Jackson Urged to Demand ‘minimum Program’ from USSR in Negotiating Trade Bill Between U.S. and Russi

Prof. Alexander Luntz, a well-known Soviet mathematician and one of the major Jewish activists, has urged Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D.Wash.) to insist on “minimum demands” to which the Soviet Union must agree in current negotiations on U.S.-USSR trade, according to the text of a letter from Prof. Luntz to Jackson released today by the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry. The “minimum demands” include 50,000 exit visas annually, the cessation of the continual harassment of visa applicants, the lifting of refusals on the grounds of so-called security, and the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience.

Prof. Luntz noted in his letter to Jackson: “Our hopes to live as a free people in our homeland (Israel)have been ignited by the continuous and sensitive support you and your colleagues have shown our cause. It is for that reason that we wish to express to you our concern at the present time. Our friends have informed us that the Soviet government may wish to enter into a new stage of negotiations and compromise with your government. We welcome such negotiations, and believe that minimum demands (should be made.)”

Continuing, Prof. Luntz told Jackson: “You must also remember a matter which is very important. We fear for the future of all Soviet Jews –including those who have not applied for exit permits. We are witnessing the last generation of educated Jews in the USSR. The numbers of Jews accepted in Soviet universities has dropped drastically. For example. 20 years ago 30 percent of the mathematics department of Moscow University was Jewish. Today the figure is one-half of one percent. The number of Soviet Jews given job advancement has lessened radically.

“Jews living in remote areas are in a state of terror, fearing not only poor employment but deportation to the east. Mass deportation, perhaps beginning with a shift of areas of employment for Jews, could become a tactic in the Soviet government’s campaign against us. Remember this in your agreement with the Soviet government.”