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‘Russia's battle against the foreign’: the anti-cosmopolitanism paradigm in Russian and Soviet ideology

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 17; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13507486.2010.481943

1469-8293

Frank Grüner,

Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics

Abstract The concept of a 'cosmopolitan' or of 'cosmopolitanism' has in general rarely if ever been understood as something genuinely positive in Russian lands. This fact applies to Russia under the tsars, as well as to the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. With regard to concepts of the Russian Right, existing primarily since the Revolution of 1905, and on the basis of the terminology of the Stalinist period, one could also point to the existence of an 'anti-cosmopolitanism' paradigm. The analysis of this anti-cosmopolitanism paradigm in the Russian context shows that despite such fundamental historical ruptures as the 1917 Revolution there were, and still are, notable ideological continuities. The comparison of significant elements of the ideologies of the Russian Radical Right before 1917 and the Soviet era, in particular of Stalinism, shows that in both systems the 'cosmopolitan' was ultimately conceptualised as the sum of all characteristics that appeared highly foreign to the 'Russian nature'. The aim of this article is to highlight the emergence, possible origins and modifications of an 'anti-cosmopolitanism' paradigm in Russian and Soviet history as well as to explore its concrete function in modern Russia in particular in regard to Soviet nationalism and chauvinism. Keywords: JewishCosmopolitanismTsarist RussiaSoviet Jewsanti-cosmopolitanismStalinist ideologydoctorsanti-Zionism Notes 1. Goncharov Goncharov, Ivan A. 1899. Fregat "Pallada": ocherki puteshestviia. In Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, vol. 5, 188–9. St Peterburg: A.F. Marx. [Google Scholar], Fregat "Pallada", 188–9. Cited in Weiner Weiner, Amir. 2001. 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Torke, ed. Historisches Lexikon der Sowjetunion 1917/22 bis 1991, 375. 23. RGASPI (Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History): f. [fond] 17, op. [opis'] 125, d. [delo] 459, ll. [listy] 56-76 (G. Aleksandrov [v] Sekretariu TsK VKP(b) tov. Zhdanovu A.A., 28.11.1946, Sekretno; Prilozhenie: G. Aleksandrov: O partiinosti literatury - tezisy); in the article of Aleksandrov it becomes clear that the Soviet cultural politics was able to turn against every non-Russian cultural orientation if it was classed as "bourgeois nationalistic" and "decadent." Besides others, criticism also fell on Jewish literature, which was attacked due to its "nationalistic and religious-mystical tendencies"; see ibid., d. 459, ll. 24–31. For the politics of Zhdanov, an explicit anti-Semitic orientation cannot be proven; see further documents about the cultural politics of Zhdanov, ibid., d. 565, ll. 1-143. Cf. also Kostyrchenko Kostyrchenko, Gennadii V. 2001. 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[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "Uzbek Music's Separate Path," 212–40. The most important source material for this topic is Nadzhafov and Belousova, eds. Stalin i kosmopolitizm; Kostyrchenko Kostyrchenko, Gennadii V., ed. 2005. Gosudarstvennyi antisemitizm v SSSR. Ot nachala do kul'minatsii, 1938–1953, Moscow: Materik. [Google Scholar], ed. Gosudarstvennyi antisemitizm v SSSR. 34. See some of the central articles about the "Discovery of the anti-patriotic activities of rootless cosmopolitans," e.g. amongst leading Soviet theatre, literature film and music critics, directors, architects, composers, writers, amongst scholars and countless additional cases in Pravda: 28.01.1949, 10.02.1949, 26/27.02, 03.03.1949; Izvestiia: 26.02.1949, 03.03.1949; Literaturnaia gazeta: 29.01.1949, 26.02.1949, 02.03.1949, 05.03.1949, 09.03.1949; Kul'tura i zhizn': 31.01.1949, 11.02.1949, 20.02.1949, 22.03.1949; Znamia, no. 2 (1949): 168–76. 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Pravda, 13.01.1953, 31.01.1953 ("Vospityvat' trudiashchikhsia v dukhe vysokoi politicheskoi bditel'nosti"), 06.02.1953; Komsomol'skaia Pravda, 12.02.1953 ("Vyshe revoliutsionnuiu bditel'nost'"), 21.02.1953 ("Nastoichivo vospityvat' politicheskuiu bditel'nost'"); Izvestiia, 13.01.1953, 15.01.1953 ("Povyshat' politicheskuiu bditel'nost'"), 18.02.1953 ("Povyshat' politicheskuiu bditel'nost'"); Ogonek 4 (1953), 1 ("Bditel'nost' i eshche raz bditel'nost'") and others. 61. Etinger, "The Doctors' Plot," 106–9. 62. Etinger, 106 ff. 63. Etinger, 109. 64. Etinger, 112. 65. For the following portrayal of the role of Timashuk, see " 'Cel' "'Cel' byla spasti zhizn' bol'nogo.' Pis'ma Lidii Timashuk v svoiu zashitu." Istochnik (1997): 3–16 [Google Scholar] byla spasti zhizn' bol'nogo,'" 3–16. On 20 January 1953 Timashuk was awarded the Lenin Order for her "help in exposing the case of the murderer doctors." See Izvestiia, 21.01.1953. 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According to this, 28 of the 37 accused persons were doctors; the other nine persons were their family members. 69. See, e.g., Etinger, "The Doctors' Plot," 118; also Aizenshtat Aizenshtat, Iakov. 1994. O podgotovke Stalinom genotsida sovetskikh evreev, Jerusalem: s.n.. [Google Scholar], O podgotovke Stalinom genotsida sovetskikh evreev, 67–80. 70. Cf. Kostyrchenko, Tainaia politika Stalina, 654–60. 71. Kostyrchenko, Tainaia politika Stalina, 659–60. 72. Kostyrchenko, Tainaia politika Stalina, 654 ff. 73. A multitude of documents, even official ones, testifies to the fierce attitude of vast portions of the Soviet population towards the Jews in the year 1953. See among others RGANI: f. 5, op. 15, d. 407, ll. 1-112; ibid., op. 16, d. 602, ll. 1-72; ibid., op. 25, d. 503, ll. 73-76; ibid., op. 25, d. 504, ll. 1-188. See also Mitsel', Evrei Ukrainy, 274–90; "The Party and Popular Reaction to the "Doctor's Plot 1993. The Party and Popular Reaction to the "Doctor's Plot. Jews in Eastern Europe, 2(21): 49–65. (Dnepropetrovsk Province, Ukraine). Documents and Testimonies. Intro. Mordechai Altshuler and Tat'iana Chentsova [Google Scholar]," 49–65; "More about Public Reactions to the Doctors' Plot," 24–57; Rapoport, Na rubezhe dvukh ėpokh, 63–72; cf. also Lokshin, "Delo vrachei," 52–62. 74. Cf. Mitsel', Evrei Ukrainy, 261–3. 75. For more on the myth of a Jewish world conspiracy and the importance of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," cf. note 12. 76. A range of authors, amongst them Gilboa, Rapoport, Sheinis, Aizenshtat, Liass, Naumov, Brent and others, assume that plans or concrete preparations for a deportation of Jews from the western areas of the Soviet Union to Siberia or the Far East already existed. See in particular Brent and Naumov, Stalin's Last Crime, 10, 47, 191 inter alia. See also Sheinis Sheinis, Z. 1991. Grozila deportatsiia, Moscow: s.n.. [Google Scholar], Grozila deportatsiia (Moscow: s.n., 1991); Sheinis 1994. Provokatsiia veka, Moscow: s.n.. [Google Scholar], Provokatsiia veka, 104–7, 119–23. By Naumov's estimation, not only did concrete plans for the deportation of Jews from the centres of European Russia exist, but a decree of the Politburo for the creation of special camps for the deported Jewish population did as well; see Naumov Naumov, Vladimir. 1998. "Die Vernichtung des Jüdischen Antifaschistischen Komitees". In Der Spätstalinismus, Edited by: Luks, Leonid. 117–41. Cologne: Böhlau. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], "Die Vernichtung des Jüdischen Antifaschistischen Komitees," 117–41, 130–6. Some of the authors allege that the Soviet leadership pursued the "ultimate aim" of genocide of the Soviet Jews. See, e.g., Aizenshtat, O podgotovke Stalinom genotsida. The arguments for the theory of a planned deportation of the Jews are still too speculative, even in the most recent research, e.g. by Brent and Naumov, since they cannot be supported by documents, despite the current knowledge of source material. This objection is rightly asserted in particular by Kostyrchenko Kostyrchenko, Gennadii V. 2003. Deportatsiia — mistifikatsiia (Proshchanie s mifom stalinskoi ėpokhi). Otechestvennaia istoriia, 1: 92–113. [Google Scholar]. See Kostyrchenko, Tainaia politika Stalina, 671–85; idem, "Deportatsiia - mistifikatsiia (Proshchanie s mifom stalinskoi ėpokhi)," 92–113. For the current status of the discussion in this question see also Brandenberger, "Stalin's Last Crime," 198–202; Madievskii Madievskii, Samson. "1953: Prestoiala li sovetskim evreiam deportatsiia?" Vestnik 17 (1999). Available from http://www.vestnik.com/issues/1999/0817/koi/madiev.htm [Accessed on 21 June 2007] [Google Scholar], "1953: Prestoiala li sovetskim evreiam deportatsiia?" 77. Cf. Grüner Grüner, Frank. 2008. Patrioten und Kosmopoliten. Juden im Sowjetstaat 1941–1953, Cologne: Böhlau. [Google Scholar], Patrioten und Kosmopoliten, 172–203. 78. The trigger for severing diplomatic relations from the Soviet perspective was the explosion of a bomb on the territory of the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv on 9 February 1953. Whether this was a type of protest against the anti-Jewish measures in the Soviet Union, as several historians suspect, or whether the "assassination attempt" was a provocation of the Soviet security forces, cannot be resolved on the basis of available sources. Cf. Brod, Die Antizionismus- und Israelpolitik der UdSSR, 93; Finkelstein Finkelstein, Eitan. 1998. "Die Beziehungen zwischen der Sowjetunion und Israel". In Der Spätstalinismus und die "jüdische Frage." Zur antisemitischen Wendung des Kommunismus, Edited by: Luks, Leonid. 143–54. Cologne: Böhlau. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], "Die Beziehungen zwischen der Sowjetunion und Israel," 154. Quite clearly this act was very convenient for the Soviet leadership and they used it an excuse to severe diplomatic relations with Israel on 11 February; see Izvestiia, 12.02.1953. For the creation and content of the diplomatic memorandum to Israel on 11 February 1953 see AVP RF (Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation): f. 7, op. 29, d. 56, ll. 1-11. With a severity similar to that of the "Doctors' Plot," the Soviet propaganda also attacked the "horrific crime" of the Israeli terrorists as a result of the "tough anti-Soviet campaign" in Israel; see, for example, the sensational article "Vzbesivshiesia psy iz Tel'-Aviva," Pravda, 14.02.1953. 79. Many documents reveal that the politics and the political development of Israel, in particular its relationship with the Soviet Union, had already been labelled by the top government bodies and party organs of the USSR from 1949 onwards as critical and from 1950 as "hostile politics of the Zionist organisations and the government of Israel with regard to relations with the USSR"; RGASPI: f. 81, op. 3, d. 86 (Spravki Otdela TsK KPSS i MID SSSR o gosudarstvennom ustroistve i politicheskikh partiiakh Izrailia, o tsionistskikh organizatsiiakh i ikh deiatel'nosti, ob inostrannom kapitale v Izraile i dr. voprosam, predstavlennye na imia Kaganovicha L.M., 10.02.1949 - 14.02.1953, Sov. sekretno). As early as the middle of 1949, the Soviet Foreign Ministry, after consulting Stalin, refused a request of an Israeli ambassador to dispatch an official delegation of the Soviet Union to Israel for a friendly visit; in a letter to Stalin on 14 July 1949 advised Vyshinski the refusal of this request, whereby he also alluded to the solicited consideration towards the Arab states; AVP RF: f. 7, op. 22a, d. 166. ll. 1-6 (MID SSSR: Delo No 030/800 – Izrail': O priglashenii predstavitelei SSSR nanesti gosudarstvu Izrail' vizit druzhby, 29.06.1949 - 03.01.1950, Sov. Sekretno). For Soviet–Israeli politics cf. amongst others Rabinovich and Reinharz Rabinovich, Itamar and Reinharz, Jehuda, eds. 1984. Israel in the Middle East, 1948–1983, Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar], eds. Israel in the Middle East, 1948-1983; Brod Brod, Peter. 1980. Die Antizionismus- und Israelpolitik der UdSSR, Baden-Baden: Nomos. 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