National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) is a leading US organization advocating on behalf of Jews in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, the Baltic States

Baltic states

The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...

, and Eurasia

Eurasia

Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...

. It was started in 1971 as a volunteer organization and played an important role in the Soviet Jewry movement

Movement to Free Soviet Jewry

The Movement to Free Soviet Jewry was an international human rights campaign that advocated for the right of Jews in the Soviet Union to emigrate....

, including such landmark legislations as Jackson–Vanik amendment. Headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, it is now an umbrella organization of about 50 national organizations and 300+ local federations, community councils and committees.

History

NCSJ takes roots at the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry (AJCSJ) which had an inagural conference the Conference in October 1963. The participants included Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...

, Martin Luther King Jr., Herbert Lehman, Bishop James Pike

James Pike

James Albert Pike was an American Episcopal bishop, prolific writer, and one of the first mainline religious figures to appear regularly on television....

, Walter Reuther

Walter Reuther

Walter Philip Reuther was an American labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party in the mid 20th century...

, Norman Thomas

Norman Thomas

Norman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...

, and Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935...

. This conference was followed by Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry

Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry

The Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, also known by its acronym SSSJ, was founded in 1964 by Jacob Birnbaum to be a spearhead of the US movement for rights of the Soviet Jewry.-“Let My People Go” foundation period in 1960s:...

 started in April 1964. The organization was formally established in 1971, with the name change AJCSJ to NCSJ was approved on December 13, 1971.

The organization helped link Jewish emigration to trade restrictions, leading to increase of immigration of Jews from Soviet Union to Israel in the 1970s. On December 6, 1987, on the eve of the Reykjavík Summit

Reykjavik Summit

The Reykjavík Summit was a summit meeting between U.S. president Ronald Reagan and Secretary-General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, held in the famous house of Höfði in Reykjavík, the capital city of Iceland, on October 11–12, 1986...

, over 200 thousand people marched in Washington to support the struggle of Soviet Jews

History of the Jews in the Soviet Union

The history of the Jews in the Soviet Union is discussed in the following articles relating to specific regions of the former Soviet Union:*History of the Jews in Armenia*History of the Jews in Azerbaijan*History of the Jews in Belarus...

 for their human rights. The rally was attended by George H.W. Bush, and a group of recently released refuseniks, including Iosif Begun

Iosif Begun

Iosif Ziselovich Begun, sometimes spelled Yosef is a former Soviet refusenik, prisoner of conscience, human rights activist, author and translator....

, Yuli Edelstein, Ida Nudel

Ida Nudel

Ida Nudel is a former refusenik and an Israeli activist. She was known as the "Guardian Angel" for her efforts to help the "Prisoners of Zion" in the Soviet Union.-Biography:...

, and Natan Sharansky

Natan Sharansky

Natan Sharansky was born in Stalino, Soviet Union on 20 January 1948 to a Jewish family. He graduated with a degree in applied mathematics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. As a child, he was a chess prodigy. He performed in simultaneous and blindfold displays, usually against...

.

Organization's current Chairman is Richard Stone, and President Alexander Smukler.

External links

• NCSJ website
• 1988 Conference, a C-SPAN
  C-SPAN
  C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
  
   video with speeches by George Shultz and Iosif Begun
  Iosif Begun
  Iosif Ziselovich Begun, sometimes spelled Yosef is a former Soviet refusenik, prisoner of conscience, human rights activist, author and translator....
  
  .