Welsh Journals

THE ANTI-JEWISH RIOTS OF AUGUST 1911 IN SOUTH WALES: A RESPONSE IN THE Welsh History Review of December 1997, Professor W D. Rubinstein re-examined the historiography of the anti-Jewish riots which broke out in the western valleys of Monmouthshire in August 1911. Many of his remarks addressed and sought to refute findings and conclusions presented by myself, initially in the Welsh History Review of 1972 and later in a paper read to the Jewish Historical Society of England.2 Professor Rubinstein's avowed purpose was to question a number of assumptions which, according to him, have permeated not only my writings on this subject, but also the writings of a number of other scholars, some of whom have followed (if they have not always agreed completely with) what I have written. His arguments may be summarized thus3: ■ Philo-semitism was 'virtually ubiquitous in Edwardian Wales'; ■ The 1911 riots were neither planned in advance nor premeditated; newspaper claims of premeditation are 'palpably false'; ■ 'The anti-Jewish component of these riots has been consistently exaggerated'; ■ 'The great majority of Welsh people demonstrably reacted to these riots with horror'; ■ Far from it being the case that the leaders of Anglo-Jewry in London 'and their periodicals' were anxious to minimize 'the extent 'W. D. Rubinstein, 'The Anti Jewish Riots of 1911 in South Wales: A Re- examination', ante, Vol. 18 (1997), 667-99. 2G. Alderman, 'The Anti-Jewish Riots of August 1911 in South Wales', ante, vol.6 (1972), 190-200; 'The Jew as Scapegoat? The Settlement and Reception of Jews in South Wales before 1914', Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England, xxvi (1974-8), 62-70. 3 Rubinstein, 'The Anti-Jewish Riots of 1911 in South Wales', 669-9.