 In 1883 a committee was organized at Odessa for the colonization of Palestine, Lilienblum serving as ṣecretary and Dr. Leon Pinsker, author of "Autoemancipation", as president.With the Hibbat Zion conference in Katowice, in which Lilienblum took an earnest and energetic part as secretary, representatives of European Jewry met and discussed the first plans for colonization in Palestine, a foundation stone was laid for the Zionist movement ("Derek la-'Abor Golim," p. 16).Lilienblum's activity thus covers two distinct periods in his thinking.