Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair (Hebrew: הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר, also transliterated Hashomer Hatsair or HaShomer HaTzair, translating as The Young Guard) is a Socialist–Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine (see Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party of Palestine).

Hashomer Hatzair along with HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed of Israel are members of the International Falcon Movement – Socialist Education International.

Early formation

Hashomer Hatzair came into being as a result of the merger of two groups, Hashomer ("The Guard") a Zionist scouting group, and Ze'irei Zion ("The Youth of Zion") which was an ideological circle that studied Zionism, socialism and Jewish history. Hashomer Hatzair is the oldest Zionist youth movement still in existence. Initially Marxist-Zionist, the movement was influenced by the ideas of Ber Borochov and Gustav Wyneken as well as Baden-Powell and the German Wandervogel movement. Hashomer Hatzair believed that the liberation of Jewish youth could be accomplished by aliyah (immigration; literally "ascent") to Palestine and living in kibbutzim. After the war the movement spread to Jewish communities throughout the world as a scouting movement.