Soviets Want No Judaism, Panel in Britain Says

LONDON — A British parliamentary committee said Wednesday that the Soviet Union is determined to eliminate Judaism within its borders and at best barely tolerates Christianity.

After an 18-month study of Anglo-Soviet relations, the All-Party House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs said in a report that the practice of Judaism and pursuit of Jewish culture are now “severely curtailed” in the Soviet Union.

Christianity is minimally tolerated to demonstrate Soviet commitment to the right of religious worship, but the government remains ideologically committed to the suppression of religion, the report said.

10 Days in Moscow

The 11-member committee chaired by Conservative lawmaker Anthony Kershaw held 12 public hearings. It met Mikhail S. Gorbachev when he visited Britain in 1984 before being named Communist Party chief, and it spent 10 days in Moscow last July at the government’s invitation.

During the Moscow visit, the committee met Kremlin leaders, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church and the rabbi of one of the surviving synagogues in Moscow and attended services at an Orthodox cathedral and the central Baptist Church in Moscow.

“Our overwhelming impression in the Soviet Union, and from the evidence received in the United Kingdom, was that the Soviet authorities had determined to eliminate both Judaism as an organized faith and Jewish culture, and that the maintenance of a very small number of synagogues was now merely a gesture toward international public opinion,” the report said.

Total of 2 Million

Official Soviet figures say there are about 2 million Jews in the population of 278.7 million. The committee quoted the All-Party Committee for the Release of Soviet Jewry as saying 380,000 Soviet Jews want to go to Israel but have not been given permission to leave.

The report said the position of Jews in the Soviet Union is “even more difficult” than those of other religious groups because the government is ideologically opposed to the Jewish religion, suspects the “political loyalty” of Jews because so many apply to emigrate and has traditionally subjected Jews to discrimination.

It said discrimination in employment is clearly practiced against religious Jews and those who have tried to emigrate; that no rabbis are being trained; the teaching of Hebrew is banned, and the publication of books in Hebrew has ceased.