The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: What is it?

Pamphlet with illustration from 1912 edition of Sergei Nilus' book. The captions (among occult symbols a version of the "Chariot" Tarot card) can be translated as "Thus we shall win", "Mark of antichrist”.  Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz FamilyThe ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’ also known as ‘Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion’[i] (otherwise known as The Protocols) is a late 19th century piece of disinformation or black propaganda. It is an anti-Semitic hoax that purports to be recordings of a secret meeting of Jewish leaders or ‘Learned Elders’ who describe a 24-step plan or ‘Protocols’ for world domination and explain how this can be achieved through sectors such as education, banking, and media.

 The Protocols is one of the most widely distributed antisemitic texts in history, it promotes the ‘International Jewish conspiracy’: the belief that actions of politicians and events around the world are part of a Jewish ‘master plan’.

The Protocols was created through literary forgery and plagiarism by Russian ultra-nationalists to divide the growing liberal and socialist movement within the Russian empire by purporting them to be in the thrall and control of Jews. Despite being widely debunked as a hoax and a plagiarism[ii] in 1921 by The Times of London[iii] the text grew in popularity alongside the emerging post WWI fascist movements in Europe. The American industrialist Henry Ford published a serialized copy of the texts in his independent newspaper in the early 1920s and later multiple editions were published in Nazi Germany.  Following the World War Two and the creation of the state of Israel, Middle Eastern governments and organisations published The Protocols to stir antisemitism and anti-Israeli sentiment.

In the West as the context shifted towards fear of the USSR during the Cold War, The Protocols were recontextualised as evidence of a planned ‘New World Order’[iv] which aimed to take away American citizens civil liberties and create a one-world government. Following the assassination of President Kennedy conspiracy theories grew rapidly in popularity and attempts by countercultural groups such as the Discordians to de-legitimise conspiracy theories instead ironically repopularised the Illuminati conspiracy theories of the 19th century.  

Towards the end of the 20th century conspiracy theorists such William Cooper and David Icke used The Protocols as basis for wilder claims such as aliens or space lizards as the true ‘controllers’ of the world. These beliefs, along with modern internet culture has led to the formation of movements like QAnon who promote a conspiracist framework which links conspiracy theories into a grand overarching ‘super conspiracy’.

White Army propaganda poster from the Russian Civil War era (1919), depicting a caricature Leon Trotsky and Chinese soldiers (Wikimedia Commons)

[i] There are multiple titles: The Cause of World Unrest, was one name for a 1920 British publication, in 1974 ‘The Protocols’ was published in India as: ‘International Conspiracy Against Indians’.

[ii] Many label The Protocols as a forgery but as Christopher Hitchens observes, a forgery is a counterfeit of an original document, and The Protocols are a complete fabrication. Although to confuse things they do plagiarise from famous works.

[iii] Phillip Graves. The Truth about the Protocols: A Literary Forgery. The Times London. (1921, August 16–18).

[iv] Myles Flores. The New World Order: The Historical Origins of a Dangerous Modern Conspiracy Theory. Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. (2022, May 30). https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/new-world-order-historical-origins-dangerous 

Image: 1.Montreal Anti-Communist Committee (1938) Protocols of the Elders of Zion with reproduction of the cover of the 1912 Russian edition. [Oversize pamphlet in newsprint] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family. Source: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn544997#rights-restrictions