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Patterns of Prejudice
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Anti‐Jewish themes and

the British far left—II
a
Michael Billig
a
Lecturer in Psychology , University of
Birmingham
Published online: 28 May 2010.

To cite this article: Michael Billig (1984) Anti‐Jewish themes and

the British far left—II, Patterns of Prejudice, 18:2, 28-34, DOI:
10.1080/0031322X.1984.9969755

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0031322X.1984.9969755

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 PATTERNS OF PREJUDICE, vol. 18, no. 2, 1984

Anti-Jewish Themes and the British

Far Left—II
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by Michael Billig

Antisemitism and Nazism

It would be a mistake to think that opposition to Jews as a nation
and as a religion exhausts revolutionary left-wing attitudes towards
the so-called 'Jewish Question'. There is another theme which
should not be forgotten and which is not based upon opposition: this
is sympathy for the Jews as victims of right-wing and/or fascist pre-
judice. Historically, the far left condemned fascism, and today the
far left papers are filled with unequivocal demands to stand firm
against the contemporary Nazi groups such as the National Front
and the British Movement; to the extent that Jews might be victims
of right-wing antisemitism, then there is sympathy for Jewish self-
action, even when the validity of Jewish self-action is denied in other
matters. This can be illustrated by the recent decision of Spare Rib
not to publish any letters 'which questioned our support of the
Palestinian cause': this included letters which were not openly
Zionist and which were even criticial of the present Israeli govern-
ment (Editorial, January and May 1983). If the voice of Jewish
feminists, who might question the editorial collective's position on
the Middle East, were to be silenced, nevertheless Spare Rib also
declared its opposition to antisemitism; moreover, the January
Editorial, self-consciously attempting to achieve some sort of
balance despite openly admitted internal divisions, declared that
the magazine had solicited articles both from PLO supporters and
from a 'Jewish lesbian group' to talk about their experience of anti-
semitism. In other words, a Jewish voice was unacceptable if it was
Zionist or deemed to be crypto-Zionist, but was only acceptable in
the old role as a victim of prejudice.

Part I of this article appeared in PATTERNS OF PREJUDICE, vol. 18, no. 1, January 1984.
 M. BILLIG 29

However, there are signs that even the traditional acceptability

of the Jew as a victim is being circumscribed by ideological
developments. For example, it is possible to point to occasions where
the 'Jew as victim' has been abolished, just as 'the Jews as a people'
have been abolished in theory. An illustration can be given from an
article in Workers Weekly (30 May 1981), published by the pro-
Albanian ultra-left party, the Revolutionary Communist Party of
Britain (Marxist-Leninist). Appearing under the typically prolix
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title of 'The Israeli Zionists have always pursued a policy of aggres-

sion and annexation against the Palestinian and other Arab people',
the article gave a short history of Zionism and the State of Israel,
which failed to mention Nazism, the Second World War or anti-
semitism. No theme which might have suggested that Jews were
victims intruded on the story of the Zionists' 'long-term policy' to ef-
fect the 'genocidal suppression of the Palestinian people'. The same
issue of Workers Weekly was promoting a conference against
Nazism and fascism, which the party was organizing; in discussing
the dangers of contemporary Nazism and fascism, antisemitism was
given no mention.
Workers Weekly may not be typical of the revolutionary left in
its crude removal of antisemitism from the socialist agenda; certain-
ly some of the language of Workers Weekly has its own individuality
and other papers do not habitually refer to the Israeli Prime
Minister as the 'Zionist chieftain'. However, other aspects of its
language are more typical of the way the revolutionary left in
general writes about Zionism. Thus, comments about 'genocidal
suppression' of Palestinians and of 'the Hitlerite policies of the
Israeli Zionists' exemplify a more general trend in which the
language traditionally used to describe Nazi crimes against the Jews
is now appropriated to describe Zionism. This is part of a general
ideological process which equates Zionism with Nazism.
This equation is sometimes expressed as a metaphor which
criticizes Zionism for being just as bad as Nazism. For example, the
PLO National Charter claims, in Article 22, that Zionism is 'fascist
and Nazi in its means', and this theme was echoed by Fidel Castro at
the opening of the Havana Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement
in September 1979, when he claimed that Zionism represented the
closest modern parallel to Nazism. With the diagnosis that Zionism
may be 'worse than fascism', the way is open for taking a further step
and interpreting the equation, not metaphorically, but quite literal-
ly; in this case, it is not that Zionists are like Nazis, but that they are
 30 ANTI-JEWISH THEMES AND THE BRITISH FAR LEFT

Nazis, or even that they are responsible for Nazism. In this sort of
argument, the Jews cease being victims, but are seen, quite literally,
as being their own worst enemies, as well as being the worst enemies
of revolutionary socialists.
In the last five years there has been an increasing acceptance on
the far left of the idea that Zionists have encouraged antisemitism in
general and were supporters of Hitler and Nazism in particular.
This theme has been noticeable in Soviet anti-Zionist propaganda,
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where, at times, it takes on some of the tones of traditional right-

wing antisemitism.1 For example, a booklet entitled The Truth
A bout Zionism written by Roman Brodsky and published in Moscow
by Novosti Press in 1974, suggested that the Nazis 'acted in partner-
ship with Zionists'. In language which seems to echo themes from
the notorious Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, Brodsky
outlines a conspiracy theory that 'Israel is only a place where world
Zionism tries out its strength' and that 'Zionism is capable of
spreading its influence everywhere'. If he does not actually refer to
the 'Elders of Zion', he nevertheless asserts that 'the gentlemen of
Zion had too easily and too soon swept clean the record of their col-
laboration with the Nazis'.
Similar themes alleging a partnership between Nazism and
Zionism, but not expressed in the traditional tones of right-wing
antisemitism, are to be found in other circles on the far left. The
basic charge that Zionists have collaborated with antisémites occurs
in the official booklets on Zionism issued by British Trotskyist
groups. The International Marxist Group's Zionism: What It Is and
How to Fight It claims that 'historically the Zionists have frequently
allied themselves with antisémites', and the Socialist Workers Party's
Israel: A Racist State asserts that not only did the Zionists share 'the
same assumptions as the antisémites', but that they 'welcomed
Hitler's coming to power in 1933'. The booklet Palestine: Fighting
for Liberation, published by the students' organization of the SWP,
takes up this same theme, when it claims that 'many Zionists actual-
ly encouraged antisemitism' (italics in original).
Not surprisingly this theme has been prominent in the
magazine articles of such groups, especially in the last two years.
Socialist Review, the monthly magazine of the SWP, suggested in
October 1982 that the 'Zionists from the outset shared the same
basic ideology as the antisémites' and 'indeed historically the Zionist
movement has welcomed outbreaks of antisemitism'. In February
1982 it had published an article which, it said, showed 'how those
 Ai. BILLIG 31

who claim to be the most ardent defenders of Jewish people have

often worked with their bitterest enemies'. 2 The article, en-
titled 'Zionism and antisemitism', stated that 'Zionism is the hand-
maiden of antisemitism' and went on to suggest that 'under the sur-
face the Nazis and the Zionists agreed, they both wanted to rid Ger-
many of the Jews and this became the basis for some disgraceful col-
laboration'. It added that 'such collaboration went all the way to the
gas chamber'. This revision of orthodox history was in evidence in
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Labour Review (February 1982), when Martin Gilbert's book

Auschwitz and the Allies was criticized for not mentioning that the
'German Zionist movement collaborated with the Nazi government';
this article likewise suggested that the Zionists 'contributed to the
success of Hitler's planned annihilation'. Whereas Workers Weekly
may have succeeded in writing a short history of Zionism without
mentioning Nazism, Class Struggle, in its abbreviated history, has
taken this a step further: Nazism is mentioned, in a brief paragraph,
but solely to allege Zionist-Nazi collaboration: 'Zionists collaborated
with the Nazis to send tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews to the
gas chambers in exchange for being allowed to bring several hun-
dred skilled Jewish people they needed to Palestine' (July 1982). The
Jew as a victim of persecution, in this account, only appears as a vic-
tim of Jewish persecution.
Such themes are taken to their limits by Tony Greenstein in his
booklet Zionism: Antisemitism's Twin in Jewish Garb.' In his letter
to Socialist Challenge (quoted above) Greenstein claimed that the
Zionists 'had the closest links with the Nazis', and his booklet deals at
some length with this proposition. He suggests that 'the Zionists had
little trouble in co-operating and collaborating as a movement with
the Nazis' and that 'Zionism legitimized all that the antisémites and
later the Nazis had to say'. In Greenstein's account, far from the
Jews being innocent victims, it is Jews, at least Zionists, who are
responsible not just for antisemitism but also for the Holocaust. In
Greenstein's history, it is suggested that without Zionism 'it is hard to
believe that anything like six million would have been allowed to
die'. He alleges that 'if it was the Nazis who pulled the trigger it was
the Zionists who provided them with the alibi'. This same pattern of
argument is applied to contemporary Nazism and fascism. Green-
stein asserts (without evidence) that 'the Israelis are supplying and
supporting the very Nazis who in Europe are making bomb attacks
on Jewish targets', and he claims that 'Zionism legitimates all that
the National Front has to say'.
 32 ANTI-JEWISH THEMES AND THE BRITISH FAR LEFT

For its part, the National Front has reacted favourably to the
suggestion that its ideology, and that of Nazism in general, might be
legitimate. It too suggests that attacks on Jewish targets are Zionist-
inspired, arguing that such attacks are part of a world-wide Jewish
conspiracy aimed to win sympathy for Jews. It too promotes a re-
writing of history, which alleges Nazi-Zionist collaboration. This
theme appears in the booklet Did Six Million Really Die?, which
popularized, in Nazi circles, the myth that the Holocaust never oc-
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curred.4 Harwood, the author of Did Six Million Really Die?, in de-
nying that the Nazis wished to harm the Jews, suggests that the Nazis
merely wished for Jewish emigration and that 'the Nazi view of
Jewish emigration was not limited to a simple policy of expulsion,
but was formulated along the lines of modern Zionism'. Greenstein's
argument is similar: 'the policy of encouraging the emigration of
Jews to Palestine had the support of the whole of the Nazi leadership
from Hitler down'. Harwood's argument is part of a deliberate at-
tempt to make Nazi ideology appear legitimate and Greenstein is
arguing that Zionism makes the same ideology legitimate. Seeing an
affinity with Greenstein's position, the National Front's magazine,
Sussex Front, has praised Greenstein's booklet, calling it 'a seminal
work, as important in its own way as was Harwood's Did Six Million
Really Die?' (January 1983).
Although Greenstein may be atypical in his assertion that Nazi
antisemitism has been made legitimate by Jewish actions, never-
theless his arguments have not been formulated in an ideological
vacuum; instead they are elaborations of themes which are currently
circulating freely within circles on the revolutionary left today.
There is an obvious propaganda value in the equation of Zionism
with Nazism, for it allows sympathy for Jews as victims of anti-
semitism to be put aside. Thus, when Labour Herald reviewed
several publications alleging Zionist-Nazi collaboration, the
reviewer wrote that 'the information they contain has definitely
changed me from being a sympathizer of Zionism to a bitter and
angry opponent of the hypocritical ideology' (19 March 1982); in
this way the reviewer is able to escape the influence of 'Zionist
leaders who used the sympathy stirred up for Jews after the
Holocaust for their own devious ends'. If Jews themselves bear a
responsibility for antisemitism, then sympathy for Jews is something
which has to be 'stirred up'; moreover this sort of sympathy is
something which must be resisted, and, as such, the accusation that
Zionists are responsible for antisemitism inhibits a simple opposition
 M. BILLIG 33

to antisemitism. In this respect, it can be noted that Socialist Review

started its February 1982 article with a recognition that 'over the
past couple of years the deepening of the world economic crisis has
started to put antisemitism back on the political map in Western
Europe and America'. The rest of the article was not, of course, a
direct attack on antisemitism but an attack on Zionism as a cause of
antisemitism. In this context, such an argument can be interpreted
as a caution against accepting claims that Jews are victims; having
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claimed that 'Zionism of all shades may have elements of a common

ideological position' with Nazism and that right-wing Zionism was
downright fascist, the author concluded that 'it is worth remember-
ing the next time you hear Menachem Begin sounding off about
antisemitism that this is the political tradition to which he belongs'.
In other words, when faced with antisemitism, the revolu-
tionary socialist should resist sympathies which might be 'stirred up'
when Zionists 'sound off '. As an aid to such resistance, a new
historical perspective is needed which does not view Jews as mere vic-
tims of antisemitism. If this most clearly relates to twentieth century
history, this abolition of the Jew as victim can be extended further
back in time. In this spirit Labour Review was able to state in the
course of its critique of Zionism that 'the presentation of Jewish
history as one long series of persecutions, following a forced
"exile" . . . is completely false' (January 1978).
In such arguments, themes which are normally associated with
the antisemitism of the far right can be detected. Such antisemitic
themes are not a necessary consequence of adopting an anti-Zionist
perspective, because Jewish nationalism can be opposed by the op-
ponents of nationalism, simply because it is nationalist. The way
becomes open for antisemitism when Jewish nationalism is criticiz-
ed, as it is by the right wing antisemitic nationalist, because it is
Jewish. Then a specifically Jewish element intrudes in the criticism,
and, it has been suggested, this element is detectable in parts of the
far left today. Here, as on the far right, it is possible to find argu-
ments which continue antisemitic traditions by suggesting that Jews
are forever complaining of non-existent persecutions and that anti-
semitism is anyway a 'legitimate' reaction to Jewish misdeeds, and
therefore that the Jews (or at least some of them) are to blame for
antisemitism. What gives particular sharpness to these comments is
not that they are capable of evoking older stereotyped images; nor
that they form part of a political argument against the State of
Israel. The sharpness resides in a background assumption, which
 34 ANTI-JEWISH THEMES AND THE BRITISH FAR LEFT

lies at the root of much antisemitic thinking and which has been en-
countered in this brief survey of aspects of the far left: it is the
assumption that the world would be a better place if there were no
Jews, or, to use the phrase of Karl Marx, if the Jew were made im-
possible.

Notes
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1 For discussions of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in Soviet propaganda, see, for example,
L. Hirszowicz, 'Soviet perceptions of Zionism', Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 9, no. 1, 1979,
53-65; L. B. Schapiro, 'Antisemitism in the Communist world', SovietJewish Affairs, vol.
9, no. 1, 1979, 42-52.
2 The general ideological position is expressed semantically by the phrase 'Jewish people',
rather than 'the Jewish people'. A careful examination of the semantics of this type of
material might be useful, especially if there are meaningful regularities in the ways in
which 'the Jews', 'the Jewish people', 'Jews', 'Jewish people' are used, and also for the con-
texts in which Zionism is criticized without any mention of Jews or Jewishness.
3 Greenstein's booklet calls itself a "Brighton Labour Briefing Discussion Document'.
4 Although the denial of the reality of the Holocaust has been confined to the far right (with
the exception of some anarchist flirtations in France), there are signs that the theme might
be taken up on the left. An examination of the Holocaust denial mythology by Gill Seidel
was due to have been published earlier this year by the left-wing publishers, Pluto Press
(formerly the official publishers of the SWP, but now claiming to be independent).
However, Pluto Press took the editorial decision not to publish Dr Seidel's book at an
unusually late stage, after the manuscript had been typeset, and in consequence this study
of contemporary antisemitism will not be finding a place on Pluto's lists.