The story of a civil rights activist who took part in one of the most famous peace rallies of the 20th century

Cyril was part of the San Francisco to Moscow Walk for Peace in 1961, had tea with Nina Krushchev, wife of then-Russian premier Nikita Krushchev, and he married Regina Wender Fischer, mother of chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer.

An avid diarist, his musings recall his experiences of living through the Blitz during the Second World War, of the Peace March, the building of the Berlin Wall, and the age-old struggle of the proletariat against the State. Cyril’s nephew, Laurence Saffer, who is married to his niece, Sally, has brought his story to life in a book, Plumber, Lecturer, Pacifist, Spy (?), a biography replete with extracts from Cyril’s own diaries - the question mark relates to a speculation about part of Cyril’s life which is resolved in the book.

Speaking about the work, Laurence, from Leeds, says: “I heard many stories about Cyril and his adventures. He was the eldest brother of my wife’s mother. When she passed away, we inherited two boxes full of his writings. When I looked through them, I saw there was a story worth telling. We are all used to reading about famous people like Winston Churchill, Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, and the great societal changes they helped bring about, but the truth is it’s the ordinary folk who took part in these huge public demonstrations that made politicians sit up and take notice. Without them, we’d all be living in a completely different world. Each one of them, in their own way, helped save the world.”

Born in 1929 in London to Ukrainian immigrants, Cyril grew up in Shoreditch, London, the eldest of seven siblings. As a child, he lived through the Blitz - his diaries recall wandering the streets of London “past heaps of rubble [and] scattered debris, the smouldering ruins of buildings and houses” and “watching glowing embers of wood drifting on the breeze”.

His early political views were formed here, amid this “clash of ideologies”, set against a backdrop of broken cityscapes, disrupted education and constant fear of ‘the bomb’. Cyril became a plumber but remained an avid diarist, dabbling in poetry. He found an outlet for his political views in the Communist Youth Association, although he later resigned through fear of being arrested - such was the political schism between East and West at the time.

The Cold War began in 1947, polarising politics, while subsequent events such as the ‘space race’ and Cuban missile crisis in 1962 led only to further ideological entrenchment. The Walk for Peace began as an earnest anti-war, anti-armament movement in San Francisco in November 1960 and ended in Red Square in October 1961.

Cyril took part in the European leg and went on to Russia via France (where he and others were initially refused entry) and Germany. While attending a 5,000-strong rally in Trafalgar Square, his diary notes: “Standing high up on the plinth under Lord Nelson...We look out into a sea of faces and banners. It is a thrilling moment. For the first time we can see… there are many people who take us seriously.”

Cyril characterised the movement as one driven by “wartime experiences”, its agents “sincere partisans of peace” who would “no longer support the military politics of their country”. The march drew thousands of supporters at various points along the way and ended with a formal dinner with Nina Khrushcheva, wife of Soviet leader Nikita. It also helped cement into the collective consciousness the idea that protest was not a forlorn hope. For Cyril, the march was also where he met his future wife, Regina Fischer, mother of chess prodigy Bobby. Cyril proposed to her on the train back from Moscow, though the couple divorced and Cyril remarried before his death.

The couple eventually settled in Jena, a university town 165 miles south of Berlin. Cyril’s curious mind and lively disposition later led to him landing a job as an English teacher at Humboldt University in 1963, where he taught both students and academics. He went on to gain a degree in English and wrote his thesis on the role of the English folk song in teaching foreign languages.

In 1967, he even branched into film, landing a bit-part in The Frozen Lightening, as the Chief of Staff of the Royal Air Force. He later returned to the UK, studying a postgraduate diploma in phonetics at the University of Leeds. He died in September 1977, following a period of ill health.

Laurence set about writing Cyril’s story as a gesture for his wife. “He had written beautifully about different things and contemporaneously about some of them. I thought it would be nice from a social history point of view to put that out there and also for my wife to have his memory live on.”

Laurence worked with the University of Bradford to access library and archive material to piece together the events and context of the Peace March and has now offered Cyril’s writings to the university’s JB Priestley Library to sit alongside papers from the organiser of the European leg of the march. He says: “First of all, I hope that the book means Cyril’s memory continues. I hope it brings back memories from the marchers as to what went on. It shows that protest marches have continued for many many decades. Extinction Rebellion is nothing new. It’s a different issue and different tactics in some respect but those who are involved in any kind of peace movement or demonstrations or civil movements that challenge what the state says is happening isn’t a new thing.”

Plumber, Lecturer, Pacifist, Spy (?) is available on Amazon.