“Procor” Sub comité del “Procor” en Uruguay Organiza un Pic-Nic y Baile Familiar en la Espsciosa Quinta “Campo Español”....

Poster advertising a picnic to be held on January 20th, 1929 by the Sub-committee of “Procor” of Montevideo, Uruguay to benefit the Jewish colonization in the Soviet Russia. “Come enjoy yourself and at the same time support the Jewish Colonization in the Soviet Union!” The Jewish colonization of the Birobidzhan region in the Soviet Far East constituted an ideological alternative to the Zionist ideal. The Birobidzhan project was supported by the Soviet leadership as the settlement was also meant to find financial support from coreligionists abroad and thus relieve the allocation of Soviet resources for this purpose. The first Jewish settlers arrived in the region in 1928. Support from abroad was indeed forthcoming. In North America, “ICOR” (American Association for Jewish Colonization in the Soviet Union) was among the most active. “PROCOR” (Society to Assist the Productivization of the Economically Ruined Jewish Masses in the Soviet Union) was ICOR’s South American counterpart. In addition to fund-raising events and activities such as the annual picnic advertised in this poster, representatives of PROCOR visited Birobidzhan in 1929. On the Jewish Settlement Project in Birobidzhan in general, see EJ, IV, cols. 1044-1050