Does anyone remember the "Free Angela Davis!" campaign that was huge in the GDR especially, and taken up by RBI with lots of reports of events around the world in support of her.
This typically snide material was prepared for the use of the
editors and policy staff of Radio Free Europe. http://www.osa.ceu.hu/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/99-1-164.shtml
18 September 1972
ANGELA DAVIS IN THE GDR
Summary: American communist Angela Davis spent one
week in the GDR after having toured the Soviet Union
for the preceding two weeks. The reception accorded the
black militant turned into a demonstration of
"international solidarity," allegedly responsible for
Miss Davis' realease from prison. This report describes
the highlights of Miss Davis' visit to the GDR, quotes
some of her more extreme remarks, relates criticism voiced
against her by the Black Panther organization, and reveals
some of the confusion in communist headquarters with
regard to her itinerary.
After her triumphant two-week tour through the Soviet Union,
American Communist Party member and militant Angela Davis arrived
in the GDR on September 10. A reception more flattering and
enthusiastic than the one given Miss Davis in the Soviet Union
could hardly be imagined. Not only was she wined and dined; she
was showered with flowers at every public appearance; she was
seen daily on millions of Soviet television screens; she was
interviewed by all the daily papers; she was the first foreigner
to receive the "honorary medal of the Komsomol"; she received an
honorary doctoral degree from the University of Tashkent and
was made honorary professor of Moscow's State University; she
became an honorary citizen of the oriental city of Samarkand;
and she addressed mass rallies and workers' and women's meetings.
Nevertheless, Miss Davis' appearance in the GDR seems to
have outshone even her glowing Soviet reception. Her arrival
was front-paged by Neues Deutschland, [1] and Miss Davis'
activities the next day outspaced even the coverage of the
returning East German Olympic champions. The entire first two
pages of the main SED paper [2] recorded her activities and her
[page 2]
remarks, and the whole story was illustrated with a picture of
First SED Secretary Erich Honecker meeting "Comrade Angela Davis,
Central Committee member of the CPUSA." The front page also
featured Miss Davis receiving the order of the "Great Star for
International Friendship" in gold from State Council Chairman
Walter Ulbricht, and an illustrated account of her attending a
mass rally in East Berlin.
While Angela Davis1 reported remarks in the Soviet Union
indicated clearly that she knew what was expected of her ("Had
it not been for. the international solidarity campaigns, particularly
in the socialist countries and in the Soviet Union, I would
certainly never have been freed from prison." [3], some of her
statements in the GDR exceeded even the anticipated degree of
orthodoxy. When she visited the Brandenburg Gate and the Wall,
Miss Davis explained that "many lies have been propagated
in the USA about this border," and she added:
When we return to the United States, we will do everything
to explain the true significance of this border to our
people... In this way, we hope to make our contribution to
the ideological struggle against the forces of imperialism. [4]
Later, she laid a wreath at the memorial for the GDR border guard,
Corporal Reinholt Huhn, "who was murdered surreptitiously at the
state border by West Berlin bandits on 18 June 1962."
Compared to such outrages, Miss Davis' observations, for example,
that "Nazism and racism have been totally eradicated in the GDR." [5]
and tnat "in our country too we see fascist tendencies develop
which are similar to those preceding Hitler's accession to power," [5]
must appear almost mild and platitudinous.
During the remainder of her stay in the GDR, Miss Davis was
given an honorary doctor's degree in philosophy from the Karl Marx
University in Leipzig where she was also acclaimed by a crowd of
200,000. [6] The next day, Neues Deutschland [7] announced that
Angela Davis and her friends had gone to the outskirts of Berlin
"for a two-day rest." On Monday, the paper [8] showed the black
militant taking leave of her East German comrades. In addition,
the paper's front-page editorial was written by Angela Davis,
who praised the solidarity of the international workers' movement
and hailed"...Lenin's homeland and the birthplace of Marx and Engels
as the future of mankind."
Her performance in the Soviet Union and in the GDR aroused
objections from some unexpected quarters. Thus, one Moscow
dissident asked a New York Times reporter: "Is she a fool or
is she dishonest? It seems to me she is doing a disservice to her
own countrymen by her statements here." [9]
And in the United States, a Black Panther paper on the West Coast
criticized Miss Davis for failing to get involved in the "programs
of black organizations and people." The paper wrote: "Seemingly
Angela has deserted black people under the dictates of the racist
and reactionary communist party of America." [10]
[page 3]
The organ of the GPUSA, Daily World, was quick, incidentally, to
defend Miss Davis and to reject the accusation of racism.
In a two-part .article, [11] the paper accused the Black Panthers
of "irresponsibility and dishonesty" and of pursuing a "campaign
of anti-communism." The paper criticized as "obnoxious" the
Panther's alleged attempt to separate Miss Davis from the communist
party and claimed that she was traveling to see "her comrades and
the masses of those countries who waged such a vigorous campaign
for her freedom."
Some confusion seems to exist also about Miss Davis1 itinerary
in various communist headquarters.. During the last week of August,
the Soviet Embassy in Washington announced that she would travel
to Cuba and Chile following her East European visit. The Embassy
also said that she would be back in the United States on October 1
"because she is planning to take part in the election campaign of
the Communist Party in the USA." The names of the various East
European countries were not specified by the Embassy.
The above-mentioned article in Daily World also reported that
Miss Davis was traveling through "the Soviet Union, the GDR,
Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Cuba, and Chile."
The East German radio stated in a major political commentary
that Miss Davis would leave the GDR on September 14, [12] although
she actually left on September 17.
Finally, Radio Warsaw reported from Prague that after the
Soviet Union and the GDR,
...the well-known fighter for equality of American negroes,
Angela Davis, will arrive here on Sunday [i.e., September
17] at the invitation of the Czechoslovak women's organization.
On Tuesday, Angela Davis will go to Havana. [13]
In fact, Miss Davis left the GDR on Sunday, but was flying to
Bulgaria, Neues Deutschland reported. [14] Despite the well
organized communist protocol, it would appear that the right hand
does not know what the left hand is doing.
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