Speech #920286915

Mr. Speaker. I join my colleagues here and millions of outraged Americans across this land to protest the barbaric practice that has been adopted by the Soviet Union to prevent Jews from emigrating to the State of Israel. In czarist Russia. the buying and selling of human beings was a normal phenomenon. Like slaves. the Russian serfs were considered as chattel. the possessions of their owners. The price fluctuated depending on the serfs abilities. skills. and education. This form of human measurement Is being revived. The Soviet Union has announced that its citizensespecially Jewish Russiancan buy their exit visas--and their libertyfor prices that rise with the educational attainment of the individuals involved. A Soviet serf with a doctoral degree is purchasable for $37.500. a basic college graduate costs $15.000. the trade school graduate can be had for under $5.000. Soviet Jews seeking emigration to Israel are the group most affected by the new laws and price scale. Few persons except the official elite in the Soviet Union having savings of this order. The practical effect Is to bar emigration and presents Soviet Jews. in particular. with a situation of intolerable blackmail. In imposing fees on professional emigrants. the Russians argue that the state should be reimbursed for the cost of the higher education these individuals received free of charge in the Soviet Union. Not only are the new fees exorbitant. Even if applicants are not allowed to leave the country. the mere act of applying for exit visas is considered enough cause for them to be stripped of their degrees and dismissed from their jobs. I believe the American people expect us to do everything we can to express our abhorrence for this new Russian serfdom. I believe they expect us to make it clear that the Soviet Union can anticipate no meaningful expansion of trade between our two countries. I cannot support the extension of credits or the consideration of most favorednation treatment for Soviet exports as long as the Soviet Union treats people as "serfs" to be bought and sold. There can be no extensive trade with the Soviet Union as long as the Soviet regime demands ransom for Jews seeking to emigrate to Israel. We cannot abandon our obligation as people who love freedom. We must withhold the economic cooperation the Soviet Union seeks until it respects civilized practice with respect of the rights of emigration.