Applies Not Only to the 1985 Anti-Alcohal Campaign, but Also To
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applies not only to the 1985 anti-alcohal campaign, but also to most Soviet campaigns, inciuding ca(I�ctivization in the iate 1920s and the 1950s Virgin Lands campaign. White identifies several reasons why the anti-alcohol campaign not only failed to achieve its objectives, but in many cases worsened the situation it was supposed to allevi- ate. The strategy was based upon a narrow and inadequate understanding of the problem it sought to resolve, and the policy agenda excluded alternative views and international experience. Moreover, the political leadership as well as the tempérance society were di- vided in their views, providing the opportunity for the "street-level bureaucrats" through whom they worked to evade central directives and set their own priorities. And finally, the public, initiai!y favorable, became disillusioned by the manner in which the campaign was conducted and in the end they were drinking more than ever before. White is at his best when discussing the convoluted relationship between top-down policies and public responses. Drawing upon an impressive number of press accounts from ail corners of the Soviet Union, his study is an instructive guide to a changing soci- ety and an impressive case study of politically directed social reform. His source base, however, does not alfow him to consider other consequences of focused public attention on alcoholism. He does not mention, for example, the rapid growth of the self-help orga- nization Alcoholics Anonymous that started in 1987 with one group in Moscow and now claims hundreds of groups and thousands of sober members throughout the CIS. Nor does he discuss the dozens of privately-owned alcohol treatment centers employing Western models of addiction and recovery that have sprung up since 1992 and are report- ing tremendous successes. This minor complaint, however, does not detract from the book's usefulness. The historiography of Soviet drinking and temperance is still in its infancy, and White's ac- count contributes greatly to this field. Anecdotai and quite entertaining, it is accessible to a wide readership including scholars interested in state policy, social reform, and temper- ance movements. Kate Transchel California State University, Chico William Korey. Russian Antisemitism, Pamyat, and the Demonology of Zionism. Lang- horne, PA: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1995. x, 243 pp. $59.00 (cloth); $29.00 (paper). Distributed in Canada by University of Toronto Press, Toronto. William Korey's insightful look at the historical roots of contemporary antisemitism in Russia is part of a series on anti-Semitism by the Vidal Sasoon International Center for the Study of antsemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The author links modern Russian antisemitism to the pogroms of post-1881 tsarist Russia and the infamous Proto- cols of the Elders of Zion several decades later. Using this background as the core of much of his discussion, Korey then carefully traces the roots of Soviet and post-Soviet Russian antisemitism through its düferent evolutionary phases. Though the depth and virulence of Russian antisemitism should corne as no surprise to anyone who has studied Russian and Soviet history over the past century, the deep historical continuity of this préjudice is one of the central themes of Korey's study. Though some of the more hateful aspects of antisemitism were tempered during Lenin's years in power, its deeper tsarist roots remained just in the background and were revived on numerous occasions by Joseph Stalin. After a brief historical took at tsarist antisemitism after 1881, the author spends most of his time exploring antisemitism in the post Stalin era, particularly during the two decades before Gorbachev's rise to power. Driven partially by the Soviet leadership's need to ra- üonatize the tremendous losses suffered by its Syrian and Egyptian allies during the Six Day War in 1967, the Kremlin struggled to find a scapegoat for its failed diplomatie and military efforts during and after the conflict. Since Moscow had increasingly corne to view lsrael as the handmaiden of American imperialism in the Middle East, it was not difficult for Soviet leaders to reach into their historical antisemitic grab bag for a new ideological en- emy, Zionism, to revive Moscow's image in Arab eyes. As Korey points out, the new post-1967 anti-Zionist campaign was rooted in perhaps the most vile antisemitic publication of the twentieth century, the Protocois of the Elders of Zio�. Written by a tsarist agent in France during the Dreyfus affair, the Protocois were published in various forms in Russia from 1903 to1905, where they became a favorite of the viruiently antisemtiic, pro-tsarist groups collectively known as the Black Hundreds. The principal themes of the Protocols centered around a Jewish-Zionist effort to use all means possible to gain wontrol of the world. Guile, deceit, control of world finance and the press, and even the poor Masons were, according to the Protocols, the principal tools used by the Jewish Zionists to achieve their goals. Drawing on these themes, Soviet leaders embarked on an antisemitic campaign after the Six Day War that was reminiscer�t of Goebbels' propaganda outpourings in the Third Reich. What the author fails effectively to do in this fascinating discussion is to underscore the impact of the anti-Zionist campaign on Soviet Jews during this period, particularly as it related to aliyah efforts to Israel. Moreover, given the Soviet leadership's ongoing attempts during this period to keep alive the harsh memories of the Great Fatherland War against the hated Nazis, the author does not adequately discuss the contradictory nature of adopting an ideological campaign against Jews and Zionism so reminiscent of similar efforts by the Germans during the Holocaust. The result of these attacks in the Soviet Union was the growing psychological terrorization of the Soviet Union's 2.3 million Jews. From 1967 onward, aliyah took place at an increasingly significant pace, and became the litmus test of Soviet-American detente. By 1979, aliyah figures peaked at 51,547. What followed was an intensification of anti- Zionist attacks. It is no accident that the intensity of these assualts on Soviet Jewry and Is- rael came during a time of growing domestic political uncertainty in the decaying Soviet state. A new vehicle for this campaign was the Soviet Public Anti-Zionist Committee, which was created in 1983. Though some of the vileness of the Committee's attacks was tem- pered after Gorbachev came to power in 1985, two decades of virulent antisemitic assualts in the média and elsewhere helped pave the way for the émergence of equally vile anti- Jewish political movements. Feeding off of the héritage of what Korey calls the "de- monology of Zionism," the most dangerous manifestation of these political developments was Aleksandr Kulakov's Pantiat movement. Drawing support from elements with the Communist Party and the military, Kulakov, with his Nazi-like blend of extreme Russian nationalism and sntisemitism, built a movement whose influence peaked during the abortive coup of 1991. And even though Boris El'tsin outlawed Pamiat and similar groups afterward, a new antisemitic standard bearer, Vladimir Zhirinovskii, had already ernerged to keep the anti-Zionist theme at the forefront of Russian politics. Zhirinovskii had made a .