"Antisemitism is the socialism of fools" (German : Der Antisemitismus ist der Sozialismus der dummen Kerle) is a phrase denouncing the notion that Jewish "wealth" or "power" is the root of social injustice. [1]
While the phrase is often attributed to German socialist activist and politician August Bebel or even to German philosopher, political theorist and economist Karl Marx, [2] Bebel himself, [3] and later British historians Peter G. J. Pulzer and Richard J. Evans, all attributed it to Austrian left-liberal politician Ferdinand Kronawetter. [2] [4] [5] The first known usage of the phrase by Kronawetter was in a speech at an April, 1889, general meeting of the Margarethen District Electoral Association in Vienna; [6] on 24 April 1889, the Neue Freie Presse published Kronawetter's speech, wherein he said: "Der Antisemitismus ist nichts als der Socialismus des dummen Kerls von Wien" ('Antisemitism is nothing but the socialism of the idiot of Vienna'). [7] [6] By the 1890s, the expression was widely used among German social democrats. [4]
Neoconservative philosopher Leo Strauss argued that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin may have believed that, because fools were numerous, a "socialism of fools" would be advantageous. Strauss suggested that Stalin deliberately fostered antisemitism for this reason. [8] [9]
Bei Ihnen hat man einmal gesagt – ich glaube, es war Kronawetter –: „Der Antisemitismus ist der Sozialismus des dummen Kerls."[In your country someone once said – I think it was Kronawetter – ‘Antisemitism is the socialism of the idiot.’]