Jubilant New Yorkers staged mass meetings to celebrate the overthrow
of the czar. Jews were especially elated; their archpersecutor had fallen, and
since Russia’s significance as a major belligerent was rapidly waning, the
plight of Jews in war-ravaged countries became less acute. “We are singing
a paean of victory; we are rejoicing at the answer to our prayers,” Louis
Marshall said. Schiff, whose congratulations to Russia and exchange of
wires with Paul Miliukov were widely circulated in Russia and America,
spoke of “a miracle” that ended Romanov rule. Passover in 1917, he pre-
dicted, would be celebrated with greater fervor, for like the ancient He-
brews in Egypt, the Jews had been delivered from oppression. Identifying
himself to Miliukov as “a persistent foe of the tyrannical autocracy, the
merciless persecutors of my co-religionists,” he added exuberantly, “Just as
before I hated most intensely the Russian government, so now I love
deeply the new Russia.”^57
When Russian officials assured Schiff and his friends of Jewish emanci-
pation and equality, the revolution more than ever became a Jewish victory.
Ex-President Taft, Schiff’s adversary in the fight for abrogation, also sin-
gled out the special Jewish interest, praising the Jews “for having retained
their racial identity in the face of centuries of persecution.” For Schiff and
his associates the moment cried for support of the new government that
would prevent the revival of autocracy and Jewish disabilities. Now urging
financial aid to Russia, Schiff called for Jewish subscriptions to the Russian
liberty loan, to which he personally subscribed 1 million rubles.^58 Uncon-
cerned lest Russians oppose a government that dealt closely with Jews,
Schiff’s euphoria prompted him to find additional ways for demonstrating
his support—service on committees for the encouragement of democratic
government in Russia, treasurer of a fund through which American Jews
planned to present Russia with a replica of the Statue of Liberty, and host
to a Russian delegation at a reception in the house on Henry Street.^59
Schiff obviously did not bring about the Russian Revolution, but he liked
to think that his efforts to weaken the czarist regime through financial
pressure, aid to Japan, diplomatic lobbying with American presidents, and
propaganda to Russian prisoners of war in 1905 had helped. His efforts for
Russian Jewish emancipation, even if unsuccessful in their immediate re-
sults, had earned him the gratitude of both Russian and American Jews and
shored up his claims to communal leadership.
Outwardly delighted about the emancipation of Russian Jewry, the ste-
wards did not let down their guard. In the face of the political turmoil that
enveloped Russia, the rescission of rights was a distinct possibility. The
AJC established contact with the ambassador of the Provisional Govern-
ment, a contact that could prove significant. At the same time the commit-
tee prepared a five-hundred-page memorandum on anti-Jewish legislation
in Russia. Thus, even if the Provisional Government was overhauled, the
208 Jacob H. Schiff