The Pattern of Repression

The trial of Lazar Liubarsky at Rostov-on-Don in February has received wide publicity in the free world. But it is only the tip of the iceberg. Below the surface lurk an unknown number of similar cases of Jews arrested on trumped-up charges, and perhaps brought to trial, with the aim of discouraging others from attempting … Read more

The Prisoners of Potma

It’s almost ten years since Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich appeared in Novy Mir, the Soviet cultural periodical. This was the first time that the Soviet reader was officially given the facts, even if in fictional form, about the spiritless, monotonous brutality of a labour camp in the USSR. Today Solzhenitsyn’s … Read more

The Price of a Jew

On 3 August the Council of Ministers of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR passed a resolution to levy a ‘diploma tax’ on all Jews who wished to go to Israel. This meant basically that all qualified Jews have to pay back the cost of their education to the Soviet government before emigrating. The tax … Read more

Bertrand Russell and Soviet Jews

In July 1969, six young Jews, Shimon Grillius, Yuri and Valery Vudka, Oleg frolov, Shimon Zaslavskyand Yevgeny Martimonov were arrested in Riazan in the Lithuanian soviet socialist Republic and charged under Articles 70 and 72 of the Soviet Criminal Code which deals with anti-soviet propaganda. The trial began on February 10 1970 behind closed doors. … Read more

Anti-Semitism in the USSR

In the third letter of her series (Tribune July 18), K. Y. Rintoul has attempted to create a ‘Zionist’ smokescreen in order to obscure the very real problem of soviet anti-Semitism. She implies that anti-Semitism has existed only since ‘American-trained General Dayan launched a six day war against the Arab countries’. This, as she should … Read more