Abstract:
Beilis Affair (1911-1913) was the biggest anti-Semitic affair in Russia before
World War I. The background of the affair was primarily political. Russian radical right
wanted to use it in their campaign against political liberalism. The old primitive ritual
murder accusation, a traditional element of Christian anti-Semitism, became a pretext for
this affair. The so-called „blood accusation“ became more common in Russia in second half
of 19th century, and the state power was ambivalent towards it. In this case, the situation
was similar. Although the relations between the tsarist government and the Jews in Russia
was very tense and full of suspicion and in fact, the government policy remained very
repressive, government was reluctant to support this sort of accusation. The fabricated
judicial trial against the Jew Mendel Beilis was actually imposed on the government by the
radical right in Kiev and in the State Duma. The government was pressed by radical
political parties such as the Union of Russian People, which had emerged during the first
Russian revolution in 1905-1906 and was originally sponsored by the governmenal circles.
Apparently, the government feared the power of popular anti-Semitic movement and
pogroms which could result in political disturbances. Therefore it risked the trial against
Beilis, which ended in October 1913 with a liberation verdict, in spite of manipulation and
forgery of evidence. The affair demonstrated how unbalanced the tsarist Jewish-policy was
and proved the authorities unprepared for the methods of modern political struggle.
Another important feature of this affair was the fragmentation of the political right. Some of
its members did not agree with the „blood accusation“ and believed that such „medieval
superstition“ only discredited the modern anti-Semitic movement. The reaction of liberal
and socialist political parties was also very important. They used the affair for defending
their own position in Russian politics against the radical right and the tsarist regime.
