Jews and the left

A controversial book? Yes. Unique? Ab-
solutely. Current? There's no doubt
about it. For JEWS AND THE LEFT is a
volume based on singular, provocative
premises-premises that probe into
sensitive areas and challenge cherished
ideas. Why, it asks, have members of no
other religious group so continuously
aligned themselves with a modern po-
litical philosophy as have Jews with left-
ist ideologies? Will they return to this al-
liance once again? Stronger, perhaps,
than before?
In a new and daring assessment of this
unique phenomenon, Arthur Liebman
examines JEWS AND THE LEFT, COV-
ering the period from the 1880s to the
present-and beyond. Liebman argues
that a Jewish affinity toward the left
emerged out of a unique confrontation
by Jews—as a people—with capitalism.
While analyzing the rise and fall of Jew-
ish socialism, Liebman shows how the
very occupational and “ethnic" factors
that contributed to sustaining a relation-
ship between Jews and socialism at one
time, undercut these ties in other histori-
cal contexts. In doing so, he meticu-
lously explores the formal and informal
policies of leftist parties that alternately
attracted and repelled Jews.
Liebman's exhaustive study of both past
and present circumstances clearly
shows that socialism is indeed on the
agenda of the American-Jewish com-
munity. In the forthcoming decades,
Liebman contends, as in Czarist Russia,
the Jewish community's harsh face-to-
face clash with capitalism will result in a
commitment surpassing all previous al-
legiances. He states that the contradic-
tions inherent in capitalism and the
growth of socialist political economies in
the rest of the world will stimulate the
growth of an energetic American so-
cialist movement -a movement that will
come to power and in which Jews will
play a leading role.
In seeking to understand this complex
situation, Liebman conducted numer-
ous interviews with Jewish and non-
Jewish leftists and ex-leftists. Memoirs,
archival sources, and autobiographies
were also used in creating this superb
first-hand account of JEWS AND THE
LEFT.
Written within a Marxist/Weberian
framework, this paramount book will,
without question, cause controversy-
now and for years to come. Many will
agree with the ideas of this distin-
guished scholar; others will be violently
opposed to his unique perspective.
Nevertheless, this timely topic deserves
the time and attention of all those con-
cerned about politics, history, sociologi-
cal rarities, and the future.