[lbo-talk] Anti Semitism in East Europe and Russia

James Heartfield Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk
Wed Aug 6 07:53:00 PDT 2008


I wonder if this last paragraph of Sebastian's does not explain the differences between us:

"For me the story of post-second-world-war antisemitism inm eastern europe is not a story about "the others" - it is the story about some of the crimes and mistakes commited sometimes by full hearted and minded communists - Gomulka in 1968! - commited in the name of communism. That's why it is a story dealing with me too. Like the defeat of the german labor movement in 1933 and the complete failure of the german resistance to stop Hitler. I do not belong to that kind of people, inventing themselve anew every morning."

I guess if you consider yourself a part of that movement that ruled in eastern Europe, then you have indeed got a lot to feel guilty about. But I am not sure if it is fair to assume that the anti-Semitism that the official 'Communist' governments dealt in was a fair reflection of the attitudes of the people. Indeed, some might say that it was a continuation of that patrician Stalinist attitude that sees the people as irredeemably weak, as a justification of the need for top-down tutelage.

If by the "kind of people inventing themselves anew every morning" you mean those honorable Trotskyists and New Leftists that fought against the anti-Semitism of the official Communist movement, then yes, I plead guilty to being one of those, though not since this morning, but for the last thirty years.



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