Religious, civil rights, labor and community leaders here today sent a joint letter to the Central Committee of the USSR Communist Party requesting, that the rights guaranteed to all peoples by Russia’s constitution be granted also to the Jewish community. Among the 50 signers of the letter were well-known Catholics, Protestants and Jews.
The letter was sent on the eve of the 23rd congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which opens tomorrow in Moscow. The local committee in charge of the action, called Equal Rights for Soviet Jewry, pointed out that, unlike other national groups in the Soviet Union, the Jews are forbidden to teach their language, literature, history and values. The letter concluded: “We call upon the Twenty-Third Congress to fulfill a historic mission, and close the gap between the Soviet Constitution and its full implementation with respect to the Jews.”
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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.