Plight of Russian Jews Great, More Aid Urgently Needed, Soviet Body Told

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

A vigorous demand that the Soviet Government set aside more funds for bettering the economic situation of the Jewish population in Soviet Russia was voiced at yesterday’s session of the Russian Zik, the Central Executive Committee of the Government, by the Jewish Communist leader Beilin.

Although the Government is trying to help the Jewish population by the colonization work, the funds allotted for this purpose are small when compared with the actual need of the Jewish population in the Ukraine and White Russia, he declared.

“The Jewish problem in the Ukraine and White Russia, where compact masses are without means of livelihood, is by far not solved. The land suitable for colonization in this region is already exhausted. The utilization of other land requires large sums of money, while the 1928 appropriation by the Comzet, the Government department, amounts to only 1,500,000 roubles, of which 1,000,000 roubles is earmarked for the colonization work in Bureya. White Russia will receive from this amount only 20,000 roubles, which is indeed a joke,” Beilin stated.

“The cooperative movement grows rapidly in the Soviet Union and deprives the Jewish small traders in the towns and villages of their livelihood. The Government must do something to enable them to become productive workers, artisans and the like. It must undertake action to ameliorate the swamp regions in White Russia to provide land for further colonization,” he declared.

Beilin also expressed his dissatisfaction with the Government appropriation for Bureya, Siberia. “What can a million roubles do when the transporting of settlers to far off Bureya requires immense sums and there is no hope that foreign Jewish organizations will help in this plan? The foreign organizations, including the Agrojoint, create more noise than work. They are collecting funds for colonization in Russia and spending them for other purposes,” Beilin charged.