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Soviet anti-Zionism was ananti-Zionist andpro-Arab doctrine promulgated in theSoviet Union during theCold War. While the Soviet Union initially pursued a pro-Zionist policy afterWorld War II due to its perception that theJewish state would besocialist and pro-Soviet, its outlook on theArab–Israeli conflict changed asIsrael began to develop aclose relationship with theUnited States and aligned itself with theWestern Bloc.
Anti-IsraelSoviet propaganda intensified after Israel's sweeping victory in the1967 Arab–Israeli War, and it was officially sponsored by theagitation and propaganda media of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union as well as by theKGB. Among other charges, it alleged thatZionism was a form of racism. The Soviets framed their anti-Zionist propaganda in the guise of a study of modernZionism, dubbedZionology.[1] The Soviet anti-Israel policy included theregulated denial of permission forJews in the Soviet Union to emigrate, primarily to Israel, but also to any other country.
The official Soviet ideological position onZionism condemned the movement as akin tobourgeois nationalism.Vladimir Lenin rejected Zionism as a reactionary movement, "bourgeois nationalism", "socially retrogressive", and a backward force that deprecates class divisions among Jews.[2] From late 1944, however,Joseph Stalin adopted a pro-Zionist foreign policy, apparently believing that aJewish state would emergesocialist and pro-Soviet, and thus would speed the decline ofBritish influence in theMiddle East.[3] Accordingly, in November 1947, theSoviet Union, together with the other countries of theEastern Bloc, voted in favour of theUnited Nations Partition Plan for Palestine,[4] which would pave the way for the establishment of theState of Israel. On 17 May 1948, three days after theIsraeli Declaration of Independence, the Soviet Union grantedde jure recognition to Israel,[5] becoming the second country torecognize Israel overall (preceded by theUnited States' granting ofde facto recognition) and the first country to grant itde jure recognition. Nevertheless, Stalin soon returned to the preexisting "party line" regarding Zionism in response to Israel'sgrowing alliance with the United States, starting an anti-Jewish campaign within the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, which would culminate in theDoctors' plot, an antisemitic Soviet conspiracy theory.[6][7] The Soviet press engaged in attacks on Zionism, Jewish culture, and "rootless cosmopolitanism".[8]
In his 1969 bookBeware! Zionism, Yuri Ivanov, the Soviet Union's leading Zionologist, defined modern Zionism as follows:
Modern Zionism is the ideology, a ramified system of organisations and the practical politics of the wealthyJewish bourgeoisie which has closely allied itself with monopoly circles in the USA and other imperialist countries. The main content of Zionism is bellicosechauvinism andanti-communism.[9]
Soviet leaders denied that their anti-Zionism wasantisemitic. As proof, they pointed to the fact that several prominent Zionologists were ethnic Jews representing an expert opinion. Many—including some within the Soviet Union itself—argued that Zionologyexhibited antisemitic themes. For example, in November 1975, the Soviet historian and academic M. Korostovtsev wrote a letter to the Secretary of theCentral Committee of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union,Mikhail Suslov, regarding the bookThe Encroaching Counter Revolution byVladimir Begun: "...it perceptibly stirs up anti-Semitism under the flag of anti-Zionism."[citation needed]
Some Zionology books, "exposing" Zionism andJudaism, were included in the mandatory reading list for military and police personnel, students, teachers and Communist Party members and were mass published.
The third edition of the thirty-volumeGreat Soviet Encyclopedia (Большая Советская энциклопедия, БСЭ), published in 1969–1978, qualifies Zionism asracism and makes the following assertions:
The official position of the Soviet Union andits satellite states and agencies was that Zionism was a tool used by the Jews and theAmericans for "racistimperialism." The meaning of the termZionism was defined by the ruling Communist Party of the Soviet Union: "the main posits of modern Zionism are militant chauvinism, racism, anti-Communism and anti-Sovietism... overt and covert fight against freedom movements and the USSR."[10]
In his bookA History of the Jews in the Modern World,Howard Sachar argues that the atmosphere of the Soviet "anti-Zionist" campaign in the wake of theSix-Day War was antisemitic, and even compares it to Nazism:
"In late July 1967,Moscow launched an unprecedented propaganda campaign against Zionism as a 'world threat.' Defeat was attributed not to tiny Israel alone, but to an 'all-powerful international force.' ... In its flagrant vulgarity, the new propaganda assault soon achievedNazi-era characteristics. The Soviet public was saturated with racist canards. Extracts from Trofim Kichko's notorious 1963 volume,Judaism Without Embellishment, were extensively republished in the Soviet media. Yuri Ivanov'sBeware: Zionism, a book essentially replicatedThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion, was given nationwide coverage."[11]
A similar picture was drawn byPaul Johnson:
The Israeli government was also referred to as a "terrorist regime" which "has raised terror to the level of state politics." Even regarding theEntebbe hostage crisis, Soviet media reported: "Israel committed an act of aggression againstUganda, assaulting the Entebbe airport."[13]
Paul Johnson and other historians have also argued thatUnited Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379 of 10 November 1975 that equated "Zionism" with "racism" was orchestrated by the Soviet Union. Resolution 3379 was pioneered by the Soviet Union and passed with numerical support from Arab, Muslim and African states amidst accusations that Israel was supportive of the apartheid regime in South Africa. Prior to the vote, US representative at the UN,Daniel Patrick Moynihan, warned of the impact of thus resolution, stating "The UN is about to make antisemitism an international law."[14] Though ten days before theDissolution of the Soviet Union, Soviet sponsoredUnited Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/86 was adopted on 16 December 1991 which revoked the determination inResolution 3379.[15]
On 1 April 1983, official newspaper of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union,Pravda, ran a full front-page article titledFrom the Soviet Leadership:
"By its nature, Zionism concentrates ultra-nationalism, chauvinism and racial intolerance, excuse for territorial occupation and annexation, military opportunism, cult of political promiscuousness and irresponsibility, demagogy and ideological diversion, dirty tactics and perfidy... Absurd are attempts of Zionist ideologists to present criticizing them, or condemning the aggressive politics of the Israel's ruling circles, as antisemitic... We call on all Soviet citizens:workers, peasants, representatives of intelligentsia: take active part in exposing Zionism, strongly rebuke its endeavors;social scientists: activate scientific research to criticize reactionary core of that ideology and aggressive character of its political practice;writers, artists, journalists: fuller expose anti-populace and anti-humane diversionary character of propaganda and politics of Zionism."
Also, at the same time, the CPSU set up theAnti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public as an anti-Zionist propaganda tool.
In March 1985Mikhail Gorbachev became the Secretary General of the CPSU and in April he declaredperestroika. It took more than six years before Moscow consented to restore diplomatic relations with Israel on 19 October 1991, just 2 months before the collapse of the USSR and ten days before theDissolution of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was one of the sponsors ofUnited Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/86 which was adopted on 16 December 1991 and revokedResolution 3379 that had called Zionism a form of racism.[15]
