Tens of Thousands in March : Nuclear Disaster Ignored at Soviet May Day Parade

Tens of thousands of workers marched through the streets of Moscow today in a May Day workers’ celebration that did not mention the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that is devastating a part of the Soviet Union’s breadbasket.

Waving bunches of paper apple blossoms, carnations, banners, red flags and balloons, the workers from all over the Soviet Union marched shoulder to shoulder--nine across--past Lenin’s red granite tomb where Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and other members of the Politburo waved to the crowds.

For the moment, at least, the disaster at the Soviet Union’s showcase nuclear power station at Chernobyl, 300 miles southwest of Moscow, seemed forgotten as a festive air swept through the capital city of 9 million.

Banners urging greater worker productivity and warning of the danger of nuclear war bobbed through Moscow’s gaily decorated streets. The signs were held aloft by masses of flag-waving marchers along the quarter-mile parade route through Red Square from the Lenin Mausoleum to onion-shaped domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral.

The May Day observance also reached into space with the two Soviet cosmonauts currently manning the orbiting Mir (Peace) space station, Leonid Kizin and Vladamir Solovyou, beaming a live message to Earth during the festivities.

Joining Gorbachev on the podium above Lenin’s tomb was President Andrei A. Gromyko. The 76-year-old former foreign minister was reportedly hospitalized earlier this month suffering from a serious bout with the flu.

Along with the usual themes of worker solidarity, nuclear disarmament and international socialist cooperation, this year’s parade featured a tribute to Soviet hero Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. The 25th anniversary of his 108-minute space flight in the Vostok-1 capsule was celebrated April 12.

There was also a touch of anti-American sentiment in the banners.

“Hands off Libya” said one in apparent reference to the recent U.S. bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi.

As usual the Moscow parade was broadcast live on Soviet radio and television and to some neighboring countries as well.

The Soviet government has used the live broadcast as an excuse to cancel satellite transmissions abroad by American television networks until Monday, apparently in an attempt to prevent further news of the Chernobyl nuclear accident from reaching the outside world.