Jews and Leftist Politics
Judaism, Israel, Antisemitism, and Gender

This volume considers the political implications of Judaism, the relationships of leftists and Jews, contemporary anti-Zionism, and the importance of gender.

Jack Jacobs (Edited by)

9781107047860, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 March 2017

386 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.5 cm, 0.66 kg

'The topics covered range from reflections on modernity and capitalism, socialist Zionism, Jews and Communism in the Soviet Union and Poland, and Jews and American Communism to radical Jewish women in Imperial Russia. They include focused discussions on Gershom Scholem, Gustav Landauer, Martin Buber, Isaac Deutscher, the electoral left in New York during World War II, and Jewish contributions to the New School for Social Research.' Juliana Geran Pilon, Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs

The relationships, past and present, between Jews and the political left remain of abiding interest to both the academic community and the public. Jews and Leftist Politics contains new and insightful chapters from world-renowned scholars and considers such matters as the political implications of Judaism; the relationships of leftists and Jews; the histories of Jews on the left in Europe, the United States, and Israel; contemporary anti-Zionism; the associations between specific Jews and Communist parties; and the importance of gendered perspectives. It also contains fresh studies of canonical figures, including Gershom Scholem, Gustav Landauer, and Martin Buber, and examines the affiliations of Jews to prominent institutions, calling into question previous widely held assumptions. The volume is characterized by judicious appraisals made by respected authorities, and sheds considerable light on contentious themes.

Introduction Jack Jacobs
Part I. Political Implications of Judaism: 1. The strangeness of Jewish Leftism Michael Walzer
Part II. Antisemitism and the Left: 2. The dualisms of capitalist modernity: reflections on history, the Holocaust, and antisemitism Moishe Postone
3. Marxism's other Jewish questions Lars Fischer
Part III. Israel, Zionism, and the Left: 4. Socialist Zionism and nation building Anita Shapira
5. Delegitimation of Israel or social-historical analysis? The debate over Zionism as a colonial settler movement Yoav Peled
6. Does the Left have a Zionist problem? From the general to particular Mitchell Cohen
Part IV. Jews and Communism: 7. Jews and Communism in the Soviet Union and Poland Antony Polonsky
8. Jews and American Communism Harvey Klehr
Part V. Gendered Perspectives: 9. Gesia Gelfman: a Jewish woman on the Left in Imperial Russia Barbara Alpern Engel
10. Manya Schochat and her travelling guns: Jewish radical women from Progrom self-defense to the first Kibbutzim Deborah Hertz
11. The gender of Jews and the politics of women: a reflection Alice Kessler-Harris
Part VI. Canonical Figures: 12. Gershom Scholem and the Left Steven E. Aschheim
13. The romantic Socialism of Gustav Landauer Michael Löwy
14. Martin Buber between Left and Right Uri Ram
Part VII. Case Studies: 15. The Soviet Union, Jewish concerns, and the New York electoral Left, 1939–44 Daniel Soyer
16. Jews and the Left at the New School Judith Friedlander
17. Deutscher and Jews: on the non-Jewish Jew - an analysis and personal reflection Samuel Farber.

Subject Areas: Socialism & left-of-centre democratic ideologies [JPFF], Marxism & Communism [JPFC], Judaism [HRJ]