Four Nights of Demonstrations Greet Soviet Cultural Festival

Four nights of protest demonstrations against the continued harassment of Soviet Jews ended Thursday night as the Soviet festival of music and dance appeared at the Temple University Music Festival here, Members of the Soviet Jewry Council of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia held banners and distributed literature at all four performances.

At the demonstration, Joseph Smukler and Stuart Wurtman, co-chairman of the Soviet Jewry Council, presented a statement to Johnson Ashley, manager of the Russian performing company. The statement urged the Soviet government to end its imprisonment of more than 40 Soviet Jewish prisoners of conscience. Copies of the statement in English and Russian were provided for all troupe members.

Ashley told reporters that he would distribute the statement to the 170 performers, emphasizing, “They will probably take it with a grain of salt.” He also noted that “because the performers have the statement does not mean it will reach Soviet authorities.”

Smukler and Wurtman said the demonstrations were not staged to protest the appearance of the Russians. Rather , they were aimed at calling attention to the plight of Soviet Jews denied the right to emigrate and the right to practice their religion in freedom.

Because of the controversy surrounding the performance, Dr. Marvin Wachman, Temple University president, issued a statement welcoming the Russians to the festival, but at the same time ” supporting the right of the Council to inform our patrons of its concerns about emigration policies of the Soviet Union.”

The audience received pamphlets upon entering which described Soviet Jewish performers currently denied exit visas to emigrate to Israel to practice their profession. Enclosed was a public opinion card addressed to Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev which was to be mailed by JCRC upon return to an information table set up at the entrance doors. A random sampling of patrons browsing through the pamphlet brought mixed reactions, according to Alex Einbinder, a Jewish Exponent reporter.

One woman said she would fill in the postcard. Another commented, “It does not concern me.” A middle-aged man reported “that as a non-Jew I have always felt strongly about this; I will mail the caro myself.” More than 200 demonstrators nightly lined the roadway leading to the Festival carrying placards. A sampling of the signs: “Soviets Arm World Terrorists”; Mayer Gorbatov. Violinist, Is not Playing Tonight”; Dr. Mikhail Shtern, Boris Penson in Prison. Crime: Sought Freedom”: “Soviet Package Tax Unfair to Jews.”