The Pete Quiñones Show Reading Solzhenitsyn's '200 Years Together' w/ Dr Matthew Raphael Johnson - Part 80
Oct 18, 2025
Dr. Matthew Raphael Johnson, a researcher and former history professor, joins to dive deep into Solzhenitsyn's '200 Years Together.' They critique media narratives about Hamas and Israel while discussing the implications of the Schwarzbard trial on anti-Semitic portrayals. Johnson argues against the notion of inherent Russian anti-Semitism and highlights exaggerated pogrom claims. The conversation also touches on emigre hardships, organized Jewish networks abroad, and backlash against Solzhenitsyn's work, revealing the complexities of historical narratives.
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Trial Framed As Political Revenge
- The Schwarzbard trial framed political murder as revenge and moral protest rather than plain crime.
- Solzhenitsyn shows émigré juries and publics often treated such acts as justified responses to pogroms.
Pogroms As Identity Narrative
- Pogrom narratives became central to Jewish identity and were often amplified in exile.
- Matthew Raphael Johnson argues many alleged pogroms were exaggerated and redefined small incidents as pogroms.
Lenin's Slogan And Political Identity
- Lenin equated anti-Sovietism with anti-Semitism, collapsing political dissent into ethnic accusation.
- Johnson interprets this slogan as revealing the Bolshevik movement's ethnic character and intolerance of dissent.
