The official Soviet ideological position on
Zionism condemned the movement as akin to
bourgeois nationalism.
Vladimir Lenin rejected Zionism as a reactionary movement, "bourgeois nationalism", "socially retrogressive", and a backward force that deprecates class divisions among Jews. From late 1944, however,
Joseph Stalin adopted a pro-Zionist foreign policy, apparently believing that a
Jewish state would emerge
socialist and pro-Soviet, and thus would speed the decline of
British influence in the
Middle East. Accordingly, in November 1947, the
Soviet Union, together with the other countries of the
Eastern Bloc, voted in favour of the
United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which would pave the way for the establishment of the
State of Israel. On 17 May 1948, three days after the
Israeli Declaration of Independence, the Soviet Union granted
de jure recognition to Israel, becoming the second country to
recognize Israel overall (preceded by the
United States' granting of
de facto recognition) and the first country to grant it
de jure recognition. Nevertheless, Stalin soon returned to the preexisting "party line" regarding Zionism in response to Israel's
growing alliance with the United States, starting an anti-Jewish campaign within the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, which would culminate in the
Doctors' plot, an antisemitic Soviet conspiracy theory. The Soviet press engaged in attacks on Zionism, Jewish culture, and "
rootless cosmopolitanism". In his 1969 book
Beware! Zionism, Yuri Ivanov, the Soviet Union's leading Zionologist, defined modern Zionism as follows: Soviet leaders denied that their anti-Zionism was
antisemitic. As proof, they pointed to the fact that several prominent Zionologists were ethnic Jews representing an expert opinion. Many—including some within the Soviet Union itself—argued that Zionology
exhibited antisemitic themes. For example, in November 1975, the Soviet historian and academic M. Korostovtsev wrote a letter to the Secretary of the
Central Committee of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union,
Mikhail Suslov, regarding the book
The Encroaching Counter Revolution by
Vladimir Begun: "...it perceptibly stirs up anti-Semitism under the flag of anti-Zionism." Some Zionology books, "exposing" Zionism and
Judaism, were included in the mandatory reading list for military and police personnel, students, teachers and Communist Party members and were mass published. The third edition of the thirty-volume
Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Большая Советская энциклопедия, БСЭ), published in 1969–1978, qualifies Zionism as
racism and makes the following assertions: • "The main posits of modern Zionism are militant chauvinism, racism, anti-Communism and
anti-Sovietism" • "The anti-human reactionary essence of Zionism" is "overt and covert fight against freedom movements and against the USSR" • "
International Zionist Organization owns major financial funds, partly through Jewish monopolists and partly collected by Jewish mandatory charities", it also "
influences or controls significant part of media agencies and outlets in
the West" • "Serving as the front squad of
colonialism and
neo-colonialism, international Zionism actively participates in the fight against national liberation movements of the peoples of
Africa,
Asia and
Latin America" • "A natural and objective assimilation process of Jews is growing around the world." The official position of the Soviet Union and
its satellite states and agencies was that Zionism was a tool used by the Jews and the
Americans for "racist
imperialism." The meaning of the term
Zionism was defined by the ruling Communist Party of the Soviet Union: "the main posits of modern Zionism are militant chauvinism, racism, anti-Communism and anti-Sovietism... overt and covert fight against freedom movements and the USSR." A similar picture was drawn by
Paul Johnson: :the
mass media "all over the Soviet Union portrayed the Zionists (i.e. Jews) and Israeli leaders as engaged in a world-wide conspiracy along the lines of the old
Protocols of Zion. It was,
Sovietskaya Latvia wrote 5 August 1967, an 'international
Cosa Nostra with a common centre, common programme and common funds'". The Israeli government was also referred to as a "
terrorist regime" which "has raised terror to the level of state politics." Even regarding the
Entebbe hostage crisis, Soviet media reported: "
Israel committed an act of aggression against
Uganda, assaulting the Entebbe airport." Paul Johnson and other historians have also argued that
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379 of 10 November 1975 that equated "Zionism" with "
racism" was orchestrated by the Soviet Union. Resolution 3379 was pioneered by the Soviet Union and passed with numerical support from Arab, Muslim and African states amidst accusations that Israel was supportive of the apartheid regime in South Africa. Prior to the vote, US representative at the UN,
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, warned of the impact of thus resolution, stating "The UN is about to make antisemitism an international law." Though ten days before the
Dissolution of the Soviet Union, Soviet sponsored
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/86 was adopted on 16 December 1991 which revoked the determination in
Resolution 3379. On 1 April 1983, official newspaper of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union,
Pravda, ran a full front-page article titled
From the Soviet Leadership:"By its nature, Zionism concentrates ultra-nationalism, chauvinism and racial intolerance, excuse for territorial occupation and annexation, military opportunism, cult of political promiscuousness and irresponsibility, demagogy and ideological diversion, dirty tactics and perfidy... Absurd are attempts of Zionist ideologists to present criticizing them, or condemning the aggressive politics of the Israel's ruling circles, as antisemitic... We call on all Soviet citizens: workers, peasants, representatives of intelligentsia: take active part in exposing Zionism, strongly rebuke its endeavors; social scientists: activate scientific research to criticize reactionary core of that ideology and aggressive character of its political practice; writers, artists, journalists: fuller expose anti-populace and anti-humane diversionary character of propaganda and politics of Zionism." Also, at the same time, the CPSU set up the
Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public as an anti-Zionist propaganda tool. In March 1985
Mikhail Gorbachev became the Secretary General of the CPSU and in April he declared
perestroika. It took more than six years before Moscow consented to restore diplomatic relations with Israel on 19 October 1991, just 2 months before the collapse of the USSR and ten days before the
Dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was one of the sponsors of
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/86 which was adopted on 16 December 1991 and revoked
Resolution 3379 that had called Zionism a form of racism. == See also ==