Changes

“To designate Marx as an anti-Semite is nothing but cold war propaganda,” argued the Marxist<ref>Lawrence Jacob Friedman, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=tFJvyOpFJtUC Identity's architect: a biography of Erik H. Erikson]'' (Harvard University Press, 2000) ISBN 067400437X, p. 422</ref> Erich Fromm.<ref>Karl Marx, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=ZprWAAAAMAAJ Early writings]'', T. B. Bottomore, tr. (McGraw-Hill, 1964), p. v</ref> The idea that Marx was in any sense anti-Semitic is a “myth,” agrees Robert Fine, chair of the Sociology Department at Warwick University, arising in part out of what he calls a “deafness” to Marx's “ironic style.”<ref>Robert Fine, "[http://www.engageonline.org.uk/journal/index.php?journal_id=10&article_id=33 Karl Marx and the Radical Critique of Anti-Semitism], ''Engage'', Issue 2 (May 2006)</ref> The idea that Marx was an anti-Semite, concurs David Hirsh of the University of London, is "a standard misreading" of ''On the Jewish Question''.<ref>David Hirsh, Book Review: "[http://engageonline.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/book/ Perry and Schweitzer, ''Antisemitic myths: a historical and contemporary anthology'']," ''[http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/01419870.asp Ethnic and Racial Studies]'', Vol. 32, No. 4 (May 2009), pp. 749-750</ref> Marx's claim that “Money is the jealous god of Israel,” contends Fine, is actually a “witty and deeply ironic” critique of that claim.<ref>Robert Fine, "[http://www.engageonline.org.uk/journal/index.php?journal_id=10&article_id=33 Karl Marx and the Radical Critique of Anti-Semitism], ''Engage'', Issue 2 (May 2006)</ref>

“To designate Marx as an anti-Semite is nothing but cold war propaganda,” argued the Marxist<ref>Lawrence Jacob Friedman, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=tFJvyOpFJtUC Identity's architect: a biography of Erik H. Erikson]'' (Harvard University Press, 2000) ISBN 067400437X, p. 422</ref> Erich Fromm.<ref>Karl Marx, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=ZprWAAAAMAAJ Early writings]'', T. B. Bottomore, tr. (McGraw-Hill, 1964), p. v</ref> The idea that Marx was in any sense anti-Semitic is a “myth,” agrees Robert Fine, chair of the Sociology Department at Warwick University, arising in part out of what he calls a “deafness” to Marx's “ironic style.”<ref>Robert Fine, "[http://www.engageonline.org.uk/journal/index.php?journal_id=10&article_id=33 Karl Marx and the Radical Critique of Anti-Semitism], ''Engage'', Issue 2 (May 2006)</ref> The idea that Marx was an anti-Semite, concurs David Hirsh of the University of London, is "a standard misreading" of ''On the Jewish Question''.<ref>David Hirsh, Book Review: "[http://engageonline.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/book/ Perry and Schweitzer, ''Antisemitic myths: a historical and contemporary anthology'']," ''[http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/01419870.asp Ethnic and Racial Studies]'', Vol. 32, No. 4 (May 2009), pp. 749-750</ref> Marx's claim that “Money is the jealous god of Israel,” contends Fine, is actually a “witty and deeply ironic” critique of that claim.<ref>Robert Fine, "[http://www.engageonline.org.uk/journal/index.php?journal_id=10&article_id=33 Karl Marx and the Radical Critique of Anti-Semitism], ''Engage'', Issue 2 (May 2006)</ref>

But Marx expressed similar contempt for Jews, not only in his letters, but in his other writings as well. In ''The German Ideology'', Marx likens the bourgeoisie to Jews, whom he describes as criminals and hypocrites: “The attitude of the bourgeois to the institutions of his regime is like that of the Jew to the law; he evades them whenever it is possible to do so in each individual case, but he wants everyone else to observe them.”<ref>Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=DdMLAAAAYAAJ The German Ideology: including Theses on Feuerbach and introduction to The critique of political economy]'' (Prometheus Books, 1998) ISBN 1573922587), p. 194</ref> In ''The Holy Family'' Marx expands on the theme of "the material, mass-type Jews," arguing that "real ''secular'' Jewry, and hence ''religious'' Jewry ''too''... finds its final development in the ''money system''," concluding that "the task of abolishing the essence of Jewry is actually the task of abolishing the ''Jewish character of civil society''... the most extreme expression of which is the ''money system''."<ref>Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=KKPaAAAAMAAJ Collected Works'', Vol. 4] (Lawrence & Wishart, 1975) ISBN 0853152942, pp. 94, 109-110</ref>  

"[http://www.joelkovel.com/newreadings.html#ecosocialism1 Eco-socialist]" Joel Kovel disagrees: "No attempt to read these pages as a play on words can conceal the hostility which infuses them, and is precisely directed against the identity of the Jew."<ref>Joel Kovel, “[http://www.springerlink.com/content/p2q3w7416w7h1516/ Marx on the Jewish Question],” ''Dialectical Anthropology'', Vol. 8, No. 1-2, (1983) pp.31-46</ref> Moreover, Marx expressed similar contempt for Jews, not only in his private correspondence, but in his other writings as well. In ''The German Ideology'', Marx likens the bourgeoisie to Jews, whom he describes as criminals and hypocrites: “The attitude of the bourgeois to the institutions of his regime is like that of the Jew to the law; he evades them whenever it is possible to do so in each individual case, but he wants everyone else to observe them.”<ref>Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=DdMLAAAAYAAJ The German Ideology: including Theses on Feuerbach and introduction to The critique of political economy]'' (Prometheus Books, 1998) ISBN 1573922587), p. 194</ref> In ''The Holy Family'' Marx expands on the theme of "the material, mass-type Jews," arguing that "real ''secular'' Jewry, and hence ''religious'' Jewry ''too''... finds its final development in the ''money system''," concluding that "the task of abolishing the essence of Jewry is actually the task of abolishing the ''Jewish character of civil society''... the most extreme expression of which is the ''money system''."<ref>Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=KKPaAAAAMAAJ Collected Works'', Vol. 4] (Lawrence & Wishart, 1975) ISBN 0853152942, pp. 94, 109-110</ref>  

Extreme as these German works were, Marx surpassed them in vituperation with an article he wrote for publication in America, where according to Marx the "practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world" had achieved what he called "its unambiguous and normal expression."<ref>Karl Marx, "On The Jewish Question," ''Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher'', February 1844, reprinted in Karl Marx, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=TKdLO2jvbqsC Early writings]'' (Penguin, 1992) ISBN 0140445749, p. 232</ref> "The Russian Loan," published in the ''New York Daily Tribune'', did not just savage the Jews as capitalists, but specifically exploited the anti-Semitic stereotype of Jews as usurers:

Extreme as these German works were, Marx surpassed them in vituperation with an article he wrote for publication in America, where according to Marx the "practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world" had achieved what he called "its unambiguous and normal expression."<ref>Karl Marx, "On The Jewish Question," ''Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher'', February 1844, reprinted in Karl Marx, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=TKdLO2jvbqsC Early writings]'' (Penguin, 1992) ISBN 0140445749, p. 232</ref> "The Russian Loan," published in the ''New York Daily Tribune'', did not just savage the Jews as capitalists, but specifically exploited the anti-Semitic stereotype of Jews as usurers:

The fact that 1855 years ago Christ drove the Jewish moneychangers out of the temple, and that the moneychangers of our age enlisted on the side of tyranny happen again chiefly to be Jews, is perhaps no more than a historical coincidence. The loan-mongering Jews of Europe do only on a larger and more obnoxious scale what many others do on one smaller and less significant. But it is only because the Jews are so strong that it is timely and expedient to expose and stigmatize their organization.<ref>Karl Marx, "The Russian Loan," ''New-York Daily Tribune'', January 4, 1856, reprinted in Richard Aveling and Eleanor Marx Aveling, eds., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=D75MAAAAYAAJ The Eastern question: a reprint of letters written 1853-1856 dealing with the events of the Crimean War]'' (S. Sonnenschein & co., lim., 1897), pp. 600-606. So embarrassing is this article to apologists for Marx that the Marxists Internet Archive has dropped it down the [http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/ns-dict.html Memory Hole]. The Web site's collection of [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/subject/newspapers/new-york-tribune.htm Marx's articles from the ''New York Daily Tribune'', August 21, 1852-February 1861], skips from November 16, 1855 to January 12, 1856&mdash;erasing this article as effectively as [http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/stalin1+2.jpg Stalin erased Nikolai Yezhov]. (Without mentioning this article by name, the archive does mention that the 1897 publication of the book in which this article was reprinted [http://marxists.org/archive/hyndman/1910/07/marx-and-engels.htm “was not 'helpful'.”]) The site claims that "In the past, some writers who have contributed to Marxism have expressed racist... views. The MIA generally [http://www.marxists.org/admin/intro/index.htm does not “filter out” such views]; if we are archiving the work of a writer, any and all of that writer’s work may be included...." The site's censorship of Marx himself is an exception.</ref>}}

The fact that 1855 years ago Christ drove the Jewish moneychangers out of the temple, and that the moneychangers of our age enlisted on the side of tyranny happen again chiefly to be Jews, is perhaps no more than a historical coincidence. The loan-mongering Jews of Europe do only on a larger and more obnoxious scale what many others do on one smaller and less significant. But it is only because the Jews are so strong that it is timely and expedient to expose and stigmatize their organization.<ref>Karl Marx, "The Russian Loan," ''New-York Daily Tribune'', January 4, 1856, reprinted in Richard Aveling and Eleanor Marx Aveling, eds., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=D75MAAAAYAAJ The Eastern question: a reprint of letters written 1853-1856 dealing with the events of the Crimean War]'' (S. Sonnenschein & co., lim., 1897), pp. 600-606. So embarrassing is this article to apologists for Marx that the Marxists Internet Archive has dropped it down the [http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/ns-dict.html Memory Hole]. The Web site's collection of [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/subject/newspapers/new-york-tribune.htm Marx's articles from the ''New York Daily Tribune'', August 21, 1852-February 1861], skips from November 16, 1855 to January 12, 1856&mdash;erasing this article as effectively as [http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/stalin1+2.jpg Stalin erased Nikolai Yezhov]. (Without mentioning this article by name, the archive does mention that the 1897 publication of the book in which this article was reprinted [http://marxists.org/archive/hyndman/1910/07/marx-and-engels.htm “was not 'helpful'.”]) The site claims that "In the past, some writers who have contributed to Marxism have expressed racist... views. The MIA generally [http://www.marxists.org/admin/intro/index.htm does not “filter out” such views]; if we are archiving the work of a writer, any and all of that writer’s work may be included...." The site's censorship of Marx himself is an exception.</ref>}}

In ''On the Jewish Question'' itself, writes Dennis K. Fischman, assistant professor of social science at Boston University, "Marx seems fairly to bristle with anti-Jewish sentiments."<ref>Dennis K. Fischman, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=6iqVtOAr8jgC Political discourse in exile: Karl Marx and the Jewish question]'' (Univ of Massachusetts Press, 1991) ISBN 0870237462, p. 13</ref> The views Marx expressed in that essay "were part of the classic repertoire of anti-Semitism," according to Gertrude Himmelfarb, professor of history at the Graduate School of the City University of New York.<ref>Gertrude Himmelfarb, “[http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/the--ldquo-real-rdquo--marx-6980 The 'Real' Marx],” ''Commentary'', April 1985</ref> It is “almost a classic anti-Semitic tract,” agrees Johnson.<ref>Paul Johnson, "[http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/marxism-vs--the-jews-6827 Marxism vs. the Jews]," ''Commentary'', April 1984</ref> It is "without any question an anti-Semitic tract," admits "[http://www.joelkovel.com/newreadings.html#ecosocialism1 eco-socialist]" Joel Kovel.<ref>Joel Kovel, “[http://www.springerlink.com/content/p2q3w7416w7h1516/ Marx on the Jewish Question],” ''Dialectical Anthropology'', Vol. 8, No. 1-2, (1983) pp.31-46</ref> Indeed, concurs Lewis, it has become “one of the classics of anti-Semitic propaganda.” <ref>Bernard Lewis, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=GteStbiDEjAC Semites and anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1999) ISBN 0393318397, p. 112</ref> This essay was "reprinted, widely quoted, and praised," adds Himmelfarb, "and became the exemplar of a classic genre of socialist anti-Semitism."<ref>[http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/marx-14979 Reader Letters: Marx], ''Commentary'', August 1985</ref>

In ''On the Jewish Question'' itself, writes Dennis K. Fischman, assistant professor of social science at Boston University, "Marx seems fairly to bristle with anti-Jewish sentiments."<ref>Dennis K. Fischman, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=6iqVtOAr8jgC Political discourse in exile: Karl Marx and the Jewish question]'' (Univ of Massachusetts Press, 1991) ISBN 0870237462, p. 13</ref> The views Marx expressed in that essay "were part of the classic repertoire of anti-Semitism," according to Gertrude Himmelfarb, professor of history at the Graduate School of the City University of New York.<ref>Gertrude Himmelfarb, “[http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/the--ldquo-real-rdquo--marx-6980 The 'Real' Marx],” ''Commentary'', April 1985</ref> It is “almost a classic anti-Semitic tract,” agrees Johnson.<ref>Paul Johnson, "[http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/marxism-vs--the-jews-6827 Marxism vs. the Jews]," ''Commentary'', April 1984</ref> It is "without any question an anti-Semitic tract," admits even Kovel, former Alger Hiss Professor of Social Studies at Bard College.<ref>Joel Kovel, “[http://www.springerlink.com/content/p2q3w7416w7h1516/ Marx on the Jewish Question],” ''Dialectical Anthropology'', Vol. 8, No. 1-2, (1983) pp.31-46</ref> Indeed, concurs Lewis, it has become “one of the classics of anti-Semitic propaganda.” <ref>Bernard Lewis, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=GteStbiDEjAC Semites and anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1999) ISBN 0393318397, p. 112</ref> This essay was "reprinted, widely quoted, and praised," adds Himmelfarb, "and became the exemplar of a classic genre of socialist anti-Semitism."<ref>[http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/marx-14979 Reader Letters: Marx], ''Commentary'', August 1985</ref>

"Much of the essay seems simply to borrow from standard anti-Semitic fare," writes Lindemann.<ref>Albert S. Lindemann, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=NagdhSUgB9oC Esau's tears: modern anti-semitism and the rise of the Jews]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2000) ISBN 0521795389, p. 163</ref> Coleman identifies this work as "perhaps, the most condensed identification of Jews with self-interest."<ref>William Coleman, "[http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/history_of_political_economy/v035/35.4coleman.pdf Anti-Semitism in Anti-economics]," ''History of Political Economy'', Vol. 35, No. 4 (Winter 2003), pp. 759-777</ref> Marx exploits the stereotype of Jews “linked in the popular imagination with usury, sharp dealing, and ruthless cunning,” writes Stephen J. Greenblatt of Harvard.<ref>Stephen J. Greenblatt, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=LIFaAAAAMAAJ Learning to curse: essays in early modern culture]'' (Routledge, 1990) ISBN 0415901731, p. 41</ref> He uses the “widespread antisemitic caricature of Jews as inveterate moneylenders and hucksters along with the use of the term ''Judentum'' [Jewishness, Judaism] as a metaphor for commerce,” writes Larry Ray, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent.<ref>Larry Ray, “[http://www.engageonline.org.uk/journal/index.php?journal_id=12&article_id=49 Marx and the Radical Critique of Difference],” ''Engage'', Issue 3 (September 2006)</ref> Not only are Judaism and capitalism "described as basically the same," according to Lindeman,<ref>Albert S. Lindemann, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=NagdhSUgB9oC Esau's tears: modern anti-semitism and the rise of the Jews]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2000) ISBN 0521795389, p. 163</ref> but in Marx's view, Jews are "responsible for capitalism," writes Lewis.<ref>Bernard Lewis, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=GteStbiDEjAC Semites and anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1999) ISBN 0393318397, p. 112</ref> Marx considered Jews "the very soul of the corrupt capitalism he fought," wrote Flannery.<ref>Edward H. Flannery, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=J40gNC7cxfYC The Anguish of the Jews: Twenty-three Centuries of Antisemitism]'' (Paulist Press, 2004) ISBN 0809143240, p. 168</ref> The essay, writes Johnson, is “based upon a fantasied Jewish archetype and a conspiracy to corrupt the world.”<ref>Paul Johnson, "[http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/marxism-vs--the-jews-6827 Marxism vs. the Jews]," ''Commentary'', April 1984</ref>

"Much of the essay seems simply to borrow from standard anti-Semitic fare," writes Lindemann.<ref>Albert S. Lindemann, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=NagdhSUgB9oC Esau's tears: modern anti-semitism and the rise of the Jews]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2000) ISBN 0521795389, p. 163</ref> Coleman identifies this work as "perhaps, the most condensed identification of Jews with self-interest."<ref>William Coleman, "[http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/history_of_political_economy/v035/35.4coleman.pdf Anti-Semitism in Anti-economics]," ''History of Political Economy'', Vol. 35, No. 4 (Winter 2003), pp. 759-777</ref> Marx exploits the stereotype of Jews “linked in the popular imagination with usury, sharp dealing, and ruthless cunning,” writes Stephen J. Greenblatt of Harvard.<ref>Stephen J. Greenblatt, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=LIFaAAAAMAAJ Learning to curse: essays in early modern culture]'' (Routledge, 1990) ISBN 0415901731, p. 41</ref> He uses the “widespread antisemitic caricature of Jews as inveterate moneylenders and hucksters along with the use of the term ''Judentum'' [Jewishness, Judaism] as a metaphor for commerce,” writes Larry Ray, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent.<ref>Larry Ray, “[http://www.engageonline.org.uk/journal/index.php?journal_id=12&article_id=49 Marx and the Radical Critique of Difference],” ''Engage'', Issue 3 (September 2006)</ref> Not only are Judaism and capitalism "described as basically the same," according to Lindeman,<ref>Albert S. Lindemann, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=NagdhSUgB9oC Esau's tears: modern anti-semitism and the rise of the Jews]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2000) ISBN 0521795389, p. 163</ref> but in Marx's view, Jews are "responsible for capitalism," writes Lewis.<ref>Bernard Lewis, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=GteStbiDEjAC Semites and anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1999) ISBN 0393318397, p. 112</ref> Marx considered Jews "the very soul of the corrupt capitalism he fought," wrote Flannery.<ref>Edward H. Flannery, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=J40gNC7cxfYC The Anguish of the Jews: Twenty-three Centuries of Antisemitism]'' (Paulist Press, 2004) ISBN 0809143240, p. 168</ref> The essay, writes Johnson, is “based upon a fantasied Jewish archetype and a conspiracy to corrupt the world.”<ref>Paul Johnson, "[http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/marxism-vs--the-jews-6827 Marxism vs. the Jews]," ''Commentary'', April 1984</ref>