Rights and privileges: Marx and the Jewish question

Abstract

social criticism practiced by Bauer, and so falls prey to similar sorts of practical conundrums. Condemning sectararian tradition as a form of dogmatic servitude, Marx the rationalist rejects the substantive basis for true communal solidarity-identification with shared concrete values. Human emancipation is construed by him in a way that is at cross-purposes with his original intentions; the emancipation of the individual from the particular values, interests, and roles which define his distinct personality would not be the restoration of social humanity, but the utter debasement of it to the level of abstract egoism. Con demning political emancipation as a form of egoistic servitude, Marx the romantic excoriates the formal-legal basis for true individuality tolerance and respect for personal autonomy. In doing so, he neglects the wisdom of his mature critique of political theory: "The communists ... do not put to people the moral demand: love one another, do not be egoists, etc.: on the contrary, they are very well aware that egoism, just as much as self-sacrifice, is in definite circumstances a necessary form of the self-assertion of individuals."52 But sectarian self-assertion formally guaranteed by a modern state is precisely what eluded European Jewry and made them vulnerable to anti-Semitism, Zionism notwithstanding. The irony of all this in light of the tragic resolution of the Jewish question in the twentieth century is summed up well by Hannah Arendt. The birth and growth of modern antisemitism has been accompanied by and inter connected with Jewish assimilation, the secularization and withering away of the old religious and spiritual values. ... But one should also bear in mind that lack of political ability and judgment have been caused by the very nature of Jewish history, the history of a people without a government, without a country, and without a language. ... The simultaneous decline of the European nation-state and growth of antisemitic move ments, the coincidental downfall of nationally organized Europe and the extermination of Jews have to be taken as a serious indication of the source of antisemitism. ... If in the final stage of disintegration antisemitic slogans proved the most effective means of inspiring and organizing great masses of people for imperialist expansion and destruc tion of the old forms of government, then the previous history of the relationship between Jews and state must contain elementary clues to the growing hostility between certain groups of society and the Jews."53 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.156 on Sat, 10 Sep 2016 06:08:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms