Freshmen House Members to Chernenko: As a Humanitarian Gesture, Let Jews and Others Emigrate

Freshmen members of the House have urged Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko to allow Jews and others to emigrate as a postive gesture for the beginning of his tenure in office.

“As members of the 98th Congressional Class for Soviet Jewry, we are writing to urge that you begin your tenure in office with an important humanitarian gesture: reversing the Soviet policy of repression and harrassmen: of Soviet Jews and all other minorities and allowing those who want to emigrate to do so,” the Congressmen said in a letter to Chernenko.

” We hope that under the new Soviet leadership, U.S.-Soviet relations will enter into a new period of trust,” the letter said.

Rep. Mel Levine (D. Calif.), co-chairman of the group made up of 77 of the 81 first term members of the House, said he hoped the change of leadership in the USSR would bring about a change of policy toward Jews.

WORSENED PLIGHT OF JEWS CITED

In their letter, the Congressmen noted that the “plight” of Soviet Jews “has worsened considerably” and pointed out in particular the “drastic decrease in emigration from a high of 51,320 in 1979 to a low of 1,314 in 1983.

The Congressmen, who said that they have spoken out in behalf of individual Soviet Jews, stressed that “We have followed the unfolding of this increasingly harsh policy with great conern and sadness.” They noted a speech by Chernenko on Feruary 13 in which he “referred to the necessity of each of our countries to perform ‘practical deeds’ in order to show our respective good will.”

“Reviewing the Soviet Union’s repressive policy toward Soviet Jews would be just such a deed. It would be solid evidence of the Soviet leadership’s commitment to bettering relations between our two countries — something which would be of benefit not only to the U.S. and Soviet Union but to the entire world.”