The Jewish Question

During the opening years of the 21st century, anti-Semitic venom and incidents of violent assault on Jews have begun spreading. They are not a historical aberration. They are fueled by today’s capitalist crises and fracturing of the post–World War II imperialist “order,” described in recent decades as “globalization.”

At every turning point in history—from antiquity through feudalism, to capitalism’s rise and the imperialist death throes of the past century—Jews have been targets of persecution. Including the genocide cold-bloodedly touted by Hitler as the “Final Solution.

Why is Jew-hatred still raising its ugly head? What are its class roots? Why is there “no solution to the Jewish question under capitalism, just as there is no solution to other problems before humanity,” without revolutionary struggles that transform us as we fight to transform our world?

Abram Leon was killed in October 1944, at age 26, in the Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz. He left us this book to help answer those questions.

“Leon’s approach is that of the orthodox Marxist. . . . His analysis . . . is refreshingly lucid and sensible, and it offers us the opportunity to examine a solid statement of the materialistic interpretation of the Jewish question.” —Commentary

“Although the historiography of anti-Semitism is robust, the history of the fight against anti-Semitism is still developing. As such, Leon’s work is a valuable document to students in that subfield.” —Choice

”Abram Leon was 24 when he wrote a remarkable book from the Marxist perspective on the history of the Jewish people and the causes of anti-Semitism. . . . The focus is a single theme: Jew hatred can only be explained from the starting point of historical materialism . . . the real conditions of life . . . “˜the real Jew, that is, the Jew in his economic and social position.’“ —Clarín (Buenos Aires)

“Leon developed Karl Marx’s argument that it is economics rather than religion that has sustained Jewish history between antiquity and modernity. . . . Recent Jewish scholarship has confirmed Leon’s approach—even though Leon himself is often ignored.” —Holy Land Studies (Edinburg)

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The Jewish Question

During the opening years of the 21st century, anti-Semitic venom and incidents of violent assault on Jews have begun spreading. They are not a historical aberration. They are fueled by today’s capitalist crises and fracturing of the post–World War II imperialist “order,” described in recent decades as “globalization.”

At every turning point in history—from antiquity through feudalism, to capitalism’s rise and the imperialist death throes of the past century—Jews have been targets of persecution. Including the genocide cold-bloodedly touted by Hitler as the “Final Solution.

Why is Jew-hatred still raising its ugly head? What are its class roots? Why is there “no solution to the Jewish question under capitalism, just as there is no solution to other problems before humanity,” without revolutionary struggles that transform us as we fight to transform our world?

Abram Leon was killed in October 1944, at age 26, in the Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz. He left us this book to help answer those questions.

“Leon’s approach is that of the orthodox Marxist. . . . His analysis . . . is refreshingly lucid and sensible, and it offers us the opportunity to examine a solid statement of the materialistic interpretation of the Jewish question.” —Commentary

“Although the historiography of anti-Semitism is robust, the history of the fight against anti-Semitism is still developing. As such, Leon’s work is a valuable document to students in that subfield.” —Choice

”Abram Leon was 24 when he wrote a remarkable book from the Marxist perspective on the history of the Jewish people and the causes of anti-Semitism. . . . The focus is a single theme: Jew hatred can only be explained from the starting point of historical materialism . . . the real conditions of life . . . “˜the real Jew, that is, the Jew in his economic and social position.’“ —Clarín (Buenos Aires)

“Leon developed Karl Marx’s argument that it is economics rather than religion that has sustained Jewish history between antiquity and modernity. . . . Recent Jewish scholarship has confirmed Leon’s approach—even though Leon himself is often ignored.” —Holy Land Studies (Edinburg)

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The Jewish Question

The Jewish Question

by Abram Leon
The Jewish Question

The Jewish Question

by Abram Leon

Paperback(4th ed.)

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Overview

During the opening years of the 21st century, anti-Semitic venom and incidents of violent assault on Jews have begun spreading. They are not a historical aberration. They are fueled by today’s capitalist crises and fracturing of the post–World War II imperialist “order,” described in recent decades as “globalization.”

At every turning point in history—from antiquity through feudalism, to capitalism’s rise and the imperialist death throes of the past century—Jews have been targets of persecution. Including the genocide cold-bloodedly touted by Hitler as the “Final Solution.

Why is Jew-hatred still raising its ugly head? What are its class roots? Why is there “no solution to the Jewish question under capitalism, just as there is no solution to other problems before humanity,” without revolutionary struggles that transform us as we fight to transform our world?

Abram Leon was killed in October 1944, at age 26, in the Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz. He left us this book to help answer those questions.

“Leon’s approach is that of the orthodox Marxist. . . . His analysis . . . is refreshingly lucid and sensible, and it offers us the opportunity to examine a solid statement of the materialistic interpretation of the Jewish question.” —Commentary

“Although the historiography of anti-Semitism is robust, the history of the fight against anti-Semitism is still developing. As such, Leon’s work is a valuable document to students in that subfield.” —Choice

”Abram Leon was 24 when he wrote a remarkable book from the Marxist perspective on the history of the Jewish people and the causes of anti-Semitism. . . . The focus is a single theme: Jew hatred can only be explained from the starting point of historical materialism . . . the real conditions of life . . . “˜the real Jew, that is, the Jew in his economic and social position.’“ —Clarín (Buenos Aires)

“Leon developed Karl Marx’s argument that it is economics rather than religion that has sustained Jewish history between antiquity and modernity. . . . Recent Jewish scholarship has confirmed Leon’s approach—even though Leon himself is often ignored.” —Holy Land Studies (Edinburg)


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781604881165
Publisher: Pathfinder Press GA
Publication date: 01/01/2019
Edition description: 4th ed.
Pages: 346
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Abram Leon, born Abraham Wajnsztock (1918–1944), was the political secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Belgium until captured by the Gestapo in June 1944 and murdered in the Auschwitz gas chambers. Won to proletarian internationalism from the socialist Zionist organization Hashomer Hatzair, Leon is the author of The Jewish Question: A Marxist Interpretation (2020).

Table of Contents

About the author and contributors 9

Translator's foreword 17

Introduction Dave Prince 19

1 The premises for a scientific study of Jewish history 45

A Precapitalist period 66

B Period of medieval capitalism 66

C Period of manufacture and industrial capitalism 68

D The decline of capitalism 70

2 From antiquity to the Carolingian epoch: The period of commercial prosperity of the Jews 73

A Before the Roman conquest 73

B Roman imperialism and its decline 86

C Judaism and Christianity 98

D The Jews after the fall of the Roman Empire 111

3 The period of the Jewish usurer 125

Relations of the Jews with other classes in society 153

A The royalty and the Jews 154

B The nobility and the Jews 160

C The bourgeoisie and the Jews 168

D Relations of the Jews with the artisans and peasants 172

4 The Jews in Europe up to the nineteenth century 177

A The Jews in Western Europe after the Renaissance. Sombart's thesis 177

B The Jews in Eastern Europe up to the nineteenth century 186

5 Evolution of the Jewish question in the nineteenth century 199

6 Contradictory trends in the Jewish question during the rise of capitalism 225

7 The decay of capitalism and the tragedy of the Jews in the twentieth century 239

A The Jews in Eastern Europe 241

B The Jews in Western Europe 248

C Racism 251

D The Jewish race 259

E Zionism 262

8 Toward a solution of the Jewish question 279

A biographical sketch of Abram Leon (1918-1944) Ernest Mandel 291

Glossary 313

Bibliography 321

Index 327

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