Conference: Jews and the Left

SUNDAY 6 MAY - MONDAY 7 MAY 2012

The Institute for Jewish Research (YIVO)

CONFERENCE | Co-sponsored by the American Jewish Historical Society, The Atran Foundation, The David Berg Foundation, and Dr. Joseph K. McLaughlin

Since the nineteenth century, Jews have played prominent roles in a variety of leftist political movements. At the same time, associations between Jews and communism have been a frequent leitmotif of antisemitic thinking. While the political Left often spoke out against antisemitism and promised Jews tolerance and an end to distinctions between Jews and non-Jews, specific, prominent, leftists espoused antisemitic ideas. In addition, Jews cultivated their own, uniquely Jewish, socialist parties and ideologies. In recent years, the relationship between Jews and the Left has been further complicated by left-wing opposition to the State of Israel and debates about the extent to which this opposition bleeds into outright antisemitism. YIVO, in association with AJHS, will bring together historians, political scientists, philosophers, and journalists from Europe, Israel, and America to discuss some of the important topics pertaining to the relationship between Jews and the Left.

This should prove very interesting.

{Cross-Posted at Israel Thrives.}