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Old May 4th, 2012 #51
Karl Radl
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Default Was Stalin Jewish?

Was Stalin Jewish?

2nd Edition


In 2009 I wrote an article addressing the subject of whether Joseph Stalin; the infamous and genocidal Soviet dictator was jewish. (1) As it is one of the most cited and read articles on Semitic Controversies I thought it was time for a detailed update on this issue. This article is meant to supersede my previous one; where I discussed the principle claims of those who argue that Stalin was of jewish origin, not as a compliment to it. It is helpful when dealing with speculative arguments; as those who argue Stalin was of jewish origin invariably use, to clarify both the claim that is being made and why it is wrong.

In order to fulfill this I below state the assertions that proponents of the 'Stalin was a Jew' hypothesis use as proof: (2)

A) Stalin's original surname; Djugashvili, means 'Son of [a] Jew' in Old Georgian.

B) Stalin's actual father was a jew named David Papisnedov: a local jewish trader.

C) Stalin's actual father was a jewish trader named Nikolai Przhevalsky who Stalin's mother was a washerwoman for.

D) Stalin; in his early years as a revolutionary, took the nickname 'Bar Kochba' emulating the jewish religious zealot whose named is associated with third jewish revolt against Rome.

The first assertion; that Djugashvili, means 'Son of [a] Jew' in Old Georgian, is one that dates back to the Ukrainian nationalist diaspora of the 1930s when it appears to have been first argued. (3) It was popularised as a theory by Maurice Pinay in his much reprinted work 'The Plot against the Church' when he argues thus:

'At the head of the names stands Stalin himself, who for a long time was regarded as a Georgian of pure descent. But it has been revealed, that he belongs to the Jewish race; for Djougachvili, which is his surname, means “Son of Djou,” and Djou is a small island in Persia, whither many banished Portuguese “Gypsies” migrated, who late settled in Georgia.

Today it is almost completely proved, that Stalin has Jewish blood, although he neither confirmed or denied the rumors, about which mutterings began in his direction.' (4)

The argument made by Pinay and those who have followed him lays particular stress on the meaning of the surname 'Djougachvili' or 'Djugashvili', which in Pinay’s opinion means 'Son of Djou' and in the precursor argument 'Son of [a] Jew'.

Neither of these are, in fact, correct since the word 'Djuga' (or 'Dzhuga') in old Georgian does not mean 'jew' or 'Djou', but rather it roughly equates 'iron' or 'steel'. The old Georgian words for jew were actually 'Ebraeli' or 'Uriya', which bear absolutely no resemblance to 'Djuga' or 'Dzhuga'. (5)

So Stalin's surname would actually mean something equivalent to 'Son of Steel', which then makes sense of Stalin’s adoption of 'Stalin' as his surname, which in Russian roughly means 'Man of Steel'. We can speculatively state that in Stalin’s eyes he was the 'Son of Steel' in Georgia and hence has become the 'Man of Steel' in Russia. This is made sense of when we understand the Georgians regard themselves as a hard-working warrior people and have a fearsome reputation in their geographical area for it. (6)

Montefiore's claim; based on Stalin's mother's suggestion, is that Djugashvili means 'Son of the Herd' and is possibly Ossetian in origin. (7) He derives the Ossetian root of Stalin's name from the testimony of those around Stalin who later claimed that he was more Asian than Russian: that said both of those who principally make this claim are jewish (being Leon Trotksy (8) and Maxim Litvinov). (9)

This is likely a tactic on both Trotsky's and Litvinov's part; as old Bolsheviks and former friends of Stalin, (10) to try to minimize the impact of Stalin's influence and historical reflection on the international Communist movement by tacitly playing on the traditional Russian dislike of the peoples of the Caucasuses: who they consider to be racially alien. This is evident as early as 1925 when Trotsky and Kamenev argued this when they were trying to turn the Soviet Central Committee against Stalin so that they could become the leaders of the Soviet Union. (11)

This is ironically represented in some of Stalin's first actions as de facto ruler of the Soviet Union when he systematically undermined the decentralized governmental systems of the different nationalities that made up the Russian Empire (12) in spite of having been instrumental in having set it up, (13) which Reiber (14) and Wood (15) locate; as I do, in his status as a racial outsider in Russian society and therefore his need to modify; which remember Marxism holds to be merely a change in superstructure not in the base (i.e. nationality is an abstract creation of economic necessity), Soviet ideas of nationality to fit his own status as a racial outsider in Russian society.

Despite this Stalin did in fact state ; at least once, that he was more Asian than European, but was careful to clarify his meaning when he added that he was a 'Russified Georgian'. (16) What Stalin means is; as I have outlined above, quite simple: he is a part of a reviled and distrusted community in Russian society and born of a society that owes more to Asia than to Europe, which means in Stalin's view that he has had to 'become' a European through 'becoming' Russia rather remaining identified as an Asiatic by being Georgian. (17)

This univeralisation and subsequent shift of identity is behind Stalin's time as a student priest and then the cause of his attraction to Marxism, which held a concomitant view to Christianity that allowed him to change from an Asiatic to a European not by Christian brotherhood; which still then in practice if not in theory enacted tacit racial discrimination, but by the brotherhood of man encapsulated in denying the validity of all previous 'laws' except those enunciated by Marx. This is in spite of the fact; as Pipes has argued, (18) that Marxism per se had in actuality very little influence in guiding the politics and policy of the Soviet Union (except in its earliest years) (19), but rather was a way of rationalising and explaining it (20) as is indicated by innumerable comments in the memoirs of Communists; both high and low, of the problems of the inflexibility of Leninist party discipline and the party line of the moment.

This feeds into our understanding of Stalin's identity precisely because he was conscious of being Georgian and was in a sense both proud of it and ashamed of it at the same time. In this way he is comparable to jews like Trotsky; whom he is frequently compared with, (21) as he was a member of a minority that felt itself persecuted by the Russians (22) and was allied with the jews against the Russians. (23)

This is; of course, easily transliterated from a racial struggle to being one between classes as if the class and racial stratification of society is generally parallel then it is a simple matter to use a nationality denying intellectual system; like Marxism, to funnel an attitude of racial struggle against a group in a superior position through the prism of class struggle without seeming to be nationalist and thus losing or widening both domestic and international propagandistic appeal dependent on the given context.

Thus Stalin could be proud of being Georgian and also 'Russify' himself as his instinctual racial nationalism had developed into the struggle of 'proletarian nationalism' in the cause of internationalism. To simplify: Stalin utilized the common piece of leftist intellectual double-think of believing that by promoting nationalism he was in fact aiding internationalism by hastening the disruption of the power structures of the ruling class and thus paving the world for the creation of socialism.

This makes sense of why Stalin both supported the oblast system of national group self-governance under Lenin and then gradually dissembled it during his rule: as in Stalin's eyes the time of nationalism to create internationalism was now over and that national differences could now be demolished only to be built up again into the 'proletarian nationalism' of Socialism's much discussed 'new man'.

The symbol of this 'new man' is found in Stalin's own change of name from being the 'Son of Steel' to being the 'Man of Steel' with his national identity as a Georgian (represented by the meaning of his Georgian name) being subsumed through the prism of Marxist thought by his new international identity (represented by the meaning of his Russian name). This 'dialectical' evolution; as Le Blanc has pointed out, is an often forgotten aspect of historical studies on Marxism (24) and as such requires us to understand how figures such as Stalin understood themselves as well as how others understood them.

Pinay’s argument is by the far the more sophisticated than and his reference to Djou is a quite historically plausible one. Although I can find no reference to an island of/called 'Djou' outside of Pinay: it is quite possible that Pinay's reference to an island where 'Portuguese' were sent is accurate. This is because 'Portuguese' was a term frequently used to describe Marrano; or sometimes simply Sephardi, jews (25) as well as the well-known fact that the Sephardim were officially expelled from Spain in 1492 of whom many went to the lands of Islam, while the Marrano jews also tended to emigrate at periodic intervals as well. (26)

It was also a long-standing policy of the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire to resettle jews; as a people allegedly skilled in what we would now call 'wealth creation', to poor and economically underdeveloped areas of their lands so as to increase their tax revenues in the medium to long term, (27) while the jews in time came to dominate the Ottoman customs and taxation service as well as the civil service more generally. (28)

However since 'Djugashvili' does not actually mean ‘Son of Djou’: Pinay’s argument must be discarded because as plausible as it could be: if its central proposition; upon which it all rests, is incorrect then the possibilities it suggests fall down like a house of cards.

The second and third assertions that are said to prove that Stalin was of jewish origin are linked; although mutually exclusive ones, whereby two allegedly jewish candidates; David Papisnedov and Nikolai Przhevalsky, are put forward as Stalin's 'real father'.

The first issue to address here is to point out that only one author; Montefiore, (29) in the modern epoch has doubted that Stalin was in fact the son of Vissarion (Beso) and Ekaterina (Keke) Djugashvili: although even Montefiore makes it clear that there is no evidence other than rumour which is likely nothing more than an attempt to; as he says, 'diminish the [later] tyrant' by claiming via implication that Stalin was a 'lesser' man because of it. (30)

Montefiore also correctly points out that Nikolai Przhevalsky was a famous Russian explorer and not jewish: (31) indeed it is doubtful that Przhevalsky ever visited Gori in Georgia, let alone at the time concerned or could possibly have known Stalin's mother Keke (he was also arguably a homosexual). In fact Przhevalsky was thousands of miles away in China at the time of Stalin's conception! (32)

The myth of the Przhevalsky visit to Gori and his fathering Stalin was created by Edvard Radzinsky (33) based on a myth that Stalin actively fostered; (34) along with several other different candidates and versions, of his own conception and birth that distanced himself from his alcoholic and violent father Beso (to whom indeed he actually looks almost identical). (35)

In the case of David Papisnedov: he is another Radzinsky creation (36) based off a local myth, which frequently merges most of the elements of the far more plausible Georgian friend of the family, local merchant, wrestling champion and ladies man; who also happened to be Vissarion's best man, Yakov Egnatashvili. (37) I can find no evidence for David Papisnedov's being suggested as Stalin's father nor the role that he allegedly played in Stalin's life other than rumour and folklore as it was Egnatashvili who Keke assisted with the laundry and it was Egnatashvili who loaned Beso the money to set up in business as a cobbler. (38)

We should also understand that Keke had been pregnant three times before Stalin was born (39) and that her and Beso appear to have had frequent sexual intercourse (40) before the marriage broke up largely over the future of Stalin (41) who was intellectually gifted like Beso (42) and as such was thought to have a bright future ahead of him by his mother, while Beso disagreed and wished to see the young Stalin in trade before he died in 1890. (43)

As such it would be very surprising if Beso was not Stalin's father precisely because we have no clear evidence to make us suspect anything different and as such it not reasonable to suggest that Stalin was jewish because of a cuckolded father.

The last of the assertions made in favour of the argument that Stalin was of jewish origin is his alleged use of the nickname; Bar Kochba, as his alias when he began to live as a professional revolutionary when in fact Stalin actually used the nickname 'Koba'. (44)

Koba is a Georgian romantic and literary figure who is roughly approximate to Robin Hood in English literature: (45) as such he fits the Marxist revolutionary Stalin a lot better than the alleged 'Bar Kochba'! Indeed the origin of Stalin's use of the nickname 'Koba' probably lies again with Egnatashvili as he used 'Koba' as his wrestling alias and was still close to Stalin in 1929. (46)

As such therefore we have disposed of all the assertions made to argue that Stalin was in fact of jewish origin and can state unequivocally that whatever else Stalin may have been. He was not in any way, shape or form: jewish.

References


(1) http://semiticcontroversies.blogspot...in-jewish.html
(2) I take the arguments on this score principally from the most commonly cited source for them that I can find: http://judicial-inc.biz/Bush_Mossad11.htm.
(3) Jerry Muller, 2010, 'Capitalism and the Jews', 1st Edition, Princeton University Press: Princeton, p. 137
(4) Maurice Pinay, 2000, [1967], ‘The Plot against the Church’, 4th Edition, Christian Book Club of America: Palmdale, p. 67
(5) Not being fluent in old Georgian I have asked several people who are this question over the years and they have come back consistently with this general answer. I have also looked it up in dictionaries of Georgian more than once to confirm by thoughts on this matter. Also see Edvard Radzinsky, 1997, 'Stalin', 1st Edition, Anchor: London, p. 39 for confirmation.
(6) Alfred Reiber, 2005, 'Stalin as Georgian: The Formative Years', pp. 18-20 in Sarah Davies, James Harris (Eds.), 2005, 'Stalin: A New History', 1st Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York
(7) Simon Sebag Montefiore, 2007, 'Young Stalin', 1st Edition, Phoenix: London, p. 19
(8) Leon Trotsky, 1947, 'Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and his Influence', 2nd Edition, Hollis and Carter: London, pp. 417-420
(9) Vojtech Mastny, 1976, 'The Cassandra in the Foreign Commissariat: Maxim Litvinov and the Cold War', Foreign Affairs, Vol. 54, pp. 366-376
(10) For an excellent summary of their important role in the Bolshevik revolution see Robert Service, 2011, 'Spies and Commissars: Bolshevik Russia and the West', 1st Edition, MacMillan: Basingstoke.
(11) Reiber, 'Stalin as Georgian', Op. Cit., p. 18
(12) Nikolai Ssorin-Chaikov, 2007, 'Representing “Primitive Communists”: Ethnographic and Political Authority in Early Soviet Siberia', pp. 282-288 in Jane Burbank, Mark von Hagen, Anatolyi Remnev (Eds.), 2007, 'Russian Empire: Space, People, Power, 1700-1930', 1st Edition, Indiana University Press: Indianapolis
(13) Jeremy Smith, 2005, 'Stalin as Commissar for Nationality Affairs, 1918-1922', pp. 45-50 in Sarah Davies, James Harris (Eds.), 2005, 'Stalin: A New History', 1st Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York
(14) Albert Reiber, 2001, 'Stalin: Man of the Borderlands', American Historical Review, Vol. 5, pp. 1651-1691
(15) Alan Wood, 2005, 'Stalin and Stalinism', 2nd Edition, Routledge: New York, p. 11
(16) Reiber, 'Stalin as Georgian', Op. Cit., p. 18
(17) Montefiore, Op. Cit, pp. 40-43
(18) Richard Pipes, 1994, 'Russia under the Bolshevik Regime', 1st Edition, The Harvill Press: London, p. 502
(19) Andrjez Walikci, 1995, 'Marxism and the Leap to the Kingdom of Freedom', 1st Edition, Stanford University Press: Stanford, p. 2
(20) Isaac Deutscher, 1967, 'Stalin: A Political Biography', 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press: New York, pp. 458-460
(21) Reiber, 'Stalin as Georgian', Op. Cit., p. 21
(22) Montefiore, Op. Cit., pp. 133-136
(23) Wood, Op. Cit., pp. 11-12
(24) Paul le Blanc, 2006, 'Marx, Lenin and the Revolutionary Experience: Studies of Communism and Radicalism in the Age of Globalization', 1st Edition, Routledge; New York, pp. 138-140
(25) Neville Laski, 1952, 'The Laws and Charities of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews Congregation of London', 1st Edition, The Cresset Press: London, pp. 1-2
(26) Bernard Lewis, 1984, 'The Jews of Islam', 1st Edition, Princeton University Press: Princeton, pp. 84-85
(27) Ibid, pp. 122-124
(28) Benjamin Ginzberg, 1993, 'The Fatal Embrace: Jews and the State', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press: Chicago, pp. 15-16
(29) Montefiore, Op. Cit., pp. 24-25
(30) Ibid, p. 26
(31) Ibid, p. 25
(32) Roy Medvedev, Zhores Medvedev, 2003, 'The Unknown Stalin', 1st Edition, I. B. Tauris: London, p. 249
(33) Radzinsky, Op. Cit., p. 34
(34) Montefiore, Op. Cit., p. 25
(35) Medvedev, Medvedev, Op. Cit., p.249
(36) Radzinsky, Op. Cit., pp. 40-41
(37) Montefiore, Op. Cit., pp. 20-25
(38) Ibid, p. 20
(39) Deutscher, Op. Cit., p. 3
(40) Montefiore, Op. Cit., pp. 20-21
(41) Ibid, p. 29
(42) Ibid, p. 20
(43) Ibid, pp. 44-45; Deutscher, Op. Cit., p. 4
(44) Wood, Op. Cit., p. 14
(45) Deutscher, Op. Cit., p. 7
(46) Montefiore, Op. Cit., p. 387

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This was originally published at the following address: http://semiticcontroversies.blogspot...in-jewish.html
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