war was instrumental in the outbreak of communist revolutions in Russia,
Hungary, and Germany. The Russian Revolution, in particular, transformed a
still largely traditional Russian Jewry into a highly secularized and
Russianized Jewish population in less than a decade. In 1917, Russian Jews
felt as though it was still 1772, but they were wrong. In 1917, most Russian
Jews were largely traditional, living with one foot in the world of tradition and
the other in the changing world of the twentieth century. Though only a
minority of Russian Jews had affiliated with Zionism, Autonomism, or
Bundism by 1917, most had embraced as least some elements of one or more
of these movements. Clearly, though, traditional Judaism was in decline and
being replaced by either ideologies of national and social liberation or a self-
conscious Orthodoxy. Most communal elections were won by Orthodox,
Zionist, or Bundist candidates.
The fall of the tsarist regime in March 1917 brought to power a western-
style provisional government. One of its first acts was to abolish national and
religious restrictions, including restrictions affecting Jews. In July 1917, in
preparation for the first democratic election in Russia, Russian Jews convened
a congress to elect delegates to the new government. Such preparations never
came to fruition. In October 1917, a second coup brought the Bolshevik
Party to power.
From the outset, the pervading perception that the Bolsheviks were a
Jewish party stemmed from the fact that six out of the twenty-one members
of its central committee were of Jewish origin, including Leon Trotsky,
Lenin’s right-hand man. In fact, the Bolsheviks were unique among Russian
parties in the rejection of Jewish nationalism; and most Jews opposed the
Bolsheviks and preferred the more moderate provisional government. During
the ensuing civil war, this preference was irrelevant. The anti-Bolshevik, reac-
tionary, right-wing, anti-Semitic White Army equated Jews with Bolsheviks,
and sponsored pogroms against Jews qua Bolsheviks. In response, Lenin saw
an opportunity to win the support of Jews. In 1918, he called on his support-
ers to combat anti-Semitism. The Red Army stopped anti-Semitism
systematically, winning Lenin the support of Russian Jewry.
The anti-anti-Semitic posture of the Red Army took several years to take
hold. In the interim, Jews suffered major losses, especially in Ukraine, the
major battleground of the civil war. During this three-year conflict, Ukrainian
leaders oscillated between support for and antagonism toward Jews. In the
summer of 1917, the Russian Provisional Government recognized Ukrainian
autonomy; Ukraine recognized the rights of its Polish and Jewish minorities.
In January 1918, Ukraine concluded a separate peace with Germany, prompt-
ing the Red Army to attack. Initially, the Red Army was repelled by German
troops, who set up a right-wing Ukrainian regime under Cossack leadership.
This regime rescinded minority rights and instigated pogroms against Jews.
Every side in this conflict attacked Jews and associated Jews with the
enemy. The Ukrainian populace associated Jews with the Soviet regime,
From renewal to devastation, 1914–45 207