Russian Jews Between the Reds and the Whites, 1917-1920. Oleg Budnitskii
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Dashnaktsutiun. The local representatives of Poalei Zion endorsed the socialist bloc, even as Poalei Zion accused the Bund and SERP of preventing them from joining. Explaining their stance towards the activities of the OKO, Poalei Zion passed a resolution stating that “the OKO does not represent the interests of the Jewish population of Rostov.”70
A most interesting discussion was to take place at a meeting of the Kadet party, which also included prominent members of the Jewish community such as Abram Chernikov, Lev Volkenshtein, and Abram Gorodisskii. Chernikov claimed that it was a mistake not to form a coalition with local Jewish parties, which were entering the elections separately.
The local Kadet leader V. F. Zeeler replied that “the Party of People's Freedom did not consider it necessary to isolate the ‘Jewish question’ and talk of forming a coalition. The Party believes that it has always marched in solidarity with the Jews, feels their pain and suffering, and will continue to march on with them.”
Volkenshtein claimed that he didn't understand, “Who are these Jews and what are these Jewish organizations that Chernikov is talking about? Such horrible things! Are we not full-fledged citizens? What use do we have for such distinctions? Is it not true that there are 400,000 Jewish soldiers fighting alongside their Russian comrades? What difference does it make if there are only Christians in our party list, we would vote for them any way, as we believe this party has always been with us and for us. Leibs and Ivans are now equal. Tell all of our fellow Jews that the membership of the Party of People's Freedom has always defended us and has given us freedom and equality. We believe in them, and will continue to support them.”
Gorodisskii disagreed with Volkenshtein, and expressed surprise at the fact that the Jewish population was not supporting the Kadets, or the Jewish Kadet members. He reminded those gathered, “As long as nationalities exist, questions of nationality will also exist. But a split would be a grave error, harming both the parties and the nationalities in question.”
As a result, an overwhelming majority of Kadets voted in favor of ordering the central committee to form a coalition with the OKO.71 In turn the OKO called upon its fellow Jewish citizens to vote for the Kadet ticket, which “includes our members of the OKO, who have taken upon themselves the responsibility of achieving the national and cultural interests of Jews as well as the beginnings of cultural autonomy.”72
Jews were widely represented in the party lists leading up to the elections. They comprised nearly one-third of the socialist bloc, 10 percent of the Bolshevik party list, 25 percent of the Kadet party list, and nearly half of the list of the People's Socialist Party of Labor.
The socialists claimed a decided victory in the elections, winning eighty seats, as compared to sixteen for the Kadets and thirteen for all other parties. Nearly 33 percent of all voters were of Jewish heritage. The city administration was to include Vulf Pleskov, a member of the Don committee of the RSDRP in the early 1900s, along with Aleksandr Lokerman, one of the most popular politicians in Rostov, who was elected secretary. Lokerman was the head of the Don RSDRP from 1902 to 1903, and the main organizer of the 1902 strikes and 1903 demonstrations. One of the “founding fathers” of the RSDRP, he was a delegate to the Second Congress, and sided with the Mensheviks. He was a brilliant publicist and orator, a well-known party member on the national level and a leading figure in the organized labor movement. Arrested several times in the past, he reappeared in Rostov in 1917 and was immediately elected to the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.73
After those first few euphoric weeks that followed the February Revolution, it soon became clear that freedom was only freedom and nothing more; that for victory in war one must fight, and that to build civil society one must work. In other words, things were not going to simply take care of themselves. As a result, those seized by revolutionary fervor began to search for the cause of their worsening material conditions. A new search for enemies was underway. For some it was the Kadets, for others the Bolsheviks, for still others the bourgeoisie. But for an even greater number, these enemies were to be the Jews. The open and active work of politicians of Jewish heritage, no matter what their position or ideological orientation might be, now seemed to confirm the writings of antisemitic thinkers and journalists.
The growth in antisemitic sentiment that began in the summer of 1917 was universally noted by contemporaries of every political conviction and creed.
It should be noted that the disappearance of parties to the “right” of the Kadets from the Russian political scene after the February Revolution did not mean the disappearance of those newspapers that liked to publish articles written in the spirit of the Black Hundreds. Likewise it did not entail the disappearance of the admittedly significant readership of said publications. One such publication, A. A. Suvorin's Malen'kaia Gazeta (Little Newspaper), claimed that it was “for Jewish equality, but against Jewish dominance,” to quote the title of one of its articles. Denying any charges of antisemitism, it implored: “good Jews, good Russian citizens, cast out your reckless, evil tribesmen yourselves, for they will bring great harm to your people in Russia.” The newspaper published articles that would make claims along the lines of “the second army is under the command of the ‘Bolshevik,’ Rabinovich.” Authors of such articles would call attention to the ethnic heritage of their political opponents, playing on the nationalistic sympathies of their readers. According to contemporaries, Little Newspaper would “sell out in minutes,” was “vulgar and illiterate, but contained true life, and its readers were addicted to it.” Its popularity can be measured by the increase in its print runs, from 20,000–60,000 copies in 1916 up to 109,000 copies in June of 1917.74
In the beginning of June 1917, Jewish Week already noted with some concern that “among the masses Leninism is beginning to be associated with the idea of a specifically Jewish kind of agitation, and though this demagogic tendency is refuted every day, it still calls forth more and more hatred. In this fertile soil…. will a wave of antisemitic pogroms grow.” The paper associated this rise with the yellow press, publications such as Vechernee Vremia (Evening Times) and Little Newspaper, which were dedicated to trashing the “Bolshevik Jews, who appear in public using Russian last names.” Little Newspaper in particular, “the mouthpiece of that journalistic villain, Aleksei Suvorin” would “day in and day out” prominently display a list of all Jewish Bolsheviks, both their real names and their pseudonyms.75 Jewish Week's contention that taking on a Russian last name in a country where Russian is the dominant language is completely natural—and that such complaints could just as easily apply to the Russian “Ulianov”—would probably have done little to convince the readers of these tabloids. The success of Little Newspaper was due in no small part to the fact that it had its finger on the pulse of a certain segment of Russian society, who considered their misfortunes to be the result of the sudden arrival of “foreigners” in positions of power.
By June, Jewish circles in Petrograd were extremely concerned as to what form the “Christian masses' response to Jewish ‘activity’” would take. Alarmed by the lack of tact displayed by Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Kamenev, the author of the “Notes” section of Jewish Week feared that should a time of troubles ensue, the Jews would be blamed for “the anarchy brought into Russian life as a result of Marxism and maximalism.”76
On June 8 a meeting took place in the hall of the Petrograd stock exchange. The topic of conversation was the response of Jewish society to the current political climate. Vinaver, Sliozberg, and Dubnov all spoke, with the latter “disowning” the “Bolshevik demagogues” from the Jewish community.77
At approximately the same time Maksim Gorky remarked in an article from the cycle Untimely Thoughts (Nesvoevremennye Mysli) that “antisemitism is still alive, and is slowly and carefully rearing its wretched head once more, hissing, slandering, splattering with the poisonous spittle of hatred”:
How did this happen? It turns out there were two Jews among the more anarchic Bolsheviks. Or maybe the number was even as high as three. Some even count as many as seven and are firmly convinced that these seven Samsons will reduce the 170-million-strong Russian temple to rubble.
It would be funny and stupid, if it weren't so despicable…