THE DRIVE AGAINST JEWS IN COMMERCE HAS RECEIVED NEW IMPETUS FROM A RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE CONGRESS OF THE UNION OF POLISH TRADERS DEMANDING THE STRENGTHENING OF POLISH TRADE AND INDUSTRY AS A MATTER OF “NATIONAL NECESSITY.”
THE DEMAND OF THE CONGRESS, WHICH DECLARED THE DEFENSE OF THE COUNTRY DEPENDED ON “POLONIZATION” OF TRADE, WAS ECHOED BY NEWSPAPERS, A NUMBER OF THEM INTERPRETING THE RESOLUTION AS A DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST THE JEWS IN COMMERCE.
THE SEMI-OFFICIAL GAZETA POLSKA ASSERTED IN AN EDITORIAL THAT THE WAR AGAINST THE JEWS WAS NOT AN UNPROVOKED ACT BECAUSE, THE PAPER HELD, JEWS WERE NOT PATRONIZING POLISH TRADERS AND BECAUSE THE “PROFESSIONALLY LOW LEVEL” OF JEWISH TRADERS BARRED EFFORTS BY POLES TO MAKE POLISH TRADE A VALUABLE PART OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMY.
THE CONSERVATIVE NEWSPAPER CZAS REPEATED THE CONTENTION OF THE CONGRESS THAT JEWS MUST EMIGRATE FROM TOWNS TO MAKE ROOM FOR SURPLUS POLISH AGRICULTURAL WORKERS. IT WARNED, HOWEVER, THAT “THE POLONIZATION OF TRADE MUST BE A RESULT OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE POLISH MIDDLE CLASS AND MUST NOT BE USED AS A MEANS OF POLITICAL PROPAGANDA.”
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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.
