Soviet Anti Semitism

The first book-length analysis of how the Bolsheviks responded to antisemitism during the Russian Revolution.

A fully-documented and referenced exposé of the Zionist lie that the Soviet Union was "anti-Semitic." It conclusively proves that in fact the USSR was pro-Jewish, but anti-Zionist-particularly after Zionism became increasingly racist, and militarily aggressive towards Israel's neighbors, and, most importantly, after the Zionist-Jewish lobby became intertwined with and controlling of, the US government. Starting with an overview of the historical background of the Jewish nature of Communism (drawing upon the British Government's 1919 White Paper on Bolshevism and the May 1907 edition of National Geographic magazine-which both pointed out the Jewish role in fermenting revolution in Tsarist Russia), the book discusses the internal conflicts in Jewish Communist circles, and of the eventual break between the socialist Zionists and the Jewish Communists. Next it shows how the Soviet Union first attempted to deal with the Jewish demands for a homeland by creating one within the Soviet Union, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast of Birobidzhan-which still exists to the present-day. However, Israel's increasing racism, ultra-nationalism and aggression towards its neighbors reopened the old split between Zionist and Communist Jews. By the late 1960s, relations between Israel and the Soviet Union had broken down, and the Zionist-Jewish dominated western media launched its "antisemitism in Russia" campaign. The culmination of this clash came in 1983 when a large number of leading Communist Jews in the Soviet Union-including Army Generals, members of the Soviet parliament and others-created the "Anti-Zionist Committee of Soviet Public Opinion" (AZCSPO). This work contains the full text of all three AZCSPO information pieces distributed in the West.

Kosher pork -- an oxymoron? Anna Shternshis's fascinating study traces the creation of a Soviet Jewish identity that disassociated Jewishness from Judaism. The cultural transformation of Soviet Jews between 1917 and 1941 was one of the most ambitious experiments in social engineering of the past century. During this period, Russian Jews went from relative isolation to being highly integrated into the new Soviet culture and society, while retaining a strong ethnic and cultural identity. This identity took shape during the 1920s and 1930s, when the government attempted to create a new Jewish culture, "national in form" and "socialist in content." Soviet and Kosher is the first study of key Yiddish documents that brought these Soviet messages to Jews, notably the "Red Haggadah," a Soviet parody of the traditional Passover manual; songs about Lenin and Stalin; scripts from regional theaters; Socialist Realist fiction; and magazines for children and adults. More than 200 interviews conducted by the author in Russia, Germany, and the United States testify to the reception of these cultural products and provide a unique portrait of the cultural life of the average Soviet Jew.

Analyzes Soviet antisemitism, dwelling on the post-1967 official anti-Zionist campaign, as well as on the non-official antisemitism of the late 1980s, the "perestroika" period. Shows that "non-official" antisemites, including such bodies as Pamyat and Otechestvo, made extensive use of the ideological legacy of the official anti-Zionist campaign, and the same authors (Romanenko, Yevseyev, and others) who participated in that campaign from 1970-early 1980s now joined these "non-official" organizations. Shows, also, that the party establishment, especially conservative elements, supported the "non-official" antisemitic bodies of the "glasnost" period.

Sifting through thousands of recently declassified documents in the formerly secret archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the KGB, Gennadi Kostyrchenko uncovers irrefutable evidence of Stalin's intentionally anti-Semitic policy. The documents describe the suppression of all free manifestations of Jewish life, forced assimilation, and the purging of Jews from most official positions.