MORE ANTI-RED THAN THOU

...Obviously, we have to be realists," she says, "but realism is not served by heightening or underscoring the Cold War mentality...

...For John Isaacs of the Council for a Livable World, the Gorbachev proposal presents an opportunity to prove to the media that the peace organizations are "even-handed...

...Reaction to Gorbachev's nuclear-testing moratorium and other recent Soviet disarmament initiatives illustrates how severely anti-Sovietism has divided the American peace movement...

...A complex and realistic view would not only catalogue Soviet horrors but also comprehend Soviet accomplishments...

...People who have become involved with the peace movement," she said, "are so changed by their awareness of the arms race and trie threat of nuclear devastation that they don't see things in terms of competition between the superpowers, they see it as something larger...

...For the peace movement, these contradictory attitudes provide a chance to dispel mindless anti-Sovietism and promote a foreign-policy agenda that will ease world tensions...

...It involves fine-tuning our foreign policy, not transforming our fundamental assumptions about Third World countries and the Soviet Union...

...the issue is how do we create a world in which we don't destroy each other...

...Ronald Reagan's denunciation of the Soviet "Evil Empire" has reverberated through the mass media and the popular culture...

...The anti-Soviet mindset has nothing in common with a realistic and unsentimental assessment of the Soviet Union—an assessment that takes into account the nature of Soviet society, the limits of Soviet power, the role the Soviet Union plays in Eastern Europe and in the Third World, the threat it actually poses to Western democracies, and the serious political and economic shortcomings of Soviet domestic policy...

...I'm not opposed to criticizing the Soviets when they make a mistake, but this is a tricky issue.' But they basically felt compelled to include language that slapped the Soviet Union...

...Gar Alperovitz, the economist and revisionist Cold War historian, adds that anti-Sovietism is a kind of "rhetorical sweepstakes" in which the Left can't win...

...But little of that has happened...

...When SANE, Greenpeace, and the Freeze campaign called a joint press conference to voice support for the test ban, Common Cause refused even to attend...

...That's why they're against a draft and against higher taxes to pay for military spending...

...Helen Caldicott, has publicized her deepening despair about the ineffectiveness of the peace movement...

...This means that you have to stick to technical issues and not raise the hot political ones...

...Anybody can pull out a laundry list of horror stories about their society—or ours, for that matter...

...Perhaps you'd start with 500 people one month and announce your intention to come back every month until the President joined the moratorium, and then each month you'd add to it until you had tens of thousands of people...

...Let me give you a specific example," he told me...

...Instead of criticizing the United States for consistently taking the lead in arms-race escalation, most peace groups take pains to condemn both superpowers in the same breath for their mutual contributions to world insecurity...

...But Sovietophobia is found on the Left as well as on the Right—in the peace movement as well as in the Pentagon...

...Representative Stephen Solarz of New York, known for his opposition to the Philippine regime of Ferdinand Marcos, lamented on the op-ed page of The New York Times that "Democrats have tended in recent years to refrain from forthrightly expressing our view of the inherent immorality of the Soviet system...

...In failing to take a frank public stance on the Soviet offer, Borosage adds, the peace forces have sacrificed truth to preserve credibility...

...It's true that they're concerned about national security, but they're not willing to sacrifice for national security...

...it will require an enormous commitment of what used to be called "civic courage...

...In that respect, Martilla suggested, the peace movement should take its cue from younger members of Congress—such people as Representative Solarz—who are "willing to apply tough standards toward Soviet behavior and speak out publicly when the situation warrants it...

...What's more, they were thwarted by some arms-control groups...

...More ANTI-RED Than Thou The peace movement plays it safe BY SUZANNE GORDON On August 15, 1985, the new Secretary General of the, Soviet Communist Party took an unexpected and decisive step toward ending the nuclear arms race between the superpowers: Mikhail Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union would unilaterally suspend all nuclear-weapons testing, and he invited the United States to join in an immediate and total test ban...

...But what we need to be doing is working for what we want, not what Congress tells us we can get...

...public opinion—a new readiness to deal with the Russians and end the arms race...

...They find it much easier to call for a bilateral, verifiable agreement than to take on the formidable task of educating Americans about Soviet realities...

...That's one way that proved newsworthy...

...In their attempt to be balanced, a number of directors threw in a line that said each side should refrain from violations of existing arms-control treaties, such as the Soviet radar installation at Krasniosk...

...It would have been appropriate, therefore, for the American peace movement to react with vigor to the Soviet initiative...

...Michael Mawby, a Washington lobbyist who spent eight years working for SANE and now represents Common Cause on arms-control issues, echoes Isaacs's pragmatic orientation...

...The implications are profound, for peace activists now find themselves attempting to oppose Administration policies and actions while often embracing the official rationale for those policies and actions...

...In his report to WAND, Martilla stated that though the movement had succeeded in changing American attitudes toward nuclear weapons, it had failed in its dealings with the press and Congress...

...And you'd build up pressure on the President and Congress and publicize the importance of this historic initiative in a way that no op-eds can ever do...

...I can tell you how some liberals have done it as opposed to peace groups...

...Sometimes I think some in the more moderate, more conservative arms-control community are our worst enemy because they simply have no vision of how to get out of this spiral of the arms race...

...David Cortright, executive director of SANE, agrees that "anti-Sovietism has come because we have succeeded...

...And we're not going to get from here to there by maintaining the Cold War mentality...

...One example is the movement's most important initiative of recent years, the proposal for a bilateral, verifiable nuclear-weapons freeze, which was carefully designed to avoid a direct confrontation with anti-Soviet sentiment...

...We've spent so long getting where we are...

...imperial adventures in the Third World, but also for ultrareactionary policies at home...

...Government...

...People may not understand ideological issues, but they understand that the revolution in Nicaragua was based on poverty and oppression, not Soviet instigation...

...But even their modest activities suffered because they were not part of a consistent educational campaign...

...SANE, the Freeze, Greenpeace, and the Mobilization for Survival have been among the most forthright in endorsing the test-ban initiative...

...Gruenenbaum, an expert on the Soviet Union in her own right—she holds a Ph.D...

...To engage in disputes about how bad the Soviet Union is," he says, "only fans the fires of hostility and undermines serious efforts for peace...

...To think of the Soviet Union either as an Evil Empire or as an immutable monolith is to renounce a sophisticated understanding of that society...

...Right now, those fears are not very severe, compared to other periods in American history...

...would not only deplore Soviet secrecy and repression but also attempt to understand the causes and explore the avenues for change...

...When I discussed the report with WAND's president, Sayre Sheldon, she seemed uncomfortable about the conflict between Manilla's priorities and her own...

...A ban on nuclear testing might have been pushed to the forefront as an issue in this year's House' and Senate election contests...

...Since atmospheric tests were outlawed by a U.S.Soviet treaty in the early 1960s, American weapons designers have lobbied fiercely against any further limitations on testing, insisting that such restraints would leave them unable to add new kinds of weapons to the nuclear stockpile or even to check on the efficacy of existing bombs...

...Howard Riis, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists, says his organization takes the Gorbachev initiatives seriously and is trying to educate the mass media about them...

...Sooner or later, every organization that engages heavily in lobbying resigns itself, more or less willingly, to playing by Washington's rules...

...It's difficult to see how anyone in the peace movement could take issue with that position...

...But in the hothouse atmosphere of Washington lobbying, other factors come into play...

...I think people view the peace movement as soft on the Soviet Union," Mawby told me, "as unable or unwilling to make the hard demands on them that they make on the U.S...

...the thing isn't even built yet...

...Indeed, a number of the more "liberal" arms-control groups—those whose goal is to manage rather than end the arms race and who seek their constituencies among "opinion-leaders" and "decisionmakers"—seem to have concluded that they can best exert their influence by catering to conventional anti-Soviet biases...

...degree in Soviet politics and formerly taught political science at Sarah Lawrence College—worries about the "self-censorship" she sees in peace organizations: "I know from many discussions that I've sat in on that people don't want to sound like they're 'playing to the Soviets.' Questions even arise when you discuss taking a trip to the Soviet Union or distributing literature about Soviet society...

...Like Hollywood, Madison Avenue, the mass media, and the Democratic Party, much of the peace movement's leadership seems to have concluded that anticommunism is "zap-proof...

...You have to find gimmicks so the press would write about it...

...Many people in the peace movement, particularly those in Washington-based groups, take their lead on positions from their Congressional friends— the folks they depend on to carry the ball for them in Congress," says Frank Clem-ente, the co-founder of Jobs with Peace, which serves as a bridge between antiwar and labor organizations...

...is an end in itself but because "it is the existence of repression that creates the greatest opportunities for Soviet expansion...

...The American peace movement, which might have been expected to hail the Soviet initiative and deplore the negative U.S...

...Dissenters and reformers can easily be tarred—and for decades have been—as tools, dupes, or willing accomplices of the world communist conspiracy...

...What could have happened," Borosage says, "is what happened during the Vietnam war...

...A ban on testing has long been regarded as the key to nuclear disarmament...

...He warns, "Any time you praise the Soviet Union, there's a risk of losing credibility...

...Peace activists might have mounted a spirited drive to mobilize public opinion...

...The Martilla report's explicit anti-Sovietism has created sharp internal controversy...

...My view is that the peace movement over here is really seen as being an apologist for Soviet actions...

...They really don't apply the same standards to both sides...

...Michael Mawby of Common Cause conceded that some aspects of the Soviet proposal "might be groundbreaking and real serious," but insisted that the Soviets are trying to seize a propaganda advantage and that an endorsement by U.S...

...David Cohen, formerly of Common Cause and now the director of the Professionals' Coalition for Nuclear Arms Control, seems eager to distance himself and his organization from any Soviet proposal...

...That would be shooting ourselves in the foot...

...We have to recognize," he says, "that the biggest obstacle to our objective in the public mind is the paranoia, mistrust, and misinformation about the Soviet Union...

...But he, too, takes the Soviets to task for making their proposals "through the press, not through the process in Geneva or through the White House...

...Cortright believes the peace movement should step up its opposition to the arms race and its efforts to educate the public...

...Liberal Democrats, too, have rushed to cash in on the resurgence of anticommun-ist propaganda...

...But, she added, the peace movement is obliged to deal with "people who constantly take it back to competition and fear of the Soviet Union"—the kind of people who subscribe to anti-Sovietism...

...Right before the summit, the arms control directors' group met to develop a five- or six-point statement...

...In my heart, I know people who criticize the study's conclusions are right, but if we don't do this, working in this town, we'll be accused of being Reds, or communist sympathizers," says a staffer in WAND's Washington office...

...To a large extent, the peace movement's failure to act resulted from the kind of crude, knee-jerk anticommunism that has long been the stock in trade of the militarist Right and that is now enjoying a revival throughout American society...

...peace movement should spend more of its time criticizing Soviet human-rights violations and should put forward its own initiatives...

...You don't want to be considered unacceptable or dangerous by people who have become your constituency, your political allies...

...Stephen F. Cohen, one of the most perceptive American experts on the Soviet Union, calls this world view "Sovietopho-bia" and says it leads to "militarized thinking about American-Soviet relations, alarmist assertions about Soviet intentions and capabilities, and baseless claims that the United States is imperiled by strategic gaps...

...Furthermore, anti-Sovietism provides a rationale not only for the arms race and U.S...

...In fact, anti-Sovietism is the impediment that prevents Americans from formulating and executing an effective policy toward the rival superpower...

...This makes it all the more ironic and pathetic that some of the most progressive forces in American politics—including the peace movement—have been infected by the anti-Sovietism that permeates our society...

...Instead of challenging official U.S...

...For the last couple of years, WAND's founder, Dr...

...Those who hold that attitude must interpret any Soviet diplomatic initiative, from the Yalta Conference to the Gorbachev test ban, as a propaganda ploy designed to mislead or cheat the West...

...It is the attitude that regards the Soviet Union as the source of most of the evil in the world and the Soviet leadership as sincere only in its desire to expand its global power...

...Don't we have to care about that...

...He believes the U.S...

...Five years ago, we couldn't get our foot in Les Aspin's door...

...We have to demystify anti-Sovietism by talking about the roots of national liberation struggles in the developing world...

...Jane Gruenenbaum, executive director of the National Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, balks at suggestions that the peace groups ought to step up their criticism of the Soviets...

...He urged members of his party to adopt "a resolute anticommunist policy" and counseled that repressive governments, such as the late Marcos regime and the apartheid government of South Africa, should be opposed not because democracy Suzanne Gordon, a contributing editor of Nuclear Times, wrote "The Case for Conversion " in the September issue of The Progressive...

...But that's not the issue...

...Some members of WAND's staff have reluctantly accepted Manilla's conclusions because they simply cannot imagine taking the risk of confronting anti-Sovietism...

...You have to do it in a way that people pay attention to...

...peace organizations wouldn't "score any points with anybody over here...

...At a cost of $163,000, Martilla asked a sampling of the public, members of Congress, and seventy-five representatives of the mainstream media how they felt about the peace movement...

...now we can get in and talk to him...

...It's true that they distrust the Soviets and want weapons, but they don't want to use them...

...rhetoric ab6ut the nature of the Soviet military threat, most peace groups are content to confine their challenge to specific weapons estimates, while accepting the notion that NATO is Western Europe's essential shield against Soviet invasion and the assumption that sinister Soviet influence lurks behind every Third World revolution...

...From that experience and others, Cortright shares Gruenenbaum's concern about self-censorship in the peace community...

...Rallies and mass marches might have demanded a positive response from the Reagan Administration...

...News & World Report observed, "absolutely zap-proof...

...What should have been a peace activist's dream—a chance to revitalize the movement and perhaps even achieve a momentous success—became, instead, an occasion for internal bickering and inactivity verging on paralysis...

...And I think that the argument that 'it's not our role to tell the Soviet Union what to do' just really doesn't wash...

...Instead of being caught up in the tide of anti-Sovietism, Gruenenbaum suggests, the peace movement ought to recognize it as a compliment and a challenge...

...Historian Alan Wolfe has pointed out that when Americans are asked about foreign policy, they tend to take greater pride in steps toward peace than in military triumphs...

...She assured me that the group was not necessarily in accord with all of his "research findings," but instead of dealing with the question directly, she talked about WAND's interest in promoting "a lot of people-to-people kind of interchange...

...Former Senator Paul Tsongas, for example, joined with some right-wingers giving aid to the Afghan rebels, and that got some attention...

...It's also clear that their fears of the Soviets go up and down...

...Robert Borosage, director of the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies, is one of a number of progressive activists who believe that the peace movement is simply afraid to align itself with a Soviet position—even if that position fully coincides with the movement's own aspirations...

...The polls are pretty clear," says Wolfe, "and even conservative readings of them bear this out, that Americans want to feel strong but have no particularly belligerent attitudes...

...The freeze campaign, she says, both reflected and encouraged a significant shift in U.S...

...WAND's contradictory stance reflects an increasing effort to court mainstream politicians and the media...

...In the winter of 1985, she urged WAND to commission Martilla to "help the organization find out what it was up against...

...Few voices have been raised, few demonstrations organized...

...The Reagan Administration swiftly declined the invitation...

...Last year, Cortright, Gruenenbaum, and other peace-movement leaders traveled to the Geneva summit meeting to petition Reagan and Gorbachev for an end to nuclear testing and progress in arms reductions...

...Many recent public opinion polls reveal an eagerness to ease world tensions...

...response, said next to nothing at the outset...

...Many of the framers of the freeze proposal privately admit that they favor unilateral rather than bilateral steps toward disarmament and that modern technology has rendered meaningless all of the standard demands for verification, but they insist that it would be "unrealistic" to state their true preference...

...Cowardice," he says, "is always self-defeating...

...Some analysts suggest that the overly cautious peace organizations may be underestimating the willingness of Americans to reach an accommodation with the Soviet Union...

...This is no small task...

...Because of such attitudes, an extraordinary opportunity to mobilize American public opinion has slipped by...

...But it is a task that the peace movement can assume if it is ready to exercise a leadership role instead of swimming with the safe mainstream...

...In the past year, the Soviet Union has repeatedly extended Gorbachev's moratorium on nuclear testing, and the Government of the United States has consistently scorned Soviet suggestions that it, too, suspend weapons tests...

...WAND's executive director, Diane Aronson, seemed almost embarrassed when I asked how the organization was applying Manilla's suggestions...

...Central to that failure, he asserted, was the peace movement's unwillingness to articulate a hard anti-Soviet line...

...Even the demands raised by peace organizations reflect the anticommunist consensus...

...So I came back and asked my research assistant to look up these alleged violations, and found that Science magazine, which is hardly a commie rag, says that it's all very ambiguous...

...So I went back to this group and said, 'I don't think SANE can sign this thing...

...But what happens is that gradually they define how far you can go and what your arguments are going to be...

...You'd begin to have rallies and teach-ins once a month...

...Hollywood has churned out such simplistic fare as Rambo and Rocky IV, White Nights and Red Dawn, Iron Eagle and Invasion U.S.A...

...Advertisers have discovered that commercials lampooning the Soviet Union are, as U.S...

...On any issue, whether it be Star Wars or MX missiles or anything, we have to be very careful not to be in the corner of the Soviet Union but be critical of them, too," says John Isaacs, legislative director for the Council for a Livable World, which raises money for candidates who favor arms control and for arms-control lobbying on Capitol Hill...

...An instructive example is the recent flirtation between Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND) and the Democratic political pollster and campaign consultant John Martilla...

...Anticommunism—anti-Sovietism is probably a more precise term—has been a dominant theme in American political culture since the Bolshevik Revolution...