On Jewish Problem

8/13/2019 On Jewish Problem

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On the Jewish Problem

Written:1937-1940First Published:Various publications, but collected and sources for this edition

here: Vol. 6 No. 12, ece!ber 194", Volu!e 6, No. 12, pa#es 377-379

Transcription/HTML Markup:a$id %alters

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We publish herewith four statements by Trotsky during the last yearsof his life expressing his views on the Jewish question. The first is inthe form of an interview given to correspondents of the Jewish pressupon his arrival in Mexico. The second is an excerpt from an articleon Thermidor and nti!"emitism# written in $%&'. The third is aletter which Trotsky addressed to the Jews menaced by the mountingwave of anti!semitism and fascism in the (nited "tates) calling uponthem to support the revolutionary struggle of the *ourth +nternationalas the only road to their salvation. The fourth statement is from thearchives of ,eon Trotsky.

I

-efore trying to answer your questions + ought to warn you thatunfortunately + have not had the opportunity to learn the Jewishlanguage) which moreover has been developed only since + became anadult. + have not had) and + do not have the possibility of following the

Jewish press) which prevents me from giving a precise opinion on thedifferent aspects of so important and tragic a problem. + cannot

therefore claim any special authority in replying to your questions.evertheless + am going to try and say what + think about it.

/uring my youth + rather leaned toward the prognosis that the Jews ofdifferent countries would be assimilated and that the Jewish questionwould thus disappear in a quasi!automatic fashion. The historicaldevelopment of the last quarter of a century has not confirmed thisperspective. /ecaying capitalism has everywhere swung over to anexacerbated nationalism) one part of which is anti!semitism. The
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Jewish question has loomed largest in the most highly developedcapitalist country of 0urope) in 1ermany.

2n the other hand the Jews of different countries have created theirpress and developed the 3iddish language as an instrument adaptedto modern!culture. 2ne must therefore reckon with the fact that the

Jewish nation will maintain itself for an entire epoch to come. owthe nation cannot normally exist without a common territory. 4ionismsprings from this very idea. -ut the facts of every passing daydemonstrate to us that 4ionism is incapable of resolving the Jewishquestion. The conflict between the Jews and rabs in 5alestineacquires a more and more tragic and more and more menacingcharacter. + do not at all believe that the Jewish question can beresolved within the framework of rotting capitalism and under thecontrol of -ritish imperialism.

nd how) you ask me) can socialism solve this question6 2n this point+ can but offer hypotheses. 2nce socialism has become master of ourplanet or at least of its most important sections) it will haveunimaginable resources in all domains. 7uman history has witnessedthe epoch of great migrations on the basis of barbarism. "ocialismwill open the possibility of great migrations on the basis of the mostdeveloped technique and culture. +t goes without saying that what ishere involved is not compulsory displacements) that is) the creation ofnew ghettos for certain nationalities) but displacements freely

consented to) or rather demanded by certain nationalities or parts ofnationalities. The dispersed Jews who would want to be reassembledin the same community will find a sufficiently extensive and rich spotunder the sun. The same possibility will be opened for the rabs) asfor all other scattered nations. ational topography will become apart of the planned economy . This is the grand historical perspectivethat + envisage. To work for international socialism means also towork for the solution of the Jewish question.

3ou ask me if the Jewish question still exists in the (""8. 3es) it

exists) 9ust as the (krainian) the 1eorgian) even the 8ussianquestions exist there. The omnipotent bureaucracy stifles thedevelopment of national culture 9ust as it does the whole of culture.Worse still) the country of the great proletarian revolution is nowpassing through a period of profound reaction. +f the revolutionarywave revived the finest sentiments of human solidarity) theThermidorian reaction has stirred up all that is low) dark andbackward in this agglomeration of $': million people. To reinforce its


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domination the bureaucracy does not even hesitate to resort in ascarcely camouflaged manner to chauvinistic tendencies) above all toanti!semitic ones. The latest Moscow trial) for example) was stagedwith the hardly concealed design of presenting internationalists asfaithless and lawless Jews who are capable of selling themselves to

the 1erman 1estapo."ince $%;< and above all since $%;=) anti!semitic demagogy) wellcamouflaged) unattackable) goes hand in hand with symbolic trialsagainst avowed pogromists. 3ou ask me if the old Jewish pettybourgeoisie in the (""8 has been socially assimilated by the newsoviet environment. + am indeed at a loss to give you a clear reply. Thesocial and national statistics in the (""8 are extremely tendencious.They do not serve to set forth the truth) but above all to glorify theleaders) the chiefs) the creators of happiness. n important part of the

Jewish petty bourgeoisie has been absorbed by the formidableapparatuses of the state) industry) commerce) the cooperatives) etc.)above all in their lower and middle layers. This fact engenders ananti!semitic state of feeling and the leaders manipulate it with acunning skill in order to canali>e and to direct especially against the

Jews the existing discontent against the bureaucracy.

2n -iro!bid9an + can give you no more than my personal evaluations. +am not acquainted with this region and still less with the conditions inwhich the Jews have settled there. +n any case it can be no more than

a very limited experience. The (""8 alone would still be too poor toresolve its own Jewish question) even under a regime much moresocialist than the present one. The Jewish question) + repeat) isindissolubly bound up with the complete emancipation of humanity.0verything else that is done in this domain can only be a palliativeand often even a two!edged blade) as the example of 5alestineshows. January $?) $%&'

II

"ome would!be pundits# have accused me of suddenly# raising the

Jewish question# and of intending to create some kind of ghetto forthe Jews. + can only shrug my shoulders in pity. + have lived my wholelife outside of Jewish circles. + have always worked in the 8ussianworkers movement. My native tongue is 8ussian. (nfortunately) +have not even learned to read Jewish. The Jewish question) therefore)has never occupied the center of my attention.


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-ut that does not mean that + have the right to be blind to the Jewishproblem which exists and demands a solution. The friends of the(""8# are satisfied with the creation of -irobid9an. + will not stop atthis point to consider whether it was built on a sound foundation andwhat type of regime existed there @-irobid9an cannot help reflecting

all the vices of bureaucratic despotismA. -ut not a single progressivethinking individual will ob9ect to the (""8 designating a specialterritory for those of its citi>ens who feel themselves to be Jews) whouse the Jewish language in preference to all others) and who wish tolive as a compact mass.

+s this or is this not a ghetto6 /uring the period of "oviet democracy)of completely voluntary migration) there could be no talk of ghettoes.-ut the Jewish question and the very manner in which settlements of

Jews occurred) assumes an international aspect. re we not correct in

saying that a world socialist federation will have to make possible thecreation of a -iro!bid9an for those Jews who wish to have their ownautonomous republic as the arena for their own culture6

+t may be presumed that a socialist democracy will not resort tocompulsory assimilation. +t may very well be that within two or threegenerations the boundaries of an independent Jewish republic) as ofmany other national regions) will be erased. + have neither time nordesire to meditate on this. 2ur descendants will know better than wewhat to do. + have in mind a transitional historical period when the

Jewish question# as such) is still acute and demands adequatemeasures from a world federation of workersB states.

The very same methods of solving the Jewish question which underdecaying capitalism will have a utopian and reactionary character@4ionismA will) under the regime of a socialist federation take on realand salutary meaning. This is what + want to point out. 7ow could anyMarxist or even any consistent democrat ob9ect to this6

$%&'

* * *

III

/ear *riendC *ather Doughlin) who apparently tries to demonstratethat the absolute idealistic moral does not prevent man from beingthe greatest rascal) has declared over the radio that in the past +received enormous sums of money for the revolution from the Jewishbourgeoisie in the (nited "tates. + have already answered in the pressthat this is false. + did not receive such money) not) of course) because


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/ecember ;;) $%&?

The attempt to solve the Jewish question through the migration ofJews to 5alestine can now be seen for what it is) a tragic mockery ofthe Jewish people. +nterested in winning the sympathies of the rabswho are more numerous than the Jews) the -ritish government has

sharply altered its policy toward the Jews) and has actually renouncedits promise to help them found their own home# in a foreign land.The future development of military events may well transform5alestine into a bloody trap for several hundred thousand Jews. everwas it so clear as it is today that the salvation of the Jewish people isbound up inseparably with the overthrow of the capitalist system.

July) $%H:

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