CND Goes Up a Blind Alley

THE twelve thousand people gathered in Trafalgar Square on Sunday listened once again to the oft-repeated truisms on the horrors of a nuclear holocaust. But if they were seeking a lead from the platform on how they could do something effective to end the threat of nuclear war they were disappointed.

The speeches were impassioned, sincere and eloquent. They were however, directed more towards persuading the establishment of the errors of its ways than towards mobilizing the working class.

Midway through the meeting, nine snub-nosed jets zoomed across the Square. The impudent arrogance of their low flying and the ear-shattering impact of their flight expressed quite adequately what the establishment thinks of passion, sincerity and peaceful persuasion.

After the meeting, marchers headed from the Square through the deserted streets, past the banks and counting houses in the City. The silence of the big buildings and the absence of angry or incensed black-coated insurance brokers, indicated that high finance had decided not to disturb its normal Sunday activities, in order to be persuaded of the 'incorrectness' of its government's policies.

The march reached its climax—some would say its anti-climax. Its point of termination was St Paul's Cathedral.

How ironical that this anti-war movement should be led to the steps of the very cathedral where Queen Anne went to thank the good Lord and his red, white and blue angels for the victories of Marlborough.

Throughout the ages the obedient clerics have blessed the weapons and generals of imperialism in this very cathedral. No doubt, if another conflagration arises they will also securely attach the H-bomb to the chariot of God.

Occupying the chief place of sepulture in the north crypt, entombed in a masthead battle trophy, lies Horatio Nelson; alongside him reclines the Duke of Wellington. In the north aisle is a cenotaph to Gordon, murderer of the Sudanese people.

St Paul's stands as a symbol of the church's marriage to imperialism. To encourage the belief that the capitalist state and its ecclesiastical soothsayers can be relied on to prevent war is to lead the movement up a blind alley.