East-Berlin’s Weltfestspiele through the lens of the Communist Party of India’s youth organizations.

Abstract

This paper explores the changing tides of the world, framed by two editions of the World Festival of Youth and Students taking place in the same city, East-Berlin 1951 and 1973. Considering this time frame’s developments in geopolitics, world economy, technology, and social movements, one could state that they took place in the same city but on a different planet. The Weltfestspiele themselves, as well as the aforementioned developments, will be traced through a collection of publications stemming from the two organizations that contributed the most from the Indian side in preparation of these events – the Communist Party of India-affiliated All India Youth Federation and All India Students’ Federation. Between these two festivals there were six more versions of this truly global event. Two of them were very particular. The World Festival Vienna in 1959 as well as the following one in Helsinki in 1962 took place in non-aligned states. Hence, they shall receive some additional attention aside from the two marking the beginning and end of this exploration.