SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Brendan McGeever’s book on Antisemitism in the Russian Revolution provides an analysis of Soviet response to “Red Antisemitism” – the involvement of some Bolsheviks in the pogroms of the Civil War. McGeever’s analysis provides insights that are relevant to contemporary anti-racist praxis, and particularly to response antisemitism on the left. Antisemitism, in 2021, takes place radically different set of material entanglements than in 1919, and it offers significantly different challenges. Antisemitism is not only a potential lynchpin between left wing and right-wing populism; the struggle against antisemitism is a contested terrain which is claimed by both the left and the right, as antisemitism is set apart from, and sometimes against, other conversations of racism and anti-racism. Even in these very different circumstances, McGeever’s insights appear valid: understanding antisemitism as a threat to the left is crucial; as is the role of Jewish activists in leading the struggle against it.