Where Does the Left's Antisemitism Come From? Karl Marx (Money Is the Jealous God of Israel)

[nickcarraway]

If you want to know where antisemitism in leftism comes from, Karl Marx wrote an essay in 1843 called On the Jewish Question, and published it the following year

I'll post some quotes so you can get an idea of what he says:

Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist... The god of the Jews has become secularized and has become the god of the world. The bill of exchange is the real god of the Jew. His god is only an illusory bill of exchange.

What is the secular basis of Judaism? Practical need, self-interest. What is the worldly religion of the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly God? Money.

Very well then! Emancipation from huckstering and money, consequently from practical, real Judaism, would be the self-emancipation of our time.

An organization of society which would abolish the preconditions for huckstering, and therefore the possibility of huckstering, would make the Jew impossible. His religious consciousness would be dissipated like a thin haze in the real, vital air of society. On the other hand, if the Jew recognizes that this practical nature of his is futile and works to abolish it, he extricates himself from his previous development and works for human emancipation as such and turns against the supreme practical expression of human self-estrangement.

We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time, an element which through historical development – to which in this harmful respect the Jews have zealously contributed – has been brought to its present high level, at which it must necessarily begin to disintegrate.

I think you can get the idea, but I'm posting a link to it below.

For those wondering, Marx was not raised Jewish. His parents were non=-practicing Jews, but they converted to Prussian Lutheranism before the children were born. They did have the children baptized, but they were not religious, either Christian or Jewish. They raised the children completely secular, so Marx grew up with no real religious tradition.

[jjotto]

What Marx knew of religion was certainly shaped by his professor Bruno Bauer, a critic of the New Testament, and a course lecturer on Isaiah attended by Marx.

Marx left voluminous writings from personal letters to lengthy books. None indicate any familiarity with anything traditionally Jewish, and his attitude to Jews was typical for a German of the time.

[nickcarraway]

Karl Marx didn’t know much about any religion. His parents raised him as nonpracticing Lutherans, so of course he would know as much, or less, as any other German.

[SunkenCiv]

Yes, but alas, that’s not only the left that has it.

[af_vet_1981]

If you want to know where antisemitism in leftism comes from,

It comes from the same place that antisemitism on the right comes from.

1 John 3:

20 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: 
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, 
neither he that loveth not his brother.

11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, 
that we should love one another.

12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. 
And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, 
and his brother's righteous.

13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, 
because we love the brethren. 
He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: 
and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, 
because he laid down his life for us: 
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

[cgbg]

This thread is a mish-mosh of claims that are contradictory.

Let us take it apart piece by piece.

Is Judaism...

1. A religion

2. An ethnicity

3. A nation

4. An ideology

or if some combination which are in and which are out.

If a religion is it just traditional or does it include all the leftist reform groups as well?

If an ethnicity which groups are in and which are out—since of course people can convert to Judaism when they are of any ethnicity?

If a nation is it just Israel or is it the entire Jewish diaspora anywhere in the world?

If an ideology is it left or right?
—
Why do all these questions matter?

Because—if you want to call anti-semitic you need to identify exactly what you are claiming they are against.

Exactly.

The broad slur is word salad.

[nickcarraway]

As I said, that's why I don't love the word antisemitism. And that would include Arabs, also.

But there are many out there that claim they are "anti-Israel" not "anti-Jewish." But their claims don't stand up. In addition to greatly misstating what is happening there, these people decry what the Israelis are doing to the "Palestinians" at the same time, they say nary a word about Myanmar, where the government has killed many more Muslims than died in Israel, and they haven't been attacked the way Israel has. China has killed even more Muslims, and has over 1 million currently enslaved. How come they only focus on what Jews do, and give a complete pass to what is going on elsewhere?

And the two examples I gave were Muslims? What about the 300,000+ Christians who have been killed in Nigeria? For some reason that do4esn't count. I don't want to go into a full list, unless you really need it, but there are any number of areas in the world with inarguably worse human rights violations than Israel, but only Israel is accused of being ultra-Nazis and has governments passing laws against them.

How about Western Sahara, where Morocco has 650,000 people trapped behind a berm? Most Western governments side with Morocco.

[cgbg]

I am only picking on you because you started this thread.

Your point is valid—there are lots of double standards and hypocrisy in all of this discussion.

To get back to Marx....

He was technically Jewish under Jewish law because his mother was Jewish. Comments on the thread about how he was not religious are kinda beside the point.

Marx’s dislike of “the Jews” was really dislike of some Jews—those of means/wealth.

There have always been many people of Jewish faith who were poor or working class. Imho they are not the target of Marx or the modern folks (left and right) who speak about “the Jews”.

“The Jewish question” has always been about money and power—but that money and power was always held by a small subset of Jews—many of whom were not that religious at all—but were technically Jewish because their mothers were Jewish.

That said—Hitler made up his own rules and tried to exterminate all Jews based on genetics and regardless of social class. It is also arguable that fanatic Muslims share that view. In my view it is not credible that folks like Carlson and Fuentes share it—regardless of ten second video clips here or there.

The lack of precision on this topic generates a lot more heat than light imho.

[nickcarraway]

He was technically Jewish under Jewish law because his mother was Jewish.

That is besides the point. He was not raised Jewish, or considered himself such. That would only be a factor if Marx wanted to revert to Judaism, which he did not. He a deep enmity towards the Jewish people.

Marx’s dislike of “the Jews” was really dislike of some Jews—those of means/wealth.

I completely disagree. Read 1843's On the Jewish Question. He sees Judaism/Jewishness as an original sin. It's actually racism according to the real definition. And he didn't single out any other group! I know he didn't believe in Christianity (or any other religion), but he never singled it out in this way. He didn't say, "Rich Jews, rich Christians, rich Muslims are bad." He said Jews have a special quality, that sets them apart from others. And that quality is bad. And in many ways, it directly contradicts The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. If you follow what he taught, capitalism is an improvement over feudalism, and a natural step of the evolution of human society, and it has no positive or negative moral value. Society will eventually evolve into communism at it's own pace, no matter what anyone tries to do stop, or quicken it. But somehow Jews have this "greedy" quality that sets them apart from everyone else.

There is a direct through line from the essay to Hitler's beliefs, which were not found on an earlier dislike of Jews. Muslim's problems with Jews is completely different. Hitler may have recognized they had a "common enemy" but their beliefs leading that are completely different.

[cgbg]

You may be correct—but that means he viewed himself as part of an original sin.

It is a strange doctrine—presumably he should have committed suicide if he really believed that.

[cgbg]

I also wanted to make a more general comment on “the Jewish question”.

One issue that muddies the waters is that people of common background/ethnicity/religion/location can be very clannish and create a network of mutual benefit.

We see that with a variety of ethnic groups in the US.

Armenians are one example.

We see it with folks from India as well.

Chinese Americans set up their own networks.

The Chinese in America are an interesting analogy because if/when they band together to help their homeland Americans tend to get freaked out.

When Jewish people in America band together to help their “homeland” we are not supposed to have the same reaction or we are called “anti semitic”.

That is a blatant double standard that I find unacceptable.

[nickcarraway]

The Chinese in America are an interesting analogy because if/when they band together to help their homeland Americans tend to get freaked out. When Jewish people in America band together to help their “homeland” we are not supposed to have the same reaction or we are called “anti semitic”.

I don't think it's a double standard at all. Many conservatives love Epoch Times!

[nickcarraway]

You may be correct—but that means he viewed himself as part of an original sin.

No, because he did not consider himself Jewish at all. Matrilineal descent is a Jewish concept. [There are others] Maybe it isn't entirely logical, but Marx's religion was atheism, and he saw the world "as it was." [According to him]

I don't think Marx ever ever said that all Jews should be gotten rid of, but he gave a heck of a motive.

Hitler's racial thing about Jews was part of his whole race/blood thing, which never made much sense. Was he or most the people he talked about Aryan? It makes no sense, but there it is.