The Soviet will not interfere in any way with the administration of the funds assigned for the purpose of carrying on Jewish colonization work in the Ukraine, provided by the Joint Distribution Committee or any other Jewish organization from abroad, declared Mr. Smidowitch, Secretary to Kalinin and President of the Soviet Government Commission for Jewish Colonization Work in Russia, in an interview granted to the representative of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency here.
A provisional agreement of the Joint Distribution Committee. The Agricultural Commission and the Central Soviet Commission, has been prepared, Mr. Smidowitch stated. The agreement provides that the Joint Distribution Committee will conduct its activity with regard to Jewish colonization work independently. The first allocation of 30,000 desiatin land, a strip of land sufficient for 6,000 people has already been made.
“The committee for Settling Jews on the Land”, of which the Communist leaders, Rachmiel Weinstein, Tchemerinsky, and Esther Frumkin, were appointed members is not a Commission of the Central Soviet Government, but is appointed by the Soviet Executive for the purpose of raising funds either by allocations of the Russian Government or, if possible, to send delegates abroad, particularly to America, where contributions for Jewish colonization purposes will be solicited among Jewish workers.
The Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish organizations from abroad are in contact with only the Central Federative Soviet Commission, whose leading members are Commissars like Krassin, Litvinoff, Sheinman, head of the State Bank ## and Minister of Agriculture, Smirnov.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.