000			02993nam a2200169Ia 4500
999			_c19000 _d19000
005			20220206161108.0
008			200202s9999 xx 000 0 und d
020			_a471534331
082			_a305.696073 LIE
100			_aLiebman, Arthur
245		0	_aJews and the left
260			_aNew York _bJohn Wiley _c1979
300			_a676p.
520			_aA 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.
650			_aJew in the United States politics and government.
942			_cB _2ddc