Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 250

The colonisation movement among the Jews in Russia has not revealed any prospects for the absorption of the déclassés and the passportless people. The activities of foreign bodies, such as the " Joint," " Ort," etc., which had formerly taken an active part in the work of Jewish colonisation, both financially and in organisation, have had to be curtailed. With the introduction of forcible collectivisation of the agricultural farms, a large section of the Jewish colonies, both the new and the old, in the Crimea and in Krivorog, has been destroyed. With regard to ,the colonisation in Biro Bidjan, which has recently been promoted by the Soviet leaders, it must be stated that this project is no longer attracting the Jewish masses. The Jewish townlet has been utterly destroyed; the youth has" departed, the sources of livelihood have dried up, and only old people remain there, who are maintained by the labour of their children in the large towns, or by assistance from relatives abroad. The position has become somewhat easier recently through the abolition of ration cards and owing to reappearance of foodstuffs on the market for free sale. But the position of the Jewish masses is as precarious as formerly. The imposition of taxes on Jews who were once merchants or individual artisans, is still taking place. The tax quotas are left to the absolute discretion of the local officials, who are not shy even of confiscating all the "property" of taxed people, ejecting them from their dwellings and leaving them penniless and destitute. The decrees promulgated by the Soviet authorities with regard to journeys abroad, is making the position of the Russian Jews even more difficult. The conditions under which one may be permitted to leave the country are that the relatives of the applicant concerned who are abroad, must book a passage and purchase railway tickets for prospective emigrants at a cost of 125 dollars, and pay about 500 dollars for the permit (passport) allowing its holder to leave Russia. Needless to say, there are very few relatives abroad who are able to pay such an exorbitant sum for the departure of their relatives from Russia. The cultural position of the Jews in Russia stands at a very low level. A young generation is growing up without any knowledge of the Jewish religion,, of Jewish history, or of Hebrew. The Jewish press is on the decline. The new Jewish culture lacks national spirit and is of no interest to the Jewish masses in Russia. The tragic position of the Russian Jews economically is well known, and we need not enlarge upon it. It is, however, unjust to . leave the Russian Jews to themselves and to afford them neither help nor hope. Under such distressing conditions, special importance attaches to the Zionist labour movement, which is not abandoning the field in spite of the fury of the persecutions, and carries on its activities uninterruptedly. In spite of the decrees of exile which deprive the 250