Russia: Dirty Business

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For two years, there has been a letup of sorts in Russia's widely publicized trials for "economic crimes," which during 1962-64 sent at least 163 per sons to the firing squads. More than half of them had Jewish names, leading to charges that Jews were being made the scapegoats for a chronic Soviet ill: the notorious pilferage from state-owned factories of everything from lipstick to girls' sweaters, for sale at a profit. Last week another such case was revealed — and again the big name was Jewish.

Hauled before Moscow City Court, reported the trade-union newspaper Trud, were nine persons charged with knitting together a nationwide operation that lifted cloth in wholesale lots from textile factories, sold garments fashioned from it at black-market prices. Behind it all, charged Trud, was one M. Rabinovich, 43, a textile engineer who had launched his nefarious enterprise 20 years ago by stealing from a Moscow mill employing invalid war veterans. Later, he expanded his operations to whole chains of factories and retail outlets where he had contacts. "Moscow soon became too small for Rabinovich," sneered Trud. He "extended his tentacles" to stores in Kharkov, Kiev and other cities. As Trud told it, he amassed profits exceeding $1,000,000, which he invested in "gold, government bonds and other valuables."

Uncovered 18 months ago, Rabinovich escaped arrest by traveling from city to city and staying in furnished rooms until "Soviet justice caught up with him." His punishment, however, was swift; at least two of his eight accomplices went to forced-labor camps, but after a one-hour trial, Rabinovich was sentenced to be shot.

Moscow was also being horrid to "hooligans." Among the first victims of a tough new law against rowdy behavior were four tipplers who had arrived high as a kite at a soccer stadium during a match. They were fined on the spot, and their sentences were announced over the stadium loudspeaker. In another incident, a mine manager drew two months' "corrective labor" for hooliganism in a restaurant. In jail he got cooked meals only every other day, on alternate days only bread, salt and water. As if that was not indignity enough, his head was shaved.