The Nation - News from Sept. 3, 1985
The flow of handcrafted “products of misery” from Soviet labor camps to the United States--an $180-million annual business--is illegal and immoral and should be stopped, Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) said. Wooden figurines and chess pieces sold in American stores were crafted by labor camp prisoners who were forced to carve the products, he said. D’Amato held a Labor Day news conference with two former Soviet prisoners at a New York bookstore that sells products similar to those made in Soviet camps.
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