Rise Of Communism In Russia

For hundreds of years, Jews had been living in Russia in shtetls and villages. Life for Jews had never been easy; however, they were still living comfortably enough that simple, shtetl life had became the norm. Some had even left the villages to study, work and served in the Czar’s army. Once the ideas of Communism came into Russia, Jews were enticed and embraced the idea of everyone being equal. As the Soviet Union and its ideas became more concrete, it became evident that the USSR found no place for religion. The Soviet Union believed that if people were bound to their religion, that they could not be fully loyal to Communism. The USSR wanted complete dedication of its citizens to its country. During the 1950s to 1980s, life for Jews

in the Soviet Union became increasingly difficult because they were denied basic human rights, and because of restrictions on religious practice because of the State of Israel and the intelligence of the Jews. The U.S. however, helped change the situation by protesting and pressuring the Russian government, and communicating with Soviet Jews.
The Soviet Union or USSR was founded on December 30th, 1922 under the principles of Communism. Communism is a totalitarian method that the USSR adopted from Karl Marx’s “Communist Manifesto.” Marx was concerned about a Russian revolt of the working class. (At this point, the middle class was defined as the people who had enough money that they were not peasants, but could not be aristocrats because they were not born into royalty.) One major idea in Communism was that there was no such thing as private property. Whatever a person had belonged to the government, thus creating a more equal society where no one is bound to a social hierarchy. By the 1950s, this state’s Communist government had taken hold of the country’s economy and social structure. Jews, who had been a part of the philosophy and formation of this system, were now being looked upon as less “communist” than other members of the society.
Jewish life and culture at the beginning of this Communist state was established and typical. From 1920-1935, Latvia’s biggest city, Riga, had a Jewish population that had doubled from 24,000 to 44,000. Latvia gained independence and democracy post World War 1 and accepted and to some extent invited Jews into their country. Jews assisted in the government and army. They also formed religious and social Zionistic political parties and received six seats in the first election. The state also funded some Jewish activities and education. In 1924, Riga had Jewish outer garment tailors, composers, and physicians and were broadcasters and commentators on the radio. A Jewish theatre opened in 1927. However, after World War II, the rich and diverse Jewish life in Latvia and many Soviet cities was lost (When they come for us, page 17).
While Jews helped to form the Communist state they were always suspected of having divided loyalties, never truly giving up their Judaism to be Soviet citizens, a religious. Although the Soviet Unions set up an Israeli Legation in Moscow and officially recognized the State of Israel as a Member State of the UN, by voting for the partition of Palestine in November of 1947. there was still hatred for Zionism and the idea of the Jews having a state of their own (Shcharansky, page 7). Once the State of Israel was established and recognized by the international community, Jews were eager to go and live in their homeland. The Soviet Union saw Israel as a threat because the state would take the Jews away and heavily damage their economy because Jews were intelligent, hardworking and educated people. This new Jewish state might harm Soviet society because Jews were thinking with a more Israeli nationalistic perspective. The Soviet Union needed to refocus these people’s nationalism back to the USSR. (footnote, Shcharansky, 14) The Soviet government wanted to retain Jews because Jews were cosmopolitans, people who felt that they had a home wherever they were. To accomplish this goal, the Soviet Union accused Jewish prominent figures of treason. Solomon Minkoels was a very influential in the Jewish Anti-Facist community with relations in the U.S. and was murdered on January 12th, 1948 under the accusation of being a traitor. Stalin believed that Minkoels, and other Jewish leaders with relations with America, were conspiracies against him and were invasions of his personal property. Stalin noticed the weak spot in his monarchy and ordered for Minkoels along with additional JFAC figures to be executed for this capital crime. This attitude towards Jews was also implemented on the common Jews into the 1950s. On the 29th of November of 1952, three Jews in Kiev were reported to have been executed for “Economic crimes: alleged ‘speculation’ in various items of clothing on a small scale” (Footnote shchransky page 8). Unfortunately, the Israeli Legation in Moscow was not powerful enough to challenge these accusations. (footnote Shcharansky 8) On February 11th 1953, a small bomb was dropped outside the Soviet Legation in Tel Aviv and two day later, the Soviet Union broke off its relations with Israel. This anti-Jewish atmosphere continued into the 1960s with accusations of Jews committing ‘economic crimes.’ This caused distress and fear for the Jews because they wanted to leave for Israel and have relations with America but they are afraid of the repercussions from the Soviet government.
Anatoly “Natan” Shcharnsky is a great example of what most Jews had to go through during this time period.

Born on January 20th, 1948 in Donesk, Ukraine, Shcharansky became an intellectual and graduated from the Moscow Institution of Physics and Technology with a degree in applied mathematics. He was accepted at the Moscow Research Institute for Oil and Gas as a ‘young specialist’ and worked in the field of automation computers. In April of 1973, Natan eagerly applied for an exit visa. However, he was denied the privilege of going to Israel three months later and had been harshly condemned for even attempting to leave the USSR because of his status of a ‘young specialist.’ Natan was not pleased with this response to his application and became very active in protesting the USSR government, insisting on the right for him, along with others whose exit visas had been rejected, to go to Israel. In March of 1975, Natan was fired from his work at the Moscow Oil and Gas Institute and was not recognized by Moscow’s authorities as a resident there. Shcharansky did not give up hope, as he became a leader of these people denied of exit visas, referred to as refusnicks and stood up against the USSR government because “the refusnicks were outcasts from Soviet society.” (Shcharansky, 51) “On becoming a refusnick, Shcharansky explained to Meyerowitz, ‘you were gradually made to believe that you were persona non grata- no job, no apartment, no education for your children, no work

papers, no records of schooling.” (Shcharansky, 51) He met with officials from America to try and advocate for these captive people. Eventually, he was arrested on March 15th, 1977 for spying and treason. In court, Shcharansky defended himself, the Jewish people and the refusnick groups in his defense and concluded by saying,
The Jews began to search for a identity and express themselves not in assimilation but in emigration and in yearning to reach their ancient and now newly reborn Motherland fighting for its existence in a world still hostile to it, a world which is prepared to forget the Holocaust when six million of our people were brutally done to death, a world which has found it hard to accept the fact that the Jewish people will not disappear from the face of the earth (Shcharansky pg. 265-266).
Once the news came out about his arrest, the entire USSR Jewish community and the U.S., protests were held all over the world, particularly in the U.S. During his time in prison, Shcharansky had two visitors from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The reporters asked them why some refusnicks wanted to risk their lives in order to leave the USSR. Natan and his cellmate, Slepak, answered that because they wanted to be “free men, free to practice their Judaism, to educate their children and to escape from the anti-Semitism” (Shcharansky, page 181). Shcharansky was a huge inspiration and help to all nationalities because he stood up for human/civil rights, not only for the Jews” (Shcharansky, page 190). Shcharansky was a figure who could represent the struggle of being a Jew in the USSR during this time.
During the 1960s and ‘70s, the U.S.

and other communities started to protest the horrors that were happening in USSR. Although the U.S. and the Soviet Union fought as allies in World War II, America and the USSR were sworn enemies and had a very tense relationship from the very beginning of the Soviet state and a Cold War began from 1947. One of the reasons these two countries were in constant conflict was because of their fear of the other’s system. The USSR was concerned that the country was going to use its power and money to take over Europe and eventually destroy the Soviet system of socialism. Socialism is an economic and political ideology where all property should be owned and regulated by the government in order to break the barriers of social classes. America was worried that the Soviet Union was going to gain control over the whole world and eradicate democracy and capitalism. Capitalism is a political and economic system where rather than the state owning and regulating property, every person has private ownership for profit that benefited the country’s trade and industry. This clash in society and economic and political systems heightened the tension between Soviet Jews, America and the

USSR.
The Jews had family, friends and connections in America with whom they could communicate information about their situation. These correspondences gave the U.S. a lead on the details of what was going on inside the USSR and how to better use their resources to help the Jews. On January 13th of 1953, the Communist party arrested a group of Jewish “criminal physicians” or “poisoner doctors”, who were planning to kill the Soviet leader “under the leadership of American Intelligence” (Footnote Shchransky page 8). Just in July of 1961 and March 1963, about a hundred people were accused of ‘speculation’ and were shot and at least 68 of them were Jews. The newspapers added to these events saying that these people might have had a bourgeois nationalist, Jewish Social Democrat or Zionist background and had helped spy for the U.S. “The absurd accusation of espionage demonstrates that after the war, mere ‘contact’ with Western countries was interpreted by Soviet ideologists as dangerous” (Lustiger, 183).
In 1964, Jacob Birnbaum founded SSSJ (Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry) in New York. His goal was to demand rights for Jews to live freely as Jews within Russia or leave the country. Eventually, most of these groups joined together to create the Union of Councils for Soviet Jewry. In 1971, the Jewish Defense League followed and harassed the Soviet ambassador. It seemed that not much progress was being made until after the Six-Day War. Tens of thousands of Russian Jews started to study Jewish texts and history, attended public holiday celebrations and became eligible for emigration visas to Israel. By the early 1970s, many more were granted permission to come to Israel and America. However, the Russian government still imprisoned important Jewish people and leaders, so this became the new focus of the international protests. Soviet Jewry organizations constantly lobbied in Washington DC and encouraged people to visit Russia as tourists to spend time with Jews there.
Starting in the 1950s, Jewish religious practice was regulated and Jews were deprived of basic human rights. The United States assisted in changing Soviet policy by communicating with Soviet Jews, and pressuring and protesting the USSR. I think that the Soviet government accused the leaders, doctors and important Jewish figures because they wanted to assert power because Communism was not a strong enough system. The leaders of the USSR realize that their little bubble cannot work for very long because other countries are evolving and growing while they were still using old/primitive systems. When authorities knew that Jews wanted to leave after the Six Day War, they were concerned that they were going to lose power. The fear of loosing these people and their system led to the Soviet Union’s eventual demise. All of the efforts of the American Jews and Jews all over the world to help bring these refusnicks to Israel have helped to make us the strong and unified nation we are today.