Report:
Communist Condemns
Zionism
By Anna Dolgov
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, December 23, 1998; 5:46 p.m. EST
|
"Our people are not blind. They
cannot fail to see that the spread of Zionism in the state
government in Russia is one of the reasons for the current
catastrophic condition of the country, the mass
impoverishment and the process of extinction of its
people''
- Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Russian
Communist Party.
|
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's Communist leader, effectively
endorsing the anti-Semitic rhetoric of his allies, accused Jews on
Wednesday of bringing on the ``extinction'' of Russia's people and
the country's economic woes, according to a news agency report.
Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov -- a prominent politician
who finished second in the 1996 presidential election -- also
suggested that Russia's Jewish community condemn Zionism, the
Interfax news agency reported.
Zionism, a movement supporting the Jewish state of Israel, is
often used by Russian anti-Semites to refer to a supposed Jewish
conspiracy against other ethnic and religious groups.
``Our people are not blind. They cannot fail to see that the
spread of Zionism in the state government in Russia is one of the
reasons for the current catastrophic condition of the country, the
mass impoverishment and the process of extinction of its people,''
Zyuganov said in what Interfax described as an open letter.
Zyuganov's most blatant public expression of anti-Semitism to
date, the letter was addressed to President Boris Yeltsin's national
security chief and the justice minister. No one was available in
either of their offices or the Communist Party on Wednesday evening
to comment.
Zyuganov's letter came in response to demands by Russian liberals
and international Jewish organizations that the Communist Party, the
largest party in Russia, condemn virulent anti-Semitic remarks by two
of its members.
Under Zyuganov, the party has taken on an increasingly aggressive,
nationalistic tone. Anti-Semitic rhetoric has grown with the nation's
economic troubles -- the traditional spark for scapegoating.
Several prominent Russian businessmen and politicians have called
for banning the party, saying it had evolved into a fascist
grouping.
In his letter, Zyuganov outlined the ``aggressive, destructive
role of Zionist capital in the collapse of Russia's economy and the
pilfering of its national wealth,'' Interfax reported.
At the same time, Zyuganov insisted that he condemned
anti-Semitism and was only calling for fighting an alleged Jewish
conspiracy for world domination.
Virulent anti-Semitic statements have been emerging from
increasingly higher levels of the Communist Party in recent months,
culminating Wednesday with Zyuganov's letter.
In speeches this fall, Communist lawmaker Albert Makashov blamed
the country's problems on ``zhidy,'' or ``yids,'' a derogatory term
for Jews.
Communists in parliament blocked a resolution condemning him.
This month, prominent Communist lawmaker Viktor Ilyukhin accused
Jews of waging ``genocide'' on Russians. He also said that Russia's
post-Soviet collapse would not have occurred if Russia's government
was not made up ``exclusively of one group, the Jews.''
Yeltsin's governments have contained a number of Jews and other
minorities in prominent positions, but they have always been
outnumbered by ethnic Russians.
