About Antisemitism
Response to the Inquiry of the Jewish Telegraph Agency of America

I am responding to your inquiry.

National and racial chauvinism is a remnant of the misanthropic morals characteristic of the period of cannibalism. Antisemitism, as the extreme form of racial chauvinism, is the most dangerous remnant of cannibalism.

Antisemitism is beneficial to exploiters as a lightning rod, diverting capitalism from the blow of the workers. Antisemitism is dangerous for workers as a false path, misleading them from the correct path and leading them into the jungle.

Therefore, communists as consistent internationalists cannot but be irreconcilable and sworn enemies of antisemitism.

In the USSR, antisemitism is strictly prosecuted by law as a phenomenon deeply hostile to the Soviet system. Active antisemites are punished by the laws of the USSR with the death penalty.

I. Stalin

January 12, 1931

First published in the newspaper "Pravda" No. 329, November 30, 1936.