Polish-Jewish Relations: 1,300 Keyword-Phrase-Indexed Book Reviews (by Jan Peczkis)

The Merchant of Revolution: The Life of Alexander Israel Helphand (Parvus), 1867-1924, by Z. A. B. Zeman and W. B. Scharlau. 1965. Oxford University Press, New York, Toronto

The Unappreciated, Pivotal Role of Helphand and Radek in Bringing Communism to Power in Russia

This blockbuster book contains a wealth of information. I focus on issues of lasting historical importance.

SOCIALISM CAN ALLOW PRIVATE PROPERTY. CONTROLLING THE ECONOMY IS SUFFICIENT

We often hear the claim that National Socialism (Nazism), for example, was not real socialism because it did not abolish all private means of production. However, the socialist Parvus (Helphand) initially allowed for private property ownership, but it would gradually be marginalized, not summarily abolished by force or by legal fiat. Zeman and Scharlau write, “He [Helphand] regarded the nationalization of the banks as the starting-point. If the socialist Government controlled the money and capital market, it would be in a position to direct the whole economy: the banks themselves had created the necessary basis for this change. In this connection, Helphand quoted Walter Rathenau, who had once spoken of 300 men who controlled the ‘economic fortunes of the continent’. Such a concentration of control, Helphand regarded as a symptom of the ripeness of European economy for a social revolution, and also as the main venue of attack. There was, in his view, no need for an immediate abolition of private ownership of the means of production. The construction of socialism had also to be a gradual organic process, and the nationalization of the banks would give it the initial momentum. The socialist state would then be in a position of power, enabling it to push the private economic sector farther and farther back.” (pp. 118-119. Emphasis added).

Once it came into power, even Communism allowed for some private ownership of production. See:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2020/11/11/candor-on-the-zydokomuna-collective-responsibility-double-standards-socialism-does-not-necessarily-require-nationalization-of-production-in-order-to-be-socialism-markovsky/

HELPHAND WAS TIRELESS IN HIS EFFORTS TO STIR UP THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE

Parvus (Helphand) spread his revolutionary influence in many different ways. Zeman and Scharlau comment, “In order to advance the cause of socialism, Helphand was ready to employ any means at his disposal; revolution in Russia, elections in Prussia, the diplomats in Berlin.” (p. 279).

Helphand was also behind much of the revolutionary ferment in Russia up to and including Russian Revolution. For example, “The German party leaders were rather taken aback by Helphand’s announcement about the return of the Russian exiles. They of course knew nothing about Helphand’s connections with the Foreign Ministry, nor of its activities for the promotion of chaos in Russia.” (p. 215). In addition, “The January [1916] strikes started unexpectedly and briskly…The strikes did not, however, spark off a revolution…Helphand was wrong in assuming that he could, in the course of a few months, convert the volatile mood of discontent into a revolution…he had perhaps failed to see through the contrived optimism of his paid agents.” (pp. 188-189).

HELPHAND’S HYPOCRYSY: FIGHTING CAPITALISM WHILE BEING A WEALTHY CAPITALIST

The authors write, “Helphand was a wandering Jew, a socialist with a taste for flamboyant good living, a taste he had only recently been able to indulge.” (p. 166). In addition, “Helphand himself mainly made money; his gains from the coal business ran into millions of kroner. He never denied the profits he was making.” (p. 204). He rationalized his wealth-acquisition as bringing some of the surplus value, hoarded by the capitalist class, to himself. (p. 204).

In other words, capitalism is bad for everybody else, but just fine for him. So much for the idealism that supposedly drew Jews to Communism.

MENSHEVIKS, BOLSHEVIKS, AND SOCIAL DEMOCRATS ALL CONVERGE TO SUPPORT THE UPCOMING RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Some authors emphasize the differences between Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. In actuality, whatever their differences, they had the same goal. This is vividly illustrated by Zeman and Scharlau, who remark, “Helphand made it quite clear to the German diplomats that the Russian Social Democrats were alone capable of organizing the strike: he pointed to the Bolsheviks, under Lenin’s leadership, as the most effective organization. He thought it essential that all the socialist groups that were to be supported by Germany should form a united front. The Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks would have to come to an agreement…” (p. 147).

HELPHAND AND RADEK

Another prominent Jewish revolutionary that orchestrated the Russian Revolution was Karl Radek. The authors introduce him, “As a Jewish immigrant from Austrian Poland, Radek had joined the German party before the war.” (p. 156).

They also comment, “Helphand was in a position to promise massive support for the Bolsheviks in the forthcoming struggle for political power in Russia: Radek was empowered to accept the offer.” (p. 217). “Radek let the German Government know that the victory of the Bolsheviks over the provisional Government was only a question of time.” (p. 220).

HELPHAND CASTS HIS LOT WITH LENIN

At first, the relationship between the two Communists was more-or-less covert. Zeman and Scharlau inform us that, “Lenin may have thought it politically expedient to dissociate himself publicly from Helphand without making a clean break…Finally, the Bolshevik leader was right not to underestimate the steps Helphand had taken towards the revolution.” (pp. 178-179).

In time, this changed. The authors comment, “Lenin’s experienced group of professional revolutionaries offered the best guarantee of success for the mass strike…” (pp. 148-149).

Zeman and Scharlau add that, “In the summer of 1917, the only outside assistance the Bolsheviks had received had come from Helphand; the logic of the situation demanded that he should give support to Lenin and his party…After vacillating for many years in his attitudes to Lenin, he now staked everything on the trump card of Bolshevism. It was in this sense that the Bolsheviks themselves understood Helphand’s actions.” (p. 232).

Helphand (Parvus) actively got the Germans on board the unfolding Russian Revolution. Zeman and Scharlau write, “On 16 and 17 July [1917]…Helphand was assuring the diplomats in Berlin on the eventual victory of the Bolsheviks…” (p. 225).

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION MAGNIFIES THE ROLE OF HELPHAND (PARVUS) IN THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Zeman and Scharlau write, “The revelations from the captured archives of the German Foreign Ministry, soon after the Second World War, made possible a partial decoding of the enigma of Helphand’s life…He [Helphand] emerged as the central figure in the conspiratorial connections between the Imperial Government and the Russian Social Democratic party, and in particular Lenin’s Bolshevik faction of it.” (p. 3. Emphasis added).

HELPHAND CONDEMNS HIS OWN CREATION

Alexander Helphand eventually turned against the Soviet Communists and put down the Zydokomuna, even though he was one of them. The authors write, “Helphand described what the Bolsheviks had done so far in Russia as ‘an insult to the splendid history of European revolutions’; the Soviets reminded him more of a ‘Jewish cabal than of a modern democracy’. The Bolsheviks maintained themselves in power only by the force of arms: in the Red Army, they had created hirelings for their own protection, ‘like the multi-millionaires of America.'” (p. 251).

HELPHAND’S OVERALL CONDUCT PROVIDED AMMUNITION TO THE NAZIS

The authors comment, “As a rich Jew and a Marxist revolutionary, he [Helphand] presented the ideal target for men like Alfred Rosenberg and Josef Goebbels…” (p. 2).

Zeman and Scharlau conclude that, “Alfred Rosenberg, the leading Nazi ideologist, never tired of using Helphand was an example of the detestable, corrupting influence of the Eastern Jews on Germany’s national life.” (p. 265).

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For more on Parvus (Alexander Israel Helphand), see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2020/11/13/zydokomuna-in-russian-revolution-german-support-for-lenin-mediated-by-high-level-jewish-influence-katkov-and-shukman/