Ideology and Experience: Antisemitism in France at the Time of the Dreyfus Affair

Description

In this analysis of racialism in late-nineteenth-century France, antisemitism is studied not in isolation but in its social context, as an indicator and symptom of profound social change. As anticapitalism, for example, antisemitism expressed hostility to modern economic forms and 'the rule of money'; as a kind of socialism, it expressed opposition to the establishment without calling the social hierarchy into question; as a kind of nationalism and as racialism, it created a sense of belonging, in opposition to the Jews and to other supposedly alien groups within French society. Other aspects studied in the book are the religious, the sexual, and the cultural and intellectual, in which antisemitism again acted as the vehicle for the expression of the fears inspired by and in reaction to the experience of rapid change, which was seen as a fundamental decadence. Always the supposed action of the Jews supplied an explanation of otherwise inexplicable phenomena. Analysis of involvement in the Dreyfus Affair, which dramatized antisemitism and gave it new appeal and legitimacy, and of the antisemitic movement and its activities, indicates which social groups were particularly attracted to antisemitism: students, the clergy and Catholics generally, shopkeepers, army officers, members of the liberal professions, and the aristocracy. In each case, particular anxieties and grievances were articulated through a common ideology. There is little evidence that antisemitism was prompted by any experience of actual co-existence with any Jewish communities, except in the east of France; the choice of Jews as scapegoats has, rather, historical and religious explanations. Antisemitism at this time was propagated by 'intellectuals' through newspapers, pamphlets, and books; the new cultural media were used to fashion an abstract ideology from much older folk beliefs. The antisemitic movement of the time had no coherent programme. It did advocate various measures, culminating in extermination, against the Jews, but this was rhetoric, not practical policy. Acknowledgements Contents Introduction NOTES Part One. The Dreyfus Affair, Public Opinion and Antisemitism I. The Dreyfus Affair, Public Opinion, and Antisemitism I NOTES II. The Dreyfus Affair, Public Opinion, and Antisemitism II NOTES III. The Antisemitic Riots of 1898 NOTES IV. The Henry Subscription, 1898-9 NOTES Part Two. The Antisemitic Movement in France at the End of the Nineteenth Century V. Drumont, La France Juive and La Libre Parole NOTES VI. The Ligue Antisémitique Française NOTES VII. The Antisemitic Movement: Miscellaneous Organizations, General Characteristics and the Press NOTES VIII. Antisemitism in French Politics: The Antisemitic Group in the Chamber of Deputies, 1898-1906 NOTES IX. The Antisemitic Movement in Algeria: French Antisemitism in Decline NOTES Part Three. Types of Antisemitism X. Economic Antisemitism NOTES XI. Social Antisemitism: “A Kind of Socialism” NOTES XII. Nationalist Antisemitism: “France for the French” NOTES XIII. Racial Antisemitism: “A Race Apart” NOTES XIV. Religious Antisemitism: “Among French Catholics” NOTES XV. Sexual Antisemitism: “Horribly Sensual” NOTES XVI. Antisemitism as an Ideology and its General Function II NOTES Part Four. Antisemitism and the Jews XVII. Antisemitism and Jewish Presence: The Geography of Antisemitism NOTES XVIII. The Aims of Antisemitism NOTES XIX. Antisemitism and Jewish Response NOTES Part Five. Conclusion XX. Conclusion NOTES Guide to Further Reading Select Bibliography Index