ABSTRACT
The unusual arrangement allowing over a thousand Zionist convicts to leave Soviet Russia was not sufficient in itself to ensure their arrival in Palestine. Those members of the Zionist movements in Soviet Russia who made their way to Palestine were expected by comrades left behind to be their tireless advocates. The issues were often budgetary, as the Zionist Organization struggled to balance its meagre funds and was repeatedly called upon to help the settlers in Palestine through prolonged economic crises and periods of unemployment. For the British Mandatory Government of Palestine, there was hardly an issue as politically volatile as immigration. More serious damage to substitution immigration was caused by heightened British suspicions of the Soviet regime and the Comintern. In addition, the Soviet Zionists repeatedly demanded from the Zionist Executive to secure the posting of aliya emissaries from Palestine in Soviet Russia.
