The Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry and Natan Sharansky

This week we take a look at an inspirational protest group – the Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry (aka ‘The 35s’) and their campaign to free Anatoly Shcharansky aka Natan Sharansky – one of many Jewish persons who were refused a visa when seeking to emigrate from the USSR and subsequently harassed and imprisoned by the KGB. These people were known as ‘Refuseniks’ by the Western press and the campaign of support for Soviet Jewry was part of the broader fight for human rights within the former USSR.

The Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry emerged in 1971 upon learning that a thirty-five-year-old librarian named Raisa Palatnik from Odessa had been arrested for distributing ‘samizdat’ (banned literature). She was sentenced to two years in prison in June 1972 after a period of harassment by the KGB beginning in October 1970. A small group of women decided to hold a protest outside the Soviet Embassy in London and from these modest beginnings the campaign on behalf of all Refuseniks began. During Palatnik’s time in prison, this pressure group distributed leaflets asking members of the public to help her as she stood on trial in the Soviet Union. They requested telegrams and letters to be sent to the Soviet Ambassador at an address in Kensington Gardens, London, or to Intourist Moscow Ltd in Regent Street.

This group acquired the nickname ‘the 35s’, perhaps due to the fact that Raisa was 35 years old at the time, or perhaps, according to a later pamphlet, it was because “a group of 35 thirty-five-year-old women set up the 35s – Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry. Through persistence, dedication, and sheer chutzpah, they were to change the face of the Soviet Jewry campaign, and of the human rights record of the Soviet Union.” [MS254/A980/2/27/7]. The group was primarily made up of relatively young middle-class Jewish housewives from north-west London, who’d no previous experience of activism or campaigns. They proved themselves to be a formidable force, conducting a tireless campaign to heighten public awareness of their cause, and were known for their effective and highly imaginative demonstrations and protests.

The 35s were able to rally an alliance of cross-party MPs in support of their cause and they celebrated the formation in February 1972 of the House of Commons All Party Committee for Soviet Jewry by holding a banquet offering the same grim provisions given to Soviet Jewish prisoners of conscience, which included: 14 oz of ‘black bread’ for breakfast, two-thirds of a cup of cooked cabbage soup for lunch and 5 oz of potato (without fat) for dinner: nutritionally insufficient to maintain even a three-year old child. 

House of Commons ‘Souvenir Banquet’ for the All Party Committee for Soviet Jewry, 23 Feb 1972 [MS254/A2079/3]

The campaign on behalf of the refusenik Anatoly Sharansky began when, in early March 1977, a ‘confession’ was extracted from another refusenik alleging that he and other Soviet Jews were covertly working for the CIA. It was in this context that the Soviet computer scientist Sharansky was arrested in Moscow, accused of treason, on 15^th March 1977. The Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry argued the arrest was part of a broader Russian anti-Jewish campaign. Sharansky was born Anatoly Borisovich Shcharansky in 1948 in the city of Stalino (now named Donetsk), then in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. At the time of his arrest, aged 29, he was a leader of the Jewish community in the USSR and specialised in computer systems and was also an expert on computer chess.

Sharansky had applied to emigrate to Israel in 1973. Like most Soviet Jews who applied to emigrate he was dismissed from his job but refused permission for a visa. He married in 1974 but his wife was then expelled from the USSR. By 1975 Sharansky had emerged as one of the leaders of the Soviet Jewish human rights community. In his booklet on the history of the Jewish people in Russia titled ‘From the Tsars to Shcharansky’, Peter Moss described him as “the symbol of spirit and hope amongst the Jews of the Soviet Union. But if 1975 was the year of Helsinki and Shcharansky, it was, perhaps above all, the year when a new word entered into modern day language and into the dictionary: REFUSENIK: ‘A Jew in the Soviet Union who has been refused permission to emigrate to Israel.’” [MS343/A2067/6/26]

‘From the Tsars to Shcharansky: A brief background to the Anti-Semitism and the Jewish Emigration Movement in the Soviet Union (1500-1975)’ by Peter Moss [MS343/A2067/6/26]

Unable to work, Sharansky co-founded the Helsinki Monitoring Committee in Moscow in 1976 with Professor Orlov and dedicated himself to the problems of emigration and human rights in the USSR. Sharansky was put under KGB surveillance and his home searched multiple times before his arrest in March 1977. The 35s rallied to his support and produced a range of protest material drawing attention to his case, utilising mocks-ups of the publicity material of various prestigious Russian cultural institutions.

Mock Georgian State Dance Company poster [MS254/A980/2/27/7]

Mock Bolshoi Ballet flyer, 1986 [MS254/A2079/3]

Mock Bolshoi Ballet flyer, 1986 [MS254/A2079/3]

In a letter dated 14^th March 1978 addressed from Margaret Rigal, the Secretary of the International Committee for the Release of Anatoly Sharanksy (whose Joint Chairmen were John Gorst MP, Helene Hayman MP and Russell Johnston MP), we learn the following: “On Wednesday 15th March [1978], Sharansky will have been in prison, incommunicado, for a whole year. A lawyer has now been appointed by the KGB, against the wishes of his family, since she is elderly and has not agreed to plead his innocence […] Any hope, therefore, of a fair trial or any suggestion that the verdict might accord with justice is little more than a pious wish. If the trial takes place, the verdict, I am sure, is a foregone conclusion. Perhaps a letter from you reminding the Soviet Ambassador that no civilised country keeps a prisoner incommunicado for over a year before there is a trial, might bear fruit.” [MS254/A980/2/27/2]

At the time of the 1980 Moscow Olympics the 35s staged a protest at Wembley Arena calling for Sharansky’s release, with a mock Brezhnev present.

Sharansky protest at Wembley Arena, early 1980s [MS254/A980/4/28/22]

In March 1985 there was a change of leadership in Soviet government under Gorbachev. His policy of ‘Glasnost’ (roughly translated as ‘openness’ or ‘transparency’), led to some degree of liberalisation in the Soviet Union. The 35s invoked Glasnost in their campaign of continued pressure on the Soviet authorities to live up to their human rights obligations, under the 1975 Helsinki Accords. This pact, signed in 1975 by 35 nations (including the USA and the Soviet Union), included guarantees on the inviolability of frontiers and non-interference in the internal affairs of states but article VII also called for “respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief”. The 35s’ protests invoked both Helsinki and Glasnost.

35’s Moscow State Circus flyer [MS254/A980/4/28/62]

35’s Moscow State Circus flyer [MS254/A980/4/28/62]

Refusenik ‘Glasnost’ lorry-placard protest, c.1985 [MS254/A980/4/28/44]

It was within this climate of sustained pressure from the West on human rights issues on the one hand, as well as a willingness on the part of reformers within Soviet government to change the status quo in the USSR on the other hand, that Sharanksy was freed, as part of an East-West prisoner swap in February 1986. By this time, after almost nine years in Soviet prison, Sharansky was described as the “world’s most famous dissident” in The Sunday Times of 28^th September 1986. In February 1986, he walked across Berlin’s Glienicke Bridge to the West, finally released by the KGB. He took a new Hebrew name ‘Natan’ and anglicised his surname from Shcharansky to Sharansky, symbolising his disconnection from the Soviet Union. In September 1986 the 35s held a special event at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate Sharansky’s freedom.

Flyer for the Sharansky Royal Albert Hall event, 21 Sep 1986 [MS254/A980/4/28/1]

Sharansky with 35s at Royal Albert Hall, 1986 [MS254/A980/4/28/3]

Sharansky at Royal Albert Hall, 1986 [MS254/A980/4/28/19]

He met prime ministers and presidents and was hailed as a symbol of freedom and resistance. He was feted by people from all sides of the political spectrum as a public symbol of freedom, whilst simultaneously maintaining his own sense of himself as an individual.  In January 1987 Sharansky was given the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Humanitarian Award for his “invincible spirit in the face of Soviet oppression” [MS254/A4249/4/11]. He later entered Israeli politics, representing the interests of Russian immigrants to Israel, and served in government for many years from the mid-1990s. He has recently renewed his calls for defending the principles upon which the free world rests and condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country where his life journey began in 1948.

For those interested in the stories of the many other Refuseniks, there are a range of relevant collections here at the University of Southampton including: the Papers of the Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry; the Papers of Michael Sherbourne; the Papers of Conscience; the Papers of Dr Colin Shindler; the Papers of Rabbi Lawrence Littlestone; and the Papers of Sheila Rawlins.

Spotlight on collections: drawings of Indian architecture

To coincide with the University’s inaugural India Week, 14-18 March, this week’s blog will shine the spotlight on items from a series of watercolours of architecture in India. India Week celebrates the growing Southampton-India ties and is organised in collaboration with Southampton City Council, Southampton City of Culture 2025, India Business Group and supporting partners.

Dating from the early to mid-nineteenth century, the small series of watercolours in the Special Collections (MS288) possibly were created in preparation for a work on architecture.

Ground plan of the Taj Mahal and the musjids [MS288/4]

The Taj Mahal which was constructed between 1632 and 1648, was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. It represents a blend of India, Persian and Islamic styles. The mausoleum is flanked by two buildings facing east (the Mihman Khana, known as the guest house) and west (the mosque) to provide balance.

Front view of mosque [MS288/5]

The mosque is constructed of red standstone inlaid with white marble. The corners of each rectangle has an octagonal turret. The building is topped by three domes: the central one is larger but otherwise they are identical.

Front view of Taj Mahal from the steps [MS288/7]

The mausoleum is a perfectly symmetrical octagonal white marble building. It has four main sides and four intermediate sides.  

Chini Ka Rauza [MS288/20]

Situated close to the Taj Mahal, the Chini Ka Rauza is the mausoleum of Allama Afzal Khan Mullah who was prime minister during the reign of Shah Jahan. Its name arises from the fact that it is decorated with ceramic tiles (“chini”) that were imported from China.

Tomb of I’timad ud Daulah [MS288/21]

Constructed between 1622 and 1628, the tomb of I’timad ud Daulah is sometimes referred to as the “Baby Taj” as it is considered a model for the Taj Mahal. Made of white marble, with octagonal towers, it stands on a plinth of red sandstone. The exterior is completed decorated in a range of designs using inlay and mosaics. Stucco and painting have been used to create the decoration of the interior.

Interior of the tomb of I’timad ud Daulah [MS288/22]

And if you want to see further images from this collection, then do look at our blog from July 2019 celebrating the wonders of watercolours.

Spotlight on collections: the Cambiaso drawings

The Special Collections in the University of Southampton might not seem the most obvious place for works by the sixteenth-century Italian painter. But the small collection of 17 drawings by Luca Cambiaso, or after his style, were acquired by the Hartley Institution, the predecessor of the University of Southampton, before 1879. The Hartley Institution when it was originally founded had a small fund of £5 a year to purchase old Master drawings and by the 1870s had a number of collections.

Luca Cambiaso (1527–85) was born in Genoa and initially worked with his father, Giovanni (1495–1579), a painter. Luca had a tremendous facility for drawing, which was widely imitated in Genoa — and his work was popular among collectors in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Cambiaso was also a print-maker. He probably spent time in Rome in the late 1540s, and he was certainly influenced by Michelangelo. He became known for his frescoes, often taken from small drawings to full-scale work on walls without intervening cartoons. In the 1550s and 1560s his mature work includes some remarkable fresco cycles. In Genoa, these could be found in important palazzi, with subjects including the Rape of the Sabines (Villa Imperiale di Terralba), the Return of Ulysses (Palazzo Meridiana), and the Life of Cleopatra (Palazzo Imperiale, Campetto, now destroyed), and a series of ecclesiastical commissions, ranging from St Benedict enthroned between St John the Baptist and St Luke (Genoa Cathedral) to the Celebration of the Synod (Archbishop’s Palace, Genoa). In the 1570s, he turned increasingly to religious themes, with a keen interest in their theological interpretation. Among the paintings in the English royal collection on the death of Charles I was an Assumption of the Virgin by Cambiaso. Cambiaso went to Spain in 1583 to work for Philip II, particularly on the monastery/palace of the Escorial, and he was appointed Philip’s court painter in 1583. His paintings at the Escorial include a Gloria, on the ceiling of the sacristy, a series of frescoes for the Capilla Mayor, as well as large paintings on canvas of religious themes. The painting of the Battle of Lepanto in the Gallery of Battles is his work, although it was not commissioned for the building. One of Cambiaso’s sons, Orazio, also worked on the Escorial until c.1588.

‘Venus and Adonis’ [MS286/11]

The drawings at Southampton are mainly of the evangelists, prophets or female sibyls sitting on clouds, but with some other subjects, one probably of the Death of Adonis. In the early 1570s, Cambiaso produced a Venus Mourning over the Body of Adonis, now in the Galleria Nazionale dell’Arte Antica (the Palazzo Barberini), in Rome, and it is possible this may be a preliminary study. The cloud designs suggest that these may have been intended as preliminary studies for ceiling paintings. Although it has not now proved possible to locate them, they are indicative of the grand scale on which Cambiaso might conceive his work.

‘St Mark reading his gospel, seated on a lion, his symbol as an evangelist’ [MS286/4]

‘St Matthew, with a winged man’ [MS286/12]

The drawings are on a fine handmade paper and have been attached by paste at the corners to a heavier rag paper. There is evidence that they had been mounted and framed during the nineteenth century using poor quality mount board and an inner lining of the newspaper the Rock, dated 1876. Both mount board and backing papers show wood burn marks from the frame.

For details of another art collection purchased by the Librarian of the Hartley Institution do look at the blog from 2019 detailing the album of sketches of Francis Cleyn the Elder.

And join us next week as the Special Collections blog focuses on Indian architectural drawings as part of the University’s India week.

The stories they told: a Broadside ballad

Amongst the archive of Gladys, Lady Swaythling, (MS383) are a small number of Broadside ballads from the nineteenth century, including a fine example of what has been termed a female warrior ballad – “Penny Oliver’s ramble”.

Broadside ballads were part of what was termed “street literature”. They were descriptive or narrative songs, commonly in a simple ballad form, on a popular theme. They were printed on broadsides, cheap and crudely produced sheets, and illustrated with woodcuts. They were usually printed on one side of paper designed to be read, unfolded and posted on walls of public places such as ale houses.

Illustration from the ballad “The cobler and wife”, 19th century [MS383 A4000/4/2/2]

More the preserve of the urban population, they were mainly distributed by pedlars, hawkers and street criers who would buy them from the printers and sing or shout about them on streets. Some sellers became well-known figures. And they were so much a part of urban life that Charles Dickens in Our Mutual Friend introduces us to Silas Wegg, a one-legged man selling ballads on street corners.

The broadside ballads developed as a genre from the topical ballads of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and could be considered the tabloids of their day. They certainly shared with the modern tabloid press a love of the sensational: no execution of a celebrated highwayman nor catastrophe escaped becoming the subject of a ballad. Crime was to remain a popular subject, but they covered a myriad of others, politics, romance, humour, tragedy, comedy, histories and royalty, to name but a few.

At a 1/2d or 1d apiece these ballads were the main printed works within the means of the working class or lower middle class.

“Polly Oliver’s ramble”, 19th century [MS383 A4000/4/2/2]

Among one of the most compelling heroines in ballads is the female warrior. Songs celebrating the indecorous heroine who, for the sake of her sweetheart, disguises herself as a man and ventures off into battle or to sea have existed for hundreds of years.

The ballads follow a certain prescribed formula and elements of this can be found in “Polly Oliver’s ramble”. We begin with the separation of the lovers and the girl’s assumption of her disguise. There is then the test of her masquerade before she reveals her true self and the ballad ends with marriage. Whilst the ballad tells the story of love, it is also the celebration of an adventurous heroine able to make her own way and to forge her own destiny. Further examples of these songs telling the stories of women soldiers can be found online at such projects as the Broadside Ballads Online at the Bodleian Library, which holds a copy of “Penny Oliver’s ramble” printed together with another celebration of a women soldier “A female soldier’s adventure for her true love”.

Illustration from the ballad “Fate of Poor Anna”: a tale of seduction and abandonment, 19th century [MS383 A4000/4/2/2]