The disappearance of the differences of opinion with reference to Bira Bidjan, where a Jewish republic is ultimately contemplated by the Soviet authorities, which have been agitating the Comzet, government department for settling Jews on the land and in agriculture, and the Ozet, Jewish land settling organization, was announced by the General Secretary of the Ozet, Eidelman, in an address before a joint conference of the Ozet and the Comzet in Kiev.
A united front to continue the work in Bira Bidjan will be created, Mr. Eidelman said. He termed the unity as a colossal achievement.
Despite this united front, the Jewish intelligentsia and some workers in the Comzet still view the Bira Bidjan undertaking with reserve, he pointed out. They are afraid of being accused of Jewish nationalism and chauvinism. This is particularly true of the Jewish workers in the Ukraine, he explained. The situation is different in White Russia where the Jewish workers have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into Bira Bidjan activity.
Kiev Jewish workers were reprimanded for failing to fill the immigration quota assigned. They sent to Kalinindorf only 414 of the immigration quota of 1,210. The same percentage of immigration failure was reported in Stalinindorf and New Zlatapole.
Speakers at the conference declared that there are many immigrants still available in the villages to fill the quotas of the new immigration campaign which begins in January. Everything depends, however, on housing facilities and food supplies. If these latter two are properly organized the quota of 25,000 immigrants set for 1933 can be secured, at least in very large proportion, the speakers declared.
According to the plans of the Soviet authorities, Bira Bidjan is scheduled to be declared an autonomous Jewish region by the end of 1933.
The development plans of the region have not been realized as planned. In the past year there have been mass desertions, lack of adequate housing facilities and food and the difficult conditions of life in the Far Eastern Region being blamed for the state of affairs. The Comzet, governmental department for settling Jews on the land and in agriculture, came in for a share in the censure as well, being charged with mismanagement and negligence. As a result there was a general shake-up in the administration of the Comzet, and its head, A. Merezhin, was replaced.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
