of influencing the masses. And in
this sense anti-Semitism plays in Russia the same role as it played in
Western Europe.

Bismarck, it will be remembered, called anti-Semitism the socialism of
fools. In order to combat the socialism of intelligent people, it is
necessary to take hold of the ignorant masses and to mislead them by
showing them the imaginary enemy of their welfare instead of the real
one. Anti-Semitism says to the ignorant masses: "There is your enemy,
fight the Jews, and you will improve your life conditions...." It is
well known that such attempts to apply anti-Semitism for the purpose
of creating social parties of the new type were more than once made in
the West. As an example, I shall cite the Christian Social Party in
Austria, with its late leader, Lueger.

There is one small difference between us and the West. In Russia the
masses are not so well prepared to appreciate a social argument, even
when served in a simplified form. In Russia anti-Semitism is forced to
present this argument in an even more popular form, making an appeal
to the most elementary passions and instincts. F.I. Rodichev once
remarked in the Duma, parodying Bismarck's aphorism to fit it to our
conditions, that anti-Semitism is "the patriotism of perplexed
people." In fact, anti-Semitism in Russia is a means of creating a
nationalism of a definite type in the masses, it is with this aim in
view that our anti-Semites play on the racial and religious
animosities of the masses.

In spite of this difference, the very means, ways, and methods our
anti-Semites use in their striving to mould the popular mind are of
distinctly foreign origin. It is enough to collate the arguments
expounded in the Duma or printed in the _Russian Standard_ and
_Zemshchina_ with the anti-Semitic literature of the West, such as
Drumont's books, or similar German works,--and it becomes apparent
that in the latter the entire anti-Semitic arsenal of our nationalists
is to be found ready-made. It is from thence that mediaeval legends of
ritual murders and law projects concerning the slaughter of cattle,
and such-like inventions, are imported to us.

Anti-Semitism serves in Russia one more purpose. It is not sufficient
to influence the masses. It is also necessary to act on the powers
that be. If it is imperative to get hold of the masses, it is also
necessary to frighten the authorities. Thus a new version of the
anti-Semitic legend comes into being: the leg