Sunday, September 06, 2009

Who Invented Anti-Semitism Again?

The New York Times' interviewer says that anti-Semitism was invented by the political right.

This is simply absurd on too many levels.

As for anti-Semitism, which is more specific than mere Jew hatred, it's simply not true to say that it was invented by the political right. It was invented by Wilhelm Marr, a German radical, atheist and leftist.

Meanwhile, anti-Semitism as a political movement has its roots in the Left. Karl Marx, the quintessential self-hating Jew, was writing about the "Jewish Question" in what can only be called anti-Semitic (by today's usage) terms long before Hitler was born. Here's Tyler Cowen (no fan of my book, if memory serves):


In the second half of the nineteenth century, Germany became the first country to develop systematic anti-Semitic political and intellectual movements. In Germany, Adolf Stocker’s Christian Social Party (1878-1885) combined anti-Semitism with left-wing, reformist legislation. The party attacked laissez-faire economics and the Jews

RTWT.