SIR, — A. F. Blanchard writes that on October 21 'only 800
members could be organised to sit down at the Russian Embassy.' 1 had to read his letter through twice to make sure that he was not being subtly ironic and was really on the side of the pro- testers.. But no; he apparently meant that 'only' quite seriously.
In point of fact, 800 was the total number that marched through London to the Russian Embassy that afternoon, expecting (as had actually been an- nounced in the Times that morning) to; be allowed to stage a silent standing vigil at the entrance to Millionaires' Row in which the Russian Embassy is situated. Of those 800, 480 sat down when the police (for reasons best known to themselves) unexpectedly obstructed the march before it reached the gates to Millionaires' Row. This action of the police re- sulted in a far worse obstruction to traffic than the proposed standing vigil would have caused, and it went on long after the vigil would have been over: All 480 sitters-down were arrested, and some of them (according to which courts they .were unfor- tunate enough to be taken to) have received sen- tences of up to two months' imprisonment. At least one girl of seventeen has been given two months. So have a number of parents.
The 800 who gave up their Saturday pleasures to take part in a protest against the Russian proposal to set off a 50-megaton bomb would doubtless have been joined by the other protesters who were already serving prison sentences if they had been free to participate, and by the many who have been 'bound over to keep the peace.'
Mr. Blanchard says that, had it been America that was proposing to set off the bomb, there would have been a far bigger turn-out, but in fact the sit-down near the American Embassy on September 6 was considerably smaller than this one. The sit-downs of thousands have had longer notice for organisation.
The astonishing thing, surely, is that so many ordinary men and women, with family and business responsibilities, are willing to risk imprisonment for the sake of a gesture. But the mass of German people in the Thirties have been generally censured for failing to do so.
86 Dalmain Road. SE23
BARBARA SMOKER
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