‘pro-israel’ Communists at Moscow Plan Talks on Jewish Question

Representatives of the “pro-Israel” faction of Israel’s tiny Communist Party, who are attending, as fraternal delegates, the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party at the USSR, which opened today in Moscow, plan to propose the creation of an international Jewish Communist faction, according to reports received here.

The Jewish delegates also plan to meet informally to examine the Jewish problem in the USSR, and the stand of the various Communist parties toward it. According to reports here, Shmuel Mikunis and Moshe Sneh, the leaders of the pro-Israel faction (Maki), informed the Soviet Communist Party’s key leaders of these plans before they left for Moscow.

The Maki representatives, who discussed the issue last year with Mikhail Suslov and other Soviet Communist leaders, reportedly seek a “revision” of the traditional Marxist-Leninist approach to the Jewish question in the light of recent developments both within the Communist movement and in the Jewish world. Unconfirmed reports suggested that Suslov and other Communist leaders with whom the proposals have been discussed have shown a “positive attitude,” and seemed to welcome an extensive examination of the subject.

Italian Communist Party officials at the Congress openly advocate such changes, and the British Communist Party adopted a resolution at its last conference calling for reexamination of the Jewish issue. Two Israeli delegations are attending the Congress. One represents Maki, which has the blessings of the Soviet Communist Party; while an Israeli faction represents anti-Zionist Israeli Arabs.