Leftists and Israel
By Sally F. Zerker
In the CJN , 12/26/09
Not too long ago I bumped into an old acquaintance of mine who had also been involved, as I was, with the now (sadly) defunct organization, Canadian Professors for Peace in the Middle East. In the course of our greetings and renewal of friendship he asked me a very telling and important question. Did I have an answer why leftists, both Jew and Gentile, have become the most strident anti-Israel and anti-Jewish voices. I did not have an immediately satisfactory answer. I had to think about it and specifically think about the current phenomenon of Jewish leftists’ obvious hatred of Israel. Thought brought me to the realization that there is indeed a strong precedent for leftist anti-Semitism.
The father of all modern leftist thought, Karl Marx, was a virulent anti-Semite. His hateful diatribe against Jews is found in his essay “On the Jewish Question”. Marxist apologists try to defend him by the spurious argument that it is not Jews as such that he hates, but rather the bourgeois values that are exemplified in some Jewish practices. Not true! Listen to the real Marx, and I quote from his essay; “What is the profane basis of Judaism? Practical need, self-interest. What is the worldly cult of the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly god? Money. Very well: then in emancipating itself from huckstering and money, and thus from real and practical Judaism, our age would emancipate itself…..the emancipation of the Jew is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism. (italics Marx’s).
It becomes evident on reading “On the Jewish Question”, that Marx is the classic anti-Semite, not unlike the writers of the fabricated Elders of Zion pamphlet, who see the world captured and destroyed by Jewish values, practices and conspiracies. Let the world be rid of the Jews and all will be well.
I believe there’s a reasonable psychological explanation for Marx’s hatred of Jews. No matter what Marx did in his life, he simply could not shed being branded a Jew. To this day, when Marx’s name comes up in the media, and even in academic articles, inevitably he is referred to as a Jew. But Marx did not see himself as a Jew, and for good reason. When he was born in 1818, his mother had not yet converted to Christianity but his father, who had changed his name from Herschel Levi to Heinrich Marx, had already done so. And Marx, the father, had his six living children baptized some years before his wife followed the family into Christianity. Karl was six years old when he was converted to Christianity.
Karl Marx had no connection with his Jewish grandparents, nor with a Jewish community in Trier, his home town. On the contrary, with the help of his father he went to great length to associate himself with the most prominent Christian family in the city, the Von Westphalens. Ludwig Von Westphalen was the chief administrative officer in Trier, which essentially made him the government of the city. Karl was only 17 when he wooed and won the hand of Jenny Von Westphalen, Ludwig’s daughter, who was 8 years older than Karl. Thus, Karl Marx had all the right credentials to be looked upon as a proper German, cleansed of the handicap of Jewish baggage. But it was not to be. He would be looked upon with the prejudiced eye of the bigot much as any other Jew might be. Hence, when he wrote about Jews and Judaism he did so with the clear desire to dissociate himself from all those ‘awful’ Jewish types.
In my opinion Karl Marx is the ancestor of our current crop of Jewish leftist, with this distinction. The modern leftist has to announce the Jewish connection because he or she has the same purpose as Marx, which is to distinguish him/herself from the mainstream Zionist position of the vast majority of Jews. They too fervently wish that they not be seen to be like those ‘awful’ Jewish types.
Marx may have be an early antecedent to modern Jewish leftists hostile to Israel and Jews broadly, but not the only one. I remember when the United Jewish Peoples Order (UJPO)—the Jewish branch of the Communist Party—was headquartered on Brunswick street, just north of College street, here in Toronto.. It was right beside the Talmud Torah I attended and was only steps away from my father’s shtub’l synagogue. Indeed, it was within range of many Jewish religious institutions. That proximity is important because on Yom Kippur, when Jews of different affiliations were at one in their solemnity and their fasting, UJPO Jews made sure to show their separateness and disdain for all those “awful” Jewish types, by catering a boisterous feast in their neighbouring quarters on that holy day.
Jewish members of the Communist Party had good reason to draw a line between themselves and the Jewish community at large. After all, they had to form their own branch of the party because it, like the rest of Canadian society at the time, was blatantly anti-Semitic. There was no place for Jews in the regular Communist Party, but the ideologically committed Jews found an alternative in their own Jewish sub-grouping. Therefore, it was doubly important that those “good and desirable” communists know that the UJPO communists are not to be confused with those “awful” Jewish types.
In looking for antecedents to today’s Jewish leftists I am sure that Zionists in eastern Europe who experienced the animosity of the Bund—that was the Jewish left organization committed to Poland and Russia and opposed to a national homeland for the Jewish people—would have no trouble recognizing their heirs. Old Bundists never give up even when the Bund has been disbanded; Marek Edelman was a case in point. He was a survivor of the Warsaw ghetto battle, a member of the Bund, stayed in Poland to create socialism in Poland, of course ran into difficulties as a Jew there, but to his dying day, which was just this past October 3, he wrote and said vile things about Israel.
There was one time when the left, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, had glowing things to say about Israel. That occurred when Stalin was in favour of the establishment of Israel, believing as he did that those early socialist leanings of the kibbutzim founders would create a vassal state for the Soviet Union in the Middle East. He had reason to hope because the left in Israel at that time were indeed devoted to Stalin, when some even hung his picture in their kibbutz dining room. But Israel did not follow the Stalin plan, and so that was the end of pro-Israel sentiment by leftists. As Stalin went so went his followers, and thus the move was on for their reversal to their traditional anti-Israel, anti-Jewish facade.
I think I found the answer to my friend’s question. The reason for the current crop of hostile anti-Semitic, anti-Israel leftists is that they come from a long and “distinguished “ tradition and that one should expect nothing better of them.
By Sally F. Zerker
In the CJN , 12/26/09
Not too long ago I bumped into an old acquaintance of mine who had also been involved, as I was, with the now (sadly) defunct organization, Canadian Professors for Peace in the Middle East. In the course of our greetings and renewal of friendship he asked me a very telling and important question. Did I have an answer why leftists, both Jew and Gentile, have become the most strident anti-Israel and anti-Jewish voices. I did not have an immediately satisfactory answer. I had to think about it and specifically think about the current phenomenon of Jewish leftists’ obvious hatred of Israel. Thought brought me to the realization that there is indeed a strong precedent for leftist anti-Semitism.
The father of all modern leftist thought, Karl Marx, was a virulent anti-Semite. His hateful diatribe against Jews is found in his essay “On the Jewish Question”. Marxist apologists try to defend him by the spurious argument that it is not Jews as such that he hates, but rather the bourgeois values that are exemplified in some Jewish practices. Not true! Listen to the real Marx, and I quote from his essay; “What is the profane basis of Judaism? Practical need, self-interest. What is the worldly cult of the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly god? Money. Very well: then in emancipating itself from huckstering and money, and thus from real and practical Judaism, our age would emancipate itself…..the emancipation of the Jew is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism. (italics Marx’s).
It becomes evident on reading “On the Jewish Question”, that Marx is the classic anti-Semite, not unlike the writers of the fabricated Elders of Zion pamphlet, who see the world captured and destroyed by Jewish values, practices and conspiracies. Let the world be rid of the Jews and all will be well.
I believe there’s a reasonable psychological explanation for Marx’s hatred of Jews. No matter what Marx did in his life, he simply could not shed being branded a Jew. To this day, when Marx’s name comes up in the media, and even in academic articles, inevitably he is referred to as a Jew. But Marx did not see himself as a Jew, and for good reason. When he was born in 1818, his mother had not yet converted to Christianity but his father, who had changed his name from Herschel Levi to Heinrich Marx, had already done so. And Marx, the father, had his six living children baptized some years before his wife followed the family into Christianity. Karl was six years old when he was converted to Christianity.
Karl Marx had no connection with his Jewish grandparents, nor with a Jewish community in Trier, his home town. On the contrary, with the help of his father he went to great length to associate himself with the most prominent Christian family in the city, the Von Westphalens. Ludwig Von Westphalen was the chief administrative officer in Trier, which essentially made him the government of the city. Karl was only 17 when he wooed and won the hand of Jenny Von Westphalen, Ludwig’s daughter, who was 8 years older than Karl. Thus, Karl Marx had all the right credentials to be looked upon as a proper German, cleansed of the handicap of Jewish baggage. But it was not to be. He would be looked upon with the prejudiced eye of the bigot much as any other Jew might be. Hence, when he wrote about Jews and Judaism he did so with the clear desire to dissociate himself from all those ‘awful’ Jewish types.
In my opinion Karl Marx is the ancestor of our current crop of Jewish leftist, with this distinction. The modern leftist has to announce the Jewish connection because he or she has the same purpose as Marx, which is to distinguish him/herself from the mainstream Zionist position of the vast majority of Jews. They too fervently wish that they not be seen to be like those ‘awful’ Jewish types.
Marx may have be an early antecedent to modern Jewish leftists hostile to Israel and Jews broadly, but not the only one. I remember when the United Jewish Peoples Order (UJPO)—the Jewish branch of the Communist Party—was headquartered on Brunswick street, just north of College street, here in Toronto.. It was right beside the Talmud Torah I attended and was only steps away from my father’s shtub’l synagogue. Indeed, it was within range of many Jewish religious institutions. That proximity is important because on Yom Kippur, when Jews of different affiliations were at one in their solemnity and their fasting, UJPO Jews made sure to show their separateness and disdain for all those “awful” Jewish types, by catering a boisterous feast in their neighbouring quarters on that holy day.
Jewish members of the Communist Party had good reason to draw a line between themselves and the Jewish community at large. After all, they had to form their own branch of the party because it, like the rest of Canadian society at the time, was blatantly anti-Semitic. There was no place for Jews in the regular Communist Party, but the ideologically committed Jews found an alternative in their own Jewish sub-grouping. Therefore, it was doubly important that those “good and desirable” communists know that the UJPO communists are not to be confused with those “awful” Jewish types.
In looking for antecedents to today’s Jewish leftists I am sure that Zionists in eastern Europe who experienced the animosity of the Bund—that was the Jewish left organization committed to Poland and Russia and opposed to a national homeland for the Jewish people—would have no trouble recognizing their heirs. Old Bundists never give up even when the Bund has been disbanded; Marek Edelman was a case in point. He was a survivor of the Warsaw ghetto battle, a member of the Bund, stayed in Poland to create socialism in Poland, of course ran into difficulties as a Jew there, but to his dying day, which was just this past October 3, he wrote and said vile things about Israel.
There was one time when the left, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, had glowing things to say about Israel. That occurred when Stalin was in favour of the establishment of Israel, believing as he did that those early socialist leanings of the kibbutzim founders would create a vassal state for the Soviet Union in the Middle East. He had reason to hope because the left in Israel at that time were indeed devoted to Stalin, when some even hung his picture in their kibbutz dining room. But Israel did not follow the Stalin plan, and so that was the end of pro-Israel sentiment by leftists. As Stalin went so went his followers, and thus the move was on for their reversal to their traditional anti-Israel, anti-Jewish facade.
I think I found the answer to my friend’s question. The reason for the current crop of hostile anti-Semitic, anti-Israel leftists is that they come from a long and “distinguished “ tradition and that one should expect nothing better of them.
posted by Professor Sal at 6:31 AM
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