News Brief

“The Komsomols-kaya Pravda,” the organ of the Young Communist Leagues, reports a number of cases showing how far anti-Semitism has spread among the Communist youth and the working-class youth generally.

The paper states that in a Leningrad factory named after the French Communist, Marthy, a gang of youths compelled a Jewish apprentice to climb the wails and to crawl along the roof just to amuse them, while they were laughing and jeering and throwing stones at him. It was impossible for the boy to escape from his tormentors. There were a number of Young Communists in the gang. No one took notice of the affair, neither the Organization of Young Communists, nor the adult Communists, not the Factory Committee.

In a second Leningrad factory, the workers, on the initiative of the Jewish Young Communist Section there, organized a summer holiday camp-Most of the organizing work was done by the secretary of the Jewish Young Communist Section, but when the workers came to the camp they refused to allow any Jews in the camp. They would not live with Jews, they said. In this case too the Party Organizations took no action.

In the factory named after Engels, a Jewish girl Communist named Lichterman was put forward as candidate for the Assistant Secretaryship of the Collective, but she was rejected for the sole reason that she was a Jewess.

In many cases the paper writes. Jewish members of the Young Communist League have to withdraw from the work because they cannot stand the hostility towards them as Jews.

In one case a Jewish Young Communist was nominated for membership of the local committee. The rest of the members immediately declared that if the Jew was elected they would all refuse to work.

The same thing happens, the paper writes, in the Young Communist Political Schools. In the debates on the national question, the Jews are frequently attacked. Young Communists declaring that the Jews are lazy, refuse to work and are undesirable elements. The speakers were not called to order by the directors of the schools.

In the Optical State Factory, the official minutes of a meeting of the Young Communist Section contains the entry: “Proposed, the acceptance in the Young Communist Section of Comrade Vigdortchuk. Resolved to refuse admission because he is a Jew.”

“Anti-semitism,” the paper declares, “has made a recognized appearance in the factories. It generally begins with mocking the Jews and mimicking the Jewish accent. This is followed by various practical jokes at the expense of the Jews and very frequently things are done which are really criminal. In none of the factories where this and-Semitism is spreading has anything ever been done to put a stop to this virus which is spreading among the working class youth,” the paper concludes.

Rabbi Louis a Newman of Temple Emanu-El. San Francisco, will engage in five debates with Fridge Ben. B. Lindsey, of Denver, Colorado, during the month of October on the subject “Should Compassionate Marriage Be Leterally Recognized?” These debates will be held in Seattle Portland, San Francisco Oakland, and Los Angeles.