Solidarity Sunday March Canceled in Recognition of Soviet Changes

For the second straight year, New York’s massive Solidarity Sunday rally for Soviet Jews has been canceled.

Its sponsoring body, the Coalition to Free Soviet Jews, has called instead for a “comprehensive program that would better address the current needs of Jews in the Soviet Union.”

The march, which had become a tradition in New York and was the nation’s largest, was “postponed” last May on the eve of President Reagan’s trip to Moscow for a summit conference with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Some Soviet Jewry activists doubted at that time that the annual spring march could have an impact following the massive demonstration in Washington the previous December.

Now, nearly a year later and following the emigration of nearly 21,000 Soviet Jews, the coalition has voted not to hold a Solidarity Sunday rally on May 7. Instead, the New York-based coalition will implement a new program.

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, coalition chairman, said the decision was a result of an overwhelming vote by the organization’s board of directors.

In that vote, held Thursday night, about 40 organizations were in favor of not holding the march. There was one dissenting vote.

But the group still plans a major public event for the latter part of this year.

“The decision not to hold the traditional Solidarity Sunday rally in May represents an acknowledgment that there have been substantive changes with regard to Soviet Jewry, notably an increase in emigration, the release of political prisoners and progress in human rights,” Lookstein explained in a statement released Sunday.

He advised that although “our message will not change,” “our tactics and our activities will.” He added, “New and innovative programs and a flexible approach are essential in light of Gorbachev’s policies of glasnost and perestroika.”