There is no reason for fearing organized anti-Semitism. The only danger is that the fear of anti-Semitism may arouse the danger it dreads.
This is the conclusion reached by Fortune, dollar-a-copy monthly, in its February issue on the basis of a survey of the Jews in America.
The magazine maintains that anti-Semitism is bound up with Fascism because “Fascism, having nothing for sale but dictatorship and no selling point but the necessity for force, requires civil riots in order to advertise its good and a civil triumph to complete the sale.”
Outlining recent history of anti-Semitism, the writer states that “anti-Semitism languished and still languishes. The great shift from sheets to shirts has failed to save it. Although an estimated half million people may attend occasional anti-Semitic meetings, there are probably no more than 15,000 loyal Jew-hating members in the whole United States.”
The explanation is, according to Fortune, that Americans have not taken to anti-Semitism. A survey of opinions of Americans showed that anti-Semitism is hardly a live issue in the United States.
“The conclusion is inescapable,” reports the periodical, “that current American anti-Semitism is feeble. It is German in manufacture and was to be expected in the light of Hitler’s career.”
The magazine scouts claims that Jews have monopolized various industries and professions. Names and figures are cited to show that their alleged predominance has been greatly exaggerated. The Jews seem to play a disproportionate part in some industries, the magazine states, because they crowd into cities and because their chosen occupations usually bring them into greatest contact with consumers.
The reasons of predominance, clannishness, etc. usually given for antipathy to Jews, the magazine states are usually a rationalization of the cultural difference. All other immigrants accept the culture of the country into which they come. The Jews for centuries have refused to accept it and are now, in many cases, unable to accept it when they would.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
