Preparations have been started here to arrange for the celebration next spring of the fifth anniversary of the establishment of Kalinindorf, the first Jewish autonomous region in the Soviet Union, which was proclaimed on March 22nd., 1927.
The Jewish Communist leaders have decided that the anniversary should be celebrated on a large scale, and a special committee is being formed, including all the leading Jewish Communist workers in Jewish economic settlement and cultural work.
M. Lezman, the Secretary of the Kalinindorf Regional Committee of the Communist Party, publishes a long article now in the Ukraine Yiddish Communist daily “Stern”, setting out the progress of the region during the five years of its existence.
99 per cent. of the agriculture in the Kalinindorf Jewish region is collectivised, he says. More than 60 per cent. of the collectivised field work is mechanised. With an area of 75,000 hectares, the region owns 150 tractors, being one tractor for every 500 hectares, which is now the ideal aimed at by many agricultural districts in Soviet Russia.
The budget of the region in 1927 was 90,300 roubles, and in 1931 784,200 roubles. Five years ago 43,000 roubles was spent in the region on education, and in 1931 the amount was 320, 465 roubles. Health work cost in 1927 7,900 roubles, and in 1931 119,500 roubles.
The region has also engaged in a ruthless warfare, he adds, against all opportunistic and harmful elements, including the Jewish clericals.
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.
