A. General:
1. The Congress
The Zionist Congress is the supreme authority in the Movement. Until the fifth Congress, Congresses were held annually, but since the sixth Congress they have been held biennially. The first Congress was held on the 29th of August, 1897, at Basle, Switzerland. Most of the subsequent Congresses were held at the same place: the second in August, 1898; the third in August, 1899; the fifth in December, 1901; the sixth in August, 1903; the seventh in August, 1905, and the tenth in September, 1911. The fourth Congress was held in London in August, 1900; the eighth took place at the Hague in August, 1907; the ninth at Hamburg in December, 1909, and the eleventh at Vienna in August, 1913.
The Congress consists of delegates representing the shekel payers throughout the world, who assemble for the purpose of international discussion of the Jewish question and decisions concerning the world-wide Zionist Organization. The Congress, as the controlling body of the movement, interprets the programme of Zionism, settles the details of organization, elects the executive and examines the financial affairs of the movement. The officials and committee of the movement are responsible to the Congress. The Zionist banking institution, the Jewish Colonial Trust in London, is also controlled by the Congress, as only members of the Actions Committee can become members of the Council of the Trust. A deciding voice in the control of the Jewish National Fund is secured to the Congress, as only members of the Council of the Jewish Colonial Trust can become members of the Jewish National Fund. (See below as to the Jewish Colonial Trust and Jewish National Fund.)
Only shekel payers (paying a sum of one shilling or a corresponding sum in foreign coinage) have the right to elect delegates to a Congress. The payment of that sum by a person who accepts the principles of Zionism as adopted by the first Congress entitles him or her to membership of the International Zionist Organization.
The last Zionist Congress, which was the eleventh, was attended by 538 delegates, who represented the Zionists in the following countries: Russia, France, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, United States of America, Canada, Turkey, Belgium, Holland, Roumania, China, Bulgaria, Italy, Hungary, Serbia, Australia, South Africa, Greece and England.
2. The Actions Committee
The Executive power of the movement is vested in the Greater Actions Committee, consisting of twenty-five members, and in a Smaller Actions Committee, consisting of six members. The members of the present Greater Actions Committee are:
Dr. Max Bodenheimer, Jean Fischer, Dr. Frank, Dr. Friedemann, B. A. Goldberg, Dr. H. G. Heymann,[¹] A. Idelsohn, Jakobus Kann, L. Kessler, Dr. Klee, J. Kremenezky, Dr. Alexander Marmorek, Leo Motzkin, J. A. Naiditsch, A. Podlischewski, Dr. Leon Reich, I. A. Rosoff, S. Rosenbaum, Heinrich Schein, Julius Simon, Adolf Stand, Robert Stricker, M. Ussischkin, Dr. Chaim Weizmann,[²] and David Wolffsohn[³]
[¹] Died in 1918.