Ratz (political party)

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Movement for Civil Rights and Peace
התנועה לזכויות האזרח ולשלום‎
LeaderShulamit Aloni
Yossi Sarid
Gabi Deus (de jure)
Founded1973
Dissolved1997 (de facto)
Split fromAlignment
Merged intoMeretz
IdeologyLiberal socialism[1][2]
Civil libertarianism[3]
Secularism
Anti-clericalism[4]
Green politics[5]
Socialist feminism
Two-state solution
Labor Zionism
Political positionLeft-wing[6]
Most MKs6 (1992)
Election symbol
רצ‎

Ratz (

civil rights, and women's rights.[7][8][9] It was active from 1973 until its formal merger into Meretz
in 1997. However, it remains a registered political party.

History

The Movement for Civil Rights and Peace was formed in 1973 by

civil rights, most notably women's rights, a topic that was very close to Aloni. It was also a notable fighter against corruption and for a written constitution, and Aloni was the initiator of the Knesset sub-committee for basic laws
(Israel's equivalent of a constitution). For a while it also supported electoral reform.

In its first test, the 1973 elections, the party won 2.2% of the vote and three seats in the Knesset, which were taken by Aloni, new American immigrant Marcia Freedman, and Boaz Moav. The party soon gained the popular name Ratz, as it used the letters Resh-Tzadik on the election ballot paper. Following Golda Meir's resignation, the party joined Yitzhak Rabin's government and Aloni served as a minister without portfolio. This was one of the few periods in Israel's political history when no religious parties were part of the coalition. The arrangement lasted for a few months only and when the National Religious Party joined the coalition, Ratz left it.

In 1975 the party merged with

Black Panthers) to form the Left Camp of Israel
.

Ratz performed poorly in the '77 elections, winning only one seat, which Aloni took. The 1981 elections were a repeat, with only Aloni representing the party in the Knesset. During the Knesset session she merged the party into the Alignment, but then broke away again before the term ended.

Before the 1984 elections the Left Camp of Israel merged into Ratz in a one-to-three ratio, bringing with them Ran Cohen among others. The elections were an improvement on the previous two, and saw the party win three seats. During the Knesset session, the party gained another two seats when Yossi Sarid and Mordechai Virshubski joined, defecting from the Alignment and Shinui respectively. The party retained its five-seat strength in the 1988 elections.

Prior to the

1996 elections, Aloni finally lost the leadership of the party, defeated by Sarid in internal elections. She retired from politics immediately. In 1997 the merger was made official (though several Shinui members led by Avraham Poraz broke away to reform as an independent party, whilst David Zucker
became an independent MK), and Ratz effectively ceased to exist. However, it remained a registered political party and submitted financial reports to the Party Registrar in 2010 and 2013.

Election results

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– Status
1973 Shulamit Aloni 35,023 2.2
3 / 120
 New Opposition (1973–1974)
Government (1974)
Opposition (1974-1977)
1977 20,621 1.2
1 / 120
 Decrease 2 Opposition
1981 27,921 1.4
1 / 120
 Steady Opposition
1984 49,698 2.4
3 / 120
 Increase 2 Opposition
1988 97,513 4.3
5 / 120
 Increase 2 Opposition
1992 Part of Meretz
6 / 120
 Increase 1 Government
1996
 Yossi Sarid
4 / 120
 Decrease 2 Opposition

Knesset members

Knesset
(MKs) 		Knesset Members
8th
(3−1) 		Shulamit Aloni, Boaz Moav
− Marcia Freedman (to the Social-Democratic Faction)
9th
(1) 		Shulamit Aloni
10th
(1) 		Shulamit Aloni
11th
(3+2) 		Shulamit Aloni,
Alignment)
+ Mordechai Virshubski (from Shinui
)
12th
(5) 		Shulamit Aloni, Ran Cohen, Yossi Sarid, Mordechai Virshubski, David Zucker
13th
(6 out of 12) 		Shulamit Aloni, Ran Cohen, David Zucker, Yossi Sarid, Naomi Chazan, Binyamin Temkin
14th

(4 out of 9) 		Yossi Sarid, Ran Cohen, David Zucker, Naomi Chazan

References

  1. ^ "The Left". The Jerusalem Post. 1999. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  2. ISBN 9780739133613
    . Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  3. ISBN 9780810864030
    . Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  4. ISBN 978-0720122367
    . CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT (Rotz). This radical, dovish, and anticlerical party was founded in 1973 by Shulamit Aloni, a noted civil rights activist, who failed to win renomination on the Labor Party* ticket.
  5. ISBN 978-0814323977
    . In terms of social and economic policy, Labor is a social democratic party; Mapam, the old socialist left; CRM is an Israeli-style Green party; and Shinui is what Terry Clark has described as Neo-Populist—fiscally conservative and liberal on life-style issues.
  6. ISBN 978-1-317-58450-6
    .
  7. ISBN 9780874519624
    . Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  8. ^ "Domestic politics in Israeli peace-making, 1988-1994" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 May 2015.
  9. ISBN 0792306856
    . Hatnua Lezlmiot Haezrah (the Civil Rights Movement, or CRM) is primarily interested in protecting the secular character of the State of Israel and the civil rights of its citizens. The CRM advocates a liberal economic policy and a dovish stand in the Israeli-Arab conflict.

External links
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