Political Anti-Semitism in Post-Soviet Russia - Vyacheslav Likhachev Taschenbuch

Anti-Semitism was a major feature of both late Tsarist and Stalinist as well as neo-Stalinist Russian politics. What does this legacy entail for the emergence of post-Soviet politics? What are the sources ideologies permutations and expressions of anti-Semitism in recent Russian political life? Who are the main protagonists and what is their impact on society? This book shows that anti-Semitism is alive and well in contemporary Russia in general and in her political life in particular. The study focuses on anti-Semitism in political groups mass media and religious organizations from the break-up of the Soviet Union until shortly before the elections to the fourth post-Soviet State Duma which saw the entry of a major new nationalist grouping Rodina (Motherland) into the Russian parliament. The author analyzes various justifications for anti-Semitism its manifestations and its ups and downs during this period. The book chronicles Russian federal and regional elections which served as a reality check for the ultra-nationalists. Several sections are devoted to the role of anti-Semitism in political associations including marginal neo-Nazi groups mainstream nationalist parties and the successor organizations of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. A special section covers the financial sources for post-Soviet anti-Semitic publications. The author considers anti-Semitism within a wider context of religious and ethnic intolerance in Russian society. Likhachev as a result compiles a Who is Who of Russian political anti-Semitism. His book will serve as a reliable compendium and obligatory starting point for future research on post-Soviet xenophobia and ultra-nationalist politics.