Overthrow of Christian Civilisation.
An Interesting Forgery.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Since the conclusion of the war there has been a considerable development in Europe of racial hatred against the Jews. Before the war this racial hatred, which has existed for centuries, was confined in Europe to those Eastern countries in which the standard of education and civilisation is somewhat lower than in Western countries. For instance, periodical risings against the Jews were part of the domestic policies of successive governments in Russia under the Czars. These risings on the part of the populace of different districts, which generally resulted in the massacre of hundreds of Jewish men, women and children, and the destruction of Jewish homes and property, were secretly stirred up by the Russian police and other officials. The object of this policy was to simplify the task of despotic government under the Czar, by directing against the Jews, instead of against those in authority, the resentment felt by the people for their hard lot. In other European countries anti-Jewish policies have been pursued, but not to the extent that prevailed in Russia.
But since the war ended the anti-Semitic feeling has grown rapidly, and even in educated countries, such as Great Britain and France, it now has the support of many people belonging to the intelligent section of the community. The Jewish peril, which has for a long time occupied the attention of certain fanatics, has recently become a subject of serious discussion among people who are reluctant to be convinced of a world-wide Jewish plot against Christian civilisation, but do not wish to shut their eyes and ears to sober evidence of the existence of such a plot. In Great Britain the anti-semitic movement has the support of men who have won some degree of distinction in literature, such as Mr. G. K. Chesterton and Mr. Hilaire Belloc. The " Morning Post," the oldest and most conservative newspaper in London, which circulates chiefly among the upper classes, has joined the anti-Semitics, and loses no opportunity of attacking Jewry and Judaism as a danger to the Christian world, and more particularly to the British Empire.
Bolshevism and Judaism.
What has stimulated this anti-Jewish feeling in the most civilised countries of Europe is the fact that the revolution in Russia, which resulted in the establishment of the Soviet Government, has been controlled by Jews. The murders, massacres and other appalling horrors which have accompanied the establishment of Soviet rule in Russia have been mainly the work of Jewish leaders among the Russian Communists. It is estimated that more than ninety-five per cent of the persons in high authority under the Soviet Government of Russia are Jews. The unsuccessful revolution in Germany by the " Spartacists," who desired to overthrow the republican Government in that country and establish Soviet rule, was engineered by Jews. Men of the Jewish race were the chief actors in the revolution in Hungary, which for a few weeks established Soviet rule in that country and carried out a ruthless policy of murder, outrage and destruction.
These facts, combined with the Jewish peril that has existed in the fact that Jewish financiers throughout the civilised world have exercised for years past, by means of their money power, a considerable influence on international relations, give support to a remarkable theory which has been promulgated throughout Europe by the educated opponents of the Jews. This theory is that the Jews, as a nation without a country, are aiming at the overthrow of Christian civilisation, and the establishment in its place of a universal Jewish dominion, under the kingship of a member of the House of David. According to this theory, all the political and industrial unrest which exists in various countries throughout the world is the work of the hidden hand of Jewry.
It is of course, known to everyone that the Russian Soviet Government has spent large sums of its stolen gold in propaganda in European and American countries, in Egypt, India, and also, in Australia, and that this propaganda has taken the form of stimulating political unrest among the working classes. It is the acknowledged ambition of the Russian Soviet Government to bring about a world-revolution among the proletariat, so that the existing order of things may be overthrown and replaced by world-wide rule of the Soviets. As Soviet rule in Russia is almost entirely in the hands of the Jews, what is more natural than to suppose that the Soviet aim for world wide revolution is a Jewish aim for establishing the supremacy of Judaism throughout the world ?
The Cause of World Unrest.
It is the conviction of those who believe that there exists a Jewish peril, which is a menace to Christian civilisation, that all political and industrial unrest throughout the world is mainly the work of the Jews. Trade unionism, Socialism, Syndicalism, Bolshevism, Sinn Fein, Indian nationalism and Egyptian nationalism are the means by which the Jews are supposed to be working for the overthrow of the British Empire. In other civilised countries social and political grievances are said by the anti-Semites to be exploited by the Jews for similar revolutionary purposes. The discovery of the existence of this world-wide plot is new, but the plot itself is said to be centuries old. According to the contentions of those who believe in this Jewish plot against Christian civilisation Jews were the instigators of the French Revolution, which broke out in 1789, and they have been the instigators of every revolution, great and small, that has taken place in Europe for centuries past. Anybody who reads the story of this subterranean scheming as it is unfolded in this book," wrote the editor of the "Morning Post" in an introduction to "The Cause of World Unrest"— a book composed chiefly of anti-Jewish contributions to the columns of the "Morning Post" — "may perhaps be disinclined to admit the correctness of the authors statements, because of the startling conclusions to which they lead up. But I would urge the reader to cast aside all prejudices, and judge the facts brought out on their merits as facts, and provide, if he can, other conclusions. The main outline of the contents of this book is, in brief, that there has been for centuries a hidden conspiracy, chiefly Jewish, whose objects have been and are to produce revolution, communism and anarchy, by means of which they hope to arrive at the hegemony of the world, by establishing some sort of despotic rule. The "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," which have been published in England, have aroused tremendous interest and a storm of protest. It will be noticed by the reader that the authors of the book have taken particular care not to assume their authenticity. They may or may not be genuine. Their chief interest lies in the fact that, while the book that contains them was published in 1905, the Jewish Bolsheviks are to-day carrying out almost to the letter the programme outlined in the Protocols.' "
The Plan of the "Protocols."
It is in the " Protocols of the Elders of Zion," to which the editor of the " Morning Post" refers, that the belief in a Jewish plot to overthrow Christian civilisation had its original basis. In order to expose the plot to the Christian world the "Protocols " have been published in almost every civilised country during the past year or two. In England they were published last year by a highly reputable firm. The "Protocols" purport to be the minutes of meetings of a secret directory of the Jewish people which were held in Paris towards the end of last century. They reveal to those who regard them as genuine that for centuries past there has been in existence a powerful, secret, international political organisation of Jews, actuated by undying hatred of the Christian world, and by a determination to overthrow it and replace it with Jewish world domination. The methods by which such world dominion is to be brought about are outlined in the "Protocols." By means of disintegrating social and political ideas, each successive one being greater disruptive force than its predecessor, the task of destroying existing civilisation is to be accomplished. Under this plot Liberalism has been evolved and developed until it has run its course, and the time has come for it to give way to radicalism as a more disruptive political and social force. Radicalism in its turn is to be supplanted by socialism, which must eventually give way to communism; and communism is to open the gates to anarchy. In the meanwhile Jewry is to retain its cohesion and hold itself aloof from these disintegrating, disruptive ideas, so that when the world reaches a state of anarchy Jewish dominion of the world under the logical and wise, but stern and pitiless, sovereignty of "the King of the Seed of David" is to arise, in response to have despairing appeal of distracted humanity. Democratic ideals are spurned by the elders of Zion in the "Protocols"; and they advocate the use of the press, the theatre, law, science, the stock exchanges and other means for confusing and bewildering public opinion and paving the way for demoralisation, for materialism, for cynical lust, for pleasure, for the abandonment of idealistic aspirations, so that civilisation may be plunged into anarchy.
Educated Jewish opinion throughout the world has proclaimed that the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" are a clumsy forgery. It has been vigorously denied by orthodox Jews holding prominent positions in the civilised countries of the world that there exists any secret international political organisation of the Jews; it has been strenuously proclaimed that the idea of a Jewish plot to overthrow Christian civilisation in order to establish world domination under a Jewish king is a fantastic absurdity. But in spite of the fact that many keen Jewish minds and extensive Jewish resources have been employed in the task of searching for proof that the "Protocols" are false, proof has been lacking until a few days ago, when the discovery that they were forged was made in an accidental way by a man who is not a Jew.
Russia and the "Protocols."
The "Protocols" were first published in Russia in 1905, being embodied in a book entitled "The Great Within The Small," which was written by Professor Sergei Nilus, who occupied a minor post in the Russian Department of Foreign Religions. Professor Nilus, who died recently, has been described as a learned, pious, credulous Conservative, who combined much theological and some historical erudition with a remarkable lack of knowledge of the world. His book, written to demonstrate the existence of a Jewish peril and a Jewish plot against the civilised world, attracted very little attention in European countries when first published, except in Russia, where the "Protocols" were used by the Conservatives to obstruct the demands for social reforms that were being made through the Duma and the Liberal newspapers. In January. 1917, while the war was in progress, and two months before the first revolt in Russia which overthrew the Czarist Government, Professor Nilus published another warning against the Jewish peril. His second book was entitled "It is Here at Our Doors," and in it he again printed the "Protocols" as evidence of a Jewish plot against civilisation, and particularly against the existing order of things in Russia. This book eventually, though not immediately, attracted a great deal of attention throughout, Europe, and, as already stated, the "Protocols" it contained have been republished in almost every civilised country. Professor Nilus gave at different times contradictory explanations of how he obtained a manuscript copy of such an important and secret document as the "Protocols." The most interesting and least reliable of his explanations was that it was given to him by a woman, who stole it from "one of the most influential and most highly initiated leaders of Freemasonry, at the close of a secret meeting of the initiated in France, that nest of Jewish conspiracy." What added to the widespread European interest in the "Protocols" after 1917 was that the Bolshevik revolution in Russia towards the close of 1917, the subsequent establishment of Bolshevik rule amidst a sea of blood, and the attempted Bolshevik revolutions in Germany and Hungary in 1919, all of which were mainly the work of Jews, exemplify principles set forth in the "Protocols" for the overthrow of Christian civilisation.
How Forgery was Discovered.
The revelation that the "Protocols" are a forgery has been made by the "Times." A Russian land owner who is among the refugees who sought safety in flight to Constantinople, after the failure of General Wrangel's campaign against the Bolsheviks, handed to the Constantinople correspondent of the "Times" a small volume which he had bought among a number of old books from a former officer of the Russian political police, who had also fled to Constantinople. This officer is unable to say how the volume came into his possession. The book, which is written in French, was published, and the title page is missing, but other internal evidence shows that the book which was written in French, was published about 1864. It contains a preface dated Geneva, 15th October, of that year. The Russian land owner had studied the "Protocols" and had endeavoured with the limited means at his disposal to ascertain if there was any truth in them. He was struck with a certain phrase in the course of reading the little book he had obtained from the officer of the political police, and recalled having been struck with a similar phrase in the French edition of the "Protocols." "He followed up the clue," states the Constantinople correspondent of the "Times," "and soon realised that the 'Protocols' were to a very large extent as much a paraphrase of the Geneva original as the published version of a War Office or Foreign Office telegram as a paraphrase of the ciphered original." Research at the British Museum on behalf of the " Times" resulted in the discovery of a complete copy of this book. It was published at Brussels in 1805, under the title, "Dialogue aux Enfers entre Machiavel et Moutesiqueu, ou la Politique de Machiavel au XIX. Siecle. Par un Contemporain." The book is a thinly veiled attack on the despotism of Napoleon III., in the form of a series of 25 dialogues between the spirits of Machiavelli and Montesquieu, who meet on a desolate beach in the world of shades. In these dialogues Machiavelli, whom the author intended to be regarded as speaking on behalf of Napoleon III., justifies the tortuous teachings of his famous book "The Prince," and explains the applicability of the principles set forth in that book, to the conditions of European States in 1864— the time when the dialogues take place. Machiavelli describes at length how he would solve the problem of stabilising political States "incessantly disturbed by the spirit of anarchy and revolution." It has been ascertained that the author of the "Dialogues" was Maurice Joly, a lawyer in Paris. He was eventually arrested by the police of Napoleon III. and was sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment.
Russia's Political Police.
It is assumed that the forged "protocols" which made their first public appearance in Russia, were the work of the political police in St. Petersburg, and that Professor Nilus in giving them to the world incorporated in a book of his own dealing with the Jewish Peril, acted under official instructions, but in the belief that the "protocols" were genuine evidence of a Jewish plot against the existing order of things. The original plagiarist, presumably an official of the Russian political police, took Machiavelli's theories for dealing with States "incessantly disturbed by the spirit of anarchy and revolution," and gave them a Jewish setting, as the policy of a secret Jewish organisation for the overthrow of Christian civilisation. And the plagiarist's M.S. was handed to Professor Nilus in such a way as to lead him to believe that it was a document of the greatest importance, which had been stolen from the headquarters of the Jewish conspiracy. "The 'protocols' were designed," states the Constantinople correspondent of the "Times," in dealing with the forgery as the work of the Russian political police, "to foster the belief among Russian Conservatives, and especially in court circles, that the prime cause of discontent among the politically minded elements in Russia was not the repressive policy of the bureaucracy, but a world-wide Jewish conspiracy. They thus served as a weapon against the Russian Liberals, who urged the Czar to make certain concessions to the intelligentsia."
Slavish Plagiarism.
The "Times" publishes in parallel columns extracts from the "Dialogues" and extracts from the "Protocols" which demonstrate that the latter slavishly echo not only the ideas set forth in the former, but even the phrasing. Over fifty of the paragraphs in the "Protocols" are merely paraphrases of passages in the "Dialogues" "Turning to the text of the 'Protocols,' " states the Constantinople correspondent of the "Times," "and comparing it with that, of the 'Dialogues' one is struck by the absence of any effort on the part of the plagiarist to conceal his plagiarisms. "The phrasing has been very careless; parts of sentences, whole phrases at times, are identical: the development of the thought is the same; there has been no attempt worth mentioning to alter the order of the Dialogues." The plagiarist has introduced Darwin, Marx and Nietzsche in one passage in order to be "up to date"; he has given a Jewish color to Machiavelli's schemes for dictatorship, but he has utterly failed to conceal his indebtedness to the "Dialogues." This gives the impression that the real writer of the "Protocols," who does not seem to have anything to do with Nilus, and may have been some quite unimportant precis writer employed by the court or the political police, was obliged to paraphrase the original at short notice. A proof of the Jewish conspiracy was required at once, as a weapon for the Conservatives against Liberal elements in Russia."
The Case for Bedlam.
The discovery of the fact that the "Protocols" are a forgery has destroyed the only documentary evidence that existed of a Jewish worldwide plot to overthrow Christian civilisation, and therefore will do much to discredit among educated people the anti-Jewish movement in European countries. But the fanatical anti-Semites, including the "Morning Post," refuse to give up their fond delusion that such a plot exists, and has existed for centuries. They do not refuse to admit that the documentary evidence of the plot has been proved to be false, but they point to the destructive aims and aspirations of Bolshevism as concrete evidence that such a plot exists. Because Jews are at the head of the Bolshevik plot against civilisation—a plot which is by no means a secret one, but has been openly proclaimed by the Bolsheviks—they declare that the Bolshevik plot is a Jewish plot, to which the Jews throughout the world are parties. They regard the Bolshevik Jews not as political fanatics, but as sound, orthodox Jews, carrying out the great ambition of Jewry for world domination, and carrying it out with slavish adherence to the secret principles set forth by the Elders of Zion, after these secret principles have been made public in almost every civilised country in the world. These secret principles are admitted to be embodied in a forged document, which purports to set forth the policy arrived at in secret meetings of the heads of a Jewish international political organisation, which has no existence. Who would expect to meet such a line of reasoning outside Bedlam ? Compared with it, the simple pious faith of Professor Nilus that God might naturally make use of a forged document to carry out His divine purpose, commands respect. When it was suggested to Professor Nilus that the "Protocols" were forged, he replied that "God, who could speak through Balaam's ass could also put the truth in a liar's mouth."
Anti-Semitism has received a severe blow by the discovery that the "Protocols" are forged. Henceforth those fervid patriots in Great Britain who believe the teachings of the "Morning Post" that the Jews are trying to overthrow the British Empire, can be left to argue the matter with those other fervid patriots who believe that the British race are the lost ten tribes of Israel.
Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Saturday 1 October 1921, page 21
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