Socialism and the Jew
In this article, Mr. A. M. Wolfe, of Philadelphia, goes into a detailed criticism of certain views expounded to the members of the Jewish Chautauqua during the Summer. Mr. Simons, who read the paper here criticized, seemed to take an apologetic attitude toward the participation of Jews in the socialistic agitation. Mr. Wolfe, who is not an orthodox socialist, it seems, claims credit for the Jews in that respect, for Judaism and socialism, in his opinion, have much in common.
IN the Jewish Exponent for July 22, was printed an address delivered at the Summer Assembly of the Jewish Chautauqua on "Socialism and the Jew," by Charles C. Simons.
If that article treated only of socialism, I would not have taken the trouble of replying to it, but considering this address a libel, unintentional perhaps, but, nevertheless, a libel on both socialists and Jews, I feel compelled to make a short reply to it.
Briefly, Mr. Simons' argument follows: All the great men, such as Herbert Spencer, the late Mark Hanna, the late President Roosevelt, and President Taft, are unanimous in warning the people against "the menace of socialism."
Mr. Simons describes the great part that Jews of all lands have taken in the socialist movement, both theoretical and practical, as leaders in and out of Parliaments, in Convention Halls, etc., adding, however, that socialism "has by no means become a racial movement with the Jew," and regretting that "many have strayed from the faith of their fathers when they joined the socialist party."
The author further explains why the Jew in Russia is so eager to join the socialist party, because "above all else it means democracy, and spells life, liberty and pursuit of happiness."
The author expresses the strange idea that "it required centuries of oppression to produce a Karl Marx," probably meaning that socialism is simply the result of persecution, having no other reason for its existence.
The author is puzzled to know the
reasons that make the Russian Jewish socialist still cling to socialism after he lands at Ellis Island.
He makes the peculiar statement that "socialism involves the abolition of private property," and "that potentially the Jew is in the ranks of capital, and not of the proletariat, whatever his actual condition is." He informs us that "Zionism is coming more and more to take the place of socialism in the mind of the Jew."
In conclusion he asks: "Is there danger in the advent to this land of Jewish socialists, fresh from the cruelties of Russian absolutism, and surcharged with the hate and fear of government? To America, no! To the Jew, yes. With the education of the Jew in the spirit of our institutions and our laws, and with his continuing achievement of economic independence, adherence to socialistic dogma will disappear, the Jew will be reclaimed from the economic error and continue to merit the welcome and justify the hospitality of America and its people."
The trouble with most people who write about socialism is that they do not take the pains to first study the subject. Although Karl Marx's book, "Das Kapital," is called the Bible of Socialism, still we must remember that this bible was not given on Mount Sinai, therefore it cannot claim to be infallible. Herr Kautsky is now regarded as the greatest authority on Karl Marx, but do you think that an antisemitic Teuton can thoroughly comprehend and explain the clear Jewish thinker, the descendant of two hundred years of Rabbis?
And if Herr Kautsky, a leader of social-