Soviet Union: The Tourist Provocateurs

The house lights in Moscow's Operetta Theater brightened for intermission as the first act of My Fair Lady came to an end. Suddenly, in the top balcony, a bearded young man rushed to the railing and shouted: "Freedom! Civil rights!" As he flung down fistfuls of leaflets, burly female ushers elbowed into the audience below, crying: "Give them back! Don't read them!" It took five minutes for officials to free the youth, who had handcuffed himself to the railing, and hustle him out.

Such performances are threatening to become a standard feature of protest in the Soviet Union. The young...

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