New-York tribune., 1919-02-15
SimOns Inaccurate
About BolsE1eviki,
Say New Workers
Trotzi>y Not Fair Repre-
sentative of East Side;
Lenine, Russian Prince.
Real Leader, Says Sack

LeuiNc, NUSSIaH IrI1lcG.
Real Leader, Says Sack
Radical and conservative Jewry in
this city Joined voices yesterday in
protest against the charges of the Rcv.
George A. Simons, formerly head of
the Methodist Episcopal mission to
Russia. Tcstifyng before the Over
man committee now investigating rev
olutionary propaganda, DR.. Simons, on
Wednesday, gave it as his opinion that
the Russian revolution could never
have taken the Bolshevist twist it has
but for the influence and support of
New York's lower East Side.
''lnaccurate, unreliable, unfair" were
the words Louis Marshall applied to
the clergymans testimony ''Con-
temptible,' was the adjective Rabbi
Joseph Silverman used. At the Rand
School of Social Science Dr. Simons's
point of view was spoken of as "un-
American"
"To attempt to identify the Bolshe-
visit movement with the Jewish race is
simply preposterous," said Felix M.
Warburg. "In the first place, most
people who use the word to-day haven't
the slightest idea what 'Bolshevsm' is
In the loose application they give to
it it is made to cover all forms of So
cial unrest. But social unrest is very
far from being confined to the Jewish
race.
Haves and Hayc-Nots
"The question is an economic one
and it is very, very old 1t is the
perennial problem of the haves and the
have-nots. Undoubtedly there are
many Jews among the have-nots There
are also many others many more
others, NIGH say.
Who this Dr. Simons might be. con-
tinued Mn. Warburg, 81 haven't the
slightest idea But it doesn't sound to
me as if he knew his subject very thor
oughly. Coming from America, he very
likely associated in Russia largely with
Russians who had been in this country
and so could speak his language. Thus
he got disproportionate view of the
SITUATION Observing the so-called Boil
shcvist movement in America merely
here in New York, he appears to have
gained an equally disproportionate
view of the influence that section wields
In international affairs. In any event,
1t is grossly mis- sleadinp and grossly un-
fair to the great mass of orderly, up
right Jews to attempt to fasten the
mark of Bolshevism upon any section
Of the Jews, as Jews.
AS for his suggestion that the East
Side may have financed the Russian
revolution really, that is too absurd
The chief cause of the discomfort on
the East Side is its inability to finance
much of anything.'
Let Him Produce Facts
"lf DR.. Simons has any facts against
any Jews, or anybody else" said Rabbi
Sllverman, "let him produce them, and
let the government proceed ACCORDINGLY.
We have laws TO deal with disturbers
and enemies Of the Republic They
should be prosecuted, Of whatever race
they may be.
But unless DR.. Simons can produce
such facts and proofs, let him stop
making vague and dangerous insinua-
TONS. To stigmatize any one section
of the city as he has done is contempti-
Bile, absolutely contemptible Further
more, it shows that he doesn't know
what he's talking about For though
there are Bolsheviki on the East Side
there are also Polsheviki on the West
Side, and in Harlem, and on Fifth Ave
nue., for that matter The complaint is
not local, neither is it racial | rcpeat
Dr. Slmons's charges against whole
neighborhood are contemplate.
Mr.. Marshall declared that he had it
=,
80 per cent of the Jews in Russia were
anti -Bolshevik
And deny" he continued that
there is ON the East Side any consider
able number Of those who are opposed
to government and who adhere to or
sympathlze with the anarchistic con-
ceptions of Lenine and Trotzky In
fact, several Of the leading Socialists
who knew Trotzky when he was in this
country looked upon him as a lunatic,
and they deride him to-day as they did
when he was d Bronx penny-a-liner.
Everything that the real Bolshevism
stands for is to the Jew detestable
Lists Mean Nothing
"The fact that Dr. Simons may be
able to prepare list of Jews who
are Bolshevlsts means nothing | could
go to Ossining tomorrow and prepare
IL ilSI OF CRIMINALS who may happen
to be of English, French, Italian or
Slavonlc parentage, or who may belong
to the Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptist
or Catholic Church, and seek to de-
duce from such lists conclusions de-
rogatory to the nationality or to the
Church to which they belong, with as
much reason as Dr.. Simons has to
deduce from his list the conclusion
which he is apparently seeking to
inculcatc.'
A. J. Sack, Director of the Russian
Information Bureau, said:
"Dr. Simons emphasized among other
things the role which some Jews are
playing in the Bolshevist movement in
Russia. Although Dr. Simons himself
stated that the facts he dscloses can
not be referred to the Jewish people
as whole, his statement, nevertheless,
may produce upon the readers mind a
wrong and deplorable impression.
at is true that Trotzky, Kamenev,
Sverdlov and some other Bolsheyist
leaders are Jews, but on the other hand
Lenine, who represents the brains and
the Will power behind the Boshevist
movement. the man who built up the
theory of BoIshevism and is the strong
est IN endeavorlng to build it UP as a
practice, is a Russian nobleman by
birth. Many other leaders of Bolshe-
vism, such as Lunachnrsky, Krylcnko,
Kolontay and Dybenko. arc also Rus
slams