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What's interesting is that according to several narratives from those close to the central committee under Stalin, anti-semitic policies in the Soviet Union sta
by moxie 14y ago
What's interesting is that according to several narratives from those close to the central committee under Stalin, anti-semitic policies in the Soviet Union started from geo-political maneuvering rather than any inherent personal sense of racism.
Sudoplatov, an NKVD agent who worked for Beria, wrote in his memoirs that the original Soviet post-war plans were actually to establish a Jewish republic in the Crimea, with the hope that they would be able to use it in order to get money for Soviet post-war reconstruction from Jewish organizations around the world.
When they failed to gain world traction with the idea, and were cut off from British/American planning of the alternative (Palestine), Stalin moved to a policy of anti-Semitism (the "Doctor's Plot" and a campaign against "Rootless Cosmopolitanism") so that the Arab world would turn to him instead (in their dissatisfaction with the plans for Israel).
One passage from Sudoplatov's memoirs:
"Stalin and his close aides were interested in the Jewish issue mainly to exploit it politically, either for use in a power struggle or for consolidating their power. That's how the flirtation with anti-Semitism started in high party echelons...Stalin's efforts after the war were focused on extending Soviet hegemony, first over the countries of Eastern Europe bordering the Soviet Union and then everywhere he was in competition with British interests. He foresaw that the Arab states would turn to the Soviet Union when they were frustrated by British and American support for Israel. The Arabs would appreciate the anti-Zionist trends in Soviet foreign policy...I was told by Vetrov, Molotov's Assistant, what Stalin said: 'Let's agree to the establishment of Israel. This will be a pain in the ass for the Arab states and will make them turn their backs on the British. In the long run it will totally undermine British influence in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and Iraq.'"
- ims 14y agoOn that note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Autonomous_Oblast http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Autonomous_Oblast
- moxie 14y agoI was surprised to read about that too. The same guy, Sudoplatov, was involved in that, though, and writes: "The establishment of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Birobidzhan in 1928 was ordered by Stalin only as an effort to strengthen the Far Eastern border region with an outpost, not as a favor to the Jews. The area was constantly penetrated by Chinese and White Russian terrorist groups, and the idea was to shield the territory by establishing a settlement whose inhabitants would be hostile to White Russian emigres, especially the Cossacks. The status of the region was defined shrewdly as an autonomous district, not as an autonomous republic, which meant that no local legislature, high court, or government post of ministerial rank was permitted. It was an autonomous area, but a bare frontier, not a political center."
- fusiongyro 14y agoNowadays the Jewish population there is <2%, according to Travels in Siberia. Of course it's barely populated to any degree.
- CleanedStar 14y agoThe Crimea was one idea, so was a semi-autonomous state out near Birobidzhan. The problem with saying that it was paranoia that some people in the Jewish community were trying to undermine the Russian government, is that, especially after the fall of the USSR, right wing Jews have openly boasted about how they HAD been working to undermine the Russian government, and were using the Jewish community in the USSR to do so. The documentary record of this is extensive in not only Hebrew but English. On the one hand, they brag about how they subverted and undermined the government - then on the other hand, they talk about how crazy and paranoid the USSR was for thinking there were plots against them from the Jewish community. Many Jewish people bragging about how they helped bring down the USSR kind of undermines these arguments about how the idea that some members of the Jewish community were working to subvert the government is crazy. Because nowadays, they openly admit it.
- cwzwarich 14y agoWhich statements are you referring to?
- eli_gottlieb 14y agoLinks please? I'm Jewish and have never heard of this. At all.
- jamra 14y agoThere will be no links because you are talking with someone who has a disproportionate distaste for Jews. Look at the comment history. I am pretty amazed that when people make ridiculous comments about history, sources are not required. Jews did not go through Russian pilot training only to get paid more money in the Israeli air force (comment history) nor did Jews have an organized resistance to the oppression they experience in Soviet Russia.
- CleanedStar 14y agoMy comment was in response to this idea that Russians were crazy to think there were underground spy networks of right wing Jews in Russia. But right wing Jews openly boast of doing this. I generally come to this web site to read about B-tree algorithms and VC funding and have no desire spending too much time debating the USSR circa 1970. But anyone who is interested can Google "chabad underground" or "chabad underground russia" or "chaba underground ussr" for starters. As I said, these are not third parties, but actual Jewish participants bragging about these underground spy networks in the USSR in English - in documents and on Youtube. If you know Hebrew you can read and hear even more. I don't have too much interest in spycraft, but their open bragging after the collapse of the USSR belies the notion of the top poster that these spy networks did not exist. As far as my comment history, anyone reading it can see this poster is full of nonsense as I never discuss the Russian air force in any respect. As far as "distaste for Jews", the reader can play a mental game if they wish - again one can read my comment history and conjure up a mental image of a theoretical Jewish person in the US. They are assimilated, secular, educated, intellectual, deracinated, grandparents were labor organizers, older cousin has stories about the Hashomer Hatzair kibbutz they once lived at. Then conjure up a mental image of an orthodox/ultra-orthodox, religious, insular, Zionist, anti-communist Jew. THEN conjure up an image of a fundamentalist, evangelical, religious, insular, and Zionist, anti-communist Christian goy. I have met people in my life who could be categorized in any of these three categories. I would say I enjoyed being with one of those types of people, and had a distaste for the other two. The above post says I have a "distaste for Jews". I leave it as an exercise to the reader which one of these types I enjoy spending time with, and which two I have a distaste for.