Trotsky's 'Stalin' and E. E. Smith's 'The Young Stalin'
Reveal [Dictator's Irrational Anti-Semitism From Youth
protection that was accorded to for criminals:" "On one occasion,
Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich
Trotsky whose life was in con- in the course of an argument,
Bronstein) was not only one of the
stant danger, how Jacques Mor- Stalin had presumably revealed
architects of the Communist State
nard, alias Ramon Mercader, himself as an anti-Semite, resorting
and its earliest military genius:
found a way into Trotsky's home, to coarse Georgian expressions
he was one of Russia's most dis-
after making love to a Trotskyite against the Jews."
tinguished publicists and ablest
and himself posing as one, killing
writers. He was Lenin's close
Stalin's purges of Jewish mem-
Trotsky with a pickax, Aug. 20, bers of the Party, his linking of
associate, and he was the bitter
1940, so that this book remained Jews in his condemnation of Jewish
enemy of Joseph Vissarionovich
unfinished.
Djugashvili Stalin.
opponents, are part of the vivid
Trotsky was expelled from Rus-
The biography was translated byi descriptions of the dictator-tyrant
sia, he was hounded by his arch the late Charles Malamuth, one- in this historic work which now, in
enemy, he found refuge in Mexico time son-in-law of Jack London and a newly-edited volume, again at-
but an assassin
a specialist in Russian history. It tacks widest attention.
caught up with
is a masterful work of translation, "Young Stalin' — Who Began
him.
and the Wolfe introduction adds His Anti-Semitism Early
He wrote the
Indeed, Stalin began his anti-
immensely to an understanding of
classic biography,
the people and the periods under Semitism very early. His prejudices
are
recorded also in another signi-
"Stalin — An Ap-
study.
ficant book — "The Young Stalin—
praisal of t h e
Wolfe indicates that "in 1917, The Early Years of an Elusive
Man and His In-.
when Lenin accepted Trotsky's con- Revolutionary," by Edward Ellis
fluence," but it
cept of the party machine, they Smith. published by Farrar, Straus
was not com-
compounded each other's errors and Giroux.
pleted: the as-
and raised the totalitarian poten-
sassin interrupted
Stalin's rapid rise to power is
tial to the second power: an un-
that task. Trotsky
democratic machine to make an recorded here. Lenin, at the London
conference
of the Bolshevik party.
Stein and Day (7 E. 48, NY17) undemocratic revolution." Stalin,
has just reissued that biography the "man created by that ma- in 1907, said he did not know who
in a new edition, with an impor- chine," is the vile spirit emerging Stalin was. Yet within a decade the
future dictator rose to dominating
tant new introduction by the from this biography.
roles.
American writer Bertram D. Wolfe
Trotsky
described
how
Stalin
who knew both Stalin and Trotsky
The history of Communism. the
and who therefore writes with
resolutely criticized the Jewish relationships of the leaders of the
authority.
Bund and its policies and he party, their inner struggles and the
wrote about the Bund that it battles for power are reviewed
Trotsky's work exposes Stalin's
"was organized not on the terci- here. Trotsky's role is referred to
actions, accuses of many plots,
torial but on the national prin- and the Stalin-Trotsky feud is
traces his life from his earliest
mile and attempted to impose alluded to. There is this interesting
childhood, indicates his prejudice
that system upon the whole comment:
and his bitter anti-Semitic atti-
party."
tude.
"Before Stalin's hireling drove
Wolfe shows in his introduction
There are several references to
an alpine pickaxe through Trot-
that "If in the purge trials and Stalin's anti-Semitism in the Trot-
sky's skull in Mexico City, the
Stalin's 'Short Course' Trotsky is sky biography. Describing the
victim had recorded a tranchant
cast as 'Judas Iscariot.' in Trotsky's "Stalinist rebuttal" in the debates
observation in his unfinished
biography of his great antagonist among leaders that took place in
biography of the dictator. 'Our
Stalin is cast as 'Cain,' a Cain of party assemblies, Trotsky wrote:
epoch is above all an epoch of
the great purees who killed not
lies.' Trotsky's comment might
Ile and his henchmen even
---,--7 mom- - •
one but all his
well apply to Stalin himself, who
stooped to fish in the muddied
created a whole fabric of lies
waters of antiSemitism. I recall
In-Lenin."
about his life — especially the
particularly a cartoon in the Rabo-
early period . . ."
is pointed
out
by It Wolfe
that
chaya Gazeta (Workers' Gazette)
Razden Arsenidze, an early asso-
entitled 'Comrades Trotsky and
"Trotsky's 'Stalin' Zinoviev.' There were any number ciate of Stalin, is quoted in the
author's
expose of the dictator's
is only fully of such caricatures and doggerels
dersta ndable of anti-Semitic character in the bigotry. There are these interesting
when we bear in Party press. They were received references to the Stalin hatred:
mind that this with sly snickers. Stalin's attitude "Arsenidze vividly recalled that
book is intended toward this growing anti-Semitism during 1905 Koba was an irrational
as Trotsky's re- was one of friendly neutrality. But anti-Semite. He scorned the Men-
Stalin
joiner, and that matters went so far that we forced sheviks because of the preponder-
his murder made it also his last to come out with a published state- ance of Jews among them." The
word in defense of his own career ment which declared, 'We are author of "The Young Stalin"
and indictment of his all-powerful , fighting Trotsky, Zinoviev and then quotes Arsenidze as follows:
antagonist." Kamenev not because they are
Wolfe gives an account of the Jews, but because they are Opposi-
tionists,' and the like. It was ab-
solutely clear to anyone who
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356 - 1722
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Referring to the period when
Stalin used the pseudonym Koba,
Trotsky recorded in his biogra-
phy of his arch enemy: "In his
views Koba became an interna-
tionalist. But did he ever become
one in his feelings? The Great-
Russian Lenin could not endure
any jests or ancedotes that were
likely to hurt the sensibilities of
an oppressed nationality. Stalin
had in him too much of the peas-
ant from the village Didi-Lilo.
During the pre-revolutionary
years he did not dare, of course,
to trifle with national prejudices,
as he did later, when he was
already in power. But that dis-
position- disclosed itself in small
matters even then. Referring to
the preponderance of Jew in
the Menshevik faction at the Lon-
don Congress of 1907, Koba
wrote: 'Apropos of that, one of
t h e Bolsheviks jestingly re-
marked (I think it was Comrade
Alexinsky) that the Mensheviks
were a Jewish faction while the
Bolsheviks were truly Russian,
and hence it would not be amiss
for us Bolsheviks to instigate a
program in the party.' "
Again, in 1913, Trotsky wrote,
commenting on "Koba's partiality
"Lenin," Koba said, "is exas-
perated that God sent him such
comrades as the Mensheviks!
Really, what kind of people are
these! Martov, Dan, Axelrod —
nothing but uncircumcised Jews!
And, that old baba (this is a
deprecatory term in Russian)
Vera Zasulich! All right! Go
work with them. They won't
fight and there is no rejoicing
at their feastings. Cowards and
shopkeepers. Don't the workers of
Georgia know that the Jewish
People produce only cowards
who are useless in a fight?"
Smith proceeds to make this in-
teresting observation to indicate
how Stalin was "a selective anti-
Semite":
"This early anti-Semitism, bitter
and deep, remembered so clearly
by his contemporary and country-
man Arsenidze, was confirmed by
Stalin's removal of most of the old
Jewish bolsheviks in the purges
of the thirties, his campaign against
the Jews as "homeless, passport-
less, cosmopolitans" in the late
forties, and the infamous "doctors'
plot" just before his death in 1953.
On the other hand, Lazar Kagano-
vich, a Jew, was his faithful col-
league in the Politburo. And there
seems to be little doubt that he
married Rosa Kaganovich, Lazar's
sister, sometime in the thirties.
Moscovites still claim, moreover,
that Beria, Stalin's deputy for the
official distortion of history and
his secret police chief, was a Jew.
Thus it would appear that from
1905 until his death Stalin was a
selective anti-Semite, using Jews
when it suited his purposes while
retaining his basic prejudice
against them.
Smith, too, gives an account of
Stalin's attitude toward the Jews
dating back to the London 1907
conference when he wrote that
Jews constituted a majority of the
Mensheviks, not counting the Bund
representatives, and in "The Young
Stalin" is repeated the Stalin com-
ment about the Bolsheviks organiz-
ing "a program in the Party."
References also are made in
Smith's book to the anti-Semitic
activities of the Black Hundreds,
the frequent Stalin demonstrations
of anti-Semitism, and with regard
to the party meeting in Sugusy
of 1918 Smith writes:
"Stalin's deeply irrational anti-
Semit ism must have been
aroused as he realized that Jews
constituted a large part of the
membership of the meeting.
Furthermore, the brainpower
and intellectual prowess was
largely theirs: Trotsky, Kamenev,
Zinoviev, Sokolnikov and Urit-
sky were providing an important
contribution to the Bolshevik
push for power. Stalin was large-
ly responsible for the death of
five of them."
Rabbi Carlebach, Father
of Hasidic Singer, Dies
NEW YORK (JTA) — Rabbi
Naphtali H. Carlebach, of Congre-
gation Kehilath Jacob, once chief
rabbi of Baden, Austria, died here
Dec. 23 at age 78. Rabbi Carlebach
was born in Lubeck and served as
a rabbi in Berlin and in Baden
before coming to the United States
in 1939.
He was the author of a biogra-
phy of his late brother, "Joseph
Carlebach and His Generation,"
published in 1960. His brother had
been chief rabbi of Hamburg and
Altona, Germany.
Among the survivors are his son,
Rabbi Shlomo, the well-k no w n
Hasidic folk singer.
Harold Goldberg Dead;
Boston Philanthropist
BOSTON (JTA) — Harorld S.
Goldman, a leader in Jewish phil-
anthropy and a vice president of
the American Jewish Committee,
died at age 64.
Mr. Goldberg was former gen-
eral chairman of the Jewish Phil-
anthropies of Greater Boston, a
past president of the Boston Jewish
Vocational Service and a trustee of
In addition to the clashes with
the Boston Jewish Memorial Hos-
Menshevik leaders and other Jew-
member and
ish Communists, Stalin's attitude pital. He was a
former trustee of Temple Israel in
towards the Jewish Bund is inter-
estingly accounted for in Smith's Boston.
book. On the matter of nationali-
ties, Smith reviews the Jewish
Bond's history and refers to an
essay by Stalin: "It now appears
clear why Lenin wanted a non-
Russian signature to 'The National
Question and S'ocial Democracy,'
and why he wanted Stalin 'saved'
for this job. In the article, the
Bond, Jews, the Jewish people and
Jewish customs and traits are men-
tioned more than 185 times, and
not one comment about the Bund
or Jews is favorable."
It is a lengthy review of the
Communist approach to problems
of minorities and nationalities.
Smith states: "Under Stalin's dicta-
torship the Jews were hideously
persecuted." But Stalin reorganized
his regime on the basis of recogni-
tion of nationalities and:
"In order to make the Jews
in Soviet Russia conform to the
definition provided in the essay,
Stalin in 1928 established a na-
tional home for Russian Jews in
a dreary and remote area of
Siberia on the Manchurian fron-
tier. Ile called it the Je4ish
Autonomous Oblast, or region,
but it came to be known after
the name of its capital, Birobid-
zhan. Russian Jews disliked the
cold and forlorn area and it was
thoroughly unpopular. Stalin
tried to put his theory into prac-
tice with the whole power of the
state behind him, and it did not
work."
In both the newly-et ited Stalin
biography by Trotsky and in
Smith's work there are valuable
annotations and lengthy lists of
important dates in Stalin's life. The
dictators pseudonyms and aliases
are recorded, there are important
bibliographies, lists of Trotsky's
published works in the Trotsky
book and also a very valuable
glossary in the latter.
Both volumes are significant
addenda to Communist history and
both expose the cruelties of Stalin
and emphasize his anti-Semitism.
* • •
Penguin Issues Unabridged
Edition of Shub's 'Lenin'
An unabridged edition of "Lenin"
by David Shub has been issued in
paperback by Penguin Books, as
part of the series on 20th Century
political leaders.
Shub's work reveals the conflicts
within the party, Lenin's relation-
ships with Stalin and Trotsky, the
struggles from war to revolution,
the internal strife.
S'hub's ranks among the most
valuable accounts of the rise of
Communism, the intrigues, the ter-
rors and the unscrupulousness with
which party aims were pursued.
Stalin's assumption of power, his
views to Lenin at his bier, are
38—Friday, December 29, 1967
Joseph Rabinovitz, Store
Executive, Contributor
BOSTON — Joseph Rabinovitz,
retired president of Stop & Shop.
Inc., Boston-based supermarket
and department store chain, died
Dec. 23 at age 89.
Mr. Rabinovitz was an honorary
director of Beth Israel Hospital
and honorary trustee of the Com-
bined Jewish Philanthropies of
Boston. With his children, Sidney,
Norman and Irving Rabb, he gave
the Rabb Graduate Center to
Brandeis University.
Joseph Tuvim, Age 71;
Garment Union Official
NEW YORK (JTA) — Joseph
Tuvim, since 1933 the manager of
local 142 of the International
Ladies Garment Workers Union,
died here at the age of 71.
Mr. Tuvim was secretary of the
American Labor party in 1937 and
was active later in the Liberal
Party. He was also a member of
the executive board of the Cen-
tral Trades and Labor Council.
P. Yuditch, Labor Editor
NEW YORK (JTA) — P e s a c h
Yuditch, a Yiddish journalist well-
known in left-wing and labor
circles, died here Monday at age
81. Born in the Ukraine, he came
to the United States in 1909, was
editor of the Naye Welt, organ of
the Jewish Socialist Federation
from 1914 to 1922, and later joined
the staff of the Morning Freheit,
Communist-oriented Yiddish daily,
as labor editor.
Yaakov Katz of Knesset
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Yaakov
Katz, a member of Parliament,
died here at age 59 Dec. 24 after
being knocked down by a car three
days ago. He was a member of the
Poalei Agudat Israel Party. Next
on his party's list is Avraoam
Verdiger, who will probably be
sworn into the Knesset after the
seven-day period of mourning.
supplemented with the author's
comment:
"Stalin went considerably beyond
Lenin: in executing dissidents and
potential rivals even among Com-
munists, in accusing Party and Red
Army leaders of being Fascists, in
cancelling Lenin's New Economic
Policy and proceeding with forcible
collectivization of agriculture, in
encouraging anti-Semitism and the
deification of his own person. After
Stalin's own death, his heirs pro-
claimed a 'return to Leninism,'
but in its first decade even this
return was only partial .. ."
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS