# Please explain Russian Neo-Nazism to me. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 17, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-russian-neo-nazism-to-me/464030 "2008-09-17T20:44:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-russian-neo-nazism-to-me/464030/21 "2008-09-19T18:28:32Z")
Not quite. Russia has had a long, long history of anti-Semitism. Especially under the Czar, but also under Communism which, despite allowing many people of Jewish _descent_ to rise to positions of great power, was brutally oppressive of anyone who wanted to actually practice the Jewish faith openly. Israel on the other hand was founded as a haven for Jews fleeing anti-Semitism. The idea that Nazis should be allowed to exist in Israel is like saying that smallpox virus should be allowed to float around in an operating room. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-russian-neo-nazism-to-me/464030/22 "2008-09-19T18:57:36Z")
The problem with that analogy is that it makes you sound like you’re saying anti-Semitism shouldn’t be fought against where it’s already found, just in places (like Israel) that are specifically dedicated to countering its influence. If the same attitude had been taken towards smallpox we’d still be dying from it today. It wasn’t only Jews who wanted to practice their religion openly that met with suppression by the government of the USSR under Stalin and his successors - it was _anyone_ who wanted to practice their religion openly. The Soviet government thought it could eliminate religious sentiment (and, following the Second World War, Nazism) by fiat. Of course that doesn’t work - it merely drives them underground. The sins of Stalinism are legion; they’re not, however, the direct result of the socialist experiment in Russia. As a contrast, here is a quote from a [recorded speech](http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/718/1/78/) by Lenin in 1919 on the subject: > [@](#): > > It is not the Jews who are the enemies of the working people. The enemies of the workers are the capitalists of all countries. Among the Jews there are working people, and they form the majority. They are our brothers, who, like us, are oppressed by capital; they are our comrades in the struggle for socialism. Among the Jews there are kulaks, exploiters and capitalists, just as there are among the Russians, and among people of all nations. The capitalists strive to sow and foment hatred between workers of different faiths, different nations and different races. Those who do not work are kept in power by the power and strength of capital. Rich Jews, like rich Russians, and the rich in all countries, are in alliance to oppress, crush, rob and disunite the workers. > > Shame on accursed tsarism which tortured and persecuted the Jews. Shame on those who foment hatred towards the Jews, who foment hatred towards other nations. It illustrates quite nicely, I think, the fact that communists realized then (and should realize now) that anti-Semitism wasn’t something inherent in the non-Jewish psyche and that it not only _could_, but _should_ be fought wherever it is found. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-russian-neo-nazism-to-me/464030/23 "2008-09-19T21:58:50Z")
I also wanted to mention that there were many more deaths in Russia during World War II (civilian or military) then there were jewish people that died. So I would think that Russians (in general) would be as much opposed to Hitler admirers, if not more so, then Jewish people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-russian-neo-nazism-to-me/464030.md?page=1)