Lauding the outlawing of anti-Semitism by Soviet Russia and the complete equality enjoyed by Jews there, James N. Rosenberg, addressing a meeting arranged by the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship today, to celebrate ten years of American-Soviet diplomatic relations, expressed the hope that “the Soviet policy towards minorities will be a pattern for the United Nations.”
The meeting, held at the Hotel New Yorker, also heard a message from Dr. Joseph A. Rosen, director of the Agro-Joint, who established the Jewish colonies in the Crimea and in the Ukraine, emphasizing that now, when these sections of the U.S.S.R. are being liberated from the Nazis by the Russian Army, “we look forward hopefully to the active resumption of the great Agro-Joint work, in order that we of America may aid in rebuilding the torn and ravaged agricultural, industrial and economic life of the Soviet Union.”
Other speakers at the celebration included Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of Interior; Mayor F. H. LaGuardia; Major General James A. Ulio, the Adjutant General of the U.S. Army; William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor; R. H. Thomas, vice-president of the C.I.O.; Dorothy Thompson and a number of prominent American scientists and educators. Reviewing the Jewish colonization work conducted by the Agro-Joint in Russia, James N. Rosenberg revealed that 80,000 non-Jews were also helped by Agro-Joint to settle on land in the Crimea and the Ukraine.
Emphasizing that the present Russian policy towards national minorities “wrought a complete transformation in the Jews of the Soviet Union,” Mr. Rosenberg said, “At cost of innumerable lives, the world must have begun to learn that unchecked hate and persecution is a disease which, when suffered to run its course, in time engulfs all mankind. Let us hope that the Soviet policy toward minorities will be a pattern for the United Nations. It is not easy to eradicate prejudice. It is a major task confronting the entire world. It is a task which majority groups must face and perform, not as a matter of charity or tolerance for the minorities, but in sheer self-protection for all nations, all peoples and all groups, be they majorities or minorities.”
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.
