[2.3. Agro-Joint help work in Russia with kassas,
health and children 1923-1930]
[Loan kassas]
From the beginning of its reconstructive activities in 1923,
JDC had also been engaged in establishing loan
kassas, medical aid,
(p.75)
child care, and trade schools. This activity was called
"non-Agro work" in JDC parlance. Between 1924 and 1933, $
1,760,000 was spent on this kind of effort. In the 1920s, with
Russian industry barely creeping up to its prewar standards,
there was, and could be, no hope of industrializing the Jewish
masses. Help would have to take the form of loan kassas and
child and medical aid - the traditional standbys of JDC work
in Eastern Europe. Indeed, very little else could be done -
the means placed at Rosen's disposal were too small.
Palliative help, such as soup kitchens, would demand much more
money, degrade the recipients, and accomplish nothing in terms
of the long-term improvement. Rosen did the best he could with
the means at his disposal.
At first, up to July 1929, the Agro-Joint supported the loan
kassas. These traditional institutions provided credit on easy
terms to various elements; but from 1927 on, in accordance
with a new Soviet law, they concentrated on loans to artisans.
In 1927 there were 370 such kassas, and they aided some 80 %
of all Jewish artisans in White Russia and the Ukraine. In
1929 these credit kassas were taken over by the government,
after having been helped by the state in up to 80 % of the
credits received by them in 1928. In their short existence
they had tided a large number of artisans' cooperatives over
difficult periods, and they were also instrumental in aiding a
number of
lishentsy
to become full citizens by joining officially recognized
artels (government producers' cooperatives). They did not
disappear altogether. They were not all absorbed by the state,
and in 1930 some sixty-seven of them, with 60,000 members,
still existed, together with 21 producer cooperatives not as
yet recognized by the government.
However, the overall situation of the Jewish artisan was not
materially eased, and new methods of working for the
lishentsy and the
artisans had to be found. This was done by means of mutual aid
societies (the
dopomogs),
which were recognized by the government as legal institutions
and were allowed to look after the
lishentsy as well. Their development was
very rapid. There were only (p.76)
55 of them in 1927, but by 1931 there were 240 with 250,000
members. 54 of these mutual aid societies were being supported
by the Agro-Joint. One of their main characteristics was their
gradual unification with the medical societies founded by JDC
during its initial help to Russian Jewry in the early 1920s.
Its clinics, hospitals, and other institutions were not aided
by the government because they were serving mostly
lishentsy. JDC supported
them, and as the mutual aid societies grew these medical
institutions became part of their setup, which included also
productive cooperative enterprises. This meant that there was
now a source of money for the medical institutions through the
productive cooperatives of the aid societies. JDC, mindful of
its mandate to help people to help themselves, welcomed this
development.
[1931: Agro-Joint's Homes, public kitchens, welfare
cases - aid for lishentsy]
By 1931 there were 50 homes for the aged with 1,400 inmates;
40 children's homes; 100 lunchrooms, where 8,000 people were
fed at nominal prices; and 4,510 welfare cases that were being
handled. Most important, these mutual aid societies
established cooperatives composed to a large extent of
lishentsy, who were
engaged in various kinds of artisanship and thus were working
their way back into full citizens' rights.
The marketing of their products was no problem. After 1927 the
Russian market absorbed anything that industry could produce,
even goods of very shoddy quality. The bottleneck was the
provision of raw materials, of which Russia at the time had a
limited supply. That supply went to the artels, and only the
leftovers, if any, were given to the cooperatives of
lishentsy. JDC, through
Agro-Joint, tried to supply the aid societies with credits,
machinery, and imported raw materials, thus enabling them to
establish themselves on a reasonably stable footing.
By 1929 there were 12 producer cooperatives not connected with
any society and 63 societies, whose members operated some 300
shops of
kustar
(artisan) production. In 1929 Agro-Joint advanced about
764,000 rubles in loans to these societies - this included
medical work as well - and a great deal was done with these
rather small sums. In 1930, 936,000 rubles were spent on
(p.77)
these activities, and in 1931 the aid societies operated 345
shops employing 18,680 persons, while 3,000 more persons found
a living in the 37 independent producer's cooperatives. The
medical societies attached to the aid societies treated 1.5
mio. people that year.
