A Rumor about the Jews: Reflections on Antisemitism and "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion"

by Stephen Eric Bronner

Book Overview

In its portrayal of Judaism as a worldwide conspiracy dedicated to the destruction of Christian civilization, the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion remains one of the most infamous documents... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312218044
• ISBN13: 9780312218041
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

The lie that won't die

In the introduction, the author calls this infamous forgery The Manifesto of Antisemitism. Responsible for much violence and bloodshed, the Protocols targeted Jews and Freemasons; it remains the most notorious conspiracy of all time. The text represents a pathetic level of discourse with tortured prose, blatant contradictions, banal imagery & stereotypes and preposterous projection. Ultimately its worth derives from what it reveals about the mind of the antisemite. Part 2 consists of selections. Stylistic similarities to contemporary conspiracy theories like those of the 911 Troofers overwhelm you. The "elders" inform their followers that they are causing economic crises, creating discord through contradictory opinions, establishing monopolies, controlling the media & financial system, undermining education and eradicating Christianity. Whilst it is primarily an attack on enlightenment values, its portrayal of Jews as omnipotent speaks volumes. The over-used word "goyim" implies a helpless flock of sheep. Nowadays cattle as I learnt from a recent encounter with a conspiracist. Goats next! Part 3 looks at varieties of antisemitism, the cultural atmosphere of the time and the rejection of modernity. Judeophobia existed in classical antiquity, infected Christianity soon after its birth and triumphed along with the victory of the Constantine version. It is present in the foundational texts of both Islam and Christianity in a web of contradictions, historical impossibilities, suspiciously vivid imagery and venomous language which is the very opposite of the authentic words of Jesus, as far as these can be identified. The roots of the calumnies are here, from deicide to blood libel to replacement theology. A series of "saints" like Melito of Sardis, Tertullian, Chrysostom and Augustine as well as the reformer Martin Luther kept Anti-Judaism alive or inflamed the hatred. In time these myths & images entered the collective subconscious of the West. They migrated to Christianity's secular Salvationist offspring like nationalism, fascism, socialism and the First Church of the Boiling Globe. Anti-Judaism was religious intolerance. The post-Enlightenment prejudice was of a social type; reactionaries wanted to recreate the ghetto. The final stage was denial of individual as well as group identity. Emancipation succeeded in the USA and UK because the constitutional Anglo-Saxon version of (classical) liberalism was more effective than the continental in protecting individuals against the state. With the exception of the Netherlands, no genuine liberal tradition exists in Europe. The Protocols aided in the formation of a new type of political antisemitism by integrating the existing religious, social and political dimensions and tying the trends of modernity to "the Jewish spirit". The concept of race provided the plague with an anchor. Part 4 investigates its origin and permutations from 1890 to 1913. Most likely compiled between 1894 & 1

The Manifesto of Antisemitism

Bronner calls this infamous forgery The Manifesto of Antisemitism. The cause of much violence and bloodshed, the Protocols targeted Jews and Freemasons; it remains the most notorious conspiracy of all time. The text represents a risible level of discourse characterized by tortured prose, lack of logic, banal stereotypes & imagery plus projection of pathological proportions. Its value ultimately resides in the insight it gives into the psychology of antisemitism. Part 2 provides selections from the text. Stylistic similarities to contemporary conspiracy theories like those of the 911 Troofers jump hissing and snarling at the reader. Whilst it is primarily an attack on enlightenment values, its portrayal of Jews as omnipotent is significant. The word "goyim" appears all over and implies a helpless flock of sheep. Nowadays it's cattle as I learnt from a recent encounter with a conspiracist. Goats next I suppose, if the Ayatollah Khomeini would kindly permit. Part 3 looks at varieties of antisemitism, the cultural atmosphere of the time and the rejection of modernity. Judeophobia existed in classical antiquity, infected Christianity soon after its birth and triumphed along with the victory of the Constantine version. It is present in the foundational texts of both Islam and Christianity in a web of contradictions, historical impossibilities, suspiciously vivid imagery and venomous language which is the very opposite of the authentic words of Jesus, as far as those can be identified. The roots of the calumnies are in the New Testament, from deicide to blood libel to replacement theology. A series of "saints" like Melito of Sardis, Tertullian, Chrysostom and Augustine as well as the reformer Martin Luther kept Anti-Judaism alive or inflamed the hatred. These powerful myths & images eventually entered the collective subconscious of the West. They migrated to Christianity's secular Salvationist offspring like nationalism, fascism, socialism and the First Church of the Boiling Globe. By integrating the existing religious, social and political dimensions of Anti-Judaism and associating prominent trends of modernity with "the Jewish spirit" the Protocols rearranged the DNA of the virus to help produce the genocidal race-based mutation embraced by Hitler. Antisemitism's move from the traditionalist & counterrevolutionary side to the anti-establishment and revolutionary infused the phenomenon with an apocalyptic impulse. It eventually took on all the characteristics that the Protocols ascribed to the Jews: the desire for a Leader, chauvinism, racism and revolutionary totalitarianism: the seeds of genocide. Part 4 investigates its origin and permutations from 1890 to 1913. Most likely compiled between 1894 & 1898, the text first appeared in a Russian newspaper in 1903. Most of the text was plagiarized from Dialogue in Hell: Conversations between Machiavelli and Montesquieu by Maurice Joly, a 1864 book critical of Machiavelli. Part 5 traces its p

A study of Anti-semitism from a Secular Jewish Viewpoint

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is still worth reading about since it one of those books that it helped start a social movement of increased intolerance and violence towards Jews in Nazi Germany. It is still taken seriously in the present-day middle east. Author Stephen Bronner's most interesting point is that the Protocols was written in reaction against modernity and its components of a republican state, rule of law, democratic liberalism, universal suffrage, universal equal rights, and separation of church and state. The reactionary forces of the church and aristocracy were against the liberal forces of Jews, freemasons, and the middle class mainly because they wanted to hold on to their arbitrary power over their subjects.Another observation is that Bronner shows why many Jews support cosmopolitanism and separation of church and state so much; those two things the Protocols opposed with nationalism and the church. Such ideas give the Jews more freedom and equality than they would have under a Christian government or a nation that defines its true citizenry on the basis of race. Nationalism often has a racial component to it as opposed to a cosmopolitanism that pretends that race does not matter.In the last chapter, Bronner analyzes contemporary anti-semitism and racial nationalism. He advocates that more conservative Jews should even give up their cultural and genetic heritage to the inevitable march of progress, modernity, and cosmopolitanism. Those who resist multiculturalism will be the inevitable losers. To be a racial nationalist is to join forces with the likes that support the values of anti-semites. He poses the question that once antisemitism is removed from society, the Jews themselves may vanish because they will no longer be the persecuted 'others'. But of course, one can think that there are seeds of destruction in excessive cosmopolitanism also.The Protocols are reprinted in the book. It is clumsily written propaganda, but it came along at the right time and it plays upon fears that people still have today: autocratic world government, destruction of Christianity, planned economic depressions, indoctrination of children in schools of values parents are against, control of the news media that doesn't tell the truth, mindless entertainment to destract citizens from their vanishing freedoms and wealth, and planned spread of diseases for population control. Bronner gives the history of the creation and appearance of the Protocols in Russia in 1905 when the reactionary and anti-semitic monarchy enthusiastically supported its discimination.

Clarifying and Alarming

Mr. Bronner's book not only manages to crystalize the reason for the forgery but explains the rationale for how the historical remainder of the 20th century proceeded as a result of the "Protocols.." No small feat. In addition, the book is made more valuable because the author doesn't get self conscious about being too objective. Normally, being slightly subjective would detract from a scholarly work such as this. Instead it brings the clarity and understanding the topic truly deserves. If you really want to understand antisemitism without the usual variety of historical apologetics, this is the work to read. The bar has been raised, writers!

the best history of the Protocols and its ramifications

With the whole tzuriss over the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" reaching such a boiling point, I wish to recommend this excellent history of the topic. Rutgers Political Science Professor, Stephen Eric Bronner, whose parents fled Nazi Germany and settled in the German Jewish enclave of Washington Heights in Manhattan, provides this remarkable analysis into the antecedents of THE PROTOCOLS, the reasons it was published in 1903 by the Russian Imperial Secret Police, the groups that used the Protocols for their political ends, the legal suit that was brought against the book in the 1930's in Switzerland, the early opponents to this popular fictitious Antisemitic tract, and the current state of antisemitism, whether it be social, religious (judeophobia), or political.