On September 1, 1978, a group of WRL activists traveled to Moscow, ostensibly as tourists but with the intention of being the Moscow contingent of simultaneous actions demanding nuclear disarmament. The other contingent was at the White House. The first days the group toured the city. David had taken a small "throw-away" camera, not being certain that his film would make it back after the action. However, the Moscow folks were arrested briefly then were allowed to continue their "tour" before traveling home. The White House group was arrested and underwent a full trial in the U.S.
Click here to read a full report on the action.
WRL activists in front of the entrance to the All-Russian Exhibition Center: Patrick Lacefield, Scott Herrick, tour guide Olga, David, Craig Simpson, Steven Sumerford. One of the other group members, Norma Becker or Jerry Coffin, is behind the camera.
At the Kremlin: Steve Sumerford, Craig Simpson, tour guide Natasha, Scott Herrick, Jerry Coffin, Patrick Lacefield, David. Photo by another group member.
Entering Red Square, where the action would take place another day.
Red Square, site of the leafleting and unfurling a banner on September 4.
Saint Basil's Cathedral in Red Square (now a museum).
Lenin Monument and Central Pavilion in the All-Russia Exhibition Center park.
David wrote on the back of this photo, “Except for us this was empty.”
Moscow University: Even after their action, the Soviet government permitted the group to meet with students at the university.
Scott Herrick, tour guide Olga, and Norma Becker, who was chair of WRL at the time of this action. Scott had been on the San Francisco to Moscow Walk in 1961 and was a key planner for this trip.
Patrick Lacefield, Norma Becker Steve Sumerford
Child in front of a bakery. David likes to emphasize the humanity of “the enemy.”
A day after their brief detention for leafleting and unfurling a banner in Red Square, the group had a meeting with the Soviet Peace Committee. Photographer unknown.
In May 1987 David joined a trip to the Soviet Union organized by the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). The group went to Moscow, Volgograd, and Baku (now the capital of Azerbaijan), among other places. The focus of the trip was to learn about religious practices under Communist rule. More individual captions coming soon.
Richard Deats, FOR staff, led the group tour. Virginia Baron, front left, edited FOR’s magazine Fellowship. They met with peace activists on the tour.
Richard Deats, group leader, in Baku, now the capital of Azerbaijan
Tour leader and FOR staff member Richard Deats, right, with other tour members and Baku religious leaders.
Motherland monument in Volgograd.
A common tapestry theme with Marx, Engels, and Lenin.
The ruins of the mill of Gerhardt, a national monument and reminder of the bombing by the Nazis of Stalingrad, now Volgograd.
The Baku Ateshgah, a castle-like religious temple in a Baku suburb. Now a museum, it was built during the 17th and 18th centuries and used by Hindu, Sikh, and Zoroastrians for worship until it was abandoned in the late 19th century.
Soviet cat.
