June 9, 2008

Lenni Brenner

Below is a letter of mine, published in the Spring/08 issue of COLUMBIA, that University's magazine. It is in response to a review of Michael Makovsky's new book, Churchill's Promised Land: Zionism and Statecraft, by alumnus Dore Gold, Israel's UN ambassador, 1997-99. Gold's review is below, but the feature of this documentary collection is Churchill's 1920 article, "Zionism Versus Bolshevism: A Struggle for the Soul of the Jewish People."

World War II is history's most written about era. After Hitler's defeat, scholars rushed to study the Austrian and German societies that generated his fantastic personality. Eventually historians analyzed the mistakes and crimes of the winners, "the big three." The cold war generated massive research into Stalin's crimes. With the triumph of America's civil rights movement came full exposure of Roosevelt's racially segregated military. Then Reagan acknowledged Roosevelt's shameless interning of West Coast Japanese-American citizens in concentration camps and compensated the victims. But Churchill got off lightly in America. It is conceded that he was an imperialist, but his resistance to Hitler is still seen as he put it, the British empire's "finest hour." His paintings and mementos sell well here. Few rich buyers have any serious knowledge of his pre-war politics.

Did Israel's ambassador know of Churchill's sordid record when he heeped praise on the scoundrel? Read Churchill and Gold. Decide for yourself.

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Letter
Lenni Brenner
Columbia
Spring 2008

Dore Gold, Israel's ambassador to the UN from 1997 to 1999, makes a hero out of Churchill. According to Gold, he "never lost his fundamental sympathy with the restoration of Jewish sovereignty .... Realpolitik tempered many of Churchill's public statements, but never diluted his faith in Israel's cause." However the reality is that Churchill was infamously anti-Semitic in the 1920s and hailed Mussolini and Hitler when they came to power.

In a February 8, 1920 article, "Zionism Versus Bolshevism: A Struggle for the Soul of the Jewish People," Churchill declared that "We owe to the Jews in the Christian revelation a system of ethics which, even if it were entirely separated from the supernatural, would be incomparably the most precious possession of mankind." But "it may well be that this same astounding race may at the present time be in the actual process of producing another system of morals and philosophy, as malevolent as Christianity was benevolent."

While assuring readers that "Nothing is more wrong than to deny to an individual, on account of race or origin, his right to be judged on his personal merits and conduct," and praising "National Jews," he warned:

"In violent opposition to all this sphere of Jewish effort rise the schemes of the International Jews .... There is no need to exaggerate the part played in the creation of Bolshevism and in the actual bringing about of the Russian Revolution by these international and for the most part atheistical Jews. It is certainly a very great one; it probably outweighs all others. With the notable exception of Lenin, the majority of the leading figures are Jews. Moreover, the principal inspiration and driving power comes from the Jewish leaders."

He patronized Zionism as an antidote to Bolshevism:

"Nothing could be more significant than the fury with which Trotsky has attacked the Zionists generally, and Dr. Weizmann, in particular. The cruel penetration of his mind leaves him in no doubt that his schemes of a worldwide communist State under Jewish domination are directly thwarted and hindered by this new ideal, which directs the energies and the hopes of Jews in every land towards a simpler, a truer, and a far more attainable goal."

Churchill ran various British cabinet ministries from 1917 to 1920. His priority was intervention against his imagined "worldwide communist State under Jewish domination." An estimated 28,000 Jews were murdered in pogroms by Russian Czarists, supported by Britain. Yet he brazenly claimed that "Wherever General Denikin's authority could reach, protection was always accorded to the Jewish population, and strenuous efforts were made by his officers to prevent reprisals and to punish those guilty of them."

Churchill's anti-Bolshevism was fanatic. In 1927 he told Italy's Fascist Party, "If I had been an Italian, I would have been entirely with you from the beginning to the end of your victorious struggle against the bestial appetites and passions of Leninism."

After Hitler came to power, Churchill proclaimed that "if our country were defeated, I hope we should find a champion as indomitable to restore our courage and lead us back to our place among the nations." When the Spanish civil war broke out, Nazi pilots helped Franco overthrow the Left-led republic, armed by Stalin. Churchill announced that he "will not pretend that, if I had to choose between Communism or Nazism, I would choose Communism."

Eventually Churchill realized that Hitler was a danger to Britain and fought him. And the madness of Hitler's holocaust cured Churchill of his own anti-Semitism. But even then he must be condemned for doing nothing to specifically help the Jews of Nazi-occupied Europe.

That Churchill was initially a fan of Mussolini and Hitler is well known in Britain. However, most Americans know nothing of his pre-World War ll career. Many construct an ideal Churchill out of his wartime speeches. Gold built on their ignorance, adding wonderful patronage of Zionism to their fairy-tale hero's résumé. But Gold doesn't even mention that his pro-Zionist was, simultaneously, also a supporter of Czarism, Mussolini and Hitler. What does that tell us about Churchill, Gold, and Zionism?

Lenni Brenner
New York, NY

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Book review by Dore Gold in Columbia magazine, Winter 2008

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Churchill's article in Illustrated Sunday Herald, 8 February 1920


Zionism versus Bolshevism: A struggle for the soul of the Jewish people

by the Re. Hon. Winston S. Churchill

published 8 February 1920
in Illustrated Sunday Herald

Some people like Jews and some do not; but no thoughtful man can doubt the
fact that they are beyond all question the most formidable and the most
remarkable race which has ever appeared in the world.

Disraeli, the Jew Prime Minister of England, and Leader of the Conservative
Party, who was always true to his race and proud of his origin, said on a
well-known occasion: "The Lord deals with the nations as the nations deal
with the Jews." Certainly when we look at the miserable state of Russia,
where of all countries in the world the Jews were the most cruelly treated,
and contrast it with the fortunes of our own country, which seems to have
been so providentially preserved amid the awful perils of these times, we
must admit that nothing that has since happened in the history of the world
has falsified the truth of Disraeli's confident assertion.

Good and Bad Jews.
The conflict between good and evil which proceeds unceasingly in the breast
of man nowhere reaches such an intensity as in the Jewish race. The dual
nature of mankind is nowhere more strongly or more terribly exemplified. We
owe to the Jews in the Christian revelation a system of ethics which, even
if it were entirely separated from the supernatural, would be incomparably
the most precious possession of mankind, worth in fact the fruits of all
other wisdom and learning put together. On that system and by that faith
there has been built out of the wreck of the Roman Empire the whole of our
existing civilization.

And it may well be that this same astounding race may at the present time
he in the actual process of producing another system of morals and
philosophy, as malevolent as Christianity was benevolent, which, if not
arrested, would shatter irretrievably all that Christianity has rendered
possible. It would almost seem as if the gospel of Christ and the gospel of
Antichrist were destined to originate among the same people; and that this
mystic and mysterious race had been chosen for the supreme manifestations,
both of the divine and the diabolical.

'National' Jews.
There can be no greater mistake than to attribute to each individual a
recognizable share in the qualities which make up the national character.
There are all sorts of men -- good, bad and, for the most part, indifferent
-- in every country, and in every race. Nothing is more wrong than to deny
to an individual, on account of race or origin, his right to be judged on
his personal merits and conduct. In a people of peculiar genius like the
Jews, contrasts are more vivid, the extremes are more widely separated, the
resulting consequences are more decisive.

At the present fateful period there are three main lines of political
conception among the Jews. two of which are helpful and hopeful in a very
high degree to humanity, and the third absolutely destructive.

First there are the Jews who, dwelling in every country throughout the
world, identify themselves with that country, enter into its national life
and, while adhering faithfully to their own religion, regard themselves as
citizens in the fullest sense of the State which has received them. Such a
Jew living in England would say, "I am an English man practising the Jewish
faith." This is a worthy conception, and useful in the highest degree. We
in Great Britain well know that during the great struggle the influence of
what may be called the "National Jews" in many lands was cast
preponderatingly on the side of the Allies; and in our own Army Jewish
soldiers have played a most distinguished part, some rising to the command
of armies, others winning the Victoria Cross for valour.

The National Russian Jews, in spite of the disabilities under which they
have suffered, have managed tn play an honorable and useful part in the
national life even of Russia. As bankers and industrialists they have
strenuously promoted the development of Russia's economic resources, and
they were foremost in the creation of those remarkable organizations, the
Russian Co-operative Societies. In politics their support has been given,
for the most part, to liberal and progressive movements, and they have been
among the staunchest upholder of friendship with France and Great Britain.


International Jews.
In violent opposition to all this sphere of Jewish effort rise the schemes
of the International Jews. The adherents of this sinister confederacy are
mostly men reared up among the unhappy populations of countries where Jews
are persecuted on account of their race. Most, if not all, of them have
forsaken the faith of their forefathers, and divorced from their minds all
spiritual hopes of the next world. This movement among the Jews is not new.
From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, and down to
Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany), and Emma
Goldman (United States), this world-wide conspiracy for the overthrow of
civilization and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested
development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been
steadily growing. It played, as a modern writer, Mrs. Webster, has so ably
shown, a definitely recognizable part in the tragedy of the French
Revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during
the Nineteenth Century; and now at last this band of extraordinary
personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America
have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads and have become
practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire.

Terrorist Jews.
There is no need to exaggerate the part played in the creation of
Bolshevism and in the actual bringing about of the Russian Revolution, by
these international and for the most part atheistical Jews, it is certainly
a very great one; it probably outweighs all others. With the notable
exception of Lenin, the majority of the leading figures are Jews. Moreover,
the principal inspiration and driving power comes from the Jewish leaders.
Thus Tchitcherin, a pure Russian, is eclipsed by his nominal subordinate
Litvinoff, and the influence of Russians like Bukharin or Lunacharski
cannot be compared with the power of Trotsky, or of Zinovieff, the Dictator
of the Red Citadel (Petrograd) or of Krassin or Radek -- all Jews. In the
Soviet institutions the predominance of Jews is even more astonishing. And
the prominent, if not indeed the principal, part in the system of terrorism
applied by the Extraordinary Commissions for Combating Counter-Revolution
has been taken by Jews, and in some notable cases by Jewesses. The same
evil prominence was obtained by Jews in the brief period of terror during
which Bela Kun ruled in Hungary. The same phenomenon has been presented in
Germany (especially in Bavaria), so far as this madness has been allowed to
prey upon the temporary prostration of the German people. Although in all
these countries there are many non-Jews every whit as bad as the worst of
the Jewish revolutionaries, the part played by the latter in proportion to
their numbers in the population is astonishing.

'Protector of the Jews.'
Needless to say, the most intense passions of revenge have been excited in
the breasts of the Russian people. Wherever General Denikin's authority
could reach, protection was always accorded to the Jewish population, and
strenuous efforts were made by his officers to prevent reprisals and to
punish those guilty of them. So much was this the case that the Petlurist
propaganda against General Denikin denounced him as the Protector of the
Jews. The Misses Healy, nieces of Mr. Tim Healy, in relating their personal
experiences in Kieff, have declared that to their knowledge on more than
one occasion officers who committed offenses against Jews were reduced to
the ranks and sent out of the city to the front. But the hordes of brigands
by whom the whole. vast expanse of the Russian Empire is becoming infested
do not hesitate to gratify their lust for blood and for revenge at the
expense of the innocent Jewish population whenever an opportunity occurs.
The brigand Makhno, the hordes of Petlura and of Gregorieff, who signalized
their every success by the most brutal massacres, everywhere found among
the half-stupefied, half-infuriated population an eager response to
anti-Semitism in its worst and foulest forms.

The fact that in many cases Jewish interests and Jewish places of worship
are excepted by the Bolsheviks from their universal hostility has tended
more and more to associate the Jewish race in Russia with the villainies,
which are now being perpetrated. This is an injustice on millions of
helpless people, most of whom are themselves sufferers from the
revolutionary regime. It becomes, therefore, specially important to foster
and develop any strongly-marked Jewish movement which leads directly away
from these fatal associations. And it is here that Zionism has such a deep
significance for the whole world at the present time.

A Home for the Jews.
Zionism offers the third sphere to the political conceptions of the Jewish
race. In violent contrast to international communism, it presents to the
Jew a national idea of a commanding character. it has fallen to the British
Government, as the result of the conquest of Palestine, to have the
opportunity and the responsibility of securing for the Jewish race all over
the world a home and centre of national life. The statesmanship and
historic sense of Mr. Balfour were prompt to seize this opportunity.
Declarations have now been made which have irrevocably decided the policy
of Great Britain. The fiery energies of Dr. Weissmann, the leader, for
practical purposes, of the Zionist project. backed by many of the most
prominent British Jews, and supported by the full authority of Lord
Allenby, are all directed to achieving the success of this inspiring
movement.

Of course, Palestine is far too small to accommodate more than a fraction
of the Jewish race, nor do the majority of national Jews wish to go there.
But if, as may well happen, there should be created in our own lifetime by
the banks of the Jordan a Jewish State under the protection of the British
Crown, which might comprise three or four millions of Jews, an event would
have occurred in the history of the world which would, from every point of
view, be beneficial, and would be especially in harmony with the truest
interests of the British Empire.

Zionism has already become a factor in the political convulsions of Russia,
as a powerful competing influence in Bolshevik circles with the
international communistic system. Nothing could be more significant than
the fury with which Trotsky has attacked the Zionists generally, and Dr.
Weissmann in particular. The cruel penetration of his mind leaves him in no
doubt that his schemes of a world-wide communistic State under Jewish
domination are directly thwarted and hindered by this new ideal, which
directs the energies and the hopes of Jews in every land towards a simpler,
a truer, and a far more attainable goal. The struggle which is now
beginning between the Zionist and Bolshevik Jews is little less than a
struggle for the soul of the Jewish people.

Duty of Loyal Jews.
It is particularly important in these circumstances that the national Jews
in every country who are loyal to the land of their adoption should come
forward on every occasion, as many of them in England have already done,
and take a prominent part in every measure for combating the Bolshevik
conspiracy. In this way they will be able to vindicate the honor of the
Jewish name and make it clear to all the world that the Bolshevik movement
is not a Jewish movement, but is repudiated vehemently by the great mass of
the Jewish race.

But a negative resistance to Bolshevism in any field is not enough.
Positive and practicable alternatives are needed in the moral as well as in
the social sphere; and in building up with the utmost possible rapidity a
Jewish national centre in Palestine which may become not only a refuge to
the oppressed from the unhappy lands of Central Europe, but which will also
be a symbol of Jewish unity and the temple of Jewish glory, a task is
presented on which many blessings rest