ABSTRACT
A Soviet journalist who was stationed in Czechoslovakia during the reform period observed that it was "impossible to reform the economy without a reform of the superstructure, without radical changes in the social and political sphere. More than most other nationalities, however, Jews are affected by the vicissitudes of international relations, since Soviet-American relations, and, to a lesser extent, Soviet-Israeli relations, affect their prospects of emigrating, and their status within the Soviet system and society. The mass emigration of Soviet Jews is driven by several forces: the knowledge that emigration has been curtailed before and that this might be done again and pessimism regarding the success of the reforms and the conviction that a deteriorating situation stimulates a search for scapegoats, with Jews the prime candidates. Jews are affected by reforms as individual citizens, along with everyone else, and as members of an official nationality. Nationality issues have surfaced as a result of perestroika as well.
