Trotsky and racism
Quote:
racialist, n. and a.
(ˈreɪʃəlɪst)
[f. racial a. + -ist.]
A. n. A partisan of racialism; an advocate of a racial theory.
1917 Deb. House of Commons Canada 5870/2 We all become nationalists in the true sense of the word, as distinguished from provincialists and racialists.
1930 Observer 22 June 13/4 Some of its characters said things that were calculated to make the blood of headstrong racialists boil.
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Quote: The shortened term "racism" did not appear in the English language until the 1930s. It was first defined by the OED as "[t]he theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race"
Quote:
racist, n. and a.
(ˈreɪsɪst)
[f. race n. + -ist.]
A. n. = racialist n.
1932 M. Eastman tr. Trotsky's Hist. Russ. Revol. i. 27 This brief comment completely finishes off not only the old philosophy of the Slavophiles, but also the latest revelations of the ‘Racists’. ***1934 H. G. Wells Exper. Autobiogr. I. iii. 107 So much for the Hitlerite stage of my development, when I was a sentimentalist, a moralist, a patriot, a racist.
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Comment:
1.
Trotsky translated the word "racialist" into "расист"; he even used the quotation marks because "racialist" was a relatively new term.
2.
There is no special word for "racialist" in the Slavic languages; every Slavic dictionary translates the word "racialist/racist" into "rasist(a)/расист".
3.
Racialism = racism
Slovene dictionary defines the term "rasizem" (racism) the same. It's basically describing de Gobineau's belief, saying that the people of the higher race are capable of civilization but the members of the lesser race are not.
Quote: Выдвинув в сер. 19. в. первую расистскую концепцию, француз Ж. А. Гобино объявил арийцев 'высшей расой'
Comment: "The first racist conception", "Aryans – the higher race"
Conclusion: Trotsky did not invent the word "racist"; he just translated the word "racialist" into "расист".