Further measures for the relief of Jewish ex-traders, even those who employed five persons, were decided upon today by the Ukrainian cabinet. The decision has not yet been published, but the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency possesses the text.
It declares that the industrial cooperatives, the artisans’ cooperatives and the land collectives should accept the following declassed Jews who have no election rights: first, the impoverished ex-traders who employed one or two assistants; such ex-traders would be accepted on equal rights in the usual procedure.
Ex-traders who hired from two to five employes would be accepted not earlier than two years after they had given up trading providing they do not maintain relations with commercial and capitalistic elements, in others if they do no illegal trading. Ex-traders or manufacturers who exploited more than five laborers would not be accepted. The grown-up children of those in the latter category would be accepted if they have severed relations with their parents and are earning an independent livelihood upon the expiration of a year after the severance.
The Ukrainian cabinet’s decision emphasizes that the absolute expulsion of ex-traders as carried on hitherto was illegal. The decision further urges the institutions concerned “not to make any more mistakes and to understand the difference between real kulaks and nepmen and such ex-traders who are now actually poor.”
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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.
