Voume seven of the Collected Works contains about 600 pages of rivetting material – of the sort that is a bloody good cure for insomnia – on the eventual split between the Bolsheviks (majority) and the Mensheviks (minority), but running through it all is a sub-theme of relations between the communists of the RSDLP and the Jewish Bund – short for another lovely mouthful, the General Jewish Workers’ Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia. The Bund was keen to join the communists and came to the second congress, especially since a basic platform of the RSDLP was opposition to all forms of anti-Semitism. The sticking point in the negotiations was the issue of nationalism, for the Bund had Zionist leanings. Lenin’s response: while the communists support nationalist movements, especially when they express class struggle, nationalism should never usurp that struggle. In the end, the Bund was unable to accept that argument, so they decided not to join. Later, of course, they would join, after the revolution.

But the debate is crucial on this point: Lenin and the communists steer a course that opposes both anti-Semitism and Zionism. Not a bad position, it seems to me, especially in light of continual efforts today to elide opposition to Zionism with anti-Semitism.