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 THE JEW 
 
 AS 
 
 RADICAL, LIBERAL 
 
 AND 
 
 CONSERVATIVE 
 
 BY 
 
 LOUIS I. NEWMAN 
 
 (Rabbi of Bronx Free Synagogue) 
 
 NEW YORK 
 1921
 
 Stack 
 Annex 
 
 5019059 
 
 THE JEW AS RADICAL, LIB- 
 ERAL AND CONSERVATIVE. 
 
 By Louis I. NEWMAN. 
 
 "All Jews are radicals ; all radicals 
 are Jews." This is the burden of the 
 new anti-Semitism in the Western 
 World. Upon these premises the 
 enemies of Jewry have built several 
 damaging syllogisms with scrupulous 
 regard for logic when it serves their 
 purpose, and an equally scrupulous 
 disregard for truth. A corollary of 
 the charge is that radicalism, the al- 
 leged weapon of the poor Jew, is an 
 ally of conservatism, the weapon of 
 the "capitalist" Jew, in their joint ef- 
 fort to establish Jewish hegemony 
 over the Gentile nations. 
 
 Lt is easy to assert that these and 
 similar accusations are a legacy of 
 war hysteria ; that the world is pass- 
 ing through a period of emotional 
 instability wherein the vaporings of 
 diseased minds, ignored in times of 
 tranquillity, have become the text- 
 book of racial prejudice. It is easy 
 to assert that men have suffered 
 themselves to surrender to the habit 
 of hate, incurred as a measure of 
 success in war, but now enthroned 
 with increased potency in days of 
 peace; with victory over former 
 enemies a new object of vilification 
 must be found ; hence the Jew, as the
 
 weakest national group, is selected as 
 the target for mankind's passions and 
 hostility. Yet neither analysis of the 
 world's present neurosis serves to 
 crush the accusations of Jewish 
 radicalism. A statement of the true 
 situation alone can suffice. 
 
 For it is palpably false to affirm 
 even that most Jews are radicals and 
 most radicals Jews. We are a many- 
 sided people, complex, variegated, 
 with a kaleidoscopic diversity of 
 opinion ; we are a group, not of one, 
 but of many minds. It has been 
 rightly said that where there are ten 
 Jews there are at least eleven views. 
 The anti-Semite errs fatally and com- 
 pletely if he generalizes from one or 
 even fifty Jewish radicals to snap 
 judgments concerning the entire Jew- 
 ish people. Jews throughout history 
 have allied themselves with world 
 movements, each according to the 
 dictates of his individual conscience ; 
 Jews have been Whig, Tory, progres- 
 sive, moderate, independent, liberal, 
 reactionary and Mugwump, each in 
 line with the prompting of his social 
 and intellectual environment and his 
 own voluntary choice. 
 
 Thus it follows that in the United 
 States and other lands Jews have 
 been and are members of all political 
 and economic groups. The Repub- 
 lican. Democratic, Prohibitionist, So-
 
 cialist, Farmer-Labor, Socialist-La- 
 bor count among their supporters 
 Jews of the most varied economic 
 station and political philosophy ; were 
 other parties existent in this country 
 Jews would be found among them. 
 It is needless to cite names of promi- 
 nent Jews in the major political 
 units ; not only Jewish "capitalists," 
 but hosts of the Jewish middle 
 classes and "proletariat" voted dur- 
 ing the recent election in the ranks 
 of Democrats or Republicans. As 
 further illustration of the diversity 
 of Jewish opinion, it is safe to say 
 that many Jews "split their ballot" 
 in accordance with their desire to 
 place in office the best men, regard- 
 less of party and creed. 
 
 The belief that the bulk of Jews 
 throughout America are members of 
 the Socialist Party is mere Fordesque 
 fantasy. It is important to observe 
 that neither Eugene V. Debs, Presi- 
 dential candidate, nor Seymour Sted- 
 man, Vice-Presidential candidate, on 
 the Socialist ticket, have Jewish 
 blood in their veins. Moreover, the 
 extremist wing at the Socialist con- 
 vention, was led by delegates from 
 Chicago Stockyard districts ; the New 
 York delegates constituted the con- 
 servative wing. The rad-'cal Non- 
 Partisan League in the Northwest 
 was conceived and is led by typical
 
 American farmers of long-estab- 
 lished American lineage. 
 
 When some Jews vote the Socialist 
 ticket it is for reasons ndt entirely re- 
 prehensible. A radical-proof New 
 York periodical recently described 
 the psychological impulses which de- 
 termine the party affiliations of new 
 voters of immigrant stock. These 
 have come from Europe, hoping to 
 find improved working conditions; 
 they are forced into the grind of the 
 sweat shop and contract labor ; they 
 have come to America, seeking 
 blessed relief from Eastern European 
 Ghettos; they are plunged into the 
 unseemly tenement house life of our 
 congested metropolitan centers. In 
 bitter disappointment and with de- 
 spair in their hearts they turn to 
 those political parties which promise 
 speedy release from their heavy 
 economic burdens. It is because a 
 large number of Jews are members 
 of the working classes that they have 
 proletarian sympathies. When their 
 economic interests change, their po- 
 litical ties follow suit. It is axiomatic 
 that each country has the Jews it 
 deserves: Free America has loyal, 
 contented Jewish citizens. It is only 
 when American liberty for all her 
 citizens is abridged, whether through 
 the stress of war or the reign of re- 
 action, that some Jews become con-
 
 spicuous through their participation 
 in heterodox movements. 
 
 Herein lies the key to reputed Jew- 
 ish activities in the radical movements 
 of European countries. Where tryan- 
 ny is there we find the Jewish protes- 
 tant; where czarism and kaiserism 
 flourish there the Jew assumes his 
 historic role as protagonist of the 
 oppressed masses. Anti-Semites in 
 'America and abroad are seeking to 
 prove that the downfall of Germany, 
 Austria and Hungary must be laid 
 at the door of Jewish agitators, upon 
 whose Jewish kinsmen the militar- 
 ists, it is said, are justified in wreak- 
 ing thrice-fold vengeance. How 
 much knavery and hypocrisy lie in 
 this twisted attitude 1 It was but two 
 years ago that the entire allied world 
 congratulated the Jewish anti- 
 kaiserites of Prussia for their daring 
 stand against the military and auto- 
 cratic caste. A Christian clergyman 
 who has recently taken up the cudg- 
 els in support of the "Protocols" 
 proclaimed far and wide that what- 
 ever was good in Germany arose 
 through the cultural contributions of 
 German Jews : Heine, the satirical 
 foe of Prussianism, was quoted in 
 magazine, newspaper and book for 
 his witty expose of Teutonic stupidi- 
 ty; Maximilian Harden was dubbed 
 by allied journalists "the only honest
 
 man in Germany" ; the Arbeiter Zeit- 
 ung Ring and the Poalei Zion of 
 Austria were hailed in the journals 
 of Europe as the only courageous 
 and outspoken liberals in the land of 
 the Hapsburgs. Yet today, despite 
 the fact that Jews assisted German 
 freemen to overthrow the yoke of 
 Ludendorf, Hindenburg and Will- 
 iam, despite the fact that Jewish par- 
 ticipation in Central European up- 
 heavals shortened the world war by 
 months if not years, the anti-Semite 
 labors to fasten the stigma of "radi- 
 cal" upon all Jews. It was a peril- 
 ous task for the Jewish liberal to 
 beard the Prussian lion in his very 
 den, yet he risked life and property 
 for the safety of democracy; today, 
 when the world is freed from the 
 Teutonic menace, it remembers not 
 that the Jew was a martyr, but that 
 he was a "radical." Posterity may 
 vindicate German Jewish freemen as 
 "foremost soldiers on the battlefields 
 of human liberation," but mankind, 
 rescued from enslavement, is today 
 singularly ungrateful. 
 
 The same unhistorical method is 
 applied to Jewish participation in 
 Russian anti-Czarist movements. A 
 short seven years ago the democratic 
 peoples applauded the efforts of Rus- 
 sian intellectuals, assisted by many 
 Russian Jews, to substitute repub-
 
 lican government for an intolerably 
 corrupt bureaucracy. Is it to be won- 
 dered that Russian Jews in great 
 measure sympathized with the liberal 
 elements in struggling Russia? Not 
 only did the Jew feel the heavy hand 
 of autocrats, who exacted from him 
 and his suffering compatriots the last 
 drop of blood in expiation for pro- 
 gressive thought, but the Jew saw as 
 well millions of peasantry and prole- 
 tariat deliberately kept in sodden ig- 
 norance and ground underfoot in 
 economic servitude. It was not self- 
 interest, but his hereditary sympathy 
 for the "under dog" that prompted 
 the Jew to galvanize by sheer intel- 
 lectual energy the sluggish masses of 
 Russia into republican activity. 
 When the Russian revolution ceased 
 to be a purely Jewish concern then 
 was it crowned with success. 
 
 Can the Jew be blamed for his sus- 
 picion of those who would restore 
 the "ancien regime" in any land? A 
 spokesman of the ill-fated Kolchak, 
 during the days his chief's fortunes 
 were at high tide, issued this warning 
 in New York : "Woe to the Jews if a 
 stable government is ever established 
 in Russia." Petlura, Judenich, Dem- 
 kin, Gregorieff, Wrangel and now 
 Balakovich all leaders of dispos- 
 sessed emigres and their armies of 
 mercenaries have been not only
 
 monarchists, but pronounced anti- 
 Semites; every anti-Soviet general 
 has either encouraged or tolerated 
 pogroms against innocent Jewish 
 communities. Can the bleeding mul- 
 titudes of war-harassed Lithuania, 
 Poland and the Ukraine be con- 
 demned if their anti-Soviet policy is 
 not sufficiently firm to satisfy West- 
 ern Europe? If the Jews of these 
 lands cast in their lot with the So- 
 viets they are punished by the latter's 
 foes; if they are affiliated with the 
 anti-Soviet parties the Bolshevists 
 persecute them ; if Jewish communi- 
 ties remain neutral they are assailed 
 by the militarist elements of both 
 camps. The arm-chair anti-Bolshe- 
 vist can little appreciate the true 
 status of the Jew in stricken Eastern 
 Europe. 
 
 It is a grotesque invention to affirm 
 that Jews alone have been the guilty 
 leaders of Russian radicalism. The 
 well-to-do Jews have been persecuted 
 in the same fashion as other Russian 
 bourgeoisie; the various editions of 
 the "Protocols" are replete with bad- 
 ly concealed evidence to the effect 
 that not Jews alone, but all racial 
 groups, are represented in the Bol- 
 shevist administration. H. G. Wells, 
 whose various references to Jews and 
 Judaism throughout his novels and 
 essays would scarcely win for him
 
 the title of philo-Semite, remarks in 
 a recent brochure : 
 
 "It is these young men who consti- 
 tute the living force of Bolshevism. 
 Many of them are Jews, because 
 most of the Russian emigrants into 
 America were Jews, but few of them 
 have any strong racial Jewish feel- 
 ing. They are not out for Jewry, 
 but for a new world. So far from 
 being in a continuation of Jewish 
 tradition the Bolsheviki have put 
 most of the Zionist leaders in Russia 
 in prison and they have proscribed 
 the teaching of Hebrew as a reaction- 
 ary language. Several of the most 
 interesting Bolsheviki I met were not 
 Jews at all, but blond Nordic men. 
 Lenin, beloved leader of all that is 
 energetic in Russia today, has the 
 Tartar type of face and is certainly 
 no Jew." 
 
 If Jews have played an important 
 role in the rise and the career of the 
 Soviet Government and what has 
 the Jew to gain by a denial of this 
 fact? they have been prompted by 
 motives, not on behalf of Jewish su- 
 premacy, but purely and entirely be- 
 cause of their self-styled "humani- 
 tarian" aims. We may disagree 
 fundamentally with the tenets of 
 Russian radicalism, yet we must dis- 
 miss as chimerical any assertion that 
 "the Bolshevist-led strike is a Jewish
 
 financial weapon to wreck Gentile 
 business, in order that it may easily 
 fall into Jewish hands." In our esti- 
 mate of Jewish membership in Rus- 
 sian liberal ranks it is criminal to for- 
 get the background of Czarist sup- 
 pression, which, among its other con- 
 sequences, has brought contempora- 
 neous Russia to economic debacle. 
 Nor must we cease to remember that 
 the restoration of old-time bureau- 
 cracy will mean the return of that 
 hideous anti-Jewish "politik" which 
 today has fastened upon disillusioned 
 Hungary the "white terror." Jewry 
 in Russia hopes for the rise of a truly 
 democratic and liberal government 
 which will preserve the fruits of the 
 revolution of March, 1917, and en- 
 able resurgent Russia to live in unity 
 with all sister nations. 
 
 We must have a genuine sense of 
 historical perspective in our judg- 
 ment of Jewish heterodoxy. Who 
 knows but that within a few decades 
 Jewish liberals who are today ruth- 
 lessly condemned and excommuni- 
 cated may be approved in the same 
 degree that the world praises the 
 anti-Prussian achievements of Heine. 
 Boerne, Hartmann, Saphir, Abraham 
 Jacobi and other distinguished Tews 
 who fought with pen and musket the 
 battles of German constitutionalism? 
 After all, it was a Jew Johann Ja-
 
 coby who in 1848, as head of a pop- 
 ular delegation, retorted to stubborn 
 Friedrich William IV: "It is the 
 great misfortune of kings that they 
 will not listen to the truth." An in- 
 tolerant public may do well to recall 
 that in all movements of religious 
 progress Jews and the Jewish Old 
 Testament have played a significant 
 role. The author of this paper has 
 under preparation a dissertation on 
 the theme, "Jewish Influence in 
 Christian Reform Movements," 
 wherein it is demonstrated that the 
 great heterodox parties Walden- 
 sian-Albigensian, Hussite, Reforma- 
 tion, Zwinglian, Calvinist, Unitarian 
 and Puritan are profoundly indebt- 
 ed for their initial stimulus to the 
 Jewish interpretation of the Bible and 
 the direct participation in each move- 
 ment of contemporary Jewish "radi- 
 cals." America has not been endan- 
 gered by reason of the fact that early 
 American Puritanism was built upon 
 an Hebraic model, had pronounced 
 Jewish aspects and adopted a "Body 
 of Liberties" patterned after Rev. 
 John Cotton's Jewish constitution, 
 entitled "Moses : His Judicials." 
 
 It is a .truism to . say that the 
 founder of the Christian religion was 
 himself a Jewish "radical" and that, 
 the Apostles and early Christians 
 were dubbed an "Internationale," as
 
 pernicious in the eyes of reactionary 
 Greece and Rome as the world be- 
 lieves the radical movement of today 
 to be. 
 
 Yet is it merely the Jewish "radi- 
 cal" to whom the anti-Semite takes 
 exception? Is not the Jewish "con- 
 servative" equally obnoxious? The 
 real grievance of the new anti-Sem- 
 itism is that the Jew is adjusting 
 himself more and more to the oppor- 
 tunities for normal life afforded him 
 in the era of "emancipation." The 
 Jew will continue to suffer bombard- 
 ment because he is a leader born ; he 
 will never be wholly free from criti- 
 cism because he stands conspicuously 
 in the limelight by reason of his 
 strong racial and individual person- 
 ality. Whatever the Jew does he 
 does with intensity; therefore he 
 must be prepared to encounter in- 
 tense opposition. 
 
 The world has nothing to fear 
 from Jewish radicalism as such. 
 Jewish activity in modern civilization 
 neutralizes itself. Each Jewish ex- 
 tremist at odds with the present so- 
 cial order is balanced by a Jewish 
 conservative who ardently champions 
 it. The Jewish people in its entirety 
 duplicates the conflicts and clashes 
 of all non-Jewish peoples. No more 
 deadly foe of the Jewish "capitalist" 
 exists than the Jewish Socialist.
 
 Thus, in so far as influence is exert- 
 ed by Jews as Jews, the extremes, 
 both of radicalism and reaction, nul- 
 lify each other. Hence the world can 
 safely banish from its fevered imagi- 
 nation the specter of Jewry moving 
 forward to an assault upon modern 
 life as one united phalanx. Jewry is 
 a battleground within itself, the war- 
 riors in civil combat, slaying each his 
 brother. 
 
 Anti-Semitism must abate in dem- 
 ocratic Western lands, not so much 
 for the sake of the Jew as for the 
 sake of the countries wherein he is 
 its victim. For anti-Semitism, mili- 
 tarism and reaction are an abiding 
 and indivisible trinity. Liberalism 
 and justice for the Jew are per con- 
 tra indissolubly wedded. The people 
 of the United States, home of the 
 Puritans and Roger Williams, and 
 the people of England, birthplace of 
 Cromwell and Macaulay, must be- 
 ware lest their republicanism become 
 infected with the malignant virus of 
 anti-Jewish hatred. No surer sign 
 of disease in the body politic, of 
 something "rotten in the state of 
 Denmark" obtains than the appear- 
 ance of propaganda against the Jew. 
 If the American Jew is forced to the 
 conclusion that it is not his radical- 
 ism, his liberalism or his conserva- 
 tism at which the world takes um-
 
 brage, but himself, his presence, his 
 activity as a Jew, then no further 
 proof is needed that America has de- 
 scended into the valley of the shadow 
 of reaction. If, on the other hand, 
 the anti-Jewish fury vanishes we 
 may rest content that American lib- 
 erty has regained its pristine purity. 
 Hence the American Jew must 
 fearlessly throw his influence into 
 the balance on behalf of a resumption 
 of our war-curtailed liberties. In the 
 contest between safety and con- 
 science he must boldly speak the 
 truth, though martyrdom be his por- 
 tion. We must be faithful to our- 
 selves though the world strive to 
 drown us in blood. Thus only can 
 Jewry continue as a consi r uctive and 
 creative force in human progress. 
 The world must trust the genius of 
 Israel to function, not as a destroy- 
 ing agency, but affirmatively and pos- 
 itively. We offer anew our services 
 to a troubled world that, together 
 with all lovers of liberty, we may in- 
 scribe the spiritual charter of an im- 
 proved human order. "See," says 
 the Prophet, "I have this day sent 
 thee among the nations ar.d the king- 
 doms ... to build and to plant." 
 
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