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Question

In Anne Applebaum's recent bookIron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956 she claims the USSR supported the new state of Israel and states "Stalin believed Israel would quickly join the communist camp".

She doesn't cite any references for this, but is it true? And if so, what grounds were there for Stalin believing Israel would align itself with the Soviet Union?

Given the nature of much of the people around Ben Gurion, as well as Stalin's own mindset, it wouldn't surprise me in the least, but I know of no written record of Stalin ever stating so publicly. — jwenting, Jun 6 '13 at 6:36
This excellent question is quite difficult to answer. @Drux and jwenting correctly point out that the Labor Party was a left one and had considerable respect for the USSR at the time. However, they were not quite the usual Stalinist cadre-fodder: (a) they were as Zionist as Socialist (b) they were not very radical, much more like social democrats than like communists. On the other hand there was a bona fide communist party and a more left radical party, Mapam, who looked much more amenable to communist plans. So perhaps Stalin was counting on them taking power later and becoming his stooges. — Felix Goldberg, Jun 6 '13 at 12:26
It's hard to tell because Stalin did not really consult with anyone and left no paper trail that documents his personalistic decision-making. (notifying also @jwenting) For those who are interested in the background, some pointers can be found inhistory.stackexchange.com/a/8827/1569 — Felix Goldberg, Jun 6 '13 at 12:27
@jwenting: Very possible! Of course, there was one crucial difference between a Kibbutz and a kolchoze - memebership in the former was voluntary, whereas in the latter it was at gunpoint. But such differences could have escaped Stalin... — Felix Goldberg, Jun 6 '13 at 14:22
@FelixGoldberg - most of early Zionists were quite hard left, Labor was just one manifestation of that. — DVK, Jun 7 '13 at 16:30

DVK · Answer 1 · 2013-06-07 16:39:06Z

It is clear that Stalin supported the creation of Israel. From the Wiki:

For Soviet foreign policy decision-makers, pragmatism took precedence over ideology. Without changing its official anti-Zionist stance, from late 1944, until 1948 and even later, Joseph Stalin adopted a pro-Zionist foreign policy, apparently believing that the new country would be socialist and would accelerate the decline of British influence in the Middle East.[cite: Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews (1987) p.527]

On May 17, 1948, three days after Israel declared independence, the Soviet Union legally recognized it de jure, becoming the first country to grant de jure recognition to the Jewish state..In addition to the diplomatic support, arms from Czechoslovakia, part of the Soviet bloc, were crucial to Israel in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

It's quite clear that this would NOT have happened had Stalin disagreed.
As far as " what grounds were there for Stalin believing Israel would align itself with the Soviet Union":
- as the commenters noted, most of the early Zionists and founders of Israel were politically quite left and socialist-bent. I consider this fact to bee too well known and trivial to bother with sites, but if you wish I'll add them. Ex:[1].
- Also, at the time, British and the West in general started swinging towards being more pro-Arab due to geopolitical concerns, notably oil (Lawrence of Arabia being a good example; and British resistance to the creation of Israel despite Balfour commitments being another example). As such, Israel would be a natural counterweight for Stalin to extend his influence in Near East, the same way United States was using Israel once the geopolitical alignments reversed themselves in 1970s when Arab states became Soviet clients and Israel American one.

Being "left and socialist-bent" is a far cry from toeing the Moscow line and the latter was all that mattered to Stalin. — sds, Apr 14 at 11:14

Eugene Weixel · Answer 2 · 2015-12-31 08:41:55Z

Maybe Stalin misoverestimated some things: 1-Jewish gratitude for the fact that it was the Red Army that defeated Hitler thereby saving their bacon, so to speak

2-Jewish powerand influence in the United States Not that it isn't and wasn't considerable, but deliver the US to him? Not even had they wished!

I read a theory that holds that Stalin thought he had a deal with the Jews- a Jewish state in Palestine for a Communist one in North America.

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Thursday, December 31, 2015

Why did Stalin midwife the state of Israel?

Did Stalin believe Israel would go communist?

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