The tremendous gains made by Jews and other national minorities under the Soviet government were pictured here at an election mass meeting addressed by President Gregory Petrovsky of the Ukraine Soviet Republic.
Under Czarism, he said, only rich Jewish merchants and professionals were permitted to live in Kharkov, now the Ukrainian capital. Today more than 125,000 lived in Kharkov. There has been a great increase in the number of Jewish workers employed in industry, he said. The Kharkov locomotive works employs 3,500 Jewish workers, while thousands of others are employed in tractor works, electro-mechanic works, and metallurgical industries.
Jewish workers take a part in the city council and the political life of the country. Jewish clubs are conducting important cultural and education work. The Jewish choir, he pointed out, had become a great artistic force in the life of the city. A special Jewish militia has been created as well as a Jewish law court, President Petrovsky said.
The election campaign in Jewish sections of the Ukraine is being carried on entirely in Yiddish. Even announcements of the Soviet Central Executive Committee are published in Yiddish.
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