Diamonds and War (eBook)

David De Vries is an Associate Professor at the Department of Labor Studies at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He studied history at the LSE and Warwick University. A social historian, his primary research interests are modern labor and business history of Palestine and Israel. His publications include Idealism and Bureaucracy in 1920s Palestine: The Origins of ‘Red Haifa’ (1999, in Hebrew) and Dock Workers: International Explorations in Labor History, 1790–1970 (2000, co-edited). Currently he is writing on strikes in Israeli history and is involved in a project on new perspectives in the business history of the modern Middle East.

List of Figures and Tables
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Map

Introduction
Global and National: War, Diamonds and the Colonial State

Chapter 1. Palestine as an Alternative
Preconditions
Local Initiatives
The Pressure of the War
The Logic of Limited Expansion

Chapter 2. The Making of a Monopoly
Effects of the Occupation
Organizing Capital
Power and Contestation

Chapter 3. Diamond Work and Zionist Time
The Reign of the Small Stone
Gain and Discipline
Facing the 'Triangular Thread'
Splintering Labor's Voice
Zionist Legitimacy

Chapter 4. The Challenge and its Constraints
In Antwerp's Absence
The Politics of Supply
Adamant London
Accountability and Vindication

Chapter 5. Labor Unrest
Actors and Issues
The First General Strike
Labor-Capital
Rapprochement
Propensity to Strike
The Long Showdown

Chapter 6. Liberation and Liberalization
Contrasts at War's End
Incipient De-Control
Deregulation

Chapter 7. Crisis and Restructuring
Reversal of Fortunes
National Intervention
Labor's Moment

Chapter 8. Reproducing the Pact
State of Transition
The Pact
Epilogue

Appendices

Table A.1 Explanation of Names of Diamond Factories in 1930-1950 Palestine
Table A.2 Establishment of Diamond Factories in Palestine, 1937-1941
Table A.3 Origins of Main Owners of Diamond Factories in Palestine, November 1941
Table A.4 Diamond Factories (PDMA Membership), Palestine November 1944
Table A.5 Diamond Factories (PDMA Membership), Palestine November 1946
Table A.6 Diamond Cooperatives in Palestine/Israel, 1946-1949

Bibliography
Index