Soviet Anti-Semitism Revealed in Litvinov's Journal

(Continued from Page 1)

think we are shooting enough
of the Zionist rabble. We
must draw up a decree for
the banishing to Siberia of
all Zionists as class enemies.'
Koba also said that he had
ordered Artuzov to prepare a
full list of all Jews in the
U.S.S.R. who were paying
shekels (the Zionist member-
ship tax) and that all these
persons would be immediately
sent to Siberia or given
`minus six.' I tried to explain
to him that such measures
would bring all the American
Jews up in arms against the
U.S.S.R. He replied that these
Jews would always be against
us because we were Commun-
ists and atheists. He added,
`We shall explain that these
sons of bitches were banished
because they were fiddling
foreign currency. There is no
need to state that we are ap-
plying repressive measures
because they are Zionists. It
is your job to explain this to
the American Jews, if you
wish to avoid a quarrel at any
Cost.' "
Litvinov's Notes proceed to
state that Menzhinsky (Ru-
dolph) , a rabid anti-Semite
who told "inane anecdotes
against the Jews concocted by
that drunken brute Demian
Bednei (the poet Pridvorov),"
was urging Koba to clear
Moscow of Jews under the
pretext of foreign currency
offences." Litvinov then re-
corded in his notes:
"Koba too does not like
Jews, but in my opinion he
understands the absurdity of
anti-Jewish measures. Lazar
Moiseyevich (Kaganovich)
once told-me that Koba had
explained to him at length the
difficulty of making a Jew,
even a Jewish workman, into
a true Communist and atheist
because the Jews, he said,
were typical petty bourgeois
with the instinct of owner-
ship developed over the cen-
turies. Besides, they were
permeated with the spirit of
pantheism, although they ab-
horred the external symbol-
ism of religion . . ."
Litvinov added that it was
a pity Koba did not discuss
the subject with him:
would have told him what I
thought about it. It is strange
that people with the heredi-
tary instincts of petty bour-
geois should have given Marx
to the world • . ."
But what accounts for Stal-
in's anti-Semitism? Litvinov's
partial explanation follows:
"Of course, Koba's anti-Sem-
itism is the sequel to the sup-
port given by the majority of
Jews in our party to Trotsky
and the apposition. But I have
in fact noted that Koba felt
some inherent hostility to-
wards us. Grigori Evseyevich
(Zinoviev) once remarked
jocularly that he had a Marx-
ist explanation for this phe-
nomenon. There were two
shoemakers' shops in Gori
(Stalin's birthplace in Geor-
gia), one owned by Koba's
father and the other by a Jew
from the town of Mtzkhet
who had settled at Gori. Com-
petition between the two
shoemakers turned Koba into
an anti-Semite . . . Of course
this explanation is an over-
simplification, but it contains
a grain of truth . . ." -
* * *
These are only a few of the
facts about Koba's (Stalin's)
anti-Semitism and the brutal
hatred of Jews that was per-
petuated among the Commun-
ists, in a fantastic set of notes
the authenticity of which un-
doubtedly will be a subject
for debate for a long time.
There is an introduction to
Litvinov's "N o t e d for a

an international authority on
Russia. Prof. Carr expresses
the belief that the Litvinov
Notes "contain a substratum
of genuine material emanat-
ing in some form or other
from Litvinov himself. But
parts of it are certainly ac-
cretions added later by an-
other hand or hands; and,
while some of the accretions
may be the authentic recollec-
tions of someone closely as-
sociated with Litvinov, others
appear to be pure fiction."
There is, therefore, some-
thing very mysterious about
these Notes which are said to
have been made in cipher,
turned over to Mme. Alex-.
andra Kollontai, Soviet Min-
ister to Stockholm, and since
then released for publication.
A group of Russians in Paris
acquired t h e manuscript.
(Both Litvinov and Kollontai
died in 1952).
But the report of his con-
versations with Litvinov, by
former U. S. Ambassador to
Russia, Walter - Bedell Smith,
in a prefatory note to the Lit-
vinov Journal, indicates that
the late Russian Jewish lead-
er was greatly disillusioned
by the activities of the Com-
munist leader s. Litvinov
spoke to Geh. Smith of
"wrong decisions" and of "a
prolonged period of armed
truce."
Gen. Smith states in t h e
preface:
"It is probable that Maxim
Litvinov's official disappear-
ance from the Soviet political-
diplomatic scene was the final
punctuation mark to t h e
period of war and postwar
`cooperation' between the So-
viet Union and the Western
World."
Recent S o v i e t activities,
the revival of Tzarist anti-
Semitism, the arming the
Arabs against Israel, the re-
ports of behind-the-scenes at-
tacks on Jews by Stalin and
his associates, lend marks of
authenticity t o Litvinov's
Notes. The fact that Mrs. Lit-
vinov (Ivy Low of London)
was ordered to the Urals and
was only occasionally permit-
ted to return to Moscow, .must
have additionally embittered
the man who was responsible
for the re-establishment of
U.S.-Soviet Union diplomatic
relations, through the Lit-
vinov-Roosevelt Agreement.,
There seems to be little doubt
that the most authentic por-
tions of the Journal are those
in which Litvinov exposed
the anti-Semitism of the Corn-
munists.
* * *
This sensational book is
packed with revelations about
Soviet leaders. Kaganovich,
for instance, opposed the ap-
pointment of a Jew to a gov-
ernment post, and Litvinov
asked if he favored introduc-
tion of the numerus clausus.
His reply was that he did: not
an official but "a self-imposecl
limitation," and Jews should
also "avoid holding prominent
positions in a country of sec-
ular anti-Semitism." Litvinov
thereupon reminded him of
Ilich's (Lenin's) reply to Trot-
sky, who was afraid to accept
the chairmanship of t h e
Council of People's Commis-
sars because he was a Jew
and the possibility of the
charge that the Soviet is in
Jewish hands. Lenin laughed:
"They say in any case that we
are all Yids. . ."
Kaganovich thereupon
blamed Trotsky for the new
wave of anti-Semitism. "In
my opinion," he added, "all
Jewish members of the party
should be Trotsky's declared
and convinced enemies, if only
to show that there is no such
thing as, a Jewish clan and
that we are all loyal to

Journal by Prof. E. H. Carry Stalin...."

Since the Trotsky-Lenin in-
cident is a matter of record,
having been told again and
again by former Communists
who have exposed the tyran-
nies of the Stalin regime,
there is no reason for doubt-
ing all the other Litvinov ex-
poses about Soviet an ti-
Semitism.
Litvinov continued his re-
port on Kaganovich's state-
ment with the comment:
". . . I reflected that he was
reasoning like my uncle, a
rabbi in Bialystok who always
used to say before the Revo-
lution that the only way to
stop the pogroms in Russia
was for Jews to become fa-
natical monarchists. But my
uncle was _the product of
many centuries of ghetto
life while Kaganovich is a
member of our Instantsia
(Politbureau) and a prom-
inent leader . . ."
There is another reference
to Kaganovich in this Lit-
vinov note: ". . . He divorced
his Jewish wife and married
a Muscovite from a merchant
family . . . He may eventually
find himself summoned to ap-
pear before the C. C. C. for
having baptised his child .. .
Strangely, the assimilation of
Jews in anti-Semitic countries
always takes such ugly and
funny turns . . ."
* * *
Reference already has been
made to Soltz. When Soltz
visited Litvinov, they spoke
in Yiddish, "lest our conver-
sation be understood. They
spoke of "Molotov's dossiers."
Litvinov often clashed with
Molotov, who succeeded him
as People's Commissar for
Foreign Affairs. Litvinov re-
ports: "Poor Soltz told me he
only just escaped trouble be-
cause his sister was in the
habit of preparing stuffed
fish • on Fridays. A neighbor,
a Jewish Komsomol from
Kiev, warned him and threat-
ened to write to Shkiryatov."
There was much talk later
about Jewish party members
who circumcized their sons,
and there were threats of ex-
pulsions of members perform-
ing religious rites.
* * *
Litvinov was told by Stalin
that the number of Jewish
diplomats would be cut down
drastically "for reasons of ex-
pediency." Reporting the talk,
Litvinov says Stalin couldn't
help passing one anti-Semitic
remark — "the trouble is that
one JeW makes more noise
than ten Gentiles — that is
why.they are so conspicuous."
Referring to Stalin's "one
passion" — it is clear that he
meant his love affair with
Rosa Kaganovich — Litvinov
writes: "Perhaps she will tone
down his anti-Semitism."
There is also this interest-
ing notation in Litvinov's
Journal:
"I remember reading in my
youth Maimonides' Guide to
the Perplexed.' He had a bril-
liant mind, this Jewish Plato.
I am beginning to think that
his philosophy was more pro-
found than Marx's . . Had
Maimonides lived in our
country he would have cer-
tainly been banished beyond
the Yurals."
* * *
Speaking of Hitler, Litvinov
made the point that Hitler's
anti-Semitism was "m o r e
Czech than German." He also
wrote: "Hitler was taught
anti-Semitism by the pomp-
ous sw i n e Karl Lueger
(Mayor of Vienna in Hitler's
youth and expounder of vio-
lent anti-Semitism)."
About Hitler, there is this
Litvinov recollection: "The

Austrian Consul in Moscow
told me in 1937 that during
his stay in Vienna Hitler tried
to get a job as a salesman in
a large shop . . . The man-
ager of the shop, a Jew by
the name of Cohn, turned
him out unceremoniously .. .
Hitler then. started saying
something against the Jews.
Thereupon the manager
kicked him ... Now this kick
. . . The history of the .world
is affected by that kick in
Hitler's seat . . ."
There are some harsh words
about Molotov, such as "Hit-
ler and Molotov—two peas in
a pod."
* * *

The • part played by the
Jewish Communists in under-
mining Jewish existence in
Russia becomes apparent in
many portions of this stag-
geringly-exciting book. Lit-
vinov reported a conversation,
that lasted for many hours,
with Lev Borisovich Kamenev
who admitted the existence
of anti-Semitism in Russia
but argued against exaggera-
tions when Litvinov "tried to
prove that anti-Semitism in
private life was only the
eructation of state anti-Semit-
ism." Kamenev, seeing anti-
Semitism as the result of
many years of inequality and
anti-Jewish propaganda, said
it would be lived down and
would soon pass, and advo-
cated, as the only way of
solving the problem, to spon-
sor mixed Jewish - Gentile
marriages. "He said," Litvinov
reported, "that in 1922 he sug-
gested . that the Instantsia
should draw up a project for
sponsoring and encouraging
mixed marriages, but Ilich
(Lenin) and Trotsky would
not hear of it. 'It falls within
the sphere of personal rela-
tionships, in which the state
should not interfere,' said

JWV Delegates Urge Strengthening
Of 3-Power Tripartite Declaration

MIAMI BEACH (JTA) — The
Jewish War Veterans, meeting in
convention here, adopted a reso-
lution urging the Governments of
the United States, Britain and
France to serve notice that any
aggression in the Middle East
will bring implementation of the
Tripartite Declaration of 1950,
under which the status quo of
the area was guaranteed by the
three powers.
The veterans also urged that
a security pact be concluded be-
tween the U.S. and Israel.
At the concluding session, Reu-
bin Kaminsky, an attorney from
Hartford, Conn., and a wartime
anti-aircraft gunner, was elected
JWV president. He succeeds Jo-

seph F. Barr, lawyer from Wash-
ington, D. C.
Kaminsky said that JWV plans
to step up its lobbying program
in Washington to combat Con-
gressional efforts to cut benefits
to veterans of World War II and
the Korean conflict.
Sen. George A. • Smathers,
Florida Democrat, addressing the
parley, told the veterans that the
Western Powers and the State
Department were deeply dis-
turbed by the present situation in
the Middle East and feared that
Soviet intervention in the form
of arms shipments by Czecho-
slovakia to Egypt would upset
the balance of power in that
area. He warned of the danger
that Israel might become the
Korea of 1956.

Salpeter Warns Congress Leaders
To Remain Firm on School-State Issue

Addressing the installation din-
ner of the Michigan Council of
the American Jewish Congress,
recently, Hy Salpeter, associate

HY SALPETER (speaking) and
FRANK ROSENBAUM

national director of the Congress,
warned against making conces-
sions in the fight for civil liber-
ties.

Salpeter especially criticized

32—DETROIT JEWISH NEWS those Jewish leaders who are now

Friday, November 4, 1955

Trotsky. Ilich supported him
. . . At that time everybody
thought that anti-Semitism
would die out . . ."
* * *
Litvinov suffered. That is
evident on every page in his
Journal. He was a tragic vic-
tim of a tyrannical system.
Born in Bialystok in 1876—
his name was Meier Moisee-
vich Wallakh—he must have
had a good Jewish education.
It has been mentioned several
times that he spoke Yiddish
well.
When he was appointed
Soviet Ambassador to the
United States in 1941, Melen-
kov is supposed to have said
that he would not be left
there for any length of time,
and Litvinov Notes for a
Journal state that Shcherba-
kov said: "His (Litvinov's)
task is to make a few speeches
in Yiddish and to obtain
everything we need . . . When
he has arranged this, we shall
dismiss him . . . Litvinov is
unreliable . . ." And Litvinov
makes his personal comment:
"The pups . . . They have for-
gotten everything I have done
for the Party . . . I risked my
life . .."
The Litvinov tragedy re-
fers to the deterioration of his
health in 1950. The Notes end
with the lines: "The doctors
are not very hopeful . . . So
much the better . . . I shall
not live to see a third world
war . . ."
This is the tragedy of the
aoviet's ablest and most ma-
ligned statesman, and in it
there is exposed the horror
of Communist anti-Semitism
that is merely a continuation
of Tzarist cruelties. The Lit-
vinov Journal is the simplest
explanation of the Soviets'
latest act of terrorism: its
aim to destroy Israel by arm-
ing the Arabs.

so readily yielding to those who

are striving to introduce religious
teachings in the public schools.
This, he said, constitutes a real
threat to our liberties.
Frank Rosenbaum was the
toastmaster.
Dr. Leon Fram, who was in-
stalled as president of the Michi-
gan AJ Congress Council for a
third term, presented plaques,
in appreciation of their services,
to past presidents Philip Slomo-
vitz, Leon Kay and William Co-
hen, and to Abe Kasle in absentia,
In addition to Dr. Fram, offi-
cers installed by Sidney Shevitz,
included Frank Rosenbaum, Mrs.
William Burk, William Cohen,
Morris Davidson, Mrs. Morton
Silverberg and B. Morris Pelavin,
vice-presidents; Zeldon S. Cohen,
treasurer; and Mrs. Harry Frank
and Mrs. Myron Cole, secretaries.
- Delegates to the Council by
virtue of their positions as presi-
dents of Women's Division chap-
ters are Mesdames Henry Caplan,
Joseph Greenberg, Zeldon S. Co-
hen, Melvin Nord, Louis Redstone
and Miss Joan Rothenberg.

