Jewish Leaders Try to Give Up Chief Petition on Soviet Jewry; Verbally Assaulted

Snarl came to shout and push came to shove as a delegation of Jewish leaders clashed verbally and physically at high noon today with officials of the Communist Party U.S.A. over the issue of Soviet Jewry. The delegation had come to present to party secretary Gus Hall a petition calling for "the free emigration of all Soviet Jews who desire to leave the USSR, "the release of Jews now in Soviet prisons only because they sought to exercise their basic human right to emigrate to Israel," "the restoration of Jewish cultural, religious, educational and communal rights and institutions to which they are entitled by Soviet law" and "the initiation of a national educational campaign against anti-Semitism and the end of discrimination against Soviet Jews in education, employment and other spheres of life." The petition, keyed to the upcoming Soviet Communist Party congress, also urged Hali to "bring the plight of Soviet Jewry to the attention of your colleagues and to the leadership of the USSR." Before the Jewish delegation had even arrived, and with most of those present members of the print and broadcast media, a spokesman for the Communist Party charged out of the front door of the party’s brownstone on Manhattan’s west side, waved his fist, called those assembled "anti-Soviet," "anti-Communist" and "racist."

He demanded that they "go out and shout for the freedom of Angela Davis," the black militant on trial in California for conspiracy in a courtroom shooting incident. There had in fact been no shouting or other noise to that point. The party spokesman, Claude Lightfoot, is himself black. After he closed the door behind him, the Jewish group arrived, headed by Richard Cohen, associate executive director of the American Jewish Congress and spokesman for the New York Conference on Soviet Jewry. After reading the petition aloud, Cohen scotch taped it to the door of the brownstone and knocked on the door. Lightfoot re-emerged, tore the petition from the door, crumpled it and threw it to the ground, while with one hand against Cohen’s waist he launched into a verbal tirade against the delegation, calling them "Fascist JDL people" (the Jewish Defense League was not represented) and exclaiming: "You go to Israel and get them off the backs of the Arabs, that’s what you do " The delegation had been refused an appointment to talk to Communist Party officials, according to Cohen. Lightfoot further accused the demonstrators: "You aren’t doing a damned thing about black people," and insisted: "Go down to Mississippi where you belong!" The Jewish leaders shouted back that American Jewry has been instrumental in the struggle of American blacks.

Lightfoot retorted that Israel was "keeping the Arabs in slavery," to which Cohen replied: "Lies! Slander! Liesi" Another black man, chewing on a wooden swizzle stick, emerged from the party building to aid Lightfoot, who was charging the demonstrators with trespassing. The second man warned the Jews to "Go ahead before you get your—handed to you!" The incident broke up quickly as the demonstrators left. During his confrontation with Lightfoot and other Communist Party leaders, Cohen was nearly toppled from the stoop of the CP headquarters. There were no policemen on the scene. The Jewish delegation, in addition to Cohen, was composed of Jacob Birnbaum, director of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry; Rabbi Paul Reich of the New York Board of Rabbis; Rabbi Sidney Applebaum, vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America; Seymour Reicit of the Metropolitan Conference of B’rith; Mel Klarfeld, associate director of B’nai B’rith; Ben Silverman, Jewish affairs director of the Jewish War Veterans; David Geller of the American Jewish Committee, coordinator of the New York Conference on Soviet Jewry; and Aytan Stromberg, representing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Birnbaum announced that the Communist Party building will be picketed next Tuesday afternoon and that there will be a "major freedom rally" in support of Soviet Jews at the United Nations on April 4.