White Russia Lauds Success of Jewish Colonization Work

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency Mail Service)

One of the most important tasks undertaken by the White Russian Government with regard to the improvements of the economic, cultural and political position of the Jewish population in White Russia, was the movement to settle Jews on the land, M. Techerviakov, President of the White Russian Republic and member of the Presidium of the Central Executive of the Communist Party, said, in an address to the Conference of the White Russian Communist Party in Minsk.

“We remember how difficult it was to start this work,” M. Tcherviakov said, “We remember how we had been warned at the beginning of the Jewish land settlement movement that the settling of the Jews on land would provoke conflicts and pogroms.

“What, however, are the results? We see that the Jewish population which is already settled on land has shown from the very outset its ability to engage in agriculture. The 400 agricultural collectives in White Russia include 145 Jewish collectives, which proves that the Jewish population is capable of cultivating the land by higher and better methods of coordination than the nonJewish population in White Russia before the Revolution.

“The anti-Semitism which was very strong in White Russia before the Revolution,” M. Tcherviakov continued, “has greatly diminished in those places where the Jewish peasant ploughs his soil and generally engages in agricultural work, shoulder to shoulder with the White Russian peasant. This is a fact which we can confirm by documentary evidence in our possession.

“The Soviet Government and the Communist Party,” M. Tcherviakov concluded, “should continue to give its greatest attention to the settling on land of the Jewish toiling masses.”