A decree which enables the entire Jewish population of the small towns to become artisans, relieves them of the fear of high taxes and will eventually permit them to go into Soviet industry as qualified workers, was issued today by the Soviet cabinet. This decree, which fully verifies the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s reports about expected fundamental relief measures, is only a part of the relief program which the Soviet government has in mind for the Jews of the small towns.
The decree orders preparations to convert all impoverished Jews in the small towns of White Russia and Ukrainia into artisans this year, requalifies all the artisans now in the small towns into workers fit for heavy industry, grants all artisans the same rights as factory workers provided they work in cooperatives of not less than 30 members and produce the type of goods which go for export, discontinues the high taxation system on the artisans, orders an end to the policy of arresting artisans for failure to pay taxes and also ends the confiscation of their property, promises severe punishment for tax officials over-taxing artisans and discontinues the practice of enforced mergers of artisans’ cooperatives.
This decree actually means giving every declassed Jew in the small towns an opportunity to become an artisan and eventually a full-fledged worker. The decree opens wide the field for those who will receive in the shortest possible time tools and machines from their relatives abroad and will undoubtedly also widen the scope of industrial relief work being done by the Agro-Joint and Ort since the qualified artisans will have to be organized by social organizations.
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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.
