Between the Lines

The order which the Soviet government issued yesterday to the ICA to liquidate its activities in Soviet Russia will perhaps come as a shock to many. It will, however, not be surprising to those few who know of the differences which have arisen during the past few years between the Soviet regime and the administration of the ICA.

These differences originated soon after collectivization of Jewish colonies was demanded by authorities as part of the general collectivization plan. With the Jewish colonies gradually being collectivized, they fell more and more under the influence of the government and the control of local Soviets. The ICA was thus pushed out, little by little, from the sphere of its influence. It subsidized Jewish colonization, but it had practically no influence on the colonies.

ICA MONEY UNDER SOVIET CONTROL

Losing its control in the Jewish regions where it had been conducting operations even under the Czarist regime, the administration of the ICA saw no purpose in continuing to invest large sums of money to promote Jewish agriculture, where it had no say as to how their investments should be utilized. Giving money without actually having the right to administer it seemed a little queer to the administration of the ICA.

It was for this reason that ICA offices in Soviet Russia, little by little, began to withdraw their support from the regions in which they were active. Instead of investing more money in colonization projects, as originally contemplated, the ICA began to concentrate on collecting her debt from the collectivized Jewish colonists and taking as much of her funds as possible out of Russia.

MUTUAL DISSATISFACTION

Soviet authorities, dissatisfied with the change in ICA policy, were tolerant for a time. But when the sums which the ICA invested annually grew too small, the authorities began to feel it did not pay to let the world credit a foreign Jewish organization with achievements in the field of Jewish colonization at a time when the Soviet government was actually doing most of the work with its own funds.

In adopting this attitude, the Soviet government made it clear that it did not share this sentiment with regard to the Agro-Joint. Firstly, because the Agro-Joint spends, even now, ten times as much as the ICA, and, secondly, because the Agro-Joint operates in Crimea and not in the Ukraine, where the ICA was conducting its work and where there is no more free land for Jewish settlement.

AGRO-JOINT FARSIGHTED

It is very much to the credit of the Agro-Joint and of the farsightedness of Dr. Joseph Rosen, that the Agro-Joint has long ago withdrawn from its activities in the Ukraine and has limited itself to Crimea only. The unpleasant experience now faced by the ICA can, therefore, fortunately not be faced by the Agro-Joint.

It must, however, be stated that the ICA too, will not worry much about the fact that it is now forced to conclude its activities in Russia. The work started by the ICA can now be safely continued by the Soviet authorities and on Soviet funds.