Decline of Yiddish Language and Literature in Soviet Russia Reported by Moscow Yiddish Daily “emess”

The future of the Yiddish language and literature in Soviet Russia, or more correctly in the larger Russian cities, is not very promising, according to an investigation into the conditions prevailing in the two Yiddish libraries in Moscow, conducted recently, the results of which have just been made public in the Yiddish Communist organ “Emess” here.

There are 18,000 Jewish workmen employed in the factories of Moscow, the investigations report, nearly all of whom are recent arrivals in the capital. That these workmen are among the most progressive in the country is testified to by the fact that they left their homes in what was formerly the Pale of Jewish Settlement to come to Moscow, where the opportunities are greater and life is more interesting. That these workers, who were readers in their home towns, have not broken with the reading habit upon arriving in Moscow is also evident to all attending a meeting of such workers. They are in touch with all current events, politics, economics, the progress of the Five Year Plan, etc. They are Marxists, the investigators state, versed in the literature of Socialism, both of an earlier day and of the modern period. They are readers of literature, of novels, and of critical works.

But the language they read in, they add, is for the most part Russian. At least that is what study of the attendance at the two Yiddish libraries in Moscow indicates. Both the Central Yiddish Library and the Library connected with the Communist Club have scarcely more than two hundred patrons.

The writer in the “Emess”, reporting on the results of the investigation, suggests the merging of the Yiddish Library with the library at the Communist Club for the sake of greater efficiency. It is further suggested that a new collection of books should be obtained by the libraries to replace the old shabby-looking volumes, so that the taking out of books should be made more attractive.

But, the report goes on to suggest that such palliatives will not greatly alter the situation. The neglect of libraries in their so-called “national” tongue is characteristic, it says, not only of the Jews, but of all other minorities. Moscow teems with libraries in the languages and dialects of its varying national minorities, but these libraries seem to exist merely because they are subsidised in one form or another. They are not kept alive by the interest of their readers. They are looked upon more as museums for the curious or as scientific libraries for specialists and students. The masses are not reached by them. The masses in Moscow, the report concludes, read and speak the language of the country and of the city – Great Russian.