Jews under Tsars and Communists

Tracing the evolving nature of popular and official beliefs about the purported nature of the Jews from the 18th century onwards, Jews Under Tsars and Communists: The Four Questions explores how perceptions of Jews in late Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union shaped the regimes' policies toward them. In so doing Robert Weinberg provides a fruitful lens through which to investigate the social, economic, political, and cultural developments of modern Russia.

Weinberg reveals that the 'Jewish Question' - and, by extension antisemitism - emerged at the end of the 18th century when the partitions of Poland made hundreds of thousands of Jews subjects of the Russian crown. He skilfully argues that the phrase itself implies the singular nature of Jews as a group of people whose religion, culture and occupational make-up prevent them from fitting into predominantly Christian societies. The book then expounds how other characteristics were associated with the group over time: in particular, debates about rights of citizenship, the impact of industrialization, the emergence of the nation-state, and the proliferation of new political ideologies and movements contributed to the changing nature of the 'Jewish Question', whether or not Jews pose a threat to the stability and well-being of the societies in which they live and this, in a specifically Russian context, is what Weinberg examines so expertly.

Robert Weinberg is Professor of History and International Relations at Swarthmore College, USA.