The sum of 20,000,000 rubles has been set aside by the Soviet government to assist agricultural colonies in 1931, it was announced today at the closing session of the All-Union conference of the Ozet, the society for settling the Jews on the land. Among the resolutions adopted was one placing the Jewish settlement work in Crimea on an equal footing with that in Bira Bidjan, Far Eastern Republic and another encouraging the continued infiltration of Jews into heavy industry.
It was pointed out that the Five Year Plan has not hurt the movement to settle the Jews on the land but has served instead to relieve the economic situation of the Jews in the small towns by furnishing work to thousands. Michael Kalinin, chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S.R. was elected honorary president of the Ozet because of his deep interest in the problems of the Jewish people.
plans of the Comzet, the government commission for settling Jews on the land.
Of this sum 3,500,000 rubles were contributed in 1929 and 7,000,000 rubles in 1930. The report also showed that the Ozet has settled about 23,000 Jewish families on the land, 20,000 of them since 1926, when the last Ozet conference met. In Crimea, Ukrainia, White Russia, Transcaucasia and other districts of European Russia about 600,000 hectares of land were distributed to Jews during this period while 3,800,000 hectares were apportioned in Bira Bidjan, Siberia.
In addition, of those Jews whom the Ozet settled through purely agricultural funds in European Russia more than 25,000 families were established on the soil in the immediate vicinity of their towns. In this manner 13,000 were settled in Ukrainia, 10,000 in White Russia and 2,000 in other districts. Collectivization among Jewish farmers has reached nearly 70 per cent of the total, the report indicates.
The membership of the Ozet has grown from 60.000 in November 1926 to more than 300,000 in May 1930, almost half of whom are non-Jews. The Ozet now has more than 500 district branches. It published 68 periodicals with a combined circulation in excess of 200,000.
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