Introduction

The "third wave" of Jewish immigration to the United States, which began in the 1970s, is completely composed of emigres from the Soviet Union. One of the persistent fears harbored by Soviet leaders is of "unauthorized," i.e., nongovernmental, contacts between groups in Russia and similar groups outside Russia. The Soviets feared that the Jewish desire for a homeland was bringing them into contact with foreign Zionists. The number of religious institutions which had greatly diminished under Soviet rule was even more sharply curtailed. In the post-Stalin period, as the economy quickened and Soviet science required skilled economists, mathematicians, and technicians to move it forward, opportunities for Jews to receive a university education and to achieve professional success increased. The Soviet regime responded in a number of ways, including, during the first part of 1980, the curtailing of Jewish emigration.