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Soviet propaganda poster: "Peoples of world do not want the hardship of war again!" (I. Stalin)

The World Peace Council (or World Council of Peace) was formed in 1949 in order to promote peaceful coexistence and nuclear disarmament.

History

From the very beginning, it has been alleged to be a front organization of Communist parties due to its advocacy of unilateral disarmament in western countries and the active participation and funding of the council by the Soviet bloc as well as the leading role taken in the WPC by Communists such as Frédéric Joliot-Curie, the WPC's founding president. Indeed, the documents of the former Communist bloc archives indicate that from its inception the WPC heavily relied on the Soviet government subsidies. The WPC itself admitted in 1989 that 90 per cent of its funding came from the Soviet Union (WPC, Peace Courier, 1989, No. 4).

TIME Magazine cover of September 17, 1951 depicting the World Peace Council as a tool of Soviet leader Josef Stalin

In 1971 the World Peace Council contained some 600 people from 104 countries, recommended by national organizations of Peace followers, by the World Federation of Trade Unions, by the Women's International Democratic Federation, by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and other organizations. Its governing bodies were the Presidium and the Secretariat¹

It was involved in many demonstrations and protests from the late 1940s to the late 1980s and attempted to lead the peace movement though it was largely sidelined beginning in the 1960s by the New Left which distrusted the Soviet Union and its supporters in the "old left". The People's Republic of China resigned from the council in 1966 as a result of the Sino-Soviet split, a move that undermined the WPC's credibility among Maoists and their sympathisers who dominated the New Left in many western countries.

The WPC was especially active in those areas bordering U.S. military installations, in Western Europe, believed to house nuclear weapons. It waged large campaigns against US-led military operations, especially against the Vietnam war. At the same time, the Soviet-sponsored and Communist-dominated WSG did not condemn similar Soviet actions in Hungary, Afghanistan or elsewhere.

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the council has dwindled down to a small core group.

The WPC had its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, at Lönnrotinkatu 25 A, until the 1990s when the Council moved to Greece. In the past the WPC awarded the International Peace Prize. It published two magazines: the New Perspectives and the Peace Courier.¹ Its current magazine is called Peace Messenger.

In May 2004, the Council held its world congress in Athens attended by representatives of 100 peace groups from around the world. The 2008 world congress of the World Peace Council was held in the Venezuelan capital Caracas from 8-13th April. The 2008 congress showed a greatly increased membership of WPC with more than 120 peace groups from 76 countries in attendance.²

The covert support of the Council by the Soviet and Communist Bloc was matched by the covert operations directed against it by the Western agencies. For example, Phillip Agee noted in his book "Inside the company CIA Diary" that actions were taken to neutralize the group's propaganda campaigns against the US and its allies. Efforts where made to prevent the organization from having meetings outside the communist bloc, and other forms of harassment were employed as well.

Presidents

• Frédéric Joliot-Curie (1950–1959)
• John Desmond Bernal (1959–1965)
• Isabelle Blume (1965–1969)
• Romesh Chandra (General Secretary in 1966-1977; President in 1977-)
• Prof Niranjan Singh Maan (General secretary )
• Orlando Fundora López (2002–2008)
• Socorro Gomes (elected April 2008)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} (1971) Great Soviet Encyclopedia., 3rd ed. (in Russian), Moscow: Sovetskaya Enciklopediya, vol. 5, pp. 450-451. 
2. ^ Caracas Capital Mundial de la Paz

See also

• World peace

External links

• World Peace Council homepage
• Prince, Rob. The Ghost Ship of Lonnrotinkatu, Peace magazine, vol. 8, no. 3, p.16, May/Jun 1992.
• Prince, Rob. Following the Money Trail at the World Peace Council, Peace magazine, vol. 8, no. 6, p.20, Nov/Dec 1992.
• WorldYouthPeaceCouncil
• Welcoming Address to 1979 Session of the World Peace Council Erich Hoenkers speech to the WPC meeting in East Berlin
• U.S. Peace Council

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