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Socialism of Fools

Social democratic and socialist parties of the Left are not supposed to have antisemites in their ranks, though the Soviets attacked Zionism and ‘bourgeois cosmopolitanism’. The Right is where antisemitism flourished traditionally. The Socialism of Fools was essentially the Grand Conspiracy Theory that there really was one supreme family of rich people (the Rothschilds) that control everything and that if the people could take them down, the world will be a wonderful place again. In the 21st Century, the focus turned to George Soros.

By referring to antisemitism as the "socialism of fools," critics argue that it distracts from the real issues of economic exploitation and class struggle by scapegoating a particular group of people (Jews) instead. It's a reminder to focus on the foundational principles of socialism and avoid being sidetracked by bigotry and prejudice.

“Antisemitism is the socialism of fools” (German: "Der Antisemitismus ist der Sozialismus der dummen Kerle") .— Many are probably familiar with the famous saying, misattributed to August Bebel. It's an old saying that anti-Semitism is the "socialism of stupid people." Sometimes it is attributed to August Bebel, sometimes to Engelbert Pernerstorfer, an important Austrian social democrat from the German nationalist wing before the First World War. The hottest candidate at the moment is the Viennese reform politician Ferdinand Kronawetter, who is also a contemporary of Bebel.

Beginning in the eighteenth century, counter-Enlightenment intellectuals and intransigent Catholic writers singled out Jews for conspiring to exploit self-sustaining markets and the liberal state. These ideas spread among socialist and labor movements in the nineteenth century and intensified during the Long Depression of the 1870s.

The rapid and crisis-like high industrialization in the late 19th century was accompanied by the rise of a new anti-Semitism that differed from the old anti-Semitism. Now the Jews were no longer only met with religiously disguised hatred, but the cliché of the Jewish banker served as an “explanation” for the social upheavals of this process. It is no coincidence that the feudal and capitalist reaction that gathered after 1918 made use of this anti-Semitic agitation. It thus found its way into those elements of the petty bourgeoisie, the peasantry and the intelligentsia who blamed the Jews for all the economic and political hardships of the post-war period.

Ferdinand Kronawetter, at the general meeting of the Margareten Voters' Association, in the "Three Angels" halls, on April 23, 1889, said : "We democrats are called traitors, Jews and servants of Jews. We are not that, but we are not Liechtenstein's bootblacks either, we are not priest servants, not hypocrites who, as democrats, receive the Pope's telegraphic blessing kneeling and rolling their eyes. (Stormy applause) Anti-Semitism is nothing but the socialism of the stupid guy from Vienna (sounds of cheerfulness), because who sensible person can believe that the future will be better if the people are taken back to the Dark Ages?"

The argument coined by August Bebel was that anti-Semitism should be viewed as an instrument of reactionary forces to confuse the population. When August Bebel quoted Ferdinand Kronawetter's saying in a conversation with Hermann Bahr in 1894, he simultaneously distanced himself from it. Bebel, who is believed to have used it to condemn those within the labor movement who promoted antisemitic ideas. Bebel and other socialist leaders saw antisemitism as a divisive and reactionary force that undermined the broader struggle for workers’ rights and social justice.

Marxist historian Moishe Postone in the Frankfurt magazine “Diskus” suggested the dangerous appeal of anti-Semitism lay "in the fact that it provides a comprehensive worldview that seemingly explains various types of anti-capitalist discontent and gives them political expression" - while the capital relationship remains untouched. “An essential moment of Nazism” is its “reduced anti-capitalism.”

Achille Loria wrote in 1911 of "the Catholic socialists, a variegated aggregation of petty nobles, priests and school teachers, attack revenues derived from manufacturing and commerce, but declare the rent of landed property to be holy and unassailable. It is, therefore, as Nitti has clearly demonstrated, a one-sided and aristocratic form of socialism. Antisemitism, which a German writer has described as the socialism of fools, attacks circumcised capital but defends and sanctifies the returns from baptised capital. Examples might be multiplied of this bizarre form of criticism which censures one form of social injustice while apologising for another kind which works to the advantage of its adherents..."

The unsubstantiated statement mis-attributed to the co-founder of German social democracy illustrated a worrying phenomenon that began to take the shape of an ideology in the 19th century. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the left played a major role in the development and dissemination of modern anti-Semitic themes throughout the 19th and early 20th century. The political left embraced anti-Semitism in the early 19th century - along with why it distanced itself from anti-Semitism in the late 19th century.

As early as the 1880s, social democracy dealt with the (then new) phenomenon of anti-Semitism. At that time - under the Socialist Law the party was illegal - the comrades often reacted spontaneously, sometimes even actively and massively. This can be explained primarily by the emergence of the anti-Semitic movement in the 1880s.

Leftist movements contributed to themes and narratives that fueled modern European anti-Semitism. The animosity of the left to Jews stemmed from the conviction that Judaism was anti-modern, Jews were responsible for the evils of capitalism, and Jews were lukewarm nationalists. In France and Germany, these beliefs were not just a minor sideshow to virulent right-wing anti-Semitism but were shared by both adversaries. In the struggle with fascism the socialists did not fully distance themselves from anti-Semitism.

At the party conference in Halle in 1890, a delegate from Marburg (Hesse - anti-Semitic agitation was particularly strong there) demanded that the party leadership position itself and that the party focus significantly more on agitation against the anti-Semitism of the rural population. However, the application was postponed. However, with the second 'wave' of anti-Semitism from the beginning of the 1890s, the SPD's behavior changed. The Party became more hesitant and more hesitant in its' reaction to anti-Semitic incidents.

This new 'strategy' had its origins in the analysis of anti-Semitism, which was decisively formulated by Bebel. The anti-Semitic movement that emerged under Böckel and Ahlwardt was not only more ethnic and racist, it also had clear anti-capitalist tones. It turned primarily against 'Junkers' and the landed nobility, was anti-clerical, anti-conservative, campaigned primarily for small farmers (which is why agricultural anti-Semitism is often spoken of) and was accused of using 'social democratic agitation methods'. This new variant of political anti-Semitism seriously distressed conservatives. Ideologically, this form of anti-Semitism suited the Social Democrats.

Therefore, Bebel's conclusion is that the petty bourgeois and small farmers would recognize the wrong path of the anti-Semitic movement and would then turn to the SPD (see in detail above). This view became the central party line - with its (albeit reluctant) revolutionary effect, anti-Semitism was only an incubator for social democracy and a reservoir for future social democratic voters was discovered.

Wilhelm Liebknecht, who ended his speech at the party conference in 1893 with the words: "Yes, the anti-Semites will farm and sow and we Social Democrats will reap, so your successes are by no means unwelcome to us." This resulted in a wait-and-see attitude and a passivity that the party leadership displayed towards anti-Semitism - and this attitude penetrated far into the party. Massing even speaks of a 'policy of non-intervention' and suspects that the '[...] hope for a proletarianization of the lower middle classes and for an early victory of socialism [...]' was the excuse and compensation for the recommended passivity.

This assessment by Bebel had a corresponding impact on the practical work of social democracy regarding anti-Semitism. The Party was particularly involved in theoretical debates and organized broad educational work for workers and comrades. But, according to Leuschen-Seppel, there was no documentation of active action by individual Social Democrats or the party as a whole against anti-Semitism. This new variant of political anti-Semitism seriously distressed conservatives. Ideologically, this form of anti-Semitism suited the Social Democrats. Therefore, Bebel's conclusion is that the petty bourgeois and small farmers would recognize the wrong path of the anti-Semitic movement and would then turn to the SPD.

The fact that after the removal of the previously existing restrictions, Jews emerged in political life to a greater extent than in the Empire and were mostly active in the left-wing parties, gave the reaction an opportunity to insult the republic as a “Jewish republic” and to talk about “Jewification”. of the labor movement. In reality, it appealed to the basest impulses of the masses; it organized the hatred and envy of the hindered and neglected in order to bring down democracy and the workers' movement under the guise of “pure-blooded” nationalism.