Drive Begun to Urge 52 U.S. Firms to Push Soviet Jewish Emigration

Frustrated by another dismal year for Soviet Jews wishing to emigrate, American advocates said Thursday they have begun a campaign to get 52 U.S. companies doing business with Moscow to put pressure on Kremlin leaders.

Spokesmen for the National Conference on Soviet Jewry told a news conference that they began meeting last week with executives of U.S. companies to urge them to include appeals for Jews in dealings with Soviet officials.

Conference Chairman Morris B. Abram said his group has “no present plans” to seek a boycott of U.S. companies trading in the Soviet Union.

New Tactic

The focus on corporate America’s relations with the Soviets represents a new tactic for the conference, which in recent years has concentrated its efforts on getting the U.S. government to lobby with the Soviets on behalf of Jews seeking to emigrate.

The new drive coincides with the release of figures showing that 944 Jews were permitted to leave the Soviet Union last year, a drop from 1,140 in 1985.

It was the fourth straight year of emigration near or only slightly above the 1,000 mark, compared with a level of 51,320 Soviet Jews who left in 1979.

Abram said of the corporations, “We are asking that they make very clear to the Soviet Union the importance of human rights and the importance of their compliance with their obligations with respect to emigration.”

Everything Tied In

The companies should tell the Soviets that “good relations, trade relations and everything else will grow, and credibility will increase with the development of more liberal attitudes in this area,” Abram said.

Conference leaders declined to identify the 52 companies, which were taken from lists of the concerns doing the most business with the Soviets or trying to break into that market. To divulge their names might open the companies to “harassment,” said Jerry Goodman, executive director of the group.

A source familiar with the effort said the types of companies to which appeals are being directed are Archer Daniels Midland, an Illinois agricultural firm whose chief executive is co-chairman of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade Council, and Pepsico, whose Soviet franchise had $200 million in sales last year.

According to the Commerce Department, the United States exported $1.2-billion worth of goods to the Soviet Union between January and November, 1986.