Russian Jews Between the Reds and the Whites, 1917-1920. Oleg Budnitskii
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was addressed to “our own,” that is, to workers and soldiers. This is clear from the very first paragraphs:
One famous Russian writer refused to sign a document protesting the persecution of the Jews. He found the very possibility of being in league with the persecutors humiliating.
We, the party of the proletariat, must find it equally humiliating and shameful that we are forced to combat pogromistic tendencies within the working class. We write on our banners, “Proletarians of all countries, unite!” while we simultaneously collaborate with our class enemies against our Jewish comrades, which greatly harms our goals. The barbarian actions of the German invaders did not make us ignore the cries for revolution from our German comrades. Why then does the ridiculous phrase “Jewish dominance” hypnotize us, robbing us of clarity of thought and freedom of action?”103
The pamphlet told readers that Jews, in general, were like any other people. “Like everyone else, Jewish society can be separated into different classes. They are no different from the other peoples they live with. Socialism at its root does not allow for any unique national qualities…all nations, Jews included, can be divided into mutually antagonistic classes.” Keeping in mind that many of his readers were at least somewhat familiar with the Bible, the author continued, “Like all peoples, Jews have their own saints and criminals, geniuses and idiots, heroes and cowards. The Jews gave us both Christ and Judas, the first Christian martyrs, and probably were among the executioners of those same martyrs. They gave us Marx, Lassalle, and other famous revolutionaries, but they were also present in governments that were hostile to the revolution.”104
One part of the pamphlet was clearly addressed to soldiers in the army, many of whom had been involved in deporting the Jewish population during the First World War:
Among Jewish soldiers there probably were many cowards and traitors. But why did the Tsarist regime conceal the names of Jewish soldiers who had distinguished themselves during the war? The list of Jews who were awarded the Order of St. George was cut from the book right as it was going to press, never to be published. The Tsarist regime manipulated social opinion. But as for those of us who have opened our eyes to the bright future of socialism, can we not throw off these leprous rags of the Tsarist times? You, comrades from the front, can bear witness to the truth of what has been said. Cleansed by revolutionary consciousness, we can now reflect upon what we were party to earlier.”105
Apparently the author (like a large majority of the Russian intelligentsia) was convinced that the “pogroms never appeared spontaneously, they had always been organized by the government, and were now being organized by the remnants of pro-Tsarist groups.” However, at the time the greatest enemies of the Bolsheviks were the “complicit” Mensheviks and SRs. It would have been difficult to accuse them of organizing the pogroms, and the anonymous author even goes so far as to say that the Mensheviks and right SRs were “principled opponents of pogroms. There are many Jews among them, and of course, Jews do not organize pogroms against themselves. But they have allowed groups and classes to gain power who live to persecute Jews, having built their own success on the misfortune of Jews” [italics in original].106 Comparing the cruelty and senselessness of pogroms to natural disasters, the author makes the point that at least “the latter cannot be attributed to any kind of ill will.” He concludes, “[P]ogroms are organized by the villains of society, by its thieves and traitors who are now trying to rock the foundations of Soviet authority. Only enemies of the people are capable of organizing pogroms.”107
This topic remained pertinent more than a year later; the same pamphlet was republished in 1919 with no new additions. Peter Kenez, relying on the 1919 edition (he probably did not suspect the existence of an earlier version of the same text), claims that Soviet propaganda, which had attributed all kinds of crimes (real and invented) to the Volunteer Army, did not single them out in regards to the pogroms. He argues that from the Soviet point of view, this was not the best way to attract the peasantry to the Soviet cause.108 In general, the observation is apt. But in this case, the example chosen is less than convincing. The Volunteer Army was not mentioned at all in the pamphlet because it did not present a real threat to Soviet power at that time, whose main enemies were the “compromisers,” the Mensheviks and SRs. At this point the Volunteer Army had yet to sully itself with pogroms; their “accomplishments” in this field were yet to come. But most importantly, the pamphlet itself was addressed to “our own,” to the workers and soldiers among whom antisemitic tendencies were widespread. Those in charge of Soviet ideology were well aware of this state of affairs, and party and state organizations in Moscow, Petrograd, Kiev, Kharkov, Kursk, and Odessa published large numbers of pamphlets directed against antisemitism and pogroms. Their style and argumentation have a lot of common with the text examined above.109
In their continued attacks against pogroms and antisemitic agitation, the Bolsheviks continued to identify monarchism and the international bourgeoisie as the main culprits. In a speech from March 1919 released on gramophone records, entitled “On the pogromistic attacks on the Jews,” Lenin claimed that antisemitic hostility was being employed by capitalists and landowners, and that “the power and forces of capital are reliant on discord among the workers.” He declared, “Shame on that cursed tsarism, which tortures and persecutes the Jews,” and claimed that those who “sow hostility against the Jews sows hatred towards other nations.”110 In June of 1919, the Soviet government set aside funds to aid pogrom victims.111 Of course, it is worth mentioning that the Ukrainian Directorate did the same, even though they went on to murder the greatest number of Jews during the Civil War.112 Given the scale of the destruction, Soviet propaganda took a somewhat reserved approach to the question of the pogroms. Still, I do not believe that it is entirely deserving of R. Pipes criticism, namely that “Lenin no more condemned the Ukrainian pogroms than Denikin,” and that “the Soviet press ignored the subject.”113
In reality the Soviet press was hardly silent. They did not suppress information about the pogroms and tried to explain the events on a “theoretical,” if primitive, level. In May and June of 1919, Pravda published two articles by Il. Vardin (Mgeladze) that examined the pogroms. There are few concrete facts and names, but there is extensive discussion of monarchists, priests, and world capitalism. The first article, entitled “Against the Jews—for the Tsar,” discussed the “flashes of pogroms” in Ukraine and the Western Territories alongside the increase in antisemitic agitation in Soviet Russia:
Both there and here the fight against the Jews is inextricably connected with the fight against the power of the Soviets, against the party of the communists. “Beat the Yids [zhidy], save Russia! Down with the communists and commissars!” This shout can be heard anywhere the dark forces of the priests, landowners, kulaks, and store owners can be found.
The landowner, kulak, priest, and bourgeois, that is, all segments of the population who are leaving the historical stage permanently thanks to the efforts of the revolutionary masses, are uniting under the banner of “Jewish destruction” [zhidoedstva]. Massive pogroms in Petliura's Ukraine, in “democratic” Poland and Galicia all indicate that even the representatives of “national” capital are ready to drink the wine of antisemitism.
We must show the masses what is hiding beneath the slogan “beat the Yids!” We must explain to all the workers that the “Yid” [zhid] was the bone that the Tsar and the gentry tried to throw down the throats of the workers and peasants.
Increasing agitation against the Jews is, in essence, agitation for monarchism, the priests, and the serf owners. We need to wage the same struggle against antisemitism as the revolution currently wages against monarchism.114
Here Vardin largely repeats the major points from Lenin's speech. However, at this juncture pogroms were not being carried out by monarchists. Vardin was forced to admit as much in his next article on the topic a month later. “The latest wave of pogroms against the Jews has shown that these pogroms are not solely the accomplishments of tsarism, of the aristocratic reaction, of the medieval political regime. Even contemporary ‘democracy’ while marching under the sign of ‘equality, fraternity, and freedom,’ has come to swallow Jewish blood ‘in secret.’”115