The “Ethno-Political Pendulum” and its Manifestations in the Politics of Stalinist Antisemitism in the USSR

In the article, the author uses the metaphor of the "pendulum" to explore the state antisemitism of the Stalinist period as a model of Soviet national policy, whose direction was subject to constant and radical changes by virtue of the unprecedented opportunities for subjectivism and political arbitrariness in public administration. The author tests his hypothesis that such antisemitism was rather an instrument of political technology, utilized towards different ethnic communities and political personalities than a manifestation of xenophobia towards the established ethnicity (to the Jews).The author explains the essence of the concept of an ethnopolitical pendulum. He consistently reveals major historical phases of the Stalinist regime’ attitude and its policy towards Jews: from a broadly neutral and even positive attitude before the Second World War to the gradually hidden increase in negative attitudes and discrimination during the Great Patriotic War and the increasingly frank and open antisemitic stance after the war. This resulted in brutal repression against prominent representatives of the Jewish ethnic group in all spheres of public life (army, industry, science, art). However, within the framework of this trend, the ethnic pendulum, guided by the logic of political expediency, kept on working, sometimes making return motions towards curbing the antisemitic steps of the authorities.