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News Brief

January 19, 1928
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Commenting upon the exile of Trotzky, the “Jewish Daily News,” Orthodox newspaper in New York, observes: “One cannot deny that in the action of Joseph Stalin against Trotzky, Kameneff and Zinovieff a smack of anti-Semitism is to be discerned.”

The paper, expressing the opinion that the Soviet opposition is wrong, observes: “Many Communists have publicly stated that the opposition is Jewish. It will, perhaps, not be exaggerated to say that if Trotzky were not a Jew, the Stalin regime would not dare to exile him to the remotest wilderness of Asiatic Russia.

“That there is in existence in Russia considerable anti-Semitism is known. The Communist party organ, ‘Pravda’ and even the ‘Emes’ and ‘Der Stern,’ the organs of the Jewish Communists, have more than once complained of the anti-Jewish hatred prevalent in certain Communist circles. The fact that the main leaders of the opposition, such as Trotzky, Kameneff, Zinovieff, Radek and others, are Jews, has increased anti-Semitism in Communist circles.

“Stalin has endeavored, during the entire time, to cover the anti-Semitic sentiment against the opposition and attempted to put the controversy on a purely party basis. The world, however, knows that anti-Semitism which obtains in the Communist party played a certain role in the exclusion of the opposition and in their exile to remote parts of Russia. The exile of Trotzky and his comrades is a result not only of the differences of opinion in the Communist party but also has a certain Jewish background which is visible notwithstanding all official denials of the Soviet government,” the paper declares.

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