An interview with seven Russian agricultural experts, who have been recently touring California, anent the treatment of Jews in Soviet Russia, appears in the Feb. 5 issue of the San Francisco “Jewish Journal.” The interviewer spoke to them about the allegations of Jewish religious persecutions in Russia recently made by Leo Glassman. The delegation, whose leader was A. P. Kovalev and one of whose members was Alexander Stern, a Jew, who acted as interpreter for all. vehemently denied that the Jewish religion is persecuted more than any other religion in Russia.
“Russia stands for absolute impartiality,” they said. “For example, in the town of Homel, of which 75 percent of the population is Jewish, where there are many Cheders, we confiscated but one for use as a high school.
“The Jew is inexperienced on the land. We must work twice as hard to teach him. We do not mind the effort, even though he requires thrice the attention. But it is worth our labor. The Jews are thankful.”
“I was the agricultural representative of the Soviet in the village Solomenko, Tersky Province, in Caucasia,” said Kovalev, “and the government gave the Jewish people more privileges because they were city dwellers unaccustomed to the soil. Despite the fact that there were but two Jewish families there, I helped them seed 3,000 acres of wheat. We wanted to encourage their farming.
“The Russian is neither for nor against the Jew. But religion can evpect neither assistance, subsidy nor countenance from the government.
“Glassman is one-sided. I do not know him, but he is wrong. Why, in Ukrainia the Jews have a couple of dozen of their own Soviets. They speak Yiddish, have their own schools and theatres. But where there is a majority of non-Jews, the Jew must conform to the language and culture of the majority.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
