Anti-Jewish Violence: Rethinking the Pogrom in East European History

4 . Freedom, Shortages, Violence: The Origins of the “Revolutionary Anti-Jewish Pogrom” in Russia, 1917–1918

4 Freedom, Shortages, Violence: The Origins of the “Revolutionary Anti-Jewish Pogrom” in Russia, 1917–1918 VLADIMIR P. BULDAKOV Conventional wisdom holds that pogroms and antisemitism in general were provoked by criminals or bigots belonging to the Black Hundreds (Chernaia sotnia) and carried out by the “ignorant masses” during the period when Russia was governed by liberals and socialists. In contrast, the present article attempts to show that after the February Revolution there was a widespread upsurge in ethnic hatred and antisemitism. The destructive processes unleashed in revolutionary times encompassed ethnic conflicts, among which anti-Jewish pogroms steadily gained prominence . In this connection, the author believes that it is essential to determine the actual relationship between the objective factors determining the level of revolutionary violence (including the extent to which it targeted specific ethnic groups) and the subjective attitudes of various social strata to antisemitism and antisemitic agitation. Preferring to concentrate on the political forces “responsible” for pogroms , researchers have not yet undertaken any serious attempts at assessing the scale of “revolutionary” antisemitism.1 Historians frequently attribute the absence of a general picture of 1917–1918 antisemitism to the lack of relevant data. It is apparent, however, that no data of this kind can exist at all: the judicial system was completely paralyzed, while local authorities simply did not have time to record all cases of disturbances. The most important source concerning this problem remains the newspapers, notwithstanding all their evident limitations in this respect. The Scale and the Effect of Antisemitic Agitation The situation that emerged after the fall of the autocracy was characterized not so much by an outburst of antisemitic agitation as by the fear of it, especially in socialist circles, which included many Jews. FREEDOM, SHORTAGES, VIOLENCE 75 With regard to antisemitic agitation, one must distinguish between targeted actions and a spontaneous proliferation of antisemitic propaganda. The former were attributed to the “supporters of the old regime,” the latter to the “ignorant masses.” But, in fact, both the old regime’s lower-level officials and the masses were equally disoriented and, therefore, subconsciously aspired to reduce any causal relationships to a search for enemies of all kinds. It is natural that, in the atmosphere of mounting chaos, even the most improbable rumors could become prevalent. Spontaneous antisemitic agitation gained a foothold in the army. In June and July 1917 attempts to revolutionize the soldiers in Petrograd and Moscow were accompanied by agitation for pogroms;2 in July, hostility was displayed toward cadets of Jewish origin at the Aleksandrovskoe Military School in Moscow. Some frontline regiments adopted resolutions to the effect that no lower-ranking officers of Jewish descent would be accepted.3 Naturally, the anti-Jewish appeals found a most receptive audience among the “interested” persons: in July, it was reported from Odessa that the soldiers being sent to the front were subject to Bolshevik agitation tinged with antisemitism; in August, an organization of guard officers agitating for pogroms was discovered in Kiev.4 In rural areas, recorded cases of antisemitic agitation were rare: in May they took place in Olgopol uezd (district) in Podolia guberniia (province) and in July in Mogilev guberniia.5 In July it was reported from Minsk guberniia that a nineteen-year-old assistant secretary of one of the volost (county) committees was inciting the peasants against “the bourgeoisie and the Jews,” promising that both would soon have their throats slit.6 It was also reported in July that 5,140 copies of pamphlets calling for pogroms had been found in the warehouse of the Trinity Monastery.7 The latter case was exceptional: generally, the clergy favored passive forms of antisemitism.8 Usually agitation was of a situational nature, and therefore it is difficult to specify the persons involved. Appeals to the peasantry rested on fantastic fabrications rather than political rhetoric, which they barely comprehended. For example, in August 1917, one of a number of leaflets distributed in the Mozhaisk uezd of Moscow guberniia spoke of the need to “overthrow the yoke of the socialist ministers, servants of Rothschild and Wilhelm,” while another called for secret societies to fight against “German and Jewish dominance.”9 It is difficult to identify the circles that produced these texts. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that a “Slavic Group” engaging in antisemitic propaganda emerged among students in Yaroslavl in June and dispatched agitators to the villages.10 76 TWENTIETH-CENTURY POGROMS Large cities became...