That the orders of Joseph Stalin and of the Communist Party to discontinue compulsory collectivization will give Soviet officials plenty of opportunity of telling what measures were employed in collectivizing the Jewish colonies, is revealed in a statement by T. Machlack, land commissariat instructor, who returned today from the Yepatoria and Jankoy regions.
He says: “Special care should have been taken in collectivizing the Jewish colonies in Crimea. There was no reason for taking away everything the Jewish settlers had, including the last cow and chicken. The local authorities should have understood that collectivization must be conducted along voluntary lines, but in Crimea just the contrary was done.”
In the Jankoy region, Machlack says, the regional soviet called meetings of the Jewish colonists and behind locked doors announced that every Jewish colonist present must join a collective. “When many protested,” he asserted,
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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.