FREE ESSAY ON BLACK HUNDRED IN RUSSIA

BLACK HUNDRED IN RUSSIA

The Black Hundred was an extreme right wing party which emerged at the turn of the
twentieth century in Russia. Favoring tsarism and autocracy instead of a parliamentary
government, the Black Hundred were the perpetrators of many Jewish pogroms in Russian
cities such as Odessa, Kiev, Yekaterinoslav and Bialystok (Horowitz 703). This group of
radicals increased in popularity before the beginning of the Russian Revolution when
tsarism was in decline. The Black hundred believed that "all Jews were revolutionaries
and all revolutionaries were Jews, all Jews were capitalists and all capitalists were
either Jews or tools in the hands of Jews." (Laqueur 17). This view of Jews was a
distortion of the truth. In fact, the Jews in most parts of Russia were desperately poor,
making barely enough money to support themselves. Only a small fraction of Jews were
capitalists. Jews were a minority in most Russian cities. However, their absence did not
alter the mindset of the Black Hundred. According to them, "the Jew was the Anarchist,
absent and yet omnipresent, a powerful myth helping to mobilize ignorant masses."
(Obraztsov 10)
The first organization of the Black Hundred was the Russkoye Sobraniye (Russian
Association), which was established in 1900. Existing for several years without much
action toward the Jews, the Russkoye Sobraniye made its first major anti-Semitic step in
1905. At this time, the Sobraniye issued a manifesto which demanded anti-Jewish laws "in
view of the Jewish hostility to Christianity and the Non-Jewish nations as well as their
aspirations to world power." (Obraztsov 7). 
In October of the following year, a major right wing organization called Soyuz Russkovo
Naroda (SRN) was established. Dr. Dubrovin was named head of the SRN and took political
action by preaching Russian patriotism. At this time, Tsar Nicholas II was a perpetual
supporter of the SRN, giving approximately 150,000 rubles in total to its affairs
(Laqueur 26). In fact, the Tsar himself proclaimed that Jews were the cause of the
downfall of Russia, and openly stated that "international Jewry, through its two wings,
Jewish capitalism and Jewish socialism, is fomenting revolution aiming to overthrow the
Russian regime" (Wistrich 46). On the topic of the Black Hundred, Tsay Nicholas II showed
his enthusiasm by calling them a "shining example of justice and order to all men"
(Laqueur 19). An overall fear of revolution that had seized Russia during the early
1900's was a primary cause of the popularity of the Black Hundred. They found support
mainly among the aristocrats and members other lower-middle class. Although they were
nowhere near a major party in Russia, they did make a major impact on the Jews of Russia,
who were constantly being oppressed by their campaigns. 
The Black Hundred first utilized pogroms as a means of eradication of the Jews in October
1905. At that time, when the Tsar Nicholas II issued his October manifesto, furnishing
the people with a democratic constitution, the Jews were chosen by the Black Hundred as
scapegoats for the issuance of the new constitution. The establishment of the Duma was
the worst fear of these rightists (Obraztsov passim). 
According to the Black Hundred philosophy, the Jews were a race that secretly strove to
take over the world. They were viewed as dangerous capitalists who strove to undermine
the tsarist regime and to establish the rule of Jewish capitalism. The justification for
pogroms is quoted from a speech by a member or the SRN which states that the Black
Hundred "never, under any circumstance, appealed for the murder of anyone." The pogroms
were, according to the rightists, always triggered by "brutalized, predatory, and
insatiable Judea," who were tacking the unarmed Russian population (Lavrinovich 236). 
Another significant leader of the Black Hundred was Markov II. He was an orator of the
Duma and an absolute anti-Semite. In one of his speeches before 1917, Markov II stated
that "all Jews, down to the last, would be killed" (Laqueur 21). The anti-Semitism toward
Jews was a unique characteristic of the Black Hundred. No right wing party liked the
Jews, but the downright hatred of the Black Hundred did not exist with moderate
rightists. This philosophy of the Black Hundred can be compared somewhat with the Nazi
philosophy. However, the motives of these two parties were different. Hitler used the
idea of the "Jewish Problem" as propaganda and his regime gained more land for Germany.
The Black Hundred gained nothing more than the satisfaction of murder from their pogroms
(Lavrinovich passim). Indeed, the Black Hundred never emerged as a truly independent
party. They were always under the wing of the Tsar, never declaring any independence from
him. The SRN always remained part of a system that assisted it financially and furnished
it with political support.
During a typical pogrom, men would storm up and down a village, tearing down everything
possible. The cruelties ranged from mockery and theft to severe beating and murder
(Wistrich passim). Of course, the Black Hundred did not begin the idea of pogroms. They
were used by other groups in the late nineteenth century and were used again after the
disappearance of the Black Hundred. The total damage rendered by the Black Hundred
amounted to the death of approximately three hundred Jews in Odessa and over one hundred
and twenty in Kiev. These figures exclude the number of Jews who were injured. In total,
the Black Hundred carried out approximately seven hundred pogroms, mainly in Western and
Southern Russia (Horowitz 712). 
Eventually, as tsarism completely collapsed, the Black Hundred faded away. There was no
longer any financial or political support for them, as there had always been with the
existence of the Tsar. The texts of the Black Hundred became forbidden in Russia; no
person was to speak of their regime. This principle was upheld until the recent collapse
of the United Soviet Socialist Republic and the Russia people could only find out their
history through underground whispers. However, although the Black Hundred were destroyed,
Jewish pogroms continued for many years after their disappearance, coming from both the
right and left parties. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Horowitz, Brian. "Jewish Identity and Russian Culture: The Case of M. O. Gershenzon."
Nationalities Papers 1997: 699-713.
Laqueur, Walter. Black Hundred: The Rise of the Extreme Right in Russia. New York, New
York: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., 1993.
Lavrinovich, U. Who Began the Pogroms in Russia? Berlin: J. Ladyschnikow, 1908.
Obraztsov, V. Report of the Black Hundred About the Third Duma. Moscow: Sytin Publishing
House, 1908.
Wistrich, R. S. "Once again, Anti-Semitism Without Jews." Commentary Aug. 1992: 45-49.
Bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Horowitz, Brian. "Jewish Identity and Russian Culture: The Case of M. O. Gershenzon."
Nationalities Papers 1997: 699-713.
Laqueur, Walter. Black Hundred: The Rise of the Extreme Right in Russia. New York, New
York: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., 1993.
Lavrinovich, U. Who Began the Pogroms in Russia? Berlin: J. Ladyschnikow, 1908.
Obraztsov, V. Report of the Black Hundred About the Third Duma. Moscow: Sytin Publishing
House, 1908.
Wistrich, R. S. "Once again, Anti-Semitism Without Jews." Commentary Aug. 1992: 45-49.