Resolutions demanding that all the ten synagogues in Minsk, the capital of White Russia, the big Greek Orthodox Cathedral, and the Roman Catholic Church should be seized and converted into homes for students and into workers’ clubs, are being adopted daily at meetings of workers, employees and students held in Minsk, while similar resolutions demanding the seizure of the synagogues and churches in their own localities are being adopted at meetings held in Homel and other towns throughout White Russia. The whole campaign bears evidence of being carefully organised with a view to giving it the appearance of a unanimous demand of the working class populations of these towns and thus making it possible for the anti-religious leaders to exert pressure on the authorities to yield to the voice of the people.
Despite the insistence of the campaign, it is not expected, however, that the authorities will accede to the demand.
It is a shame that while these nests of counter-revolution, the synagogues and the churches, are standing empty, because they have no worshippers, the resolutions say, the workers who are fighting for Socialism should have no places in which to meet for cultural purposes. We demand, therefore, that the authorities should take energetic action and proceed to confiscate these buildings, and to place them at the disposal of the workers.
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.
