery manufactured in America and sold by eighteen
companies in Buenos Aires, made it possible to till and sow hundreds of

LABOR AND LAND AT THE START OF JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN ARGENTINA

349

acres without many working hands. Non-Jewish immigrants who

settled in Argentina were also aware of these differences.24
Plot size for self-cultivation was initially set at 123 acres, but this
proved controversial. Wilhelm Lowenthal, one of JCA_s initial directors, argued that settlers with proven farming experience were entitled
to more land as they demonstrated the capability of cultivating it.
Opposing him, Eusebio Lapine, a JCA administrator for several
colonies and later JCA director in Buenos Aires, believed the size of
the land provided should be small and suitable to the number of
working persons in a family, who should also be able to produce a large
and high-quality yield from the small plot. Eugene Tisserand, a French
agricultural expert employed by the JCA in Paris, argued that Lapine_s
idea was applicable more to the future, when the settlers would have
developed their expertise in tilling the land. For the present, he
preferred the settler_s family to focus entirely on growing crops. In
1896 the Paris directors claimed Bbetter the meticulous cultivation of
small plots of land than the [bad] farming of extensive areas. As long as
our settlers do not accept this principle, they will remain exposed to
catastrophes.^ In the background were additional financial considerations related to land costs and ideology. These issues were addressed
by a JCA agent, speaking to the French travel writer Jules Huret, who
was visiting one of the colonies: BThe land they receive is sufficient in
size for a family of seven or eight. Otherwise the fortunate or the
malevolent among them will slowly take over the land of the
unfortunate or weak farmers. Our administrative policy is not to make
a few rich at the expense of others, but to enable the greatest possible
number of these poor folk to make a living.^25
The question of optimal plot size was not merely theoretical. Size, in
light of a family_s working capabilities, was not invariable. During the
first 2 years, the settler tilled the virginal land. This slow work,
generally with the aid of oxen, required a humid climate, so the plough
could penetrate deeply into the soil. Only in the following year would
the land be cultivated and sowed. The work progressed slowly, as the
settlers had yet to acquire the necessary skills and were thus reconciled
to working their small plots. After most of the land had been tilled and
basic experience gained, it became apparent that land allocations were
insufficient. JCA agents and visitors would comment with satisfaction
on the settlers_ great accomplishments that testified to their skills and
on their shift from slow oxen to strong horses pulling advanced
machines. It seemed as though settler families could cultivate large
areas of land and thus improve their economic circumstances.26

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On the subject of labor productivity it should be noted that the

period saw the development of cooperatives that advocated professional
goals such as further advancing the colonies by providing training and
professional tools for the development of agriculture and livestock
breeding. It was a time of gathering data, experimenting in crop
growing methods that were suitable for the local land and climate, and
distributing the information among the settlers. The goals were written
into the cooperatives_ statutes. One association included a clause about
the need to guide and assist its members: BThe settlers_ work habits are
far from satisfying; not because they are city people and novices to
farming but as the result of the country_s environment...^ The
cooperatives evidently contributed to the settlers_ expanding knowledge
of agriculture and their growing achievements in the fields.27
Writings from the period contain repeated demands by settlers to
increase their plot size, and the occasional consent by the JCA. One
reason for acquiescence was the JCA_s recognition of the need to
differentiate between the size of the allocated land and the size of land
to be cultivated. Part of the land was reserved for pasture, necessary for
breeding dairy cows, and other land had to lie fallow to prevent soil
degradation. In time, the standard plot was declared to be approximately 370 acres.28
In 1903 David Cazes, a JCA director in Buenos Aires, realized that
the Association_s position did not correspond to the area_s conditions:
BStarting our work, we all judged matters in Argentina according to
what we encountered or knew in Europe, objecting to large plots of
land.... Now we must accept that a settler needs enough land to manage
crop rotation, grow a pasture, and breed livestock.^ The JCA also
withdrew its demand for farming by physical labor alone, offering loans
that helped settlers buy modern farming machinery, including threshers
for use during the harvest. The task of giant tree clearing also proved
unprofitable. It was time consuming and also made settlers delay
sowing and lose precious agricultural time. Accordingly, the employment of tree clearing contractors was sanctioned.29
In the second decade of the twentieth century, the Association_s
directors in Paris declared that they had encountered a series of
financial difficulties, which made the purchase of land for further
colonization problematic. Rising real estate prices in Argentina were
also taking their toll. Though the JCA understood the need for larger
plots, it found it impossible to provide them in the new settlements. In
the Montefiore colony, for example, the JCA allocated smaller plots of
land, which were fitted mainly for growing alfalfa and raising livestock.

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351

In Dora, smaller plots yet were distributed, which already incorporated

irrigation systems. The Association renewed its attempts to achieve
profitable farming from small plots, enlisting in its efforts graduates of
several Jewish agricultural schools, including Mikveh Israel, mentioned
above, DjedeN da in Tunisia, and other similar schools from around the
world. The graduates concentrated their efforts in the pampas, but all
of their attempts failed.30
Land size and the labor force
A 370-acre plot of land was supposed to afford the maximum utilization
of a family_s working members during tillage and sowing. However, the
harvest from the newly authorized land size would have been beyond
the capacity of a family labor force. The expensive threshing machines
that might have facilitated tilling and sowing usually lay beyond the
individual settler_s financial reach. For the most part, threshing was left
to galloping horses, a less expensive but slower method, or to
contractors who owned the needed equipment. Sowing a field that
was too large for the family to harvest by itself resulted in reduced
profits, as many non-Jewish farmers had regrettably learned.31
These circumstances created a predicament for settlers who,
following the JCA_s recommendation, based their farms on the
cultivation of field crops. In choosing a farming system, settlers had to
choose between focusing on their constantly improving cultivation
capabilities and employing a system that took into account the
limitations of their labor force at harvest time. The latter required a
relatively small plot and focused on the quality of work, yielding a
harvest that could be taken in with almost no outside assistance; the
former called for more land, as well as salaried employees. This article
will not elaborate on the different variations of each system other than
to mention once again Eusebio Lapine, who advocated contenting
oneself with little. His argument in favor of allocating small plots is
reminiscent of Tolstoy_s BHow Much Land Does a Man Need?^.
Lapine_s ideas went beyond the demand for effective labor and the
production of a large crop from a small field. An advocate of livestock
breeding, he provided a comprehensive rationale for his program,
starting with the need to utilize a family_s labor force during the offseason. He also argued that the pasture ground be left unplanted for a
year, with the livestock making use of fallow land; grazing livestock,
after all, produced valuable fertilizers. Lapine continued saying that
although the revenue from growing crops was sufficient to cover

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expenses, he doubted it would be sufficient to provide for the family and

to cover annual payments to the JCA.
Lapine_s position on small plots was not formally accepted, but his
stance on livestock breeding was. The Association allocated funds for
breeding dairy cows and assisted in the establishment of dairies that
produced butter and cream for export. Livestock breeding was on the
rise in the second decade of the twentieth century, thanks to settler
initiative, alongside the progress made in growing alfalfa. Over the
years, livestock-based farms began to expand and in some places, like
Mauricio, overtook field crops.32
Self-reliant work and salaried employees
At the core of all these issues was the debate over self-reliant versus
salaried labor. Settlers were prohibited by contract from hiring salaried
employees without formal approval from the JCA. The Association
eventually consented, albeit hesitatingly, to this practice, although it
stipulated that settlers must live on their farm and themselves engage
in production. In its annual report for 1910, it was also said that
limiting the number of salaried employees in the colonies would prevent
the Bcreation of a Jewish proletariat.^ The JCA and various Jewish
workers_ associations also criticized on occasion the settlers_ preference
for hiring foreign workers Y capable of accomplishing a great deal for
little pay Y rather than Jewish laborers, even though many Jewish
families lacked work and sufficient incomes. Isaac Starkmeth, former
director of JCA in Eretz Israel and now its head in Buenos Aires, called
on the members of BLa Mutua Agricola^ cooperative in Moises Ville to
demonstrate Jewish patriotism by promoting the employment of Jewish
workers and to look after them, but his appeal went heeded.33
In time, Jewish immigrants arrived in the settlements and began
working on farms, in public works projects, and in seasonal agricultural
jobs or temporary jobs such as railroad construction. Some of them
looked into the option of the settlements. The immigration that had
started with a few turned into a steady stream lasted throughout the
period this essay covers. In 1900, no more than a few dozen immigrants
resided in the colonies. By the following year, the population rose to
about 340 individuals, by 1904, it had reached 836, and by 1905, 2,196.
Some immigrants arrived on their own, planning to bring their families
later on, while others immigrated with their families. Up until about
1904, the demographic growth in the colonies derived mainly from the
arrival of more or less organized groups from Eastern Europe. The

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353

increase between 1905 and 1914 was a result of Jewish laborers remaining
in the colonies, a practice the JCA encouraged. The Association would
select Jewish laborers who had Bproved their value and their positive
qualities^ during their years of work, and it facilitated their colonization
as long as land and funding were available.34
Subleasing
The farmerYsettler working the land in order eventually to own it was
disappearing in Argentina, and land-leasing was on the increase, which
threatened the ideal of the self-reliant farmer. In 1910, for example, the
JCA found itself confronting settlers in Mauricio who had failed to
fulfill the self-reliant farming requirement. The Association demanded
that the settlers withdraw from their leasing agreements and threatened to drive them off the land for breach of contract. A feeling of
diminishing hope prevailed, fueled by the colony_s frail communal
structure. It was further exacerbated by the grave financial crisis that
followed an outbreak of anthrax, resulting in the death of thousands of
heads of cattle. Social unrest was also generated during a visit by Leon
Chasanowich, a leader of the Poalei Zion movement, who urged the
settlers to unite and confront the JCA with their complaints.35
In 1912, word got out that 25 settlers of the Baron Hirsch colony
were not cultivating their own land. Three of them were, in fact, living
abroad, their lands being farmed by tenants who were also responsible
for paying the JCA_s annual fees. The JCA confiscated the plots, based
on the court_s ruling on the settlers_ original contract, which prohibited
land leasing. A warning was issued to the others, ordering them to leave
the land that they leased immediately after the harvest.36 The problem
did not go away. It surfaced anew in Mauricio, in 1914. Leasing was
becoming widespread. Isaac Starkmeth said it was practiced by 94 of
the colony_s 248 residents, and, in response, the JCA said it was ready
to remove anyone refusing to cancel subleasing contracts. The threat
was eventually made good37 Y and with settler support. Miguel Sajaroff
described the JCA_s battle against settlers_ leasing their lands as Ba
healthy act.^38
The hope of building a multi-generational agrarian society
The JCA was also bent on instilling a love of the land and its
cultivation among the colonists_ offspring, encouraging successive
generations to maintain the family farm after their parents_ death.

354

YEHUDA LEVIN

Toward this end, the JCA added several hours of agricultural studies to
the curriculum of the elementary schools it had established in the
settlements. In 1897, the Association_s administrators in Paris said:
BThe settlers_ children will become true farmers, passing up [careers in]
finance in order to dedicate their lives to working the land.^ For reasons
beyond the scope of this essay, the effort failed, and children learned
more about farming by working alongside their parents than they did in
school. In addition, in 1910 the JCA was advised that it was impossible
to determine the legal heirs to the land from the settlers_ contracts;
inheritance law stipulated that at the death of the landowner, the land
be divided among all his children, including those who left their parents
hearth, even if they had never taken part in maintaining the farm.39
The JCA_s hope of building a multi-generational agrarian society
encountered numerous difficulties. One of them was its own refusal, on
occasion, to provide land for settlers_ children, based on the reasoning
that children must work with their parents and eventually inherit the
land. However, various agricultural crises left the Association no choice
but to allow settlers to spread their annual payments over a longer
period of time. This meant that a settler might receive a deed to the land
only after 20 or 30 years, so that acquiring full ownership might take a
lifetime. Nor was there any guarantee that children, who were not bound
by contract to the JCA, would choose to remain on the farm.40
Conclusion
The return to farming possessed alluring powers, holding the promise to
heal the ills of Jewish society by means of Bproductivization^ and a
return to the glorious biblical past. That a respectable and wealthy Jew
chose to lead this enterprise provided the ideal with a dimension of
reality that, in turn, fired many an imagination. Nevertheless, despite
the inherent romanticism and passion, farming the pampas proved to
be truly a challenge. Colonization was carried out mainly by entire
families, fathers, mothers, and children. Large families, sometimes in
pairs, would dwell in small, single story houses. When a second
generation of settlers started its own family, the family house would
become even more crowded. And, in the event, the single farm could not
support all its inhabitants, making providing for the family a struggle.
The issue of self-sufficient labor links most of the topics discussed in
this essay. The JCA selected settlers whose family structure was taken
as a kind of guarantee that hired help would not be needed., and it
allocated land according to what it saw as the family_s ability to

LABOR AND LAND AT THE START OF JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN ARGENTINA

355

cultivate and harvest. The lengthy period that was needed to acquire full
ownership of the land was part of the JCA_s goal of fashioning a new Jew
who lived off the land. Prior to becoming full owners, settlers had to
prove that their families had become rooted on the land and true farmers.
Toward this goal, the Association initially objected to the use of
machinery, viewed animal husbandry as a non-agrarian occupation akin
to commerce, and recommended the creation of self-sustaining farms.
However, these hopes proved incompatible with the realities of both
time and place. The JCA_s ideals clashed with contemporary trends in
Argentina: toward urbanization and away from the country, the
increasing frequency of large farms that depended on hired workers,
and the growing practice of leasing land to tenants. Argentinean
agriculture was also increasingly based on capitalist development and
the free traffic of commodities and salaried and tenant labor, which
made of the self-sustaining private family farm a holdover from earlier
times and lead to numerous failures even during the initial years of
colonization. The Association had to resort to a great deal of pragmatic
ingenuity to bridge the gaps. This included increasing the size of the
plots allocated, providing the option, and a proper budget, to initiate
animal husbandry, introducing crop rotation, and consenting to salaried
employees, although the JCA approved of this last practice only as
supplemental to the settler_s own labor and when it corresponded with
the Association_s interests.
The JCA viewed Jewish immigrants who had been living in
Argentina for several years as good candidates for colonization, even
though for the most part, these immigrants were really members of a
constantly changing army for hire. Immigrants would either settle or
leave, and there were always others willing to take their place. In
consenting to salaried employees, the JCA thus benefited from a system
that provided a way to screen applicants, those selected sometimes
settling on land abandoned by predecessors who had left for an urban
life. Moreover, while permitting salaried laborers, the JCA continued to
forbid leasing and took action against all who attempted it. For all that,
the number of Jewish immigrants constantly increased, and by JCA
standards, there were many more eligible applicants than there was
either available land or budget.
Jewish farmers thus had to struggle under harsh conditions in a new
environment, while they were bound by a system of settlement ill suited
to local reality. Indeed, after a period of adapting to the area_s climate,
as well as to life on the farm, settlers found themselves with no choice
but to engage in extensive farming and cultivate areas far larger than

356

YEHUDA LEVIN

the initially allocated plots. The same went for the use of hired hands,
when family resources failed at harvest time. The settlers hoped
eventually to own the land, as their contracts with the JCA guaranteed,
but the stipulations the Association made often had no bearing on
either the time or place. Nonetheless, a Jewish population was
established in the colonies, which linked its fate to the pampas and
gained its livelihood from agricultural work. Jewish farmers struggled
constantly against everyday hardships, they made the desert bloom,
and they enhanced the value of their land. Today, after a decades-long
process, several hundred families of Jewish farmers remain scattered in
what once was a network of Jewish colonies in Argentina. These villages
and towns still retain their original Jewish names. But most of those
living in these former JCA colonies are, in fact, non-Jews.
Notes
1. Theodore Norman An Outstretched Arm, (London, 1985), 1Y3, 13, 308Y309, n. 10.
For a study of the JCA_s Colonization in Argentina until 1914, see Haim Avni
Argentina: Ha_aretz ha_yeuda (Jerusalem, 1973); Levin Y. BFrom Crisis to Growth:
Jewish Colonization in Argentina Established by the Jewish Colonization Association (J.C.A.), 1896Y1914^ (Ph.D. Dissertation, Tel Aviv University, 1998); J.
Oettinger, BDie j
udische Kolonisation in Argentinien,^ Tropenpflanzer (Organ des
Kolonial Wirtschaftlichen Komitees) 12 (1916), 640Y662.
2. Lee Shai Weissbach, BThe Nature of Philanthropy in Nineteenth Y Century France
and the Mentalite of the Jewish Elite,^ Jewish History 8 (1994), 191Y204.
3. Avni, Argentina, 56Y69; Baron de Hirsch, BMy Views on Philanthropy,^ North
American Review, 416, July 1891; Levin, From Crisis, 457Y458.
4. Eugenio Lapine, Rapport sur la Colonisation Israelite, 8/1898, JCA Archive
[henceforth JCAA], File 312, held at the Central Archives for the History of the
Jewish People in Jerusalem [henceforth CAHJP]; Norman, An Outstretched Arm,
2Y3; Avni, Argentina, 273Y276; For a study of the physiocrats, see Joseph Rambaud
Histoire des doctrines economiques, (Lyon, 1899), 83Y125.
5. Morton D. Winsberg Colonia Baron Hirsch, a Jewish Agricultural Colony in
Argentina, (Gainesville, Florida, 1963), 31Y32; Norman, An, 75; Mark Jefferson
Peopling the Argentine Pampa, (New York/London, 1971), 155Y156; Louis Oungre,
Notre Colonisation dans la Republique Argentine, JCAA, Rapport d_inspection,
12.10.1928, CAHJP.
6. Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 444Y450; Norman, An Outstretched Arm, 84Y85.
7. Roberto Schopflocher Historia de la colonizacion agricola en Argentina, (Buenos
Aires, 1955), 40Y41; Gaston Gori Inmigracion y colonizacion en la Argentina,
(Buenos Aires, 1964), 75Y76.
8. David Cazes to JCA, 24.9.1897, JCAA, File 328, CAHJP; Sigismund Sonnenfeld,
Theodor Adler to JCA, 20.10.1897, JCAA, File 363, CAHJP; Cazes to
JCA, 15.2.1897, Rapport; JCAA, File 329, CAHJP; Cazes to JCA, 8.12.1899,
Rapport, JCAA, File 332, CAHJP.

LABOR AND LAND AT THE START OF JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN ARGENTINA

357

9. Marcos Alpersohn 30 shenot ha-hitiyashevut ha-yehudit bFArgentina, 2, (Tel-Aviv,

1930), 127; Ha-Zefirah, 15/27.12.1896.
10. Jose Mendelson, BGenesis de la colonia judia de la Argentina (1889Y1892),^ in 50
an~os de colonizacion judia en la Argentina, (Buenos Aires, 1939), 83Y143, 92;
Winsberg, Colonia, 4; Morton D. Winsberg, BJewish Agricultural Colonization in
Entre Rios, Argentina,^ The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, I,
(1968), 285Y295, 285Y286; Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 462.
11. Alberto Gerchunoff, BNoticia sobre la inmigracion judia a la Argentina Y El Baron
Mauricio de Hirsch,^in 50 an~os de colonizacion judia en la Argentina, (Buenos
Aires, DAIA, 1939), 43Y64, 45; Victor A. Mirelman En b
usqueda de una identidad Y
Los inmigrantes judios en Buenos Aires 1890Y1930, (Buenos Aires, 1988), 21;
Gregorio Verbitsky Rivera afan de medio siglo, (Buenos Aires, 1955), 39Y40; Boris
Garfunkel Narro mi vida, (Buenos Aires, 1960/5720), 278Y279.
12. Pinhas Bizberg, BOif di Shpurn fun Yidisher Vanderung in 1899Y1902,^ Instituto
Cientifico Judio Y IWO, Buenos Aires [henceforth BIWO^], Argentiner IWO Shriftn
(1942), 7Y46.
13. Jose Liebermann Tierra son~ada, Episodios de colonizacion agraria judia en la
Argentina 1889Y1959 (Buenos Aires, 1959), 21Y22, 27; Alberto Gerchunoff Entre
Rios mi pais, (Buenos Aires, 1950), 13; Adolfo Leibovich Apuntes intimos
1870Y1946, (Buenos Aires, 1946), 37Y38.
14. For a study of Sajaroff and Yarcho see: Pinhas Bizberg Amol iz geven a dokter, vor
un legende vegn dokter Noah Iarhi, (Buenos Aires, 1953); Celia Gladys Lopez, BEl
culto a los valores y la tradicion,^ in Congreso sobre inmigracion en la Argentina,
(Rosario, 26Y28 de septiembre de 1991), 7.
15. Alberto Gerchunoff Los gauchos judios, (Buenos Aires, 1950), 32Y33; Alpersohn, 30
shenot, 1, (Tel-Aviv, 1930), 13, 107; Nicolas Rapoport La Querencia (Entre arroyos
y cuchillas), (Buenos Aires, 1929), 7.
16. Juan E. Corradi The Fitful Republic: Economy, Society and Politics in Argentina
(Boulder and London, 1985), 25; Roberto Cortes Conde and Ezequiel Gallo La
formacion de la Argentina moderna (Buenos Aires, 1967), 45Y48, 52; Franklin Sofer
From Pale to Pampa, a Social History of the Jews of Buenos Aires (New York,
1982), 34Y35; Jefferson, Peopling, 91Y93; Ortiz R. M. Historia economica de la
argentina 1850Y1930, II (Buenos Aires, 1955), 47, 52Y55; Ezequiel Gallo and
Roberto Cortes Conde Argentina, la rep
ublica conservadora, (Buenos Aires, 1972),
23; Gori, Inmigracion, 71Y74, 88.
17. Ortiz, Historia, 52Y53; James R. Scobie Argentina a City and a Nation, (New York,
1971), 120; Corradi, The, 27; Schopflocher, Historia, 45; Roberto Cortes Conde El
Progreso Argentino 1880Y1914, (Buenos Aires, 1979), 58.; Alberto J. Pla America
Latina siglo XX: economia, sociedad y revolucion, (Buenos Aires, 1969), 70Y71. For
more on the firm Baring Brothers, see Ione S. Wright and Lisa M. Nekhom
Historical Dictionary of Argentina, (N. J. Y London, 1978), 79.
18. Levin, From Crisis, 21Y24; Kurt Grunwald T
urkenhirsch, A Study of Baron
Maurice de Hirsch Entrepreneur and Philanthropist (Jerusalem, 1966).
19. Gori, Inmigracion, 75Y76, 89; Cortes Conde, El Progreso, 58; Winsberg, Colonia, 5;
Cortes Conde y Gallo, La formacion, 85Y86, 150; Corradi, The Fitful Republic, 28;
Gallo y Cortes Conde, Argentina, la rep
ublica, 179; Franz K
uhn Geografia de la
Argentina (Barcelona, 1930), 143.
20. Jefferson, Peopling, 10Y11; James R. Scobie Revolution on the Pampas (Austin,
1967), 15, 24, 27, 29Y30; K
uhn, Geografia, 9Y11.

358

YEHUDA LEVIN

21. Winsberg, BJewish,^ 287; Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 27Y28, 31, 118Y119; 130Y131, 480;
Liebermann, Tierra, 95, 96; JCA, Rapport pour l_annee 1902, 14; Beatriz Bosch
Historia de EntreRios, 1520Y1969 (Buenos Aires, 1978), 266,275.
22. K
uhn, Geografia, 169; Avni, Argentina, 224Y229; Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 174, 179,
182Y184.
23. Paul Cauwes Cours d_economie politique (Paris, 1893), 433Y5, 446.
24. Noe Cociovitch Genesis de Moises Ville, (Buenos Aires, 1987) 107Y108; Moise
Guesneroff to Joseph Niego, 6.4.1897, Agricultural School BMikve Israel^ Collection
[henceforth MI] ,file J41/219, The Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem [henceforth
CZA]; Ezequiel Gallo La pampa gringa Y La colonizacion agricola en Santa Fe
(1870Y1895) (Buenos Aires, 1984), 359.
25. Avni, Argentina, 96; Lapine, BRapport sur la reorganisation de la Colonia
Mauricio,^ 9/1896, JCAA, File 327, CAHJP; Lapine to JCA, 10.5.1901, Aviso
221, JCAA, File 221, CAHJP; Eugene Tisserand, BRapport Lapine et reponse,^
7.12.1901, microfilm HM135 [copies of the original held in IWO Archive in Buenos
Aires and inspected by the author in CAHJP]; Sonnenfeld, Adler to JCA,
4.12.1896, JCAA, File 363, CAHJP; Jules Huret En Argentine, de Buenos Aires
au Gran Chaco, (Paris, 1911), 410Y411.
26. JCA, Rapport pour l_annee 1908, 26, 49; Rapport pour l_annee 1909, 48Y49; Rapport
pour l_annee 1910, 1; Guesneroff to Niego, 6.4.1897, MI, file J41/219, (CZA).
27. La Mutua Agricola, Sociedad anonima de la Colonia Moisesville, Estatutos
aprovados por el Excelentisimo Gobierno de la Provincia de SantaFe por decreto
fecha 22 de Marzo y 9 de Noviembre [de] 1909, (Buenos Aires, 1909), 3; Primera
Sociedad Agricola fundada por los colonos de la Jewish Colonization Association el
12 de agosto de 1900, Primera memoria correspondiente al ejercicio de los dos
primeros an~os, Basavilbaso Y EntreRios (Buenos Aires, 1902), 11; Sociedad
Agricola Israelita fundada por los colonos de la Jewish Colonization Association el
12 de agosto de 1900, Reglamento (Parana, 1906), 3Y4.
28. Samuel Hirsch, Cazes to JCA, 13.1.1899, IWO, microfilm HM134, CAHJP; Cazes
to JCA, 27.3.1903, IWO, microfilm HM135, CAHJP; Cazes to JCA, 23.5.1907,
IWO, microfilm HM135, CAHJP; Rapport pour l_annee 1907, 62Y63; Rapport pour
l_annee 1907, 39, 101Y102; Garfunkel, Narro mi vida, 340Y348.
29. Cazes (BA) to JCA (P), 27.3.1903, Rapport; IWO, microfilm HM135, CAHJP.
30. Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 131Y139; Yehuda Levin, BCuatro egresados de Mikveh-Israel
en Colonia Clara Y Argentina (1896Y1899),^ Judaica Latinoamericana III (1997),
35Y44; Yehuda Levin, BFrom Tunisia to Argentina Y The Origins of the
Agricultural School in Djedeida and the Settlement of a Group of its Graduates
in Mauricio,^ Pe_amin 101Y102 (Autumn 2004 Y Winter 2005), 39Y62.
31. Scobie, Revolution, 79; Veneziani to JCA, 14.1.1909, JCAA, file Exterior 9,
CAHJP.
32. Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 186Y193.
33. Sonnenfeld, Emile Meyerson to JCA, 22.11.1903, JCAA, File 29d, CAHJP; Nandor
Sonnenfeld to JCA, 15.9.1910, IWO, microfilm HM136, CAHJP; Simon Weill to
JCA, 21.6.1914, JCAA, File 427, CAHJP; Isaac Starkmeth to JCA, 20.2.1915,
JCAA, File 428, CAHJP; Moss, Veneziani to JCA, 23.11.1911, JCAA, file Exterior
11, CAHJP; JCA, Seances du Conseil d_Administration Proces-verbaux, 18.9.1911,
16.
34. Rapport pour l_annee 1900, 14, 21; Rapport pour l_annee 1901, 8; Rapport pour
l_annee 1905, 22; Rapport pour l_annee 1909, 38Y39.

LABOR AND LAND AT THE START OF JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN ARGENTINA

359

35. Aranovich, Demetrio, BLa colonia Mauricio,^ Mundo Israelita (12.12.1931), 5;

Susana Beatriz Sigwald Carioli, Historia de barbas y caftanes (Carlos Casares,
1976), 8; Moss,Veneziani to JCA, 17.3.1910; Veneziani to JCA, 24.3.1910; Moss,
Veneziani to JCA, 7.4.1910, JCAA, file 351, CAHJP; Veneziani, Gros to
JCA, 20.10.1910, JCAA, file 352, CAHJP; Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 387.
36. Moss, Adolfo Leibovich to JCA, 7.11.1912; Moss, Veneziani to JCA, 12.12.1912,
JCAA, file 425, CAHJP; Veneziani, Leibovich to JCA, 20.2.1913, JCAA, file 425,
CAHJP.
37. Starkmeth to JCA, 27.4.1914; Veneziani to JCA, 27.4.1914, JCAA, File 427I,
CAHJP; Meyerson, Louis Oungre to JCA, 28.5.1914, JCAA, file 494, CAHJP.
38. Memorandum de la delegacion a Londres redactado por Isaac Kaplan, 1948 (AR/
2), CAHJP.
39. Sonnenfeld, Adler to JCA, 20.12.1897, JCAA, File 363, CAHJP; David Veneziani,
Francisco Gros to JCA, 7.7.1910, JCAA, file 351, CAHJP; Levin, BFrom Crisis,^
398Y401.
40. Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 425Y426, 458.