Customer Reviews

A Rumor About the Jews: Reflections on Antisemitism and "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion"

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With the whole tzuriss over the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" reaching such a boiling point, I wish to recommend this excellent history of the topic. Rutgers Political Science Professor, Stephen Eric Bronner, whose parents fled Nazi Germany and settled in the German Jewish enclave of Washington Heights in Manhattan, provides this remarkable analysis into the antecedents of THE PROTOCOLS, the reasons it was published in 1903 by the Russian Imperial Secret Police, the groups that used the Protocols for their political ends, the legal suit that was brought against the book in the 1930's in Switzerland, the early opponents to this popular fictitious Antisemitic tract, and the current state of antisemitism, whether it be social, religious (judeophobia), or political.

Mr. Bronner's book not only manages to crystalize the reason for the forgery but explains the rationale for how the historical remainder of the 20th century proceeded as a result of the "Protocols.." No small feat. In addition, the book is made more valuable because the author doesn't get self conscious about being too objective. Normally, being slightly subjective would detract from a scholarly work such as this. Instead it brings the clarity and understanding the topic truly deserves. If you really want to understand antisemitism without the usual variety of historical apologetics, this is the work to read. The bar has been raised, writers!

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is still worth reading about since it one of those books that it helped start a social movement of increased intolerance and violence towards Jews in Nazi Germany. It is still taken seriously in the present-day middle east.

Author Stephen Bronner's most interesting point is that the Protocols was written in reaction against modernity and its components of a republican state, rule of law, democratic liberalism, universal suffrage, universal equal rights, and separation of church and state. The reactionary forces of the church and aristocracy were against the liberal forces of Jews, freemasons, and the middle class mainly because they wanted to hold on to their arbitrary power over their subjects.

Another observation is that Bronner shows why many Jews support cosmopolitanism and separation of church and state so much; those two things the Protocols opposed with nationalism and the church. Such ideas give the Jews more freedom and equality than they would have under a Christian government or a nation that defines its true citizenry on the basis of race. Nationalism often has a racial component to it as opposed to a cosmopolitanism that pretends that race does not matter.

In the last chapter, Bronner analyzes contemporary anti-semitism and racial nationalism. He advocates that more conservative Jews should even give up their cultural and genetic heritage to the inevitable march of progress, modernity, and cosmopolitanism. Those who resist multiculturalism will be the inevitable losers. To be a racial nationalist is to join forces with the likes that support the values of anti-semites. He poses the question that once antisemitism is removed from society, the Jews themselves may vanish because they will no longer be the persecuted 'others'. But of course, one can think that there are seeds of destruction in excessive cosmopolitanism also.

The Protocols are reprinted in the book. It is clumsily written propaganda, but it came along at the right time and it plays upon fears that people still have today: autocratic world government, destruction of Christianity, planned economic depressions, indoctrination of children in schools of values parents are against, control of the news media that doesn't tell the truth, mindless entertainment to distract citizens from their vanishing freedoms and wealth, and planned spread of diseases for population control. Bronner gives the history of the creation and appearance of the Protocols in Russia in 1905 when the reactionary and anti-semitic monarchy enthusiastically supported its discimination.

Bronner calls this infamous forgery The Manifesto of Antisemitism. The cause of much violence and bloodshed, the Protocols targeted Jews and Freemasons; it remains the most notorious conspiracy of all time. The text represents a risible level of discourse characterized by tortured prose, lack of logic, banal stereotypes & imagery plus projection of pathological proportions. Its value ultimately resides in the insight it gives into the psychology of antisemitism.

Part 2 provides selections from the text. Stylistic similarities to contemporary conspiracy theories like those of the 911 Troofers jump hissing and snarling at the reader. Whilst it is primarily an attack on enlightenment values, its portrayal of Jews as omnipotent is significant. The word "goyim" appears all over and implies a helpless flock of sheep. Nowadays it's cattle as I learnt from a recent encounter with a conspiracist. Goats next I suppose, if the Ayatollah Khomeini would kindly permit.

Part 3 looks at varieties of antisemitism, the cultural atmosphere of the time and the rejection of modernity. Judeophobia existed in classical antiquity, infected Christianity soon after its birth and triumphed along with the victory of the Constantine version. It is present in the foundational texts of both Islam and Christianity in a web of contradictions, historical impossibilities, suspiciously vivid imagery and venomous language which is the very opposite of the authentic words of Jesus, as far as those can be identified.

The roots of the calumnies are in the New Testament, from deicide to blood libel to replacement theology. A series of "saints" like Melito of Sardis, Tertullian, Chrysostom and Augustine as well as the reformer Martin Luther kept Anti-Judaism alive or inflamed the hatred. These powerful myths & images eventually entered the collective subconscious of the West. They migrated to Christianity's secular Salvationist offspring like nationalism, fascism, socialism and the First Church of the Boiling Globe.

By integrating the existing religious, social and political dimensions of Anti-Judaism and associating prominent trends of modernity with "the Jewish spirit" the Protocols rearranged the DNA of the virus to help produce the genocidal race-based mutation embraced by Hitler. Antisemitism's move from the traditionalist & counterrevolutionary side to the anti-establishment and revolutionary infused the phenomenon with an apocalyptic impulse. It eventually took on all the characteristics that the Protocols ascribed to the Jews: the desire for a Leader, chauvinism, racism and revolutionary totalitarianism: the seeds of genocide.

Part 4 investigates its origin and permutations from 1890 to 1913. Most likely compiled between 1894 & 1898, the text first appeared in a Russian newspaper in 1903. Most of the text was plagiarized from Dialogue in Hell: Conversations between Machiavelli and Montesquieu by Maurice Joly, a 1864 book critical of Machiavelli.

Part 5 traces its path to fame, initially as bridge between the romantic nostalgia of the old right & the neo-romantic racial obsession of the new. Fascism as Salvationist movement promised to end class conflict, economic chaos and the threat of anarchy; it also infused antisemitism with a new missionary zeal. Fascist organizations across Europe promoted the pamphlet; even churches endorsed it. It was published by newspapers worldwide, French writers like Celine loved it, Henry Ford sponsored its publication in America, it inspired Ezra Pound and "Father" Charles Coughlin used it in his broadcasts. Its popularity lasted through the 1920s and the next decade.

Contemporary antisemitism is examined in the final chapter. Since the publication of this book in 2000 the plague has returned with alarming intensity in virulent new strains. It appears to me as if the author is aware of a new variety but is unwilling to name it. Bronner believes that antimodernism and Judeophobia are twins and that Jews are safest in cosmopolitan cultures with powerful liberal institutions. After having read Menace in Europe by Claire Berlinski I am not convinced of the idea's universal validity anymore.

He warns against postmodern interpretations of the Protocols, arguing that claims must be measured with reference to empirical reality. Amen! This would have been the ideal place to use those "verboten" words: Liberal Antisemitism. Suspicion of conservatives and "the right" permeates the book. I respectfully disapprove of such bias. Of course there are some ghoulish things on the right like the Paleotards but postmodernism is not on their menu of abominations.

The author's distrust of Christianity is understandable but like Abraham Foxman he ignores the threat from the religious left that is openly hostile to Israel. Jimmy Carter is just as scary as the Paleotards but far more dangerous and destructive. Traditional American Christianity contains Philosemitic strains that will forever stick closer than a sibling to both the State of Israel and the diaspora community. Never underestimate the power of archetypes, in this case Ruth who clung to Naomi.

Penultimately, the unwarranted agonizing in The Vanishing Jew wearies the soul. Bronner is concerned about " ... an eschatological orthodoxy and an expansionist xenophobic Zionism" that holds the constitutional state and multicultural society in contempt. Maybe a tiny minority like that exists but there has been almost no evidence of such attitudes in the USA or Israel where the rule of law stands firm in the face of terrorism and escalating existential threats. As for multiculturalism, I'm sure he means positive qualities like tolerance, mutual respect and the intellectual/spiritual riches to be gained from cultural sharing.

On the other hand the word is rapidly acquiring sinister shades of meaning on account of the type of fruit it is bearing in Europe. Since it is a matter of definitions, I highly recommend the illuminating books Icarus Fallen and Unlearned Lessons of the Twentieth Century by the French philosopher Chantal Delsol. It is also thus with his use of the word liberalism by which I am convinced he means classical liberalism. Without the adjective the meaning is in a process of shape shifting - just like antisemitism which is a champion shape shifter - according to Nick Cohen in What's Left or Jonah Goldberg in Liberal Fascism.

What is striking about this book is that is a rare contemporary contextualization of this nasty little tract...written at the end of the 1900s and which provided fuel for the fire of National Socialism.

The context is the "new" fascism--Islamo-fascism. It is so easy to forget that the Ottoman Empire was largely Muslim, and that they were the Allies of Germany in two world wars.

And now, some say, we're in the third world war. While there are places to quibble (e.g. that non-multiculturalists will be the ultimate losers worldwide)...this is still an important work for anyone who would understand current anti-semitism.

As noted, in an Egyptian television series the Protocols are referred to as fact.

The "fact" is is that the Protocols are fiction, but this book ought to stand along your copy of "Mein Kampf". I read while in Germany that a Jewish organisation was about to make FREE copies of Mein Kampf available throughout Germany. Obviously, current readers would see that is was absurd, and reject neo-Nazism.

I'm not so sanguine--about readers of "Mein Kampf" or about readers of sections of the "Protocols" without adequate context.

Whether this provides "adequate" context is a judgment for the reader. I think the conclusions are misleading. However, the context is current, and therefore extremely significant.

This is a good book because first it is short and easy to read, it discusses a notorious fabrication or conspiracy theory, and it shows just how confused the Jewish position is with regards to the "other" or antisemitism. The author seems to meander between numerous concepts and explanations of antisemitism, but never really embraces a coherent theme. Oddly, this is very similar to "The Protocols" that he attacks.

We have of course many venues of indoctrination, and "The Protocols" is just one of many. Why anyone would write a book about such a pamphlet that is an obvious forgery over 100 years old, and treat it like a present day threat is a real mystery. In addition, the author seems to be trying to convince Jews to somehow change their behavior, while he excoriates all Gentiles for their insane obsession with antisemitism. He tends to vacillate between "there is no more antisemitism" and "Jews had better give up their world view of domination or people will again become anti-Semitic." He in many ways confirms that Jewishness, unlike other religions, is really a supremacist position that embraces dominance over the "other." He openly discusses the Jewish obsession with racial purity and what will be required to stop intermarriage.

What is lacking in this and books like it, is a real analysis of what we now know about group evolutionary strategies. Kevin MacDonald's trilogy on Jew-Gentile competition, based on group evolutionary strategies, makes this book a transparent work of mere propaganda. Anyone familiar with the neo-Darwinist position on group behavior will recognize what this book is all about trying to make the world safe for Judaism (that is the race, not the religion).

The best book to read to understand this book is MacDonald's "The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements." As an academically reviewed book, and part of the "Human Evolution, Behavior, and Intelligence" series of books edited by Seymour W. Itzkoff, it explains why and for what purpose this book was written.