: C)
Although the dismal failure of the 8th. World Youth Festival was much overrated by the capitalist press, it was still in the final’ analysis a failure, both i) politically and emotionally. The fascist riots, the walk-outs of various delegations and individuals, the stagnant politics and the Russian atom explosion all served to make even the staunchest Stalinist doubtful of the significance of the Festival.
Outwardly, politically speaking, the Festival maintined its Stalinist adhesion, but inwardly a contradiction was noticeable between, on the one hand, the revolution~ ary politics of the Colonial comrades, and on the other, the Kremlin revisionists with their talk of peaceful co-existence and paths to Socialism. How frustrating it must have been for many of the delegations from the Colonial countries who are in the midst cf a revolution and who feel the naked bayonets of imperialism, to listen to talk of peaceful methods to oust people like Salazar, Verwoerd, and Welensky. It was noticeable that at one of the meetings a Chinese spokesman who spoke on peaceful co-existence received a standing ovation. By far the most popular of all the delegations was the Cubans, and it is certain that some jealousy was felt by our hand~ picked Soviet comrades, The Soviet delegation was an illustration in itself of the inner turmoils going on in the Soviet youth, as only 15 students were present and none at all from Moscow University. Where, according to an English student who was on a year's exchange visit between London and Moscow University, Soviet youth, partic ularly in the afore-mentioned University, is in open revolt against the bureaucracy.
On the attitude gf the various delegations towards Trotskyists and Trotskyism, one could only state that many people would openly discuss matters with us and no antagonism was felt, On one occasion when an Austrlian comrade was distributing” leaflets to the Czechs who were standing around locking a little perplexed, the Algerians passed by and on reading the leaflets embraced our comrade, leaving the Czechs even more perplexed. When we were distributing leaflets, many people stopped and discussed them with us, and only a few handed them back. However the attitude of the people at the Youth Festival towards Trotskyists was not shared by the Finnish bureaucrats who were in charge of the organisation of the Festival. We were fdllowed, pushed around, and attempts were made to snatch the leaflets from us, although they fully understood that the leaflets contained no anti-Festival statements, At one stage, in fact, they called the Finnish police in, and two of our comrades had their names taken and a few of the leaflets confiscated, This again happened when three more of our comrades were distributing leaflets outside the restaurant where various Colonial delegations were eating. On the last day their animosity reached fever pitch as we attempted to distribute our leaflets at the closing demonstration of the Festival, Both Finnish police and Stalinist bureaucrats joined forces to push us across the other side of the road, and one of our Ceylonese comrades, an official delegate on behalf of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party was severely manhandled by a considerable number of Finnish bureaucrats, After a disturbance of such gravity the police intervened and two of our comradas were taken to the police station. Comrades from Denmark, Britain, Australia, Ceylon, etc., helped to give out the leaflets. Other comrades took part in various delegations, and comrades from the S.W.P. were present, one speaking from the platform as a spokesman of that party .
I should estimate that most of the politically interested people at the Youth Festival received one of our leaflets, I feel that this represents a great step forward, as only five years ago we would have been more than severely manhandled, Many valuable contacts were ,established from various countries, and we established contact with a monthly periodiéal printed by Finnish ex-C.P. dissidents who published Natalia Trotsky's letter to Kruschev. os
The Youth Festival, therefore, has been productive for the Trotskyists if not for the Stalinists, and I think we have succeeded in making an impression on the Festival.
( Editor's Note: This article was especially written for the Bulletin
by a Young Socialist who participated in the