After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, there was a joke circulating among the underground circles in Moscow. It was said that the Politburo discovered three envelopes on Stalin’s desk. The first envelope had the inscription “Open after my death” and contained a letter instructing his successors to bury his body next to Lenin’s in the Red Square Mausoleum. The second envelope was marked “Open when things get bad,” and inside was a note that said, “Blame everything on me!” The third envelope, labeled “Open when things get really bad,” commanded, “Do as I did!”
It seems that things have gotten really bad for Russian President Vladimir Putin because he is resorting to one of Stalin’s favorite tactics for holding on to power: appealing to anti-Semitism. Recently, Putin has made a series of remarks focusing on the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish. During a discussion at an economic forum earlier this month, Putin even mocked Anatoly Chubais, a former Kremlin adviser of Jewish heritage who fled Russia after the country’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
As a scholar who has been studying Soviet and Russian politics for decades, and someone who engages in regular discussions about the subject with friends, family, and colleagues, I don’t recall Putin publicly engaging in anti-Semitism before now. In fact, his seemingly positive attitude towards Jewish individuals set him apart from previous Russian leaders. Historically, Jews in the Russian empire faced confinement and persecution. They were restricted to living in specific areas and experienced periodic violent attacks. The Russian secret police even propagated the anti-Semitic forgery known as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which falsely claimed a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world.
Stalin exploited this history to consolidate his control over the Soviet Union. In the late 1940s, after millions of Soviet citizens died in World War II and many more were suffering, he launched an anti-Semitic campaign that targeted Jews as “rootless cosmopolitans” in newspapers. Prominent members of the Jewish Anti-fascist Committee were arrested, tortured, and executed. In what became known as the “Doctors’ Plot,” Jewish doctors were accused of poisoning patients, leading to their persecution. Tens of thousands of Jews were fired from their jobs and even highly educated graduates struggled to find employment.
Putin’s recent rhetoric is jarring because, despite his other actions, he has not previously tried to incite anti-Semitism. He had an emotional reunion with his high-school teacher, who was Jewish, during a visit to Israel in 2005. He also cultivated relationships with Jewish individuals who became wealthy oligarchs. He refrained from using anti-Semitism as a political tool and even condemned those who did within Russia’s security agencies. However, Putin’s focus on Zelensky’s Jewish background and his derogatory comments about Chubais indicate a shift in his approach.
Putin seeks to legitimize his war in Ukraine by linking it to Russia’s role in defeating the Holocaust. The fact that Zelensky is Jewish complicates this narrative. Putin tries to downplay Zelensky’s Jewishness and instead portrays him as supporting the glorification of Nazism in Ukraine. Putin also targets Chubais, who left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, and insinuates wrongdoing by highlighting financial irregularities at Rusnano, a state nanotechnology corporation that Chubais once headed. These narratives tap into anti-Semitic stereotypes, portraying Jewish individuals as traitors and thieves.
Political anti-Semitism is never just about Jews. It reveals corruption and insecurity at the top of a government and the need to distract and shift blame. By utilizing anti-Semitic rhetoric, Putin is showing his growing anxiety about his grip on power. He finds himself deeper into a war he cannot win and cannot retreat from. The recent mutiny within the Wagner Group, a private military contractor, has exposed the myth of national unity in the face of alleged Western aggression. Despite any personal aversion to promoting anti-Semitism, Putin’s political needs have become urgent enough for him to overcome it.
Putin’s embrace of anti-Semitism is a significant piece in the puzzle of his militaristic tyranny. It not only aligns him with Stalinist tactics but also revives a dark chapter in Russian history.
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