Explains the contemporary politics of Australian Jewry. This book situates the politics of Australian Jews through comparisons with general patterns in Australian politics, the politics of other minorities in Australia, and the politics of other Western Jewish communities. It contains an appendix of Jewish Parliamentarians.

Explains the contemporary politics of Australian Jewry. This book situates the politics of Australian Jews through comparisons with general patterns in Australian politics, the politics of other minorities in Australia, and the politics of other Western Jewish communities. It contains an appendix of Jewish Parliamentarians.

A study based on a survey of the Melbourne Jewish community conducted by Medding in 1961-62 in part fulfillment of the requirements for an M.A. degree at Melbourne University. Ch. 3 (p. 55-75), "The Politics of Representation, " discuss the actions of the Victorian Jewish Board of Deputies to combat antisemitism which, however, was a minor phenomenon. It was confined mainly to manifestations of verbal prejudice, social exclusion, and the dissemination of antisemitic literature. Pp. 220-234 deal with Soviet antisemitism and actions undertaken by the Board to combat it.

For 50 years, until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the Soviet Union ran a campaign of repression, imprisonment, political trials and terror against its 3 million Jews. In Australia, political leaders and the Jewish community contributed significantly to the international protest movement which eventually triumphed over Moscow's tyranny and led to the modern Exodus of Soviet Jews to Israel and other countries. Lipski and Rutland make this largely unknown Australian story come alive with a combination of passion, personal experience and ground-breaking research. "The struggle for the freedom of Soviet Jewry was one of the most powerful displays of strength and solidarity by the world Jewish community... even those intimately familiar with the struggle will be surprised to discover in Let My People Go how the Australian Jewish community and its leaders were among the campaign's initiators, and how they saw it through to its successful conclusion. This is a unique testament to how a small group can play a big role in history." - Natan Sharansky, Chairman Jewish Agency for Israel, Prisoner of Zion (1977-86)

The historical involvement of Jews in the political Left is well known, but far less attention has been paid to the political and ideological factors which attracted Jews to the Left. After the Holocaust and the creation of Israel many lost their faith in universalistic solutions, yet lingering links between Jews and the Left continue to exist.

Australian reluctance to accept Jewish refugees before and during World War II was connected to traditional immigration policies intended to ensure a "White Australia" and barring "genetically undesirable races." Traces the history of cultural and intellectual antisemitism in Australia, often originating in Britain, and of Social Darwinist and right-wing nationalist ideas and their influence on immigration policies before and after 1933. Unemployment caused by the depression (and often blamed on Jewish financial machinations) aroused fears of being swamped by hordes of Jewish refugees. The official Jewish community acquiesced in these fears. As a result, only 7500 refugees reached Australia before 1941. Even after the war, the public and press opposed entry of Jewish refugees.