Commune “Ikor” (youth). Communists with their horses. 1930
Photo: State Archive of the Jewish Autonomous Region
April 18, 1900
On this day, the writer and prose writer Joseph Izrailevich Rabin was born in the city of Grodno.
The writer's childhood fell on the eve of the First World War, his adolescence during the war itself, his youth during the change of eras.
In 1936, Joseph Rabin arrived in Birobidzhan. He was the chairman of the writers' organization of the Jewish Autonomous Region, a member of the editorial board of the literary magazine “Forpost” (12+), and worked on the editorial board of the newspaper “Birobidzhaner Stern” (12+).
Joseph Izrailevich Rabin. Photo: Photo: Regional Library
In December 1937, Joseph Rabin was arrested, accused of collaborating with the former head of the region, Joseph Liberberg. When the investigator changed in the Rabin case, he charged the writer with espionage for Japan. It was under this article that Joseph Rabin was sentenced in February 1938 to ten years in the camps. These events are reflected in the novel “That Year…” (12+), published after the author’s death in the pages of the magazine “Soviet Game Land” (12+).
Joseph Rabin died on December 9, 1987 in Moscow.
April 18, 1928
On April 18, 1928, in the territory of the Biro-Bidzhansky district near the village of Danilovka, Jewish settlers organized the Ikor commune by a group of 12 people. The commune is named after the abbreviation of the American organization for assistance to Jewish land management in the USSR – Yiddish colonization orbeiter. Among the organizers of the commune were Abram Mandeleevich Byaly, Naum Moiseevich Fridman, communards Shleifer, Balak, Sorkin, chairman of the commune Chaim
Iosifovich (Khonya) Shapiro.
The commission of the American organization “IKOR” in the taiga is discussing the route. 1929. Photo: Photo: State Archive of the Jewish Autonomous Region
In 1931, the team was renamed the IKOR-Sotsgorodok commune. It included another 26 people who arrived from the USA, 43 people from Argentina, three
from Poland, nine from Germany, five from Romania. Thus, the IKOR-Sotsgorodok commune became the first international Jewish agricultural commune. The organizers of the commune dreamed of creating a large agro-industrial town.
By the end of 1934, the Ikor-Sotsgorodok commune disintegrated, switching to the charter of the agricultural artel. To preserve Ikor, it was decided to sacrifice Sotsgorodok. People were concentrated in one place, most of the foreigners left, some of the communards returned to their places of origin, some left for other resettlement settlements.
In 1939, the Ikor collective farm of the Danilovsky Village Council was renamed into the collective farm named after the 18th Party Congress. Difficult times have come for the collective farm; after Forer’s arrest, five chairmen were replaced in three years, cases of document forgery and theft were revealed. Nevertheless, individuals and Ikora farms become participants in the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition. In Sotsgorodok there was a large influx of immigrants and the village flourished.
On August 16, 2016, a memorial stone was erected on the site of the first house erected by settlers in Sotsgorodok
April 18, 1950
Clippings from the newspaper “Birobidzhan Star”. Photo: Photo: Regional Library
The newspaper “Birobidzhanskaya Zvezda” (12+) on April 18, 1950, on the front page of the publication, reported that the bureau of the Stalinsky (now Oktyabrsky) district committee of the CPSU (b) and the district executive committee had failed results of the socialist competition of collective farms for the first five-year plan for spring sowing. Based on its results, the agricultural artel “Royter Oktyabr” was recognized as the best, which was awarded the regional challenge Red Banner.
In the section “Advanced people of the region” tells about a noble pig breeder of the collective farm named after. 18th Party Congress of the Smidovichi District – Joseph Isaakovich Abramsky.
Joseph Isaakovich in the recent past was an ordinary rural tailor. Joseph Abramsky was brought to the collective farm by the desire to find his real place. For about a year and a half he tended the collective farm herd, and from the end of 1934 he became a pig breeder.
In 1938, Abramsky achieved great success with his innovative ideas. The collective farm's pig farm has earned the right to participate in the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition. For success in pig breeding, the collective farm received a first-degree diploma, a passenger car and a cash bonus of 100 thousand rubles. Joseph Isaakovich traveled to Moscow, attended the opening of the exhibition, and met the best livestock breeders in the country.
“He returned to his native collective farm, inspired by new creative ideas, and the next year he achieved even better results – 22 commercial piglets from each sow. He was again sent to Moscow, from where he returned with a silver medal at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition.”
For the first two years of the Great Patriotic War, Joseph Isaakovich remained at his post. In 1943, he was drafted into the Soviet Army, and after demobilization, he quickly restored order on the farm, and pig farming became the most profitable branch of the artisanal economy.
The same newspaper reports that competitions for young aircraft modelers were held in the city of Obluchye. Students from secondary school No. 4 presented their best models.
April 18, 1964
Clippings from the newspaper “Birobidzhan Star”. Photo: Photo: Regional Library
The newspaper “Birobidzhan Star” on April 18, 1964, under the heading “District everyday life. Oktyabrsky district” writes that The Amurzet branch of “Agricultural Equipment” received a new batch of machines. Among them are four planting machines for the Amur, Oktyabrsky and Pogranichny state farms.
In the House of Culture. Amurzet hosted a concert of the famous singer Nechama Lifshitsaite. The arrival of an artist of such magnitude is a major cultural event for the Amur village. Nechama captivated everyone with her voice and manner of singing ancient and modern Jewish songs.
April 18, 1967
The Birobidzhan region was awarded the challenge Red Banner of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions, awarded for high performance in increasing agricultural yields and livestock productivity, reducing production costs, increasing labor productivity, fulfilling and exceeding plans for the production and sale of agricultural products to the state.
