Papers by Christoph Gassenschmidt
Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 1995
The second phase of Jewish liberal politics witnessed the breakthrough from traditional forms of ... more The second phase of Jewish liberal politics witnessed the breakthrough from traditional forms of representing Jewish interests to modern politics. The Russian Revolution of 1905 and its key player, the Russian intelligentsia, paved the way for the Defense Bureau members to shift their approach from welfare and legal aid activities to politics, and provided them with the possibility to claim legal emancipation for Russian Jews. Thus, in order to enforce the democratisation of the country, and to create a legal political opposition in Russia, the intelligentsia initiated the banquet campaign, the petition’s movement and finally founded the Union of Unions in 1905. Jewish Liberals perceived the creation of a public space as the opportunity to join the Revolution, and bring forward specific Jewish demands more effectively. To this end, Jewish Liberals founded the Soiuz Polnopraviia, an organization which was open to all political groups within Jewish society, and thus served as a public space for Jewish society. The SP in turn enabled Jewish Liberals to spread their political standing to wider strata of Jewish society, and to mobilize and politicize the Jewish masses. Moreover, in addition to the struggle for a democratisation of the country, the Liberals widened their efforts among the leaders of the Jewish communities in Western Europe and America, and added to constitutional reform within Russia external diplomatic pressure on the Russian government.
The Jewish Quarterly Review, Jul 1, 1998
Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 1995
Löwe H-D, Grüner F. Die Juden und die jüdische Religion im bolschewistischen Rußland. In: Gassens... more Löwe H-D, Grüner F. Die Juden und die jüdische Religion im bolschewistischen Rußland. In: Gassenschmidt C, Tuchtenhagen R, eds. Staat und Religion in der Sowjetunion 1917-1941. Schriften zur Geistesgeschichte des östlichen Europa. Vol 23. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz; 2001: 167-205
Contrary to the development in the West, where they appeared first, Jewish Liberals were the last... more Contrary to the development in the West, where they appeared first, Jewish Liberals were the last of the four major political forces of Russian Jewry to appear on the political stage. The reasons for this reversal of the ‘normal’ historical sequence — which were not the object of this study — lay in the historical backwardness of Russia in general and of the Jewish community in Russia in particular, partly also in the fact that Russian Jews had not been emancipated. For these reasons, a modernized Jewish middle class or Jewish middle class intelligentsia were late to appear as it remained extremely difficult for Jews in the Russian empire to pursue normal lives and normal bourgeois careers. The Jewish communities largely remained caught in the patterns of a traditional life that did not allow for a separation of secular and religious leadership and that therefore had made no room for the participation of groups of Jews that had fully accepted a modern way of life and had cut a niche...
The dissolution of the First Duma and the failure of the Vyborg appeal necessitated a re-evaluati... more The dissolution of the First Duma and the failure of the Vyborg appeal necessitated a re-evaluation of the political situation and of tactics to be applied. The political approach pursued by Jewish Liberals — to combine all Jewish groups and parties with the exception of the orthodox Marxist factions in a central organization — had reached an impasse. The ideological gulf between Zionists and Liberals had become so wide, especially on the issue of Jewish political representation, that a further co-operation between these two political camps became impossible. With the First Duma’s dissolution, the Liberals had lost support among their nationalist and Zionist partners, and a process of differentiation took place, transforming the main political streams which had participated in the SP into parties. The entire Jewish political body was affected by this process, and by the end of 1906 the representation of Jewish interests had developed into a kaleidoscope of groups and parties: the Zi...
Jewish Liberal Politics in Tsarist Russia, 1900–14, 1995
Despite the growing anti-Semitism in Russia and Poland, the beginning of the Beilis Case, governm... more Despite the growing anti-Semitism in Russia and Poland, the beginning of the Beilis Case, governmental repressions such as widespread expulsions, the closing down of the Jewish Literary Society in July 1911, and other restrictions on the cultural activities of Russian Jews, Jewish social activists continued their struggle for education, economic self-help, as well as their political efforts. It seemed that further restrictions only spurred on the activists, and led to a creativity in organizations like ORPE and ORT which sometimes, however, left Russian realities far behind, but which, nevertheless, was to become the basis for further development after World War I in the resurrected Polish Republic.1
Jewish Liberal Politics in Tsarist Russia, 1900–14, 1995
This chapter describes the socio-political background which let the Liberals re-emphasize their J... more This chapter describes the socio-political background which let the Liberals re-emphasize their Jewish past and develop a new self-consciousness. This found expression in their first activities-in the organization of legal aid provided to Jews and the propagation of Jewish rights-and finally preserited them as another interest group beside those already active (the Zionists and the Jewish Socialists, also known as Bundists). However, from the early 1890s until the eve of the First Russian Revolution in 1904, the Liberals pursued a strategy still mainly bound to the old methods of promoting Jewish interests, and can be described as a combination of shtadlanstvo and activities focused on protest and propaganda actions against anti-Semitic measures and acts of the Russian government. Therefore, according to our definition of politics , the first stage was characterized by a mainly non-political approach to the solution of the Jewish question in Russia. 1.1 JEWISH SOCIETY IN TRANSITION Jewish Liberals appeared as a result of a process of transformation within Jewish society which took place during the reign of Alexander 11. 1 His new approach to solving the Jewish question-which can be described as the traditional formula for emancipation, 'equal rights for Russification'-laid the basis for the Liberals' advent. Alexander II's policy towards the Jews had changed in two ways : in his attempt to break down what both he and his father Nicholas had called 'Jewish separateness', he no longer used repressive means and had given up all attempts at converting Jews to Christianity. His approach aimed at Russifying the Jews, and to this end he extended promises and even rewarded elements regarded as Russified. Along these lines merchants of the first guild, university graduates and artisans were granted the right to live everywhere in the empire, which was to be both a reward and in the case of the latter also an incentive. Large numbers of Jews responded by flocking into Russian schools and universities.' His policy found support among the successors of the late
Jewish Liberal Politics in Tsarist Russia, 1900–14
As Stolypin’s coup d’etat had finally crushed hopes based on the Duma, that now consisted largely... more As Stolypin’s coup d’etat had finally crushed hopes based on the Duma, that now consisted largely of aristocrats, landowners and clerics, the only solution was to rely on internal forces and abilities. In short, Russian-Jewish social and political activists affected the same shift towards internal politics as the Poles in Prussian Germany, and the Czechs in the Habsburg Empire.1 This position was taken up by all Jewish political leaders. Following the Jewish Liberals’ slogan of ‘self-protection’, coined in the ENG’s platform of 1907, all the Jewish political parties started to co-operate on the level of organic work from 1908 to 1914. Within these six years, two periods determined by the political situation can be distinguished: the first phase of organic work, that is the Stolypin years, from 1907–08 until his assassination in 1911, and the second phase from 1911 to 1914. This chapter will deal with the first period which witnessed the reorientation of most Jewish political activists to organic work. Over the catchwords of the nineteenth century, the modernization and secularization of Russian-Jewish life, the ‘old battle’ between ‘reformers’ — all the Jewish political middle-class intellectuals including Zionists and Bundists — and ‘conservative elements’ — consisting mainly of Hasidic rabbis and melameds of the traditional Heder — was rejoined.
The second phase of Jewish liberal politics witnessed the breakthrough from traditional forms of ... more The second phase of Jewish liberal politics witnessed the breakthrough from traditional forms of representing Jewish interests to modern politics. The Russian Revolution of 1905 and its key player, the Russian intelligentsia, paved the way for the Defense Bureau members to shift their approach from welfare and legal aid activities to politics, and provided them with the possibility to claim legal emancipation for Russian Jews. Thus, in order to enforce the democratisation of the country, and to create a legal political opposition in Russia, the intelligentsia initiated the banquet campaign, the petition’s movement and finally founded the Union of Unions in 1905. Jewish Liberals perceived the creation of a public space as the opportunity to join the Revolution, and bring forward specific Jewish demands more effectively. To this end, Jewish Liberals founded the Soiuz Polnopraviia, an organization which was open to all political groups within Jewish society, and thus served as a public...
The American Historical Review, 1997
The American Historical Review, 1997
Books by Christoph Gassenschmidt
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Papers by Christoph Gassenschmidt
Books by Christoph Gassenschmidt