Definite information as to who should be expelled from the Jewish collective farms was announced today by the White Russian Agrarian department. It states that all belongings, including money, of those to be expelled, will be confiscated and will be included as part of the collective’s capital.
Those to be expelled will include all those who are farmers but still carry on trade, those whose family members trade, those ex-traders who once employed help, everybody who agitates against collectivization, everybody who sells farm products to private traders and not to cooperatives.
With the help of the Ozet, the society for settling the Jews on the land, the government will conduct during February a thorough investigation in the Jewish colonies to establish the social status of each Jewish farmer and also his past by having him fill out a questionnaire. If his answers are unsatisfactory he will be expelled but will have the right to appeal to a higher authority.
There is no doubt but that the investigation will result in hundreds of Jewish farmers being expelled from the collectives because most of them are former traders. Reporting the opposition of Jewish farmers to collectivization, the Communist paper “Oktiabre,” says that the Jews argue that collectivization will lead to total assimilation and abolition of religion.
The announcement does not affect the colonies under the control of the J. D. C.
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