The authorities today announced the dismissal of M.P. Chavkin as secretary of the Central Communist Committee of Biro-Bidjan, autonomous Jewish territory in the Soviet Far East, for patronizing alleged Trotskyists and using his position to advance personal interests.
A statement by the Central Committee of the Biro-Bidjan Communist Party further charges Chavkin used political blackmail methods in operating his office. It also charges him with responsibility for the breakdown in the 1936 settlement plans for the territory, declaring he surrounded himself with subordinates whom he brought from his native city of Smolensk.
Chavkin is the third high Biro-Bidjan official to incur official punishment for Trotskyist associations. Previously, Prof. Joseph Liberberg was deposed as president of the territory and his successor, Michael Katell, suffered a similar fate.
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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.
