Marx and Arendt on the Jewish Question

The Jewish question has never been a fixed or a well-directed question, but the “Jewish question” has always been a question in history. How to solve the “Jewish question”? Starting from the historical reality of the nation-state in the 19th century, Marx reflected on and criticized Powell’s religious and secular solutions, then concluded that the solution to the Jewish question must be achieved in the context of the liberation of all mankind. By reducing religious question to political question and political question to the civil society’s pursuit of money, Marx believed that the Jews could be truly liberated only after the all-round development of people was achieved, that is, after they were freed from the fetters of capital, this is a “socialist solution”; Arendt, on the other hand, starting from the reflection on totalitarian rule and the possible way of constructing a “Jewish homeland”, and came up with a “republican solution” based on the “committee system”. According to Arendt, this system is not only a solution to the Jewish question, but also a possibility to replace the political form of nation-state and Nazi totalitarianism, and it represents the inner hope of a new type of political philosophy.