anonJ> It’s difficult to equate pre-Holocaust positions to what Reb Elchonon Wasserman might might have held had he survived.
a very good point. In general, it is a very different thing to have an attitude towards an idea, a hopeful development, and a de-facto successful country with actual “people an animals” (Yona)
R Eliashev (at least) once said (on a minor topic) “I do not have ruach hakodesh”. I don’t know about others, but possible some of them also did not. So, their opinions towards early Zionists may not be the same as now several generations later.
Look (repeating myself) at Bava Basra description of development of educational system – it is purely pragmatic: different systems are tried over several generations until a successful one is developed. So, T’Ch did not always have ruach hakodesh then also, but it did not stop them from acting. They did not say – see, schools are bad, let’s keep everyone ignorami.
Apply same approach to Medinah – Rabbonim saw early problems, made political decisions, this was repeated several times, situation now is a result of time passed and their actions. It is a practical question what to do now, and reverting to old opinions in new circumstances is not an answer.