The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-10-10
Jews Are Absorbed In
Productive and
Farm Work

Jheliabinsk Tractor plants. Such
is the general policy OF the Party
and the Government in relation to
the national republics.
The assertions of the white
guards about oppression on the
part Of Moscow seem ridiculous
and preposterous to us. Can the
White-Russisn peasant believe it?
The truth of the matter is that the
the white guards, in their anti
Soviet propaganda, are using as
material the practice of their own
past. Because they do not know
what is happening in the U.S.S.R..
they measure us with the yardstick
OF their pre-revolutionary policy of
expressing the White-R ussian
people.
Under the Czarist government.
the White-Russian school did not
exist, the White Russian langua ge
was being prosecuted, White Russia
did not have its own state. Under
such conditions to speak about the
oppression Of White Russia is pos
sible only for one who PLAYS on
complete ignorance concerning the
facts of the present life of Soviet
White Russia"
llliteracy Practically Liquidated
taking up the question of culture.
Comrade Goloded reminds us that
before the revolution there were
only about 26 per cent among the
population of White Russia who
knew how to read and write, and
even that mostly in the cities. The
village was almost entirely litter
ate. Now White Russia has forgot
ten all this. Illiteracy has been
fully liquidated in the cities among
persons up to the age of so, and in
the villages among persons up to
the age of AS.
1t must be men ioned that the
liquidation of illiteracy was COM
pleted in White Russia even before
this was done in the Russian Fede-
rated Soviet Republic. Obligatory
elementary education was also in
troduced into Soviet Russia one year
earlier than in the RS.F.S.R. All
children between the ages of 8 and
10 are now attending school in the
Republic. The instruction in the
schools is conducted in the native
tongue of the pupils. There are
schools where the language of in
struction is White Russian. Jewish.
Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian and
Russian.
Higher Institutions Of Learning
1t is in the field of education that
the correctness OF the national
policy of the Soviet Union is par
ticularly evident. Before the Revo-
luton, White Russia in its present
boundaries did not have a single
higher institution of learning. At
present there are % universities and
other higher institutions of learning
and 10 research Institutes. There
is an Academy of Science which is
the center of the whole scientific
research work in the Republic.
There are Jewish, Polish, Russian
and Latvian technicums. 1t must
not be forgotten that the Great
Russian population of Soviet White
Russia, like all the other nationali-
lies, has a right to study and work
in its native tongue. In many
higher institutions of learning there
are Jewish sections where the
students learn in their nativ e
tongue.
Can any capitalist country boast
of such equality of nations and
languages?" asked Comrade Colo
died. In the presence of such facts
can anybody believe the absurd
white-guard propaganda concerning
Moscow oppression? And isn't it
clear both to the White Russian
and the Jewish masses of the United
States of America that this is a
lying fabrica ion of the white
guards? On the other hand, what
else remains for them to do if not
to lie?"
The question of the material we'll
being of the White Russian masses
was taken up. Comrsde Goloded
first discussed the situation of the
peasantry.
There was a time when the
White Russian peasantry, as a mass,
was in need of bread and was con-
stantly passing through periods of
mass famine. At present there is
no such situation where the
peasants would not have any bread
or would not be certain of the
future. Everybody knows that in
former times large numbers of
peasants used to emigrate from
White Russia, which means that an
insufficient supply of means of
livelihood. At present there are not
enough workers in the White Rus
sian village. We invite the peasants
to 90 work on the side, like lumber
ing, digging peat, building roads.
All heSe works are being conducted
in White Russia on large scale.
You would think the peasants
would be eager to seize this oppor-
tunity, especially in view of the
fact that the wages in these
branches of work are quite high and
the provisioning is good. Still there
are not very many free peasan, S
who take up this work. We have
not enough free labor even in the
village. This proves that on the
whole the peasantry do not need