It continues to be the weapon of political reaction. And
its objective, at its extreme, is by no means like the grandiose
programme of utter destruction of the Jews which is pursued by the
"truly-Russian" theoreticians of our reaction.
Consequently, the Jewish question in Russia means, above all, the
legal disabilities of the individual Jews that result from the
discriminations made against them as a religious and national entity.
It is only one aspect of our general inequality and of our lack of
civil freedom. The problem of Jewish equal rights in Russia is the
problem of the equal rights of all our citizens in general. That is
why the anti-Semitical parties in Russia have a larger political
significance and importance than the anti-Semitical parties of the
West. In our country they almost coincide with anti-constitutional
parties, in general, and anti-Semitism is the banner of the old
regime, of which we still struggle in vain to rid ourselves. This
accounts for the fact that the Jewish question occupies such a
prominent place in Russian social and political life.
Pages:
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77