Purely Commentary
By Philip
Slomovitz
Dangers From Political Anti-Semitism Revealed in
Expose of Right-Wing Extremists . • . 'Politics of
Unreason` Shows New Left's Comfort to Bigots
usurers-rand the image that developed brought with it the suspicions
and hatreds. Farmers who had no such prejudices became infected with
them after the 1870s. And when "Jews began to offer a substantial
visibility in the cities" there developed the occupational bias.
Emergence of Political Anti-Semitism and New Left's Comfort to Bigotry
Particularly in the United States, as long as we were certain that anti - Semitism would not or
could not be condoned by governments or by prominert politicians and statesmen, there was less
concern over the growth of anti-Jewish bigotry.
If the warnings contained in new trends are to be taken seriously, we now have new dangers
to concern us and America.
Prof. Seymour Martin Lipset of Harvard. who co-authored with Earl Raab "The Politics of Unreason:
Right-Wing Extremism in the United States, 1790-1970," (Harper & Row) sounded the danger signal in his
New York Times article that carried the headings: " 'The Socialism of Fools'—The New Left Calls It
'Anti-Zionism,' but it's no different from the Anti.Semitism of the Old Right."
Dr. Lipset declares that "anti-Semitism appears to be on the rise around the world" since "the
collapse of the most anti-Semitic regime in history" after World War II. He maintains that "unlike
the situation before 1945, when anti-Jewish politics was largely identified with rightist elements, the
current wave is linked to governments, parties- and groups which are conventionally described as leftist."
At once we see in this the destructive Communist hate-mongering that has spread into the ranks ci
hate-mongers on the left who have become bedfellows with the bigots on the right. That's how hate
works: it unites the despotic elements who are ideologically in opposing ranks but who are united by hatred
of the Jew.
In these warnings we have admonitions for a special element: for the Jewish radical who falls
prey to prejudice and becomes the enemy of his own kinsmen. -
A while ago there was a television discussion during which it was hoped that the Middle East's
muddled issues would be clarified, but instead of adding a word in support of peace from a Detroit
platform the old hatreds were reiterated and two of the four anti-Israelis who spouted misinformation
were young Jews. It was difficult to understand. It is commendable for Jews as well as non-Jews to plead
the cause of refugees and to seek ways of solving their problems, but it is unrealistic to approach the
matter on the basis that Israel must be denuded and Israelis shorn of the right to be masters of their
own
destiny.
-
These elements that support the cause only of that element that seeks Israel's destruction and inter
alia endorses Israel's destruction have emerged as the tools of propagandists who now shout "Zionists
Ku Kluxmen." That's the clarion call from the Kremlin. backed by the handful of our leftists who are
anti-Israel, that can be equated so easily with the counterp" -t from the anti-Semitic rightists who hate Jews
under the slogan "Zionists Communists." That's how Gerald L. K. Smith relates to the Pravda and U.S.
campus extremists who degrade the very term radicalism.
o
Seymour Martin Lipset's admonishing article in the NYTimes therefore serves as a serious reminder
of what is transpiring in the combined ranks of would-be liberals and certain reactionaries whose unifying
force is their anti-Semitic ideology. Prof. Lipset commences his essay with these introductory revelations:
"The Politics of Unreason" has the greater merit of presenting
the facts by means of many tabular explanations, by listing and out-
lining the methods of action of the many anti-Semitic groups and their
journalistic organs. The Klan, the White Councils, the movements
like Conde McGinley's which publishes Common Sense, one of the
vilest anti-Semitic periodicals.
There is, of course, an account of the Birch Society, and Robert
Welch's leadership is explained and studied thoroughly. Welch is
described as a staunch opponent of anti-Semitism. While the society
attracted anti-Semites, it rejected them and McGinley was forced to
leave its ranks. Welch frequently said "we could not be anti-Semitic by
our very nature." Welch's view was that McGinley's diversionary pre-
occupation with anti-Semitism had deflected him from the fight against
communism which is the Birch Society's avowed objective. Lipset and
Raab comment: "Whatever the nature of Welch's convictions or stra-
tegic assumptions, the fact remains that while the Birch Society may
be a vessel of some anti-Semitism, it had not become an organizational
vehicle for anti-Semitism."
Gerald Winrod, Gerald L. K. Smith, Robert Shelton and many
others are exposed. The newspapers they publish are quoted to show
their role as extremists in the reactionary movements. In the efforts
to link Jews with communism, the Councilor periodical of the Citizens
Councils and the Klan is referred to as charging that Fidel Castro is a
scion of an old Jewish family with connections - with the Rothschilds,
and thus the Rothschilds are linked in the anti-Jewish drive accusing
them of communism.
There is an account of the prejudicial position pursued by George
Wallace. There is also a reference to the dragging into the prejudicial
schemes of Zionists and Zionism. There is this interesting reference in
"The Politics of Unreason":
"Wallace—like Huey Long, the welfare demagogue, and Joseph
McCarthy, the treason demagogue—never developed either a well-
constructed conspiracy theory or an ideological racism. But his insti-
tutional racism effectively provided a nativist targetry that neither
of his 'flawed' predecessors had. And he laid a basis for groundwork
for both a full conspiracy theory and an explicit racism, should his
movement continue and metamorphose. The movements of both Long
and McCarthy were truncated by personal and political events; if
Coughlin's movement had been so aborted, neither his conspiracy
theory nor his nativist bigotry would have fully emerged. But, like
Long, Wallace was surrounded in the wings by ideological bigots and
purveyors of conspiracy theory.
"Such people were present in the first reported meeting to plan a
Wallace campaign which occurred in Montgomery on Nov. 8, 1965. It
was attended by Ned Touchstone, the editor of the Councilor, a lead-
ing dispenser of Illuminati and anti-Semitic conspirational dogmas;
by then Judge and later Congressman John Rarick of Louisiana, a -
man close to the Councilor and an avowed anti-Semite; and by Rich-
ard Cotton, a right-wing radio commentator, who sees a 'Zionist- -
Jewish' conspiracy behind most of the troubles of the country."
It is in their analysis of the emergence of political anti-Semitism
that the co-authors of this volume render an especially valuable service.
We have the evidence of an emerging folk anti-Semitism. There are the
"conventional" anti-Semitic trends. The authors point to the lack of
"democratic restraint" in explaining the Coughlinist activities and the
"Twenty-five years after the end of World War II and the collapse of the most anti-Semitic regime
in history, anti-Semitism appears to be on the rise around the world. But unlike the situation before
1945, when anti-Jewish politics was largely identified with rightist elements, the current wave is linked to
governments, parties, and groups which are conventionally described as leftists. Various New Left activists
in different countries, American black militant groups, Arab 'socialist' spokesmen and East European
Communist governments have moved on from anti-Zionist to anti-Jewish and fully anti-Semitic statements
and acts. And though the extreme right remains relatively weak in Western countries, its newspapers have
become much more open about referring to 'Jewish conspiracies.'
"To say that increasing numbers of New Leftists, black militants and advocates of the Palestinian
cause are not only anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist, but, more, are moving toward—or have already achieved
—full-fledged anti-Semitism is clearly to use fighting words. Some distinctions are in order. One may
oppose Israeli policy, resist Zionism or criticize worldwide Jewish support of Israel without being anti-
Semitic. But when one draws on the age-old hostility to Jews to strengthen a political position, when
one gives credence to the charge of a worldwide Jewish plot to rule, when one attacks those with whom
one has political and economic differences as Jews, when one implies that Jews are guilty of some primal
evil, then one is guilty of anti-Semitism, and one is engaged in the same racism that all decent men
insist on eliminating.
"Admittedly, it is easy•to make these distinctions in theory, but difficult to apply them. Nor are
the distinctions so neat in practice. But seeing a rising ferocity in the expression of anti-Zionist and anti-
Israeli sentiments, and a rising irrationality in such comments, we have good reason to fear that, even
though anti-Semitism may not be at their root, their expression may well stimulate and encourage anti-
Semitic feelings. Just as a peculiarly aggressive and unmeasured attack on blacks who commit criminal
acts may lead us to suspect that the attacker is more antiblack than anticriminal, the same kind of
language addressed to Israel and Zionism must arouse the same suspicion—and, In view of the murderous
possibilities of anti-Semitism, serious concern.
"The most important expression of anti-Jewish sentiments in the West takes the form of attacks on
'Zionists' and the state of Israel by every section of the left, except the Democratic Socialists. As the war
in Vietnam peters out, the various incarnations of the extreme Left—new and old, anarchists, Maoists,
Trotskyists, Black Panthers and Communists—have reoriented their international emotional priorities to
identify the heroes as the Arab terrorists and freedom fighters, and the villains as Israel and its American
ally. In Germany, New Left students, in a sickening replay of the behavior of their Nazi predecessors
of 1928-33 (university students were the first stratum in Germany to back the Nazis, giving them majorities
in student council elections as early as 1931), chant as they parade: 'Mach die Nahe Osten rot; schiag
die Zionisten tote (Make the Near East Red; smash the Zionists dead). Dieter Kunzelmann, who played a
major role in the demonstrations during the late 1960s, and who is now in the Middle East with the fedayeen,
being instructed, according to his published letters, 'In the use of explosives ... (and) the manufacture
of time bombs,' has written from Amman that the German left must break down the pro-Semitism that
emerged out of German guilt at the Holocaust, that Germany must, get over 'der Jndenknax' (the 'thing'
about the Jews) (Encounter, Nov. 1970)."
The Lipset analyses of a threatening situation affecting Jews must be read in its entirety and should
be studied carefully by all who are concerned over the retention of basic liberalism in the ranks of the
"nativist bigotry." Upset and Raab declare:
"As long as there exists this prevalent lack of democratic restraint
which characterizes the common democratic commitment, political
anti-Semitism can become or be made a convenient for of nativist
targetry during a period of social upheaval. Political anti-Semitism Is
more a function of monism than of conventional anti-Semitism."
In dealing with political moralism, reviewing the extremist trends,
taking into account the anti-Semitic trends, the two authors of "The
-
Politics of-Unreason" serve notice to the cautious of impending dangers
that stem from the lessons of the past. Theirs is a revealing book. It
is a valuable history of bigotry. Perhaps it'll serve as . a guide to those
who would preserve the democratic ideals to remain eternally vigilant.
Blessed Memories of Fine Schlossberg Personality
Joseph Schlossberg was one of the remarkable men of our time.
As a teen-ager he became linked to the labor movement and be rose
high in the ranks of the workers' aspirations for better conditions in a
period when none of the present benefits derived from
labor were enjoyed to any degree in this country.
He was, therefore, a pioneer in the struggle for
conditions for the clothing workers, and the,
democracies everywhere. What is happening undermines decencies. Jews are the first to suffer; others better
example set by him contributed toward encouragements
always follow when there is a wave of bigotry.
for similar programs in other labor ranks.
Dr. Lipset takes into account the roles that were played in earlier periods by Jewish radicals who,
were anti-Zionist, who followed a Communist line, who later deplored their errors and admitted them
(Isaac Deutscher, for example). He quotes from Jean-Paul Sartre: "The only thing that we must prevent
at any cost is a new war of extermination against Israel." If this is the one thing that matters then it must
be accepted as part of the obligation also to guarantee the freedom of Israel and the security of the
people that will not permit another holocaust.
It is distressing that Dr. Upset should find it necessary to conclude that the men who had blundered
and later conceded their errors in dealing with anti-Semitism and Israel should '"have signally failed to
convey their experiences, their shock, the lessons they learned, to a new generation of revolutionary
What is remarkable about this wonderful man is
that he was among the first leaders in the general labor
movements to recognize the justice of the Jewish posi-
tion. He therefore readily became one of the founders of
the Histadrut campaigns and those who were privileged
to meet with him frequently learned to love his devotion
to his fellow Jews and to his fellow men, his humbleMr• Schlossberg
way of dealing with people, his tireless zeal for just causes.
He was already in his 90s when be continued to plead the cause
of the Histadrut, and the movements for assistance to the Labor Israel
ranks can be proud that for 50 years one of its most inspired leaders
was a man of his caliber who gave inspiration to his co-workers.
Mr. Schlossberg had a very deep concern for many matters affect-
ing Jewry, and it is no wonder that he should have been the- man who
radicals." He added: "We can only hope that the latter will have less impact on the future of the Jews
than earlier generations who required Auschwitz and Dachau to prove to them that anti-Semitism is more
than a foolish prejudice."
But this is not a lesson for Jewish radicals alone. It is-a warning against a reoccurrence of the
terror to all peoples and especially to all Americans. We have the example of Detroit-based anti-Semitic
movements whose activities were headlined only a short time ago. There are many, reactionary elements
whose objectives must be watched and whose spread should be prevented by constant exposes through
educational and instructive efforts. It is an endless job, but it is more urgent now than it has been for
some time, and the economic conditions threaten to add to the menacing situation affecting Americans of
all faiths and races. The seriousness of the task to overcome these menacing trends is apparent. The
danger that stems from the hatreds of bigots and - the socialism of fools must be reckoned with in all
seriousness.
An over-all analysis of the activities of bigoted groups in this country is preSented in the important
study, "The Politics of Unreason—Right-Wing Extremism in -America, 1790-1970," co-authored by Upset and
Raab. Winner of the Gunnar Myrdal Prize, this work traces the many occurrences involving extremism—
the Know Nothing Party, the Ku Klux Klan, Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent and Coughlin'S Social
Justice campaigns, the Black Legion that functioned in the Detroit area, anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism
—scores of developments that now form a veritable encyclopedic record of prejudices and the groups that
sponsored such movements.
The evil-doers were the evil-seekers. They built up the fictitious Protocols of the Elders of Zion. They
used the image of an "Illuminati" movement as aiming at "secret plans for world domination." and
invariably Jews were linked with the power-seekers. In their tracing of the emergence of anti-Semitism,
the co-authors of this important book deal historically with the emergence of extremists' prejudices, the
caste - like policies that were established in elite clubs, the portrayal of Jews as bankers, as money-lenders,
-
advised Dr. Israel Goldstein to look into the advisability of -acquiring
the college grounds at Waltham, Mass., for a Jewish university. Thus
he was a co-founder of Brandeis University.
There will be deep-rooted affection for this fine person in the hearts
of all of us who recall his labors, his character, his good mind.
This gentle man had so many great qualities! He was only 13
when he came - to thin country. He began to work in the needle-trades
workshops at 14. But-he studied, he read, he learned—lie was the self-
made man. whose lectures in his later years were marked by great
inspiration. He . beeame a newspaper editor and he guided his fellow
workers along constructive paths.
It is no wonder that he was considered a valuable selectee for the
Board of Higher Education in New. York_by Mayor Morello LaGuardia
who appointed him to that post in '111115, - and it is of lesser wonder that
he remained in that post until 1963-when be was 88—because he quali-
fied for it so well!
As a labor leader, as a Zionist, as a .great humanitarian, he was
one of the most distinguished. personalities.
2—Friday, January 22, 1971
THE DETROIT JEWISH' NEWS