pekak > In a Secular Marriage aka Civil Union the “wife”
an interesting point. What would be in Israel without Rabanut weddings? Would they be in the same state as Americans and Russians? Maybe different as Israelis will have less problems with intermarriages. Still, do you NOT think it is a good thing that millions of Jews were married correctly? I am not talking about some card-carrying communists who addressed their sheva brochos to Stalin, but about normal Israelis who have certain Jewish feelings and will cherish the memory of their wedding thru the years, maybe affecting them and their children through their life.
Incidentally, status of publicly known long-term marriage as non-marriage is not that pashut, even as it may be pasken l’kula. Also, when was R Moshe’s teshuva on non-recognition of non-O marriages issued? I think somewhere around 1970. Not sure it affected non-religious weddings also, but if you are thinking as you were in 1950 – you could presume that in the absence of Rabanut non-O marriages will be eventually imported and become a problem.