Problem of Soviet Jewry Capable of Solution, Italian Communist Leader Says

An Italian Communist leader has stated that he does not believe that the problem of Soviet Jewry is incapable of solution even though it is complicated by the Arab-Israeli conflict. Umberto Terracini made that assertion in a letter last Aug. 22, to Emanuel Litvinoff, a British author and publisher who had forwarded an appeal for help by 93 Soviet Jews to the Communist parties in several Western countries. Litvinoff disclosed today the text of the letter to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. In it Terracini observed that in other Communist countries, permission is being given Jews to go to Israel. Two of the Jews who signed the appeal were later among the 11 defendants tried and sentenced to prison terms in Leningrad last month. Two others are among the nine accused Jews in the second Leningrad trial that was to have opened today but was postponed.

Terracini’s letter stated in part: “I have received the memorandum addressed to the Communist Party of Italy asking it to intervene on behalf of Soviet Jews. The problem is well known to me. It gives rise to questions of principle as well as political expediency. I have called attention to it more than once. My interest in it is independent of considerations connected with the factual situation. It is very difficult to find a satisfactory solution to this problem because of the complication injected by the Arab-Israel conflict. Yet I do not believe that it is incapable of solution. In other Communist countries permission is being given to go to Israel. I have already passed on the memorandum to the Secretary of the Italian Communist Party. Please inform the signatories immediately.” Litvinoff said he has had no further communication from the Italian Communist Party itself on this matter.