1981 CARP Demonstration, an ‘October Surprise’ to Leftists in Bonn, Germany

The Ban-the-Bomb movement in Europe was in high dudgeon in the fall of 1981 as the NATO leadership began to urge deployment of Pershing II missiles as a counter weight to the mass deployment of Warsaw Pact SS-20 nuclear missiles in East Germany. The issue caused controversy in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In Bonn, then the capital of West Germany, a rally was called for on October 10, 1981. By all appearances, the rally was organized by the so-called peace movement, an alliance of as many as 1,500 churches and private-sector advocacy groups. Behind the scenes however, students of the “Marxist Student Union Spartakus” (MSB Spartakus) were intensely working to drive public opinion away from supporting the alliance of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan. They planned to gather 300,000 people, including socialists, communists, and all the sympathizers of the peace-movement to protest the deployment of the tactical Pershing 1A and Pershing II missiles.

In September, Rev. Chong Goo Park, known to Unificationists by the nickname of “Tiger Park,” was helping to build a larger, more assertive student group in Germany called the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP). On Sept 23, 1981 he melded together dozens of CARP members from Germany, Japan, the United States and Europe, according to German Unificationist Claus Dubisz. Having heard about the massive demonstration being planned at the University in Bonn, Tiger Park reported the event to True Father as unwelcome news.

But True Father saw a teaching moment. On about Oct. 3rd, Rev. Chong Goo (Tiger) Park got a call from True Father: “I want you to go to Bonn to speak out for freedom,” according to Mike Smith, a national leader of CARP at the time. Two days later, Tiger Park called Mike Smith, American CARP leader, from

West Germany and said, “Mike, we need your help to oppose a rally of 500,000 leftist activists. Bring as many CARP members as you can.” Smith arrived in West Germany on Oct. 6th with about 14 American members, including the Blue Tuna CARP band.

Exiting from the rally, Mike Smith at far left looking back to Tiger Park.

CARP activists from the United States joined approximately 100 German CARP members in Camberg, a rural retreat center near Frankfurt to plan and rehearse what was going to be a gutsy, surprise counter- demonstration. Their tactic was well known to Communist activists: infiltrate a rally of the opposing party and plant a small crowd of counter-demonstrators at the front of the rally just as the cameras were rolling. In most cases, the sponsoring organization would get half the free media coverage, and the disruptors would get the other half at a fraction of the cost.

Planning the Counter-demonstration

Tiger Park trained his platoon of loyalists at Camberg to use stealth as they approached the speaker’s platform. They were told to walk through the crowd in groups of two or three. Some would carry banners concealed in their trench coats or placards with their painted slogans concealed. All would carry anti-rally leaflets to hand out.

“Say your prayers, because there may be danger,” Tiger Park told them during the rehearsals. Clashes between leftists and CARP members had been common on German campuses through the 1970s and 1980s. Some anarchists painted their faces, wore biker helmets and steel-tipped boots to kick their opponents at these battles, Smith told Unification News.

On Oct. 9th, CARP held its own rally in Bonn and warned German citizens of the danger of unilateral disarmament. CARP was well prepared with banners and Speakers.

CARP leader Ulrich Tuente told the gathering: “We came here with the German and international CARP organization to show crystal-clear what real peace is. Communism uses the word peace, in reality, though, it results in violence and destruction.”

Dieter Schmidt, another CARP Leader spoke too: “It is doubtful that the installation of 175 SS-20 nuclear missiles between 1977 and 1981 directed toward West Europe has peaceful intentions. With those missiles 525 nuclear warheads could be launched in a first strike.

Mike Smith spoke in English to the crowd: “I’m sure the protestors tomorrow want to see a world of peace but it won’t happen if they just lay down in the Street like worms.”

On the day of the big rally, Tiger Park reportedly wrote in his diary: “I might die today” and put on new underwear, “just in case.” He prayed at a morning assembly of CARP members: “God, we know what righteousness is and what truth is. These past 100 years communism has disgraced the lives and dignity of people, and how many have died fighting for this false idea! Now this great human tragedy must end, and in its place a truth should be realized to bring God’s world of love on this earth. We will shout and show your righteousness to them. I don’t care about my life today, Father, but please protect and guide my beloved brothers and sisters.”

About 130 Unificationists positioned themselves as planned next to the raised podium. A few yards away was a platform for TV media. At the appointed signal, CARP members turned with their backs to the speaker and raised their voices with bullhorns and huge banners and posters that said [translated] “Communists Talk Peace But They Mean War!”

Tiger Park celebrating the victory at a huddle in the street

Peace Rally Caught Off Guard

The organizers of the “peace” rally were flummoxed. The speaker stopped his speech for several minutes, as the noise and confusion of the chants and counter-chants drew all the attention. After 40 minutes of shouting, arguing, and even some exchange of body punches all CARP members left, helped by the Peace organizers’ own security force, which opened a path for them through the thousands of seething “peace” protesters. “The exit path created was narrow, but it looked [to me] like the parting of the Red Sea,” Smith says.

Tiger Park’s band of brothers and sisters had to walk to the edge of the crowd in pairs with arms interlocked, expecting trouble, and indeed, the anarchists with painted faces were waiting. “They pulled off a single brother here and there and started to beat them up, kicking them,” Smith says, adding: “but what surprised me was how the German sisters jumped on the backs of the anarchists and pulled them. I saw one sister get punched square in the face by a guy, and she just shook it off as if to say, ‘Is that all you’ve got?” Smith says.

Tiger Park’s platoon got to safety on a nearby street and led a group chant: “Victory for God! Victory for Freedom! Victory for Human Rights!” He then called True Father to report the counter-demonstration and then handed the portable phone to Smith, saying, “Father wants to talk to you.”

Photo shows demonstration in Bonn on Oct. 9th. Placard held By Dieter Schmit at left reads: “Communist Peace Means War… CARP.” Mike Smith is speaking through a bullhorn held by Ulrich Tuente

As Smith recalls, Father said: “Mike, I knew I was sending you into danger and that you might have died today. But God protected all of you who stood for God and for freedom. This was a very important condition for faith and unity that God will use to tear down the Berlin Wall and to release the grip that communism has on millions of people.”

CARP’s counter-demonstration had made its point. They had challenged the naiveté of the peace rally. German citizens supporting the strategy of Peace Through Strength were thrilled to hear about the counter-demonstration.

In time, it turned out that CARP was on the Right Side of History. In 1982 Germany’s Parliament approved installation of the Pershing Missiles. In 1987, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to stand down both of their missile forces.

Peace-Through Strength had worked. And, in 1989, the Berlin Wall came down.

CARP had made a statement in Bonn in 1981 that couldn’t be ignored, and though greatly outnumbered - like Gideon’s army in the Bible — Unificationists had stood up and raised their voices with courage.