The Maghreb Review

ABSTRACT:

The Sixth International Festival of Youth and Students for Peace and Friendship (VIème Festival Mondial de la jeunesse et des étudiants pour la paix et l'amitié) took place in Moscow in 1957, bringing 30,000 foreigners straight into the heart of socialism. Guests from 131 different countries were present; historian Kristen Roth-Ey identifies the "openness of ordinary Soviets to contacts with ordinary foreigners" as the Moscow event's most remarkable feature: "many delegates found themselves literally surrounded by crowds of Soviets, some with questions, some looking for an autograph or to exchange a pin or shake hands, and some, perhaps many, just looking." As Roth-Ey points out, the Soviet communist party encouraged this kind of friendliness (which is germane to our wider conversation about Arab-Soviet internationalism); A. N. Shelepin, head of the Komsomol (the communist youth organization), explained, "we must run the festival in such a way that the overwhelming majority of participants leave Moscow as our friends. That's our main task, that's our general line." In part because invitations went to individuals, not to official organizations – in part because of the scale of the event – a "freewheeling, informal spirit" distinguished a culmination of post-World War II euphoria during the summer of 1957.