“From the first socialists to the present day, all components of the left have made anti-Semitic remarks but in very variable proportions”

2023-11-19 11:00:11

Among its multiple consequences, the flaring up of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict raises the question of anti-Semitism on the left in our country. LFI’s refusal to qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization fuels the discourse according to which the French left is fundamentally anti-Semitic. What is it really?

From the first socialists to the present day, all components of the left have actually made anti-Semitic remarks but in very variable proportions. This anti-Semitism on the left has taken five forms. It begins with an economic anti-Judaism, based on an ancient and powerful anti-Judaism in Catholic France at the beginning of the 19th century. The image of the Jew, profiteer and usurer, acquired new vigor with the emergence of capitalism that utopian socialists, such as Proudhon, assimilated to « Rothschild » ; but Saint-Simon and Louis Blanc have no hostility towards the Jews.

The second form appeared with modern anti-Semitism in the 1880s. Emerging labor organizations were infected by the xenophobia and anti-Semitism of the far right. But with the Dreyfus affair, the left understands, thanks to Jaurès, that it must break with the anti-Semites. This turning point is crucial and from then on the left will fight anti-Semitism, except for a few far-left activists who will flirt with it; we find an echo of this approach today.

On the far left, Zionism is a form of colonialism

A third form appeared in the 1930s. Traumatized by not having been able to prevent the Great War, not understanding the novelty of Nazism, a significant part of the left defended a resigned pacifism. The far right then defended massive anti-Semitism, in particular against Léon Blum. Many peaceful socialists view anti-fascists as irresponsible because they advocate toughness against Hitler. These pacifists hold an increasingly uninhibited anti-Semitic discourse; some will collaborate with Vichy.

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A fourth form appears within the ultra-left: revisionism in the 1950s and, two decades later, negationism. The first minimizes the genocide; the second denies it, accusing the Jews of taking advantage of his memory. Both are based on summary Marxism, the rejection of democracy and anti-fascism. They were designed by two activists who soon established links with the far right. Limited at first to a very small circle, negationism then saw its audience broaden.

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