Behind the Headlines Extent of Anti-semitism Among Farmers in Dispute

A claim by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, based on a telephone survey, that reports of growing anti-Semitism in the American Farm Belt have been “grossly exaggerated” was challenged Tuesday by two American Jewish Committee officials and the head of an independent group monitoring extremist activities in the Midwest.

The ADL, based on a survey of 600 persons in Iowa and Nebraska conducted January 23-24 by Louis Harris and Associates, concluded that far-right extremist groups that seek to stir up anti-Semitism by exploiting the farm crisis “have failed in their mission.” “The results clearly show that the American farmer, although hard hit economically, is decidedly not as vulnerable to bigotry as those who shrilly cry wolf about anti-Semitism would have us believe,” said Nathan Perlmutter, ADL national director.

While not disputing the statistical data drawn from the survey–that about one in four of the respondents revealed anti-Semitic sentiments — Rabbi James Rudin, interreligious affairs director of the AJC, said, “I draw very little comfort when one out of four farmers responded with anti-Semitic sentiments.”

In a telephone interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Rudin said, “I draw no comfort from that survey and neither do I think the Jewish community should.” Rudin has made several fact-finding trips to the Midwest, meeting with farmers and religious leaders.

ESTIMATES OF HARD-CORE ACTIVISTS

Similar sentiments were expressed by Leonard Zeskind, research director of the Center for Democratic Renewal, an Atlanta-based organization that has monitored anti-Semitic and extremist groups in the Farm Belt, and which has also been the source of much information for concerned Jewish groups.

In a 10-page report issued last year, Zeskin reported that while exact numbers on the various extremist organizational efforts do not exist, “it is estimated that the racist and anti-Semitic movement has between 2,000 and 5,000 hard-core activists in the Great Plains Midwest, and between seven and ten sympathizers for each activist.”

He asserted that these figures do not differ much with the ADL survey. He said each year the “situation has progressively gotten worse. There have been more meetings by anti-Semites that have been better attended each year and there has been a wider distribution of literature.”

The ADL noted that extremist groups have tried to persuade American farmers that Jews are largely responsible for their problems. But the survey found that those polled blamed their difficulties by and large on others, such as the Reagan Administration and Congress.

RESPONSES TO QUESTIONNAIRE

In the series of questions to test latent attitudes, 75 percent of the respondents put a “great deal” of the blame for the farm problems on “big international bankers.” When a key modifier was added, only 27 percent agreed with a statement that farmers had been exploited by “international Jewish bankers.”

Asked to what extent they considered “certain religious groups, such as Jews” responsible for the farm crisis, 4 percent of those surveyed said “a great deal,” 9 percent said “somewhat,” and 79 percent replied “not very much.” Furthermore, the poll asked respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with a series of derogatory statements about Jews and other minorities, designed to gauge the extent of anti-Semitism.

In that survey, less than one-third of those polled responded affirmatively to statements such as “Jews are irritating because they are too aggressive,” or that “Jews feel superior to other groups.”

“Although these figures are, of course, grounds for concern,” Perlmutter said, “it should be borne in mind that in previous polls in America, repeated over many years, approximately one-third of those surveyed have traditionally expressed anti-Semitic sentiments.”

He added: “But it is noteworthy that despite hard times and the anticipated scapegoating that accompanies difficulties, anti-Semitism has not caught hold. A substantial majority of those questioned in the Harris Poll are simply not anti-Semitic.”

In response to Perlmutter, Rudin said that “the American Jewish Committee has always said that the overwhelming majority of American farmers are democratic, pluralistic and non-violent.” He cautioned, “it is a virus, and I think that when you have a small amount, it is a virus that has to be rooted out.”

A CONCLUSION IN THE SURVEY

The ADL survey concluded that comparatively few farmers are even aware of the major extremist groups seeking to exploit the situation. Only 50 percent of those surveyed had heard about or were familiar with the National Agricultural Press Association, a group combining do-it-yourself help to hard pressed farmers with anti-Jewish propaganda.

Even fewer — 29 percent of those surveyed — had heard of the Populist Party, the most active U.S. organization seeking to recruit supporters among farmers. Only 24 percent of those polled were acquainted with Posse Comitatus, the anti-Semitic organization of loosely affiliated groups of armed vigilantes.

More significant, ADL stated, was the finding that “when asked if they had been to any meetings or belonged to these organizations, 98 percent said they had no such association with these groups.” Direct involvement by farmers with extremist groups, the Harris Poll concluded, has been “minimal or minute.”

Jonathan Levine, the AJC’s regional director in Chicago who has worked on the farm situation, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that the statistics cited by the ADL are of concern. “We know it is probably as high or higher in Missouri, South Dakota and elsewhere,” he asserted.

He pointed out that in rural populations where a town may have merely 7,000-8,000 people, when a small percentage of that group is active, “that number to me is of concern . . . It seems to me that when you’re dealing with a dispersed rural population . . . that we not minimize the potential danger and our risk.”