Second. they hope to obtain most favored nationMFNstatus from the United States in order to facilitate their purchase of advanced Western technologies. Third. they wish to show the rest of the world that the U.S.S.R. is an advanced. civilized nation. one that can prove the superiority of the socialist way by hosting the 1980 Olympic games. To achieve these results is not easy. because in order to obtain MFN status. which is restricted by the JacksonVanik amendment. the Soviets must allow a large number of people to emigrate. Yet if they agree to largescale emigration the U.S.S.R. would lose much of its educated and talented upperclass. And again. if they refuse this permission. it will be obvious to all the world that the Soviet Union is not a very pleasant place to live. that it must retain its citizens by force. And that is not too good for the propaganda mill. So they allow some Jews to emigrate. but not the leadership. Those who have recently applied for exit visas have better chances for obtaining them then those who have been waiting for years. The activists. the refusniks. the strongly religious. those who have been risking their lives and fortunes by pushing and prodding the Soviet bureaucracy. these people are retained and held up as examples. They are harassed and persecuted. fired from their jobs and subjected to increasingly virulent antiSemitic campaigns.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration visas