Joseph Stalin and antisemitism

This article is part of a series about Joseph Stalin
Personal Early life Residences Antisemitism Death and state funeral Bibliography Pre-leadership 1905 Tampere conference 1907 Tiflis bank robbery 1906 Bolshevik raid on the Tsarevich Giorgi Russian Revolution Russian Civil War Polish-Soviet War Rise to power Leader of the Soviet Union Tenure First five-year plan 1930–1933 famine Great Purge Death dates of victims World War II Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact Tehran Conference Yalta Conference Potsdam Conference 1946–1947 famine Excess mortality in the Soviet Union Political ideology Stalinism Comparison to Nazism Marxism–Leninism atheism Works Poetry "Anarchism or Socialism?" "Marxism and the National Question" "Foundations of Leninism" "Dizzy with Success" "Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia" "Ten Blows" speech Alleged 19 August 1939 speech Falsifiers of History Stalin Note The History of the Communist Party 1936 Soviet Constitution Dialectical and Historical Materialism Order No. 227 Order No. 270 "Marxism and Problems of Linguistics" Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR Legacy Cult of personality Neo-Stalinism De-Stalinization Anti-Stalinist left Awards and honours Eponymous places Statues Black Ribbon Day
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The accusation that Joseph Stalin was antisemitic is much discussed by historians. Although part of a movement that included Jews and ostensibly rejected antisemitism, he privately displayed a contemptuous attitude toward Jews on various occasions that were witnessed by his contemporaries, and are documented by historical sources.^[1] Stalin argued that the Jews possessed a national character but were not a nation and were thus unassimilable. He argued that Jewish nationalism, particularly Zionism, was hostile to socialism.^[2] In 1939, he reversed communist policy and began a cooperation with Nazi Germany that included the removal of high-profile Jews from the Kremlin. As dictator of the Soviet Union, he promoted repressive policies that conspicuously impacted Jews shortly after World War II, especially during the anti-cosmopolitan campaign. At the time of his death, Stalin was planning an even larger campaign against Jews,^[3][4][5] which included the deportation of all Jews within the Soviet Union to Northern Kazakhstan.^[1] According to his successor Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin was fomenting the doctors' plot as a pretext for further anti-Jewish repressions.^[6]

Stalin publicly condemned antisemitism,^[7] although he was repeatedly accused of it.^[8] People who knew him, such as Khrushchev, suggested he long harboured negative sentiments toward Jews.^[9] It has been argued that anti-Semitic trends in his policies were fuelled by Stalin's struggle against Leon Trotsky.^[10] After Stalin's death, Khrushchev claimed that Stalin encouraged him to incite antisemitism in Ukraine, allegedly telling him that "the good workers at the factory should be given clubs so they can beat the hell out of those Jews."^[11] In 1946, Stalin allegedly said privately that "every Jew is a potential spy".^[12] Robert Conquest stated that although Stalin had Jewish associates, he promoted antisemitism.^[13] Robert Service cautioned that there was no irrefutable evidence of antisemitism in Stalin's published work, although his private statements and public actions were "undeniably reminiscent of crude antagonism towards Jews";^[14] Service added that throughout Stalin's life, he "would be the friend, associate or leader of countless individual Jews".^[15] According to Beria, Stalin had affairs with Jewish women.^[16]