Rex Mortimer, a leading Australian Communist Party member, declared here that there had been an inadequate response by the Soviet Government to appeals from many Communist parties and other sources for a review of the problem of Soviet treatment of Russian Jewry.
Mr. Mortimer, who is not a Jew and who has spoken out before on the issue, made his critical statements in an interview with Isi Leibler, a member of the Executive Council of Australian Jews. Mortimer is a former editor of the Guardian, the official organ of the Australian Communist Party.
He said there was continued circulation of anti-Semitic publications in the Soviet Union and he cited the failure of Soviet officials to prosecute writers and distributors of such material. He said there were as yet no indications that the Soviet authorities had recognized their responsibility to launch a campaign against anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union, as has been suggested by the Communist parties of the United States, Britain and Australia.
He added that recent instances of an easing in some of the disabilities afflicting Soviet Jews did not deal with their basic inequalities. He said he also regretted the hostile attitude of the Soviet Government toward Israel.
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