Soviet’s Reinstatement of Lishentzy Aimed at Relief of Jews in Small Towns

The decree issued this week by the Soviet Central Executive Committee to revise the status of those people who are without rights, the lishentzy, by granting them bread cards and other privileges of citizenship, is intended chiefly to relieve the Jewish population in the small towns and the peasants in the villages who have been unjustly deprived of their rights.

This is evidenced from official instructions issued today by M. Yenukidzie, secretary of the Central Executive Committee, on how to conduct the revision. His instructions emphasize that special attention should be given to the reinstatement of the Jews. “Especially intolerable has been the formal application of our election laws as practiced until now with regard to the Jewish population, a considerable part of which was compelled in prerevolutionary times to be engaged in trading or in artisanship where hired labor was used,” he said. “This has resulted in there being an extremely large percentage of lishentzy among the Jewish population. Therefore in revising the lists of Jews without rights special attention should be paid to the specific circumstances of Jewish life,” Yenukidzie explained.

His instructions urge mildness in the reinstatement of the youth. “We shouldn’t allow any more depriving of election rights among the youth educated under the Soviet just because they are maintained by lishentzy parents,” Yenukidzie says, hinting that not only the children of ex-traders but also those of parents having anything to do with religious matters will be reinstated.

He repeats that the eviction of the lishentzy from their dwellings should be discontinued and bread cards and medical assistance be granted them and their children be admitted to the schools.