Russian Jews Between the Reds and the Whites, 1917–1920

541 Pages·2011·13.08 MB·English

by  Oleg Budnitskii

Rus sian Jews
Between the Reds
and the Whites,
1917– 1920
JEWISH CULTURE AND CONTEXTS
Published in association with
the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
of the University of Pennsylvania
David B. Ruderman, Series Editor
Advisory Board
Richard I. Cohen
Moshe Idel
Alan Mintz
Deborah Dash Moore
Ada Rapoport- Albert
Michael D. Swartz
A complete list of books in the series
is available from the publisher.
Rus sian Jews
Between the Reds
and the Whites,
1917– 1920
Oleg Budnitskii
Translated by Timothy J. Portice
university of pennsylvania press
philadelphia
Originally published as Rossiiskie evrei mezhdu krasnymi i
belymi, 1917– 1920 (Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2005)
Publication of this volume was assisted by a grant from the
Lucius N. Littauer Foundation.
Copyright © 2012 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for
purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book
may be reproduced in any form by any means without
written permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104- 4112
www .upenn .edu/ pennpress
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Budnitskii, O.
[Rossiiskie evrei mezhdu krasnymi i belymi. English]
Russian Jews between the Reds and the Whites, 1917–1920 /
Oleg Budnitskii ; translated by Timothy J. Portice. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Jewish culture and contexts)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8122-4364-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Soviet Union—History—Revolution, 1917–1921—Jews.
2. Jews—Soviet Union—History. I. Title. II. Series:
Jewish culture and contexts.
DK265.9.J48B8313 2012
947.084'1—dc23
2011030184
In memory of my father, Vitaly Danilovich Budnitskii
(1930– 1990)

contents
List of Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1. Jews in the Rus sian Empire, 1772– 1917 6
Chapter 2. Th e Jews and the Rus sian Revolution 34
Chapter 3. Th e Bolsheviks and the Jews 69
Chapter 4. “No Shneerzons!” Th e White Movement
and the Jews 123
Chapter 5. Trump Card: Antisemitism in White Ideology
and Propaganda 173
Chapter 6. In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Th e Pogroms
of 1918–1 920 216
Chapter 7. Rus sian Liberalism and the “Jewish Question” 275
Chapter 8. Th e “Jewish Question,” White Diplomacy,
and the Western Democracies 296
Chapter 9. Battling Balfour: White Diplomacy, the Rus sian
Orthodox Church, and the Problem of the Establishment
of the Jewish State in Palestine 334
viii contents
Chapter 10. Jews and the Red Army 356
Conclusion 406
Notes 415
Bibliography of Archival Sources 489
Index 493
Ac know ledg ments 507
Gallery follows page 274.
abbreviations
BAR Bakhmeteff Archive of Rus sian and East Eu ro pe an History
and Culture, Columbia University
CC Central Committee
Cheka Extraordinary Commission for Combating
Counterrevolution and Sabotage
Comintern Communist International
d. delo, a fi le within a fond (archival term)
EKOPO Jewish Committee for Assistance to War Victims
ESDRP Jewish Social Demo cratic Workers’ Party
Evkom Jewish Commissariat of the People’s Comissariat
of Nationalities
Evvoensek Jewish Section of the Department of International
Propaganda of the Po liti cal Administration of the People’s
War Commissariat of the Ukrainian SSR
f. fond, document collection (archival term)
GARF State Archive of the Rus sian Federation
GARO State Archive of the Rostov oblast
Gorkom City Committee
Gubkom Gubernia Committee
HIA Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University
Joint American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
l. page (archival term)
LRA Leeds Rus sian Archive
Narkom People’s Commissar
OESRP United Jewish Socialist Workers’ Party
OGPU State Po liti cal Directorate, successor to the Cheka
op. inventory (archival term)
Polrevkom Polish Revolutionary Committee
Revkom Revolutionary Committee