Everyday Anti-Semitism in the USSR

Abstract

The article considers the phenomenon of everyday anti-Semitism based on mass statistical data on the elections to local Soviets of Workers' Deputies. The ethnic composition of deputies sheds light on the attitude of the population towards not only Jews, but also the national policy of the authorities. The author shows that the election results indicate persistent negative attitude of the population towards Jewish candidates and, accordingly, towards Jews in general. In the local government Jews were always underrepresented, since their share among deputies was almost always lower than that in the population. However, the representativeness of Jews grew along with the enhancing of the status of the Soviets, as the influence of the authorities on the composition of deputies increased. In the All-Union and Republican Soviets before the war, Jews were even overrepresented. Thanks to the state, the anti-Jewish sentiments did not exclude Jews from the public life, elite and governance of society. Only the moving of many Jews into the opposition to the regime and the mass emigration to the West which began in the 1950s fundamentally worsened the attitude towards them on the part of the Soviet authorities and voters.

Keywords

• jews in management
• ethnic discrimination
• xenophobia
• jewish question
• ethnicity and power