A group of Moscow and Leningrad Jewish activists has written to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev expressing “feelings of alarm and concern” over a recently released book that appears to revive some of the most insidious canards of the infamous “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” it was reported here by the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ).
The 254-page book, “On the Class Essence of Zionism,” was written by A.Z. Romanenko. Its 50,000 copies are twice the usual number for major tomes, the SSSJ said.
The activists pointed out that the book claims that “there was no Inquisition against Jews, no mass killings, but ‘national liberation movements.’ According to the author, anti-Semitism is a reaction to Jewish expansionism” and Jews are engaged in “constant efforts to gain control of the world.”
Romanenko asserts that “Zionism is a dangerous enemy of the working masses” and claims that Zionists espouse “criminal theories” and “are steeped in a spirit of rabid hatred towards all mankind.” He concludes that “Zionist ideologists combine propaganda for a fascist-type of unbridled territorial expansion with a policy of racist genocide and anti-Communist attacks and incantations.”
The activists also pointed out that the book asserts that “the Jews themselves instigated pogroms in Russia in the beginning of the century to start immigration to America, and, finally, as the culmination of their cunning, ‘the Zionists did everything they could to set the fascists against the USSR’.”
The activists also noted that the book, which is subtitled “A Historiographic Review of Literature,” is a review of this sort of writing published in the USSR. “Judging by the bibliography, it consists of over 100 books released in several million copies. It means that millions have read and absorbed these falsehoods.”
They called upon Gorbachev “to put an end to the anti-Semitic campaign in the press and hold responsible those who organized it. We also call upon you to consider the problem of refuseniks and to grant, under existing laws, all Jews who wish, the right to leave for their historic homeland Israel.”
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.
