Addressing ‘Death of Communism’s’ Article Claiming Stalin was Jewish
Sometimes you have to deal with bad arguments semi-directed against you and one such is that offered by ‘Death of Communism’s’ – to be honest – rather deranged article titled ‘The Proof that Stalin is a Jew’ which indirectly attacks my own work on the subject debunking this myth. (1)
In this article I will address ‘Death of Communism’s’ claims and deal with them as much as I am able to make sense of them since either ‘Death of Communism’ is a non-native English speaker, borderline illiterate and/or just rather nuts.
They begin by writing that:
‘From the book: The Open Secret of India, Israel And Mexico. By researcher and author Gene D. Matlock.
“In Sanskrit Jupiter derived from Sanskrit Dyupitar, Dyaus [Zeus], Dyu [Jew or sun god]…..”
This is true its know by language scholars that Hebrew comes from Sanskrit down from Phoenician which the whole Hebrew alphabet is openly Phoenician. Which is also ancient Indo European Greek, Aramaic, Syriac, Persian and Arabic. We also see the Phoenician alphabet forms the core of Ogham of the Druids. These People all spoke languages that came from the mother language of Sanskrit.’ (2)
Well in the first place ‘Death of Communism’s’ ‘source’ is a self-published book from 2008 by a former high school teacher with a degree in Spanish (Gene Matlock) which is seeking to argue that the origin of jews/ancient Israelites is to be found among the Hindus. (3)
‘Death of Communism’s’ quotation is deceptive in that it seeks to remove this context from the source in order not to taint his own argument with a thesis that directly contradicts his own as well as change the punctuation to make it seem like Matlock supports his position.
The actual quote should read:
‘Shiva was the archetypal father of the original five human tribes, the Krishtaya. He was Japhet, a son of Noah, Jyapeti in Sanskrit, Jupiter, derived from Sanskrit Dyupitar, Dyaus [Zeus], Dyu [Jew or Sun God], Buda. Another name of Hz/Khz (Jesus). A Buddha was a person having the spiritual-mental attitude of those who were determined to search their own souls and achieve spiritual enlightenment through their own efforts without the intercession of priests, preachers, rabbis and imams.’ (4)
Further Matlock mentions this elsewhere in the same book writing that:
‘As far as the Kali Yuga is concerned, the Jews and their blood brothers in India, the Yadavas, inherited the divine powers of God Japhet (Dyu-pitar, Yayati, Jyapeti, Jupiter, Dyaus, Shiva), son of Noah. They were admonished from the beginning never to forget the divine responsibilities to mankind or face disastrous consequences. Our own Bible says no less.’ (5)
Clearly then all Matlock is actually arguing is that ‘Dyu’ can mean ‘Jew’ or ‘Sun’ in Sanskrit not that ‘Dyu’ means ‘Jew’ in Old Georgian which is the issue at hand.
Secondly; a significant issue is that Matlock’s equation of ‘Dyu’ to ‘Jew’ is entirely his own unevidenced equation as ‘Dyu’ only means ‘Daylight’ (‘Sun’ is a reasonable transliteration/assumption) in proto-Indo-European (6) and ‘Jew’ is simply Matlock’s own invention/theory/assumption to support his argument not an evidenced linguistic argument.
Thus, we can see that ‘Death of Communism’ has already fallen flat on their face at the first hurdle.
Next that ‘Death of Communism’ plays games with letters and sounds (from an English speaker’s perspective ironically) trying to make out that Dzhugashvili equates ‘Son of a Jew’:
‘Here is the pointing to Stalin’s real surname again the Y and J are the same and in the languages the D and J are shown together the H is an phonetic aspirant. Stalin’s surname, Dzhugashvili….. JUga….JUDA shivili…….Son of a Jew. The Dzh is also how they spell the J, Y sound in Russian. Knowing the H is a phonetic aspirant within this does make the YU the meaning of Jew, showing the G is a high eee sound and identical to the D sound. Given YU is Jew its likely the G is a D making JUDA. In Georgian they have this as Yuga which has no Dzh but the same sound its the Y ultimately. So JU, JEW. JUDA again. And Shvili means Son Of.
YUDAshvili is Son Of JUDA. or JUDAH. Son Of A Jew. The Eastern Europe sources where correct on the meaning of this surname meaning this.’ (7)
Dzhugashvili is more technically ‘dze Jughashvili’ in Georgian but the problem here – as I remarked in my original article – (8) is that the claim that the ‘real’ meaning of the surname 'Djougachvili' or 'Djugashvili', which in Pinay’s opinion (which ‘Death of Communism’ both relies on and utterly mangles/misrepresents) means 'Son of Djou' and in the precursor argument 'Son of a Jew'.
This simply isn’t correct since the word 'Djuga' (or 'Dzhuga') in old Georgian does not mean 'jew' or 'Djou', but rather it roughly equates 'iron' or 'steel'. The old Georgian words for jew were actually 'Ebraeli' or 'Uriya', which bear absolutely no resemblance to 'Djuga' or 'Dzhuga'.
‘Death of Communism’ tries to reply to my argument by claiming that:
‘People where looking at Evrei and ebraeli which are Georgian derivatives of Hebrew only, not the separate word, Judah/Juda. This was the mistake in claiming this surname didn’t mean Son of a Jew. Based on the separate words of Hebrew only not Judah. Of course the sources I found that made this bogus claim based on such incorrect terms was from an obvious Jew or people repeating the narrative the Jews themselves created in their USSR. Big surprise. The other word they state for Jew in Georgian “Uriah” is derogatory term like Kike. How many Jews are walking around with the name Kikeson. None, Judah, Juda, Yuda, Yehudi are the universal terms the Jews use from themselves as a nation in all languages from Central Asia to the West.’ (9)
Note that ‘Death of Communism’ makes no actual argument but rather – as with his attempt to make ‘Dzhugashvili’ into ‘Son of a Jew’ through using ‘sounds-like’ arguments based off of English – and instead contents themselves with non-evidenced claims and asserting – in effect – that it is ‘all a jewish conspiracy’ to ‘cover up’ Stalin’s alleged jewishness despite anti-Stalin Russian biographers repeatedly pointing out the same thing I have. (10)
This is – as they say – not an argument since we know what Dzhugashvili probably originates from/means: i.e., Montefiore’s ‘son of the herd’ (11) although myself and Reiber prefer ‘son of iron’/‘son of steel’ (12) and does not mean ‘Son of a Jew’ no matter how many times ‘Death of Communism’ stamps their feet and shrieks that it does.
Next ‘Death of Communism’ mangles Maurice Pinay’s educated albeit incorrect speculation about the linguistic origins of the surname Dzhugashvili in his 1967 book ‘The Plot Against the Church’:
‘Maurice Pinay wrote based off what Eastern Europeans had told him who escaped the Red Terror:
“In the Georgian language “shvili” means son of, or son, as in Johnson. “Djuda” means Jew. therefore Djugashvili means Jewison… Or Joe Jewison.” [1]
With this…
“In the Georgian language “shvili” means son of, or son, as in Johnson. “Djuda” means Jew. therefore Djugashvili means Jewison… Or Joe Jewison.” As will be explained Juda, Iuda is the word for Jew in Georgia. Because this is the Jews word for themselves in all languages.
Note the mention of Iranian origin:
Stalin’s surname is mentioned by Buachidze to have possible Persian origins over Georgian surnames:
“Genetic studies carried out on Georgian Jews as part of a wider survey showed close genetic links with other Jews, and in particular with Iraqi and Persian Jews. This seemed to prove the historical accounts of Jewish migration from Persia into Georgia.”[2]’ (13)
The problem with ‘Death of Communism’s’ claim is that Pinay actually says:
'At the head of the names stands Stalin himself, who for a long time was regarded as a Georgian of pure descent. But it has been revealed, that he belongs to the Jewish race; for Djougachvili, which is his surname, means “Son of Djou,” and Djou is a small island in Persia, whither many banished Portuguese “Gypsies” migrated, who late settled in Georgia.
Today it is almost completely proved, that Stalin has Jewish blood, although he neither confirmed or denied the rumors, about which mutterings began in his direction.' (14)
The problem with Pinay’s speculation is that the island of Djou doesn’t in fact exist, but the island of Djerba off of Tunisia near the city of Tripoli that was part of the Ottoman Empire (= ‘Persia’) from 1503 does. (15) This island has had a sizeable jewish population for more than 2,500 years (16) and is the subject of pilgrimages by modern jews. (17)
Thus, Pinay’s speculation that Dzhugashvili equates ‘Son of Djou’ and ‘Djou’ was an ‘island of the jews’ in Persia is wrong albeit a clever suggestion. The commentary about Georgian jews and ‘Death of Communism’s’ commentary about their links to Khazaria is simply irrelevant because Pinay’s theory doesn’t relate to the jews of Iran in reality because it links back to Tunisia not modern Iran.
The jews of Georgia being linked to the jews of Iran is also not remotely surprising but it also doesn’t not follow that the jews of Georgia would be linked to the Khazarian Khanate (aka the Khazar theory of the origins of Ashkenazi jews) because the jews are Iran are generally Mizrahim (descended from the jews of Babylon who compiled the famous Babylonian Talmud) not Ashkenazim (who are very recent both in Georgia and as a sub-group within jewry in general) with the (Mizrahi) jewish community in Georgia being one of the oldest in the world. (18)
Thus, we can see that ‘Death of Communism’s’ argument is extremely weak and lacking in any evidentiary support as well as exposing their own ignorance of basic jewish history (such as the difference between the Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Mizrahim).
‘Death of Communism’ then moves on to make an unevidenced claim that:
‘Stalin’s place of birth Gori was the home of the largest Georgian Jewish population of the time. With Jewish groups such as the Lezgishvili branch of Jews being one of the largest ones in Georgia.’ (19)
The problem with this statement is that Gori is one of the smaller jewish communities in Georgia at the time – being only a small city – with the bulk of Georgia’s small but ancient jewish population living in the capital Tbilisi and not in the provinces. (20) It is also worth noting that the jews of Georgia also lived very much apart and separately from the non-jewish Georgians at the time (21) and had Stalin been of jewish ancestry then this would have certainly been recognized and documented at the time and some record would have survived.
Therefore, we can see that – as is often the case with such arguments about Stalin’s alleged jewishness – the claims and evidence used are self-contradictory.
Next ‘Death of Communism’ recycles an old claim when he asserts that:
‘I note Stalin’s mother was from the peasant class of which the large majority of Georgian Jews where within. The other group of Georgian Jews where rich Jewish rug merchants of which Stalin’s mother…. “Keke often worked in the houses of rich Jewish traders in Gori, and sometimes took her son along.”[2]’ (22)
‘Death of Communism’s’ veiled reference here is to the claim that Stalin's actual father was a jewish trader named Nikolai Przhevalsky whose Stalin's mother worked for as a washerwoman.
In reality Nikolai Przhevalsky was a famous Russian explorer and not jewish: (23) indeed it is doubtful that Przhevalsky ever visited Gori in Georgia, let alone at the time concerned or could possibly have known Stalin's mother Keke (he was also arguably a homosexual).
In fact, Przhevalsky was thousands of miles away in China at the time of Stalin's conception! (24)
The myth of the Przhevalsky visit to Gori and his fathering Stalin was created by Edvard Radzinsky (25) based on a myth that Stalin actively fostered - (26) along with several other different candidates and versions - of his own conception and birth that distanced himself from his alcoholic and violent father Vissarion (Beso) Dzhugashvili (to whom indeed he actually looked almost identical). (27)
Now the reason that ‘Death of Communism’ mangles and is extremely vague about the Przhevalsky claim is probably because it directly contradicts their next claim which they try to roll into the Przhevalsky claim to make it seem more credible and mutually supportive.
‘Death of Communism’ writes that:
‘It was these wealthy Jews who actually paid for Stalin’s education as a young man. Which is a common custom for Jews in the Georgian community to provide educational support to the Jewish youth of their community. And Stalin had the mind for such. Stalin’s mother Ekaterina did laundry and housekeeping for David Papisnedov, a local Jew. Their nickname for Stalin was “Soso”. Stalin received Papisnedov at the Kremlin often. It has been believed with great case that the Jew Papisnedov was in fact Stalin’s father by some. One way or another his father was a Jew and probably his mother a Khazar Jew too.’ (28)
David Papisnedov is another Radzinsky creation (29) based off a local myth, which frequently merges most of the elements of the far more plausible Georgian friend of the family, local merchant, wrestling champion and ladies’ man, who also happened to be Vissarion's best man at his wedding: Yakov Egnatashvili. (30)
I can find no evidence for David Papisnedov's being suggested as Stalin's father nor the role that he allegedly played in Stalin's life other than rumour and folklore as it was Egnatashvili who Keke assisted with the laundry, and it was Egnatashvili who loaned Beso the money to set up in business as a cobbler. (31)
We should also understand that Keke had been pregnant three times before Stalin was born (32) and that her and Beso appear to have had frequent sexual intercourse (33) before the marriage broke up largely over the future of Stalin (34) who was intellectually gifted like Beso (35) and as such was thought to have a bright future ahead of him by his mother, while Beso disagreed and wished to see the young Stalin apprenticed to and in a trade before he died in 1890. (36)
As such it would be very surprising if Beso was not Stalin's father precisely because we have no clear evidence to make us suspect anything different and as such it not reasonable to suggest that Stalin was jewish because of a cuckolded father.
Thus, we can see that ‘Death of Communism’ is throwing any rumour or claim into the mix to try and claim that ‘Stalin was jewish’ even if they concern different people and directly contradict each other!
We can further see ‘Death of Communism’s’ intellectual dishonesty when they assert in two related claims that:
‘Stalin’s Jewish background was mentioned in Los Angeles B’nai B’rith Messenger, March 3, 1950, col. 2, p. 5.’ (37)
‘‘‘A columnist in the Los Angeles B’nai B’rith Messenger, March 3, 1950, col. 2, p. 5 wrote: “A former Soviet general claims that Joseph Stalin is of Jewish ancestry.” Many White Russians who fled the Bolsheviks say Stalin was a Jew. One, a captain in the Czar’s armies, stated that he knew Stalin in their boyhood and that Stalin’s father (Djugashvili) was “a Jewish cobbler”’ (38)
The reality is that ‘Death of Communism’ is completely misrepresenting the words of the ‘B’nai B’rith Messenger’ article from 1950 which do indeed mention that this was a claim made by ‘a former Soviet general’ and also proceed to make fun of it.
The author of the ‘B’nai B’rith Messenger’ article – which is an opinion piece titled ‘Here’s the Point’ by David Weissman – actually writes that:
‘A former Soviet General claims that Joseph Stalin is of Jewish ancestry. (Remember the fascists in this country who tried to Judaize Franklin Delino Roosevelt? Same type of mentality’). Bet a dollar that the guys who’ll throw it up to us, will forget that Jesus Christ was also a Jew.’ (39)
‘Death of Communism’s’ claim that this somehow ‘supports’ their contention that Stalin was a jew is thus just as dishonest and disingenuous as the rest of their argument – as is their baseless claim that Stalin spoke Yiddish which I have addressed in a separate article – (40) and we can thus see their ridiculous claims for what they are: baseless incoherent rubbish.
References
(1) https://www.deathofcommunism.com/stalin-the-jew/
(2) Ibid.
(3) Gene Matlock, 2008, ‘The Open Secret of India, Israel and Mexico – From Genesis to Revelations!’, 1st Edition, iUniverse: New York, pp. 47-53
(4) Ibid., p. 56
(5) Ibid., p. 139
(6) Cf. M. L. West, 2007, ‘Indo-European Poetry and Myth’, 1st Edition, Oxford University Press: New York, p. 167 also see pp. 185-190
(7) https://www.deathofcommunism.com/stalin-the-jew/
(8) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/was-joseph-stalin-jewish
(9) https://www.deathofcommunism.com/stalin-the-jew/
(10) For example: Edvard Radzinsky, 1997, 'Stalin', 1st Edition, Anchor: London, p. 39
(11) Simon Sebag Montefiore, 2007, 'Young Stalin', 1st Edition, Phoenix: London, p. 19
(12) Alfred Reiber, 2005, 'Stalin as Georgian: The Formative Years', pp. 18-20 in Sarah Davies, James Harris (Eds.), 2005, 'Stalin: A New History', 1st Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York
(13) https://www.deathofcommunism.com/stalin-the-jew/
(14) Maurice Pinay, 2000, [1967], ‘The Plot against the Church’, 4th Edition, Christian Book Club of America: Palmdale, p. 67
(15) Helen Nicholson, 2001, ‘The Knights Hospitaller’, 1st Edition, The Boydell Press: Woodbridge, p. 122
(16) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djerba#History_of_Djerba's_Jewish_community ; https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/05/pilgrimage-tunisian-island-djerba-highlights-ancient-jewish-heritage ; https://globalnews.ca/news/8838207/jewish-community-tunisia-djerba-antisemitism/
(17) http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/joining-the-djerba-pilgrimage/ ; https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/05/pilgrimage-tunisian-island-djerba-highlights-ancient-jewish-heritage
(18) Cf. Reuven Enoch, Tamari Lomtadze, 2019, ‘Judeo-Georgian Language as an Identity Marker of Georgian Jews (The Jews Living in Georgia)’, Journal of Jewish Languages, Vol. 7, No.1, pp. 1–26.
(19) https://www.deathofcommunism.com/stalin-the-jew/
(20) https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/communities/GE#demography
(21) Bernard Wasserstein, 2012, ‘On the Eve: The Jews of Europe Before the Second World War’, 1st Edition, Profile: London, p. 232
(22) https://www.deathofcommunism.com/stalin-the-jew/
(23) Montefiore, Op. Cit., p. 25
(24) Roy Medvedev, Zhores Medvedev, 2003, 'The Unknown Stalin', 1st Edition, I. B. Tauris: London, p. 249
(25) Radzinsky, Op. Cit., p. 34
(26) Montefiore, Op. Cit., p. 25
(27) Medvedev, Medvedev, Op. Cit., p. 249
(28) https://www.deathofcommunism.com/stalin-the-jew/
(29) Radzinsky, Op. Cit., pp. 40-41
(30) Montefiore, Op. Cit., pp. 20-25
(31) Ibid., p 20
(32) Isaac Deutscher, 1967, 'Stalin: A Political Biography', 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press: New York, p. 3
(33) Montefiore, Op. Cit., pp. 20-21
(34) Ibid., p. 29
(35) Ibid., p. 20
(36) Ibid., pp. 44-45; Deutscher, Op. Cit., p. 4
(37) https://www.deathofcommunism.com/stalin-the-jew/
(38) Ibid.
(39) David Weissman, ‘Here’s the Point’, B’nai B’rith Messenger, 3rd March 1950, p. 5
(40) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/did-joseph-stalin-speak-yiddish