Emblem of youth and students. Historical chronicles

RGANTD continues to publish amateur photographs of Boris Evseevich Chertok from his unique collection of photographic documents, the first photographs of which date back to the 1930s. XX century. Part of photographic documents of B.E. Chertok (Fund No. 36) was published earlier:

Chertok Boris Evseevich (03/01/1912, Lodz (Poland) - 12/14/2011, Moscow) - one of the founders of the theory and practice of creating missile and spacecraft control systems, founder scientific school, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, full member International Academy astronautics, Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Lenin (1957) and State Prizes (1976), awarded two Orders of Lenin (1956, 1961), the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Red Star, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland IV degree . With his direct participation, the first ballistic missiles, the first artificial Earth satellites, automatic vehicles to the Moon, Mars and Venus, Molniya communication satellites, manned Earth sensing satellites were created. spaceships and orbital stations. and other objects.

In November 1945, representatives of 63 states decided to hold World Festivals of Youth and Students. The first festival was held in Prague in 1947, 17 thousand people from 71 countries participated in it, then festivals were held in Budapest (1949), Berlin (1951), Bucharest (1953), Warsaw (1955). ). And finally, in July 1957, Moscow hosted the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students.

The festival, which took place from July 28 to August 11, 1957, turned out to be the largest in terms of the number of people and events - 34 thousand people from 131 countries of the world arrived in Moscow.

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow, for the first time, photographs of the first day of the festival are published, namely, the passage and passage of foreign delegations through Moscow on July 28, 1957. Special interest present photographs not only of the participants of the festival, but also views of that Moscow of the late 1950s, which no longer exists.

The number of festival participants was so significant that there were not enough buses to transport all of them at the same time. Then it was decided to use trucks (GAZ-51A, ZIL-150, ZIL-121), decorated with the main symbol of the festival - chamomile, its image can be seen in the photograph of the Main entrance of the State Library of the USSR. IN AND. Lenin. Chamomile in the center - image the globe with the inscription "For Peace and Friendship", and around the edges are five multi-colored petals, symbolizing the five continents: a red petal - Europe, yellow - Asia, blue - America, purple - Africa, and green - Australia. The entire cars were painted in the same colors, the sides were sewn up with shields, the most recognizable symbols of the states participating in the festival were applied to the shields and the cockpit. Unfortunately, B.E. Chertok used black-and-white film for shooting, which does not convey the entire color scheme. Cars were assigned specifically to each delegation in accordance with the color of their continent and the symbol of the country. The procession of the festival participants passed from the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition along B. Galushkin Street adjacent to Mira Avenue to Luzhniki, where its grand opening took place.

Publication prepared L. Uspenskaya with the participation of a student of the Russian State University for the Humanities O. Berezovskaya.

Scanning and description of photographic documents A. Ionov.

The VI World Festival of Youth and Students opened on July 28, 1957 in Moscow.

The guests of the festival were 34,000 people from 131 countries of the world.

The festival took place for two weeks and became in every sense a significant and explosive event for Soviet boys and girls - and the most massive in its history. He fell in the middle of the Khrushchev thaw and was remembered for his openness.

The festival has been in preparation for two years. It was an action planned by the authorities to "liberate" the people from the Stalinist ideology. Abroad arrived in shock: the iron curtain is opening!

The idea of ​​the Moscow festival was supported by many statesmen West - even Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, the politicians of Greece, Italy, Finland, France, not to mention the pro-Soviet-minded presidents of Egypt, Indonesia, Syria, the leaders of Afghanistan, Burma, Nepal and Ceylon.

34,000 guests from 131 countries came to the Moscow Festival of Youth and Students, and 2,000 journalists were accredited in the press center. At that time in the USSR the word "foreigner" was synonymous with the words "enemy", "spy", with the exception of representatives of the countries of the socialist camp, but even they were treated with suspicion. Any foreigner immediately became exotic. And suddenly thousands of people from all over the world, of all colors and shades, appeared on the streets of Moscow.

Thanks to the festival, the Druzhba park in Khimki, the Tourist hotel complex, the stadium in Luzhniki and Ikarus buses appeared in the capital. The Kremlin, guarded from enemies and friends day and night, became completely free for visits, youth balls were arranged in the Faceted Chamber. The Central Park of Culture and Leisure named after Gorky suddenly canceled the entrance fee.

The festival consisted of a huge number of planned events and unorganized and uncontrolled communication of people. Black Africa was in special favor. Journalists rushed to the black envoys of Ghana, Ethiopia, Liberia (then these countries had just liberated themselves from colonial dependence), and Moscow girls hurried to them “in an international impulse”. The Arabs were also singled out, since Egypt had just gained national freedom after the war.

Thanks to the festival, KVN arose, transforming from a specially invented program “Evening of funny questions from the TV editorial staff “Festivalnaya”. They discussed the recently banned Impressionists, about Ciurlionis, Hemingway and Remarque, Yesenin and Zoshchenko, about Ilya Glazunov, who was becoming fashionable, with his illustrations for the works of Dostoevsky, not entirely desirable in the USSR. The festival turned the views of the Soviet people on fashion, behavior, lifestyle and accelerated the course of change. Khrushchev's "thaw", the dissident movement, the breakthrough in literature and painting - all this began shortly after the festival.

In 1985, Moscow again hosted participants and guests of the Youth Festival, already the twelfth. The festival became one of the first high-profile international actions of the perestroika era. With its help, the Soviet authorities hoped to change for the better the gloomy image of the USSR - the "Evil Empire". A lot of money was spent on the event. Moscow was cleared of unfriendly elements, roads and streets were put in order. But they tried to keep the guests of the festival away from the Muscovites: only people who had passed the Komsomol and party checks were allowed to communicate with the guests. That unity, which was in 1957 during the first Moscow festival, no longer happened.

“BREACH IN THE IRON CURTAIN”

There are events that do not fade in the emotional memory, are not amenable to bitter and caustic reassessment, warming the soul in the most dank "cursed" days. Remembering which, you envy yourself - was it really in your life ?! Those that belonged to history and, at the same time, forever determined your private, little interesting fate.

50 years ago, on a July evening in 1957, feeling the prick of an unknown but piercing awl, I ran out of the house onto Pushkinskaya Street. Three minutes later I found myself on Gorky Street, nicknamed by our generation "Broadway", but no less Soviet, pompous and orderly for that. At this almost nocturnal hour, in its unshakable sovereign atmosphere, something unusual was seen through - joyful excitement, some kind of excitement. From Manezhnaya Square, right along the pavement, ignoring the horns of cars and police trills, a crowd was rising, never before seen on Moscow streets. Motley, almost carnivally dressed up, irreverent, cheerful, ringing with guitars, beating drums, blowing pipes, screaming, singing, dancing on the go, intoxicated not from wine, but from freedom and the purest and best feelings, unfamiliar, unknown, multilingual - and to chills, to pain dear. At that moment, I realized that dreams really do come true, that my post-war, courtyard youth coincided with the youth of the century. The world festival of youth and students "For peace and friendship between peoples" has come to Moscow.

(…)

To live in a closed country means to perceive the geographic map of the Earth as something like a map of the starry sky, realizing that going to Paris is just as impossible as flying to Mars. It means looking at a foreigner you happen to meet on the street and really like a Martian - with a mixed feeling of curiosity and fear. This means that one should forget about relatives and even acquaintances who do not live in a specific country, but in some generalized, suspicious "abroad", as if about an indecent dream. And, finally, what kind of beret or plaid shirt can you be beaten on the street as a dude, a bearer of an alien ideology, alien manners and mores, and simply for resemblance to characters from the Crocodile magazine. By the way, he was almost the only source of acquaintance with foreign life. Not counting the "Foreign Newsreel", where it was allowed to see the Eiffel Tower, a New York skyscraper or a Madrid bullfight for a few seconds. I know people who watched each issue of this film magazine fifteen times. In fact, they had the opportunity to look through the keyhole behind the "Iron Curtain".

The festival traveled around Moscow in buses and open trucks (there were not enough buses for all the guests). He sailed along the Garden Ring, which was an endless human sea. All of Moscow, simple, just coming to its senses after military cards and queues, not yet forgotten about the fight against cosmopolitanism and cringing, somehow dressed up, barely starting to get out of basements and communal apartments, stood on the pavement, sidewalks, roofs of houses and pulled to the passing guests, the hands yearning for the shake of the same warm human hands. The geographical map has found a concrete embodiment. The world really turned out to be amazingly diverse. And in this diversity of races, characters, languages, customs, clothes, melodies and rhythms - amazingly united in the desire to live, communicate and get to know each other. Now such words and intentions seem banal. Then, in the midst of cold war"They were perceived as an extraordinary personal discovery. Our country opened the world, joining the whole human race. And the world opened our country ... I don’t remember if I ate something in those days and went to bed. I was just happy. Everything 14 days, from morning to evening.

ABOUT one evening we brought a group of Frenchmen to visit our classmate, in a huge Moscow communal apartment, converted from former rooms. Somehow, the whole old courtyard found out that young Parisians were being received in the apartment on the second floor, and people poured in with pies, jam, of course, bottles and other gifts of a simple Russian heart. The French women roared out loud. By the way, all this happened on Pushechnaya Street, a hundred meters from famous building, past which Muscovites in those years passed, reflexively lowering their eyes and accelerating their pace.

Now I think that in the summer of 1957 the reinforced concrete regulation of Soviet life was irrevocably shaken. It became impossible to control everything in the world: tastes, fashion, everyday habits, music on the air. On the ideas, emotions, songs and dances of the festival, my generation was transformed in a matter of days. All Soviet freethinkers, all connoisseurs of jazz and contemporary art, mods and polyglots have their origin in the summer of 57th.

No subsequent aggravation of political relations between East and West, ideological studies and persecution could drown out the independent spirit of the festival. But it was conceived as a purely ideological event: under the guise of the struggle for peace and friendship between peoples, bourgeois foundations were undermined, the chains of colonialism were broken, and communist ideals were affirmed. But, firstly, the struggle for peace really united. And secondly, as you know, living life is always wider and brighter than ideology. Both the American peace fighter in Texas jeans, and the French communist, who looked like a flaneur from the Grand Boulevards, and the turner from FIAT, indistinguishable from all the characters of neorealism, were unconsciously punching holes in the Iron Curtain. The Suslov ideologists did not have the strength to patch them up.

From the memoirs of the writer Anatoly Makarov

PIGEONS FOR THE FESTIVAL

Among those who directly prepared the festival is Vladlen Krivosheev, now a scientist, candidate of economic sciences, and then an instructor in the organizational department of the Moscow City Komsomol Committee. Vladlen Mikhailovich was entrusted with the most, perhaps, exotic task ...

In 1955 (two years before the festival), instructor Krivosheev was summoned by Mikhail Davydov, then First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the Komsomol: “From now on, you are freed from all your affairs. Take care of the pigeons." Doves?

Another man was sitting in the office, as it turned out, - Iosif Tumanov (later -

National artist USSR, a well-known director of mass folk spectacles). “The most important task! Davydov continued. “We need 100,000 pigeons in two years!” And Tumanov got something like a brochure with stamps and visas -

scenario of the festival events.

... In 1949, the First World Peace Congress was held in Paris. An emblem was required. The famous Pablo Picasso, obviously remembering ancient legends, depicted a dove with an olive branch in its beak. So the dove became a symbol of peace. Festivals of youth and students (not only ours) were held under the motto "For peace and friendship between peoples!". The opening ceremony traditionally began with a solemn passage through the stadium of the delegations of the participating countries. And traditionally, this passage preceded the take-off of the pigeon flock: the pigeons, as it were, began the whole holiday.

But the flock was not enough for Tumanov. According to his idea, one after another over the Luzhniki Stadium (which were hastily built for the festival) three waves of pigeons were supposed to soar - white, followed by red, followed by gray ones. Since everything had already been approved "at the top", Davydov emphasized: "The script is law for us."

These three waves Krivosheev had to prepare.

– And see that it doesn’t happen like in Warsaw! - strictly warned the "first".

The Warsaw Festival has just ended. The pigeons screwed up there - literally and figuratively. The Poles carried a huge casket to the center of the stadium, opened the lid, believing that the birds would shoot a white torch into the sky. But they did not rush, but crawled out and began to wander around the stadium, interfering with the movement of the columns ... Shame, in a word.

First of all, it was decided: all sorts of exquisite chegrashs, puffers, turmans - on the side. We put on ordinary postal ones - they are able to provide the right flight at the right time. It's just that they need to withdraw the required amount in two years. By the way, how much? The figure of 100 thousand was clearly taken from the ceiling, but, oddly enough, it turned out to be appropriate. We need a guaranteed strong and hardy bird, don't we? Consequently, if we withdraw 100,000, then from this quantity, due to rejection, we will get 40,000 of these young, strong ones by the required time. And two years is fine too. If you start work now, then by 1957 the third generation will just be on the wing: specimens that are guaranteed to be suitable for the operation.

Orders went to the factories: "The Moscow city committee of the Komsomol ... in execution ... we ask for assistance ...". Dovecotes were erected at enterprises. The Moscow Regional Executive Committee was obliged to supply fodder ...

And yet they took off - 40,000 pigeons!

True, the day before there was a whole operation to bring birds to a poultry farm near Moscow, sorting - the weak aside! - seating in specially designed boxes (4000 boxes with 10 nests in each), in which the winged poor fellows had to endure 6 hours (!), Saving strength for the flight. Then two columns of trucks, accompanied by traffic police cars, moved to Moscow at four in the morning in order to be at the stadium 2 hours before the start. And there 4,000 releasers (participants of the "live background" on the eastern stand) were waiting for a signal ... In general, there is a lot to tell here ... But if you have never seen tens of thousands of pigeons soaring at the same time - and from below they all looked white, and therefore it seemed that boiling-snowy lava splashed into the sky - know that you have lost a lot in life. Newsreel footage preserved this moment. The stands gasped, the audience jumped up from their seats, applauded ...

The post is dedicated to the photo exhibition "Moscow-1957", held in January-March last year. There were exhibited photos of Leonard Janaddy, one of the foreign students who visited the capital as part of the youth gathering of 1957. It was the visit of this photo exhibition by friends, and then by myself, that prompted the idea to get 2 films from this event, shot by my grandfather, from the family photo archives. (By the way, this is the only film from the grandfather's archive, filmed in a reportage style). At the time of these events, he was 30 years old.

Interestingly, at work, in order to avoid "no matter what happened," he was ordered to send his son (my father, who was not even a year old at that time) to relatives during the festival in Moscow. And a month and a half before the actual event. And so it was done, the son was sent to his parents in Bogorodsk, but he himself visited the festival. :-)

Photo amateur, in quality with the Swiss, presented at that exhibition, unfortunately, can not be compared. But they were not planned to be printed in newspapers, as in the case of the Swiss. And blogs half a century ago for the public publication of personal impressions did not yet exist. Therefore, the photos were planned to become exactly what they became - a family archive.

Unfortunately, the film was either poorly preserved (in appearance, however, everything is fine), or it was initially underexposed, or maybe I don’t have enough knowledge to digitize this particular film in high quality - the quality of the photo came out not too high. But nevertheless, we will be able to look into a big event in Soviet life half a century ago.

From the history of the festival (information from Wikipedia): The Dove of Peace, invented by Pablo Picasso, became the symbol of the youth forum, to which delegates from the leftist youth organizations of the world arrived. The Druzhba park, the Tourist hotel complex, the Ukraine hotel, and the Luzhniki stadium were opened for the festival in Moscow. Hungarian Ikarus buses first appeared in the capital, the first GAZ-21 Volga cars and the first Rafik minibus RAF-10 Festival were produced for the event. The festival has become in every sense a significant and explosive event for boys and girls - and the most massive in its history. He fell in the middle of the Khrushchev thaw and was remembered for his openness. The foreigners who arrived freely communicated with Muscovites, this was not pursued. The Moscow Kremlin and Gorky Park were opened for free visiting. More than eight hundred events were held during the two festival weeks.

The photo shows one of the propaganda posters installed for that event in the center of Moscow. The place of installation, however, I can not identify.

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Kyiv railway station meets foreign delegates.
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Pandemonium on the huge Manezhnaya Square, which was then simply asphalted. By the way, my grandfather fully approves of Luzhkov's decision to locate underground malls and ground square for walking. According to him, this square has always been a headache for the Kremlin guards - if something happened, it could easily become a place for a quick gathering of many thousands of rallies with an uncontrollable crowd, which, in turn, could force their way into the Kremlin. And now this potentially dangerous area is gone! Here is such an unexpected look. UPDATE: Recent events on Manezhnaya Square, however, have shown that, nevertheless, if the crowd wants to gather, it will also gather on this version of the square.

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A concert is taking place on the stage in front of the Manege. The arena is also decorated with huge posters (it's a pity it's hard to see in the photo). On the left side of the façade is a bomb flying into a burning house, on the right side is a snake wrapping around the globe with something about the atom written on it, and in the center of the façade, right above the stage, there is a large dove of peace.
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Each of the letters in the word "Festival" consists of many frames Soviet films those years.
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You might think that there is a film festival. The globe wrapped in film in the same (apparently) indefinite public garden.
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There is also a street installation of photo portraits of film actors and singers, popular at that time. Moreover, not only Soviet, but also French and Indian were present (my grandfather told me their names, but I did not remember).
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The young man on the left looks a lot like Antonio Banderas (only he hasn't been born yet :-))
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The girl in the center seemed to me like Svetlana Svetlichnaya, but at that time she was only 17 years old, and she appeared in the cinema for the first time only in 1960 ... so it is unlikely that she is.
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Actor Alexei Batalov (who has not yet starred in the cult Soviet film Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears) has a very exotic neighborhood here. :-) As I was later told, this is Nargis, the legend of Indian cinema.
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And here, with Elina Bystritskaya in a pair, if I'm not mistaken, he lit up Indian actor. Again, info from insiders tip: "Raj Kapoor is not just an actor, he is an era of Indian cinema."
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Then there are artists who are completely unknown to me. :-)
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From the entourage of the festival, let's move, in fact, to the action. Let's see what was happening on the streets of Moscow in those warm July days...
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And now the people have accumulated that it is no longer crowded.
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And then there was a parade along the Garden Ring.
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The number of people literally hanging from all available windows and doors, balconies and roofs of the surrounding houses is impressive. Everyone was interested in seeing each other ...
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...to exchange souvenirs.
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So we got to the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There was also a small stage at its entrance.
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VI World Festival of Youth and Students was held from July 28 to August 11, 1957 in Moscow.

It was the brightest event of the "thaw" era and the largest of all youth festivals. The festival was attended by delegations from 131 countries and 34,000 guests. The slogan of the festival is "For Peace and Friendship". The symbol of the festival was the drawing of the famous french artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) "Dove of Peace" (a dove with an olive branch in its beak). The delegates represented 5 continents of the globe - Europe, Australia, Asia, America and Africa. The black delegates were mostly from Europe, while the Africans were from Ghana, Liberia and Ethiopia.

In August 1955, active preparations began for the World Youth Forum in the USSR. The preparatory committee and the main headquarters of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students were located at Zubovskaya Square, 3. The shock Komsomol construction began to boil - the construction of the Central Stadium in Luzhniki; all metropolitan students had to work at the impact facility once a week. An important task was set before the Moscow City Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League - to grow 100,000 pigeons in 2 years. Soon the decision of the Moscow City Executive Committee was issued: to bring pigeons to the capital and create the most Better conditions for life. Moscow was supposed to look to foreigners no worse than other European capitals. On Red Square, the townspeople began to distribute envelopes with millet - to feed the pigeons so that they boldly walked along the paving stones. Blue doves inhabited Red Square, Manege, Gorky Street and Pushkinskaya Square. Thus, the dove became a symbol of peace and the youth festival. A pigeon commission was hastily created in Moscow. All factories and plants were involved in the cultivation of white, black and red pigeons. All enterprises received instructions on how to sort chicks and pigeon eggs by color. Moscow has become a "big incubator".

The USSR was quickly embraced by the festival race!

On July 31, 1956, the Lenin Central Stadium in Luzhniki was inaugurated with a capacity of 78,360 seats. On October 10, 1956, the Gorky Automobile Plant produced the first cars brand "GAZ-21 Volga". Sewing and textile factories sewed souvenir handkerchiefs with beautiful festival symbols. The hotel complex "Tourist" ("Agricultural Street, 17") (1956) and the hotel "Ukraine" ("Kutuzovsky Prospekt, 2/1") (May 25, 1957) were put into operation. In 1957, the Riga Bus Factory produced the first "rafik" - a minibus of the RAF-10 Festival brand. For the first time, Hungarian buses of the Ikarus brand appeared in Moscow. 400 streets, squares and bridges of Moscow were illuminated. Thousands of trees and 10,000 bushes were planted by Komsomol members and youth, 100,000 roses were grown. Only for bouquets participants took 8.000.000 flowers! Were written famous songs“If only the guys of the whole Earth” (music by V. Solovyov-Sedoy, lyrics by E. Dolmatovsky), “Moscow Dawns” (music by A. Ostrovsky, lyrics by M. Lisyansky), “A guitar rings over the river” (music by A. Novikov, lyrics L. Oshanina) and others. The march “Friends, we are glad to see you” and “Festival Waltz” (music by M. Chistov, lyrics by O. Kornitskaya and N. Khnaev) were published in the Moskovskaya Pravda newspaper. At the very young Central Television of the USSR, which broadcast several hours a day, 3 badges were issued - "Press", "Cinema" and "Radio". There was no "Television" badge, and TV journalists had to work under other people's badges. Thanks to the youth festival, regular broadcasting began at the Central Television of the USSR, a new genre appeared - a television report. The editorial board "Festivalnaya" appeared - later the main edition of programs for youth.

A few days before the festival, many Moscow students received mysterious envelopes in the mail. The envelopes contained multi-colored pictures with unpretentious drawings. At the same time, there was a text application with a request: cut out the pictures with scissors along the contour and paste them in any conspicuous place. The next morning, Moscow was turned into a carnival city!

The opening day of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students came - July 28, 1957. On this sunny morning, millions of Muscovites took to the streets different ages. The solemn procession of the festival participants began along the Youth Route from the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition to the Central Lenin Stadium in Luzhniki. At 11:45 at the crossroads of the Yaroslavl Highway and Ostankinskaya Street, sonorous fanfares were heard - 40 people arrived on white motorcycles with blue banners. They were followed by trucks with festival participants from around the world. Thousands of Muscovites greeted the guests with bouquets of flowers and exclamations of "Peace!", "Friendship!". The car march was supposed to cover the distance every minute - in 2 hours, but it dragged on for a long time. There was no trace of the organized movement of the columns - the multi-colored masses of people were seething. Buses with foreign delegations stopped; people came out, held out their hands to each other and looked at each other attentively. For example, one grandmother approached a negro, slobbered her finger and rubbed it over her face to see if it was made up with brown paint. In a closed country, where the word "foreigner" was synonymous with the word "spy", everything changed overnight - the Soviet people saw thousands of guests from all over the world!

The opening of the festival was broadcast live by Central Television and All-Union Radio from more than 100 locations in the capital. The transmission from Moscow, relayed by aircraft, was first seen in live viewers of Smolensk, Kyiv and Minsk. At the same time, the event was filmed in black and white and color film. TV journalists were supposed to speak on-air texts "on a piece of paper", but to the horror of the GosLITO censors, everything did not go according to plan. Leonid Abramovich Zolotarevsky (b. 1930), a correspondent of the Central Television of the USSR, was reporting on the opening of the festival from a residential apartment on the Garden Ring, now a recognized master of domestic television journalism. The young journalist had a strict minute-by-minute schedule for the travel of delegations from different countries. In fact, a real dump reigned on the Garden Ring - for example, instead of the delegation of the Congo, the delegation of Mozambique passed. But Leonid Abramovich did not lose his head and carried out a complete textual improvisation, breaking away from the on-air text of GosLITO.

However, there was an incident that was successfully covered up by the leadership of the CT. A crowd of people stood on the building of the Shcherbakovsky department store on Kolkhoznaya Square, welcoming the guests. Suddenly there was a joyful cry of "Come!". In a single impulse, the crowd jumped to their feet, and ... the roof collapsed - dozens of people fell down. The TV cameras were immediately switched to another location. In a few minutes, columns of foreigners were supposed to pass here. To hide the incident, a police cordon was immediately set up. They began to wait for a message about the number of victims, and after a few hours it turned out - miraculously no one died! After the end of the festival, the ill-fated Shcherbakovsky department store was demolished.

At 15:00 at the Central Lenin Stadium in Luzhniki, the opening ceremony of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students began. A giant bowl was installed, girded with a cloth with the inscribed word "Mir" in Russian, English, German, French, Spanish and Chinese . Members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU appeared in the Central Lodge - First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev (1894–1971), Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin (1895–1975), Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Kliment Efremovich Voroshilov (1881–1969), Secretary Central Committee of the CPSU Nikolai Ilyich Belyaev (1903–1966), Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (1906–1982), Minister of Defense of the USSR Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (1896–1974), First Secretary of the Gorky Regional Committee of the CPSU Nikolai Grigorievich Ignatov (1901–1966), first Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Oleksiy Illarionovich Kirichenko (1908–1975), Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Otto Wilhelmovich Kuusinen (1881–1964), Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Mikhail Andreevich Suslov (1902–1982), Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, first secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU Ekaterina Alekseevna Furtseva (1910) –1974) and Chairman of the Committee of Party Control under the Central Committee of the CPSU Nikolai Mikhailovich Shvernik (1888–1970), candidates for members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU – First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan Nuritdin Akramovich Mukhitdinov (1917–2008), Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Petr Nikolayevich Pospelov (1898– 1979), First Secretary of the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the CPSU Andrei Pavlovich Kirilenko (1906–1990), First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus Kirill Trofimovich Mazurov (1914–1989), First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia Vasily Pavlovich Mzhavanadze (1902–1988) and Chairman of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers USSR for Foreign Economic Relations Mikhail Georgievich Pervukhin (1904–1978). The leaders of the USSR - guests of honor at the opening ceremony of the festival - were greeted by those present with stormy prolonged applause. On the North and South stands, the roll call of 2 groups of fanfarists began. Then the orchestra began to play, and the head column of standard-bearers entered the stadium. A flurry of cheers swept through the stands. Young men in white tracksuits carried a huge festival emblem in front. The girls carried a 60-meter colored ribbon of yellow, blue, green, orange and red, symbolizing the 5 continents of the world. Then, banners with the emblems of the festival and the flags of the nations floated in the air. The passage of delegations from 131 states dressed in bright national costumes began. The participants of the festival lined up on a green field. Then a group of girls - representatives of 15 union republics - went up to the Central Tribune. They presented bouquets of flowers to the leaders of the USSR headed by the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev, the organizers of the festival and heads of delegations. Sergei Kalistratovich Romanovsky (1923–2003), chairman of the Committee of Youth Organizations of the USSR, made a welcoming speech on behalf of the USSR. Then representatives of youth from 5 continents delivered speeches - Charles Brezland (Australia), Chintamoni Panigrahi (India), Roger Ferreira (Brazil), Comfort Thea (Ghana) and Antoine Aumont (France). Soon, runners with relay baton arrived on the cinder track and handed over the International Friendship Relay to representatives of the International Committee of the Festival to a storm of applause from the stadium. Member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Kliment Voroshilov delivered an introductory speech. His speech ended with a health resort: "For world peace!" Greetings were heard in many languages, and a huge flock of white doves soared into the sky over Luzhniki. On behalf of the International Committee of the Festival, the VI World Festival of Youth and Students was opened by Sergei Romanovsky, Chairman of the Committee of Youth Organizations of the USSR. There was a solemn fanfare. A white flag with the emblem of the festival was slowly raised to the mast. Over 100,000 people per different languages unanimously sang the "Hymn of Democratic Youth". Songs of the peoples of the world floated over Luzhniki. Mass performances of athletes and a colorful parade of athletes began. 3,200 boys and girls from the All-Union Voluntary Sports Society "Labor Reserves", the State Central Institute physical education named after I.V. Stalin (Moscow) and the State Institute of Physical Culture named after P.F. Lesgaft (Leningrad). The opening ceremony ended with a dance suite "Blossom, Our Youth" with the participation of amateur creative teams union republics.

So, the VI World Festival of Youth and Students has solemnly opened! The program of 15 festival days was filled with colorful and unforgettable events.

July 29 (2 day). International art competitions solemnly opened in the morning in the Great Hall of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and in the Hall of Columns. Speeches were made at the Moscow Conservatory by WFDY Secretary General Jacques Denis, in the Hall of Columns by Hector del Campo Silva, member of the International Committee of the Festival.

At 11:00 a.m., a philatelic exhibition was opened at the State Library named after V.I. Lenin, at which 400 stands with stamps were presented various countries peace.

opened International Exhibition art photography at the Moscow House of Artists (representatives from about 30 countries took part) and the International Student Club at Lomonosov Moscow State University.

A solemn concert of the Soviet delegation took place at the Central Theater Soviet army. Concerts were held: Bulgarian youth (Sokolniki Park), Egyptian and Romanian youth (Gorky Central Park of Culture and Culture), Yugoslav youth (Great Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory), delegations from Hungary, India and Czechoslovakia (VSHV variety venues). In the morning, on the stage of Pushkinskaya Square, an international concert of delegates from Hungary, Cyprus, North Korea and Uruguay took place. In the evening, art groups and performers from Germany, Spain, Jordan, North Korea and the USSR performed. There were performances by the Romanian puppet theater "Tsenderike", the Polish student satirical theater "Bimbom" and the drama theater of Argentina, circus performances by artists from Poland, China, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and other countries.

Representatives of the Finnish youth delegation visited the workers of the Kalibr plant, and young French chemists visited the Kauchuk plant.

A press conference of the Romanian delegation was held at the Central House of Journalists.

In the evening, the International Encounters Club (“Pushechnaya Street, 4”) opened.

July 30 (3rd day). The International Exhibition of Fine and applied arts. A meeting dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the publication in Amsterdam of the works of the Czech humanist educator, writer and public figure Jan Amos Comenius (1592–1670) was held at the International Encounter Club. The International Film Festival has opened at the Udarnik cinema. Its program included more than 180 films created by young filmmakers from more than 30 countries.

Opened meetings on professions and hobbies. At the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, there was an exchange of experience between young peasants, farmers and tenants. Amateur photographers met in the House of Scientists, amateur radio enthusiasts met in the Polytechnic Museum, film enthusiasts met in the House of Architects, and aircraft modellers met in the Central Aeroclub named after V.P. Chkalov. Lomonosov Moscow State University opened international seminars for students of agricultural, cinematographic and economic educational institutions.

Sports competitions have begun. Athletes, tennis and volleyball players performed at the capital's stadiums.

The Great International Concert with the participation of the youth of Belgium, India, Morocco and Czechoslovakia took place at the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Education. Concerts were held by youth delegates from Bulgaria (a branch of the State Academic Maly Theater of the USSR) and Great Britain (club "Luch"). More than 40 international and national concerts took place in the Palaces of Culture, in clubs and on open stages.

Actors from Finland performed at the Moscow Academic Theater of Satire. Delegates from France, the Netherlands, Argentina and East Africa showed their creativity in Sokolniki Park. Drama artists from China, Sweden and Chile demonstrated their art in theaters.

About 300 participants took part in the meeting of delegates from Bulgaria and Great Britain. There was an impromptu concert by the choir of Bulgarian girls and the English brass band.

The club on Bersenevskaya embankment hosted an evening dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the 1st World Festival of Youth and Students.

July 31 (day 4). In the morning, representatives of various youth organizations gathered at the International Meeting Club and discussed issues of cooperation and protection of the interests of young people.

A big event took place at the Dynamo stadium circus show. Moscow theaters showed several performances for the festival participants.

The exchange of experiences of young peasants, farmers, tenants, miners and workers in the leather industry continued. A meeting of young railway workers and printers has opened. Film, photo and radio amateurs again came to meetings of interest. Heads of children's institutions in a number of countries discussed issues of education.

The solemn national programs of the DPRK, Poland, the FRG and Yugoslavia were shown. Young performers from Hungary, Great Britain, Italy, China, Mongolia, Romania, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Bulgaria, Spain, the USSR, Sweden, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Paraguay, Mexico, Norway, Finland, France, Albania, Egypt and Madagascar.

International art competitions continued. Young performers competed in playing the piano, string, wind and folk instruments, singing and dancing. The International Student Club hosted a concert of amateur performances by Chile, West Africa, Hungary, Spain, Syria and other countries. The Leningrad Variety Orchestra performed with a large program.

A meeting of American and Chinese delegations took place at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition. At the end there was an impromptu concert. First, the Chinese girls sang a few songs to the accompaniment of a small orchestra, then American jazz performed.

Young Christians met in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra (Zagorsk, Moscow Region).

Volleyball players met on the summer grounds of the Dynamo stadium. The Italian team beat the Austrian team 3:0. Basketball players from France, Belgium, Albania, the USSR and other countries competed in Sokolniki.

Participants of the Ukrainian art group performed before the metallurgists of the "Hammer and Sickle" plant. Delegates from Finland, India, Great Britain, France, Syria, Germany and Morocco also came to the plant.

August 1 (5th day). At 10:00 a.m., the cycling race along the Kurkinskaya ring road began. The best time was shown by athletes of the Leningrad Textile Institute named after S. M. Kirov, who covered 99.2 km in 2 hours 31 minutes 58 seconds. In the city of Khimki, Moscow Region, the capital's youth and guests took part in the laying of the Friendship Park.

Solemn national programs of the GDR (Central Theater of the Soviet Army), Egypt (State Academic Theater named after E. B. Vakhtangov), Romania (branch of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the USSR) and Finland (Moscow Academic Musical Theater named after K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko).

National concerts were performed by the artistic youth of Great Britain, the Netherlands, China, Albania, Mongolia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Norway, Bulgaria, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Spain, Canada, Cyprus, North Korea, Tunisia, Czechoslovakia, France, Yugoslavia, the USSR and other countries .

International art competitions continued in the Grand and Small Halls of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the October Hall of the House of Unions, the Central House of Artists, the Moscow State Theater named after Lenin Komsomol, the Moscow State University Club named after M.V. Lomonosov, the Central House of Cinema and the Concert Hall hall named after P. I. Tchaikovsky. International art competitions continued - wind instruments, popular songs, classical singing and more.

The International Student Club hosted a meeting of delegates with famous mathematicians on the topic "Mathematics and its latest applications." Presentations were made by Deputy Director of the Institute of Atomic Energy of the USSR Academy of Sciences Academician Sergei Lvovich Sobolev (1908–1989) and Director of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research of the USSR Academy of Sciences Academician Nikolai Nikolaevich Bogolyubov (1909–1992). They talked about the problems of machine mathematics and the technology of the future. The International Seminar of Law Students was opened. The meeting was opened by the Secretary of the International Union of Students Alexander Yankov (b. 1924) (Bulgaria). On behalf of the Soviet students and teachers of law, the participants of the seminar were greeted by the dean Faculty of Law Lomonosov Moscow State University Dmitry Stepanovich Karev. The first day was dedicated to the discussion of the principles of international law enshrined in the UN Charter.

A meeting of young textile workers was opened under the motto "To live and work in peace and friendship." Shoemakers of the Parizhskaya Kommuna factory were visited by workers from the shoe and leather industries in Italy, France, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Finland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Mongolia. The guests visited the shops and talked with the workers. A rally took place in the factory yard.

Young peasants, farmers, tenants, printers and miners held the final meetings for the exchange of experience.

In the VSHV garden, the delegation of Finland received guests from Poland.

Competitions were held in basketball, freestyle wrestling, swimming, table tennis and other sports.

August 2 (6th day). The central event of the day was an evening of solidarity with the youth of colonial countries in Ostankino Park.

Delegates from Bulgaria, Great Britain, Italy, Black Africa and other states discussed the problems of vocational education. Solovyov, Deputy Director of the Moscow Technical School No. 9, introduced the delegates to the history of the development of educational institutions of labor reserves.

The show of solemn national programs continued: young artists of Albania (State Academic Theater named after E. B. Vakhtangov), artists of Bulgaria (branch of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the USSR), artists of Italy (Moscow Academic Musical Theater named after K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko) and artists of Vietnam (Central children's theater). The national concerts of young performers from China, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, Romania, the Netherlands, France, Hungary, Mexico and other countries continued.

An international seminar of students-philologists has opened. The participants were greeted with an opening speech by the prominent Soviet writer Konstantin Aleksandrovich Fedin (1892–1977). The main topic of discussion was tradition and innovation in literature. A meeting of young journalists with the participation of representatives of newspapers, radio and television companies of various directions has opened at the Central House of Journalists.

A meeting of artists Arab countries and the USSR. The guests toured an exhibition of works by polar explorer Igor Pavlovich Ruban (1912-1996).

A meeting of the youth of the countries of the Arab East took place in the House of Scientists. An international seminar was opened with the participation of about 300 students of technical universities. Presentations were made by the Dean of the Hydropower Department of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, Professor Teodor Lazarevich Zolotarev (1904–1966) and the Head of the Department of Machine Tools and Automatic Machines of the Moscow Higher Technical School named after N. E. Bauman, Professor Grigor Arutyunovich Shaumyan (1905–1973), Professor from China Shi Ji-Yang and others.

There were meetings of young teachers, dockers, postal, telegraph and telephone employees, agricultural workers, builders, textile workers and journalists.

Solemn national programs were shown by young performers from the RSFSR (Central Theater of the Soviet Army), Mexico (Central Children's Theater) and Japan (State Academic Theater named after E. B. Vakhtangov). The youth of China, Poland, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Algeria performed with national concerts in clubs, theaters and on stages.

More than 30 meetings of various delegations took place at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition.

At the seminar of film workers, an exchange of views took place on the problems of truth in art, the typical and accidental development of film technology. The results of the competition of fiction, popular science and newsreel films, held during the seminar, were summed up by the honorary chairman of the jury, the rector of the Prague Academy musical culture Professor Antonin Brousil (1907–1986). He noted the rapid growth of young film talent not only in Europe and America, but also in many Asian countries.

A group of Austrian delegates visited the Institute of Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. The Austrian guests watched the operations performed by the director of the Institute of Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor Alexander Alexandrovich Vishnevsky (1906-1975) and the head of the surgical department of the Institute of Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor Nikolai Ivanovich Krakovsky (1903-1976).

The International Encounter Club hosted an evening dedicated to the famous Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778).

The Kremlin hosted the Participants' Ball, where thousands of young men and women had fun until late at night.

August 4 (8th day). In the morning, students from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia performed in the Assembly Hall of the International Student Club. In the afternoon, the students were visited by members of the Chelyuskin expedition - the famous polar explorer, Hero of the Soviet Union Ernst Teodorovich Krenkel (1903–1971), polar aviation navigator Valentin Ivanovich Akkuratov (1909–1993), polar meteorologist Olga Nikolaevna Komova (1902–19??), oceanologist, doctor geographical sciences, Professor at the Department of Oceanology, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov Nikolai Nikolayevich Zubov (1885–1960), heads of polar stations on drifting ice floes North Pole Pavel Afanasyevich Gordienko (1913–1982) and Hero of the Soviet Union Yevgeny Ivanovich Tolstikov (1913–1987), other polar explorers. The members of the club listened with great attention to the stories of the young scientists-geographers Mikhail Izvekov and Andrey Kapitsa about the work of the expedition of Soviet scientists in the Arctic and Antarctica. The teams of the drifting stations "SP-6" and "SP-7", winterers from the Antarctic village of Mirny sent welcome telegrams to the club. The focus was on a polar bear cub brought to the club by a native inhabitant of the Arctic. Polar explorers gave a bear cub to Chinese friends. The youngest conqueror of Antarctica, a student of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vladimir Igorevich Bardin (1934–1993), presented a photo album with views of Antarctica to representatives of the youth of Norway, the homeland of the outstanding polar explorers Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) and Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930).

Hungarian music performed by the Rechke Folk Instruments Orchestra sounded over Manezhnaya Square. On Pushkinskaya Square an ensemble of accordionists from the FRG performed classical works by the great German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). More than 60 concerts took place, including 4 gala concerts - from Arab countries, Mongolia, France and Czechoslovakia. Many of them went to open areas in the presence of thousands of Muscovites spending their day off. A concert of delegates from Indonesia took place at the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Culture. Muscovites and delegates from Ceylon exchanged addresses, postcards and autographs with each other.

The Gorky Moscow Art Theater hosted an evening of culture of the peoples of Black Africa. It was attended by artists from Senegal, Guinea, Madagascar and Congo. Numerous spectators got acquainted with the musical and choreographic creativity of African peoples.

A meeting of young theater and film artists took place in the House of Journalists. Its participants spoke about the role of art in shaping moral qualities young people from different countries, touched on many other issues affecting the youth of art.

The International Seminar for Students of Architectural and Construction Universities has opened. It was attended by delegates from 56 countries. Employees of the Mosgorproekt Institute told the guests about their work. In the afternoon, the participants made an excursion to the South-Western district of Moscow.

Professional meetings of young garment workers, knitters and workers took place Food Industry.

In the evening, the student club hosted an evening of dancing and humor. Delegates from the GDR, Norway and Paraguay had fun.

For the participants of the festival, a ball was given in the Kremlin - dances, games and songs. The best artistic forces of the capital demonstrated their art. There was a re-performance of the Soviet ballet at the Dynamo stadium.

August 5 (9th day). A meeting of the delegations of the USSR and Yugoslavia took place in one of the Moscow clubs.

At the initiative of the Argentine delegation, a meeting of envoys from Latin America with representatives of the countries participating in the Bandung Conference took place. Statements were made by the delegates of Argentina, Syria, Mexico, Guatemala, Tunisia, India, China, Morocco, Brazil, Viet Nam, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. The meeting of youth from European countries. The delegates from Kazakhstan spent several hours interestingly at the meeting with the Chinese delegation. The delegates of Ukraine met with the delegation of Hungary and traditionally presented them with bread and salt. The delegates of Belarus met with the Italian delegation, the delegates of the RSFSR met with guests from Great Britain. In turn, the DPRK delegation invited friends from Black Africa, Syria and Madagascar to visit.

Jordanian envoys visited the Museum named after V. I. Lenin, the Museum of the Revolution of the USSR, State Library named after V. I. Lenin and the Institute of Marxism–Leninism. Delegation to in full force visited the Mausoleum of V. I. Lenin and I. V. Stalin and laid a wreath.

A seminar on the peaceful uses of atomic energy has opened at the International Student Club of Moscow State University named after MV Lomonosov. Director of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR Dmitry Ivanovich Blokhintsev (1908–1979) made a presentation. The participants of the seminar visited the pavilion for peaceful research of nuclear energy at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition.

Young workers of the electrical, energy and forest industries, metallurgy and machine builders met. Choir leaders met puppet theaters.

Students who studied geography met at Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov.

The second round of international art competitions has begun. The creative teams of the USSR, Indonesia and North Korea performed.

Young flutists and oboists performed at the Moscow State Theater named after Lenin Komsomol. All 17 Soviet performers on spiritual instruments participated in the 2nd round. The 2nd round of the piano competition took place in the Small Hall of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. The competition in classical singing of the peoples of the East has ended.

48 films from various countries were shown in the cinemas "Drummer", "Coliseum", "Forum" and "Artistic".

The solemn national program was presented by the delegation of Hungary.

In honor of the festival, the engineer of the Moscow Electric Lamp Plant, Yuly Zyslin, wrote the “Song of Friendship” to the words of the locksmith William Kurguzov. Young electric lamp workers and delegates from the GDR learned it and sang in unison:

Let this song rush into the distance

And it will enter every house.

To fight for peace is our festival

Calling all youth.

In the evening, the Kremlin hosted a reception in honor of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students. About 4,000 people took part in it - statesmen, representatives of public organizations, festival participants, heads of delegations, guests of honor, representatives of the Soviet and foreign press, heads of diplomatic missions and representatives of embassies. The leaders of the USSR were greeted with warm applause: members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU - First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev (1894-1971), Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bulganin (1895-1975), Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Nikolai Ilyich Belyaev (1903-1966), Minister of Defense of the USSR Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (1896–1974), Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Otto Wilhelmovich Kuusinen (1881–1964), First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (1895–1978), Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, first secretary of the MGK CPSU Ekaterina Alekseevna Furtseva (1910–1974), candidates for members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU - Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Petr Nikolayevich Pospelov (1898–1979), Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin (1904–1980) and Chairman of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR for Foreign Economic Relations Mikhail Georgievich Pervukhin (1904–1978).

The first secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League Alexander Nikolaevich Shelepin (1918–1994) delivered a welcoming speech. He wished the participants of the festival success in their noble activities for the benefit of peace and friendship. Representatives of the 5 continents of the Earth delivered response speeches: Charles Brezland (Australia), Abbas Usman (Indonesia), Luis Pedro Bonavita (Uruguay), Olu Ogantes (West Africa), Pavlos Vardinoyanis (Greece) and Bruno Bernini (WFDY). The speeches of the guests were met with applause.

Then there was a concert of young artists and artistic groups of the USSR - participants of the festival.

During the reception, thousands of rockets soared into the sky. In different languages, the young men chanted: "Thank you for the warm welcome!" The youth of many countries had fun until late at night in the Kremlin garden.

August 6 (10 day). All peoples of the Earth celebrated the 12th anniversary atomic bombing Hiroshima. The Japanese delegates met with the machinist of the 1st article of the Varyag cruiser Stepan Davydovich Krylov (1879–1963). They listened with great attention to the story of an old veteran of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.

More than 400 young men and women from the USSR, Japan, India, China, Indonesia, North Korea, Vietnam, France and other countries have come together to express their protest against the atomic war on behalf of the youth of the whole world and demand a ban on atomic and hydrogen weapons. In the evening, a demonstration for peace and friendship took place.

At the International Competition for Composers, the jury summed up the final results. Many works were devoted to international solidarity, youth friendship and the struggle for peace. Gold medals were awarded in the following sections: symphonic works– composers Andrei Yakovlevich Eshpay (1925–2015) and Eino Martinovich Tamberg (1930–2010) (USSR), Mikis Theodorakis (b. 1925) (Greece) and Stanislav Skrovachevsky (b. 1923) (Poland); chamber works - a string quartet conducted by the composer Konstantin Agaparonovich Orbelyan (1928–2014); cantata-oratorio works - composer Radu Paladi (1927-2013) (Romania). Also, the Gold Medals were awarded to songs by Soviet composers - Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR Vasily Pavlovich Solovyov-Sedogo (1907-1979), Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR Vano Ilyich Muradeli (1908-1970), Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR Anatoly Nikolaevich Novikov (1896-1984), composers of the socialist countries - Petr Eben (1929-2007) (Czechoslovakia), Mau Ji-Tszen (China) and Ilyan Marinescu (Romania).

The delegation of Romania presented the solemn national program.

A chess match took place between the teams of the Central Research Electrotechnical Laboratory of the USSR Ministry of Power Plants and amateur chess players from Switzerland. The Soviet chess players won the match against the Swiss with a score of 9.1/2:1/2.

Young machine builders - delegates from Finland, Denmark, Holland, France, the GDR and the FRG - visited the Moscow Automobile Plant of Small Cars.

A meeting of young sailors and fishermen was opened. Young painters, sculptors, graphic artists and art critics from almost all countries of the world met in the House of Architects. Philosophy students discussed the problem: "Is it possible to scientifically foresee the phenomena of social life?".

A discussion on the theme "University and Society" was held at the International Student Club. Soviet delegates from 15 union republics met with the youth of India. A cordial meeting was held between the youth of the USSR and the Netherlands.

The First International Gathering of Tourists has opened on Lake Seliger (Kalinin Region).

August 7 (11 day). Pupils of Soviet choreographic schools performed at the International Student Club.

In the club of the Kompressor plant, young men and women of the Kalininsky district of Moscow received young representatives of the people of Black Africa. Many Africans spoke of their discovery of the Soviet Union.

A meeting of young employees of state institutions and leaders of amateur performances took place. Interesting conversation took place with students studying history, archeology and art history. The meetings of the youth of the USSR, Argentina, Bulgaria, the GDR, India, Colombia, China, Mongolia and Syria were bright and interesting. An evening dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the birth of the famous Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793) took place.

Students of architectural universities held their seminar in Leningrad. 10 delegates from 55 countries of the world left for 2 days in the "northern capital". The participants of the festival walked along the granite embankments of the Neva, visited the Palace Embankment and Petrodvorets. On the morning of August 7, the delegates visited the new buildings of the Moscow outpost, and with admiration got acquainted with the new high-speed methods of building residential buildings. In the evening, the House of Architects hosted an evening meeting of students and young architects of Leningrad with the participants of the seminar.

About 120,000 people visited the international photography exhibition. Photo art of more than 300 authors from 37 countries of the world was presented. Gold medals were awarded to 6 photographers - Igor Petkov (USSR), Roger Caterino (France), Giuseppe Medera (Italy), Dolph Kruger (Netherlands), Mirjane Knezevic (Yugoslavia) and Chan Loi (Vietnam). 17 participants received silver medals and 25 participants received bronze medals.

August 8 (12 day). The leaders of the French delegation held a press conference. It was attended by representatives of various French organizations participating in the festival, Soviet and French journalists.

The young envoys of peace met with active figures in the international peace movement. The festival participants were visited by the Chairman of the Soviet Peace Committee, Deputy Secretary General of the Union of Writers of the USSR, poet Nikolai Semenovich Tikhonov (1896–1979), member of the World Peace Council, writer Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (1891–1967), executive secretary of the Soviet Committee of War Veterans, Hero of the Soviet Union Alexey Petrovich Maresyev (1916–2001), chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Nikolai of Krutitsy and Kolomna (in the world - Boris Dorofeevich Yarushevich) (1892–1961), president of the English Peace Committee Denis Nowell Pritt (1887–1972), Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet Ran (1902-1963), Canadian Catholic priest and communist James Endicott (1898-1993), Venezuelan poet Carlos Augusto Leon (1914-1997), Chinese poet Amy Xiao (1896-1983) and other figures. Denis Pritt, President of the English Peace Committee, announced the address of prominent public figures present at the meeting to representatives of 5 continents.

The British delegation visited the Moscow First Ball Bearing Plant.

Foreign delegates got acquainted with the Moscow Metro.

2,500 young men and women from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Ceylon, Indonesia and other countries visited the V. I. Lenin House-Museum in Gorki Leninsky, Leninsky District, Moscow Region.

At the All-Union Industrial Exhibition, guests admired the model of the Tu-104 passenger aircraft, a walking excavator and other samples of Soviet technology.

Art competitions closed solemnly. 3.109 boys and girls from 47 countries participated in festival competitions. 280 individual performers and creative teams were awarded gold medals. 376 silver medals and 289 bronze medals were awarded.

There were artistic performances in the national programs of Africa, Yugoslavia, Indonesia and Vietnam. 39 national concerts were presented. Representatives of youth from different countries took part in 6 international concerts.

August 9 (13 day). At the State Academic Bolshoi Theater USSR laureates of the festival - winners art competitions. The concert was attended by a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Mikhail Andreevich Suslov (1902–1982), candidates for members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU – Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Petr Nikolaevich Pospelov (1898–1979) and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin (1904– 1980). The choir of Bulgarian girls and the courageous dance of the youths of Macedonia “Oro”, performed by the youth ensemble of Yugoslavia, performed. Koreans performed a girl's song, Chinese girls performed a grandiose Peacock dance, and Ukrainians danced the Hopak fire dance. The young Romanian singer Ladislav Konya performed Igor's aria from Alexander Borodin's opera "Prince Igor". German ballet soloists Heinrich Petzold and Ursula Heinrich danced to the music of Frederic Chopin. Japanese ballerina Kaoru Ishii performed Edvard Grieg's "Anitra's Dance", Japanese singer Takizawa Mieko heartily performed the monologue Cio-Cio-San from Giacomo Puccini's opera of the same name. Leningrad ballet dancers Alla Osipenko and Alexander Gribov talentedly performed "Adagio" from the ballet "The Tale of stone flower» Sergei Prokofiev. The Romanian dance ensemble "Karapats" performed the "Oltyanskaya Suite".

One of the central events of the festival, the Labor Day, took place at the All-Union Industrial Exhibition. Young employees from more than 20 countries held the third and final day of the meeting. They visited some metropolitan institutions, learned about the working conditions of young Soviet employees and their pay.

More than 100 participants of the festival visited the executive committee of the Moscow City Council. In a conversation with them, the chairman of the Moscow City Executive Committee, Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrovnikov (1909–1992), spoke about the activities of the Moscow City Council, about the procedure for electing deputies, and answered questions of interest.

This day was the last for professional meetings. 6,500 people took part in 24 professional meetings.

The film festival has ended.

Young workers from many branches of industry and agriculture got acquainted with the life of colleagues from other countries, shared their experience and exchanged opinions. The meetings on professions ended with the meeting of working youth and the Labor Day.

2 international meetings were opened - students of biology and geologists. The only meeting of the festival that did not require the participation of translators was the meeting of Esperantists. Representatives different nationalities they easily communicated with each other in Esperanto and talked about the role of Esperantists in strengthening international relations.

The participants of the festival continued to honor the memory of prominent figures of world artistic culture. There was an evening dedicated to the great Indian writer, poet and thinker Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941). His poems were recited in Russian, Hindi, Urdu and Bengali. Festival delegates celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).

National programs of Algeria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Egypt, North Korea, Latin American countries, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the USSR were performed in the capital's theaters and concert halls.

The International Art Exhibition was held in one of the pavilions of the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Culture. The exhibition featured paintings by artists from France, Canada, Germany, Egypt, Sudan and other countries. Each author could leave his work in the studio and discuss it with fellow artists. Creative discussions took place daily and were the most interesting in the work of the studio. More than 200 artists, graphic artists and sculptors visited the studio every year.

August 10 (day 14). The last meetings of interest took place in the International Meeting Club. The last meeting was called "See you again".

The students' seminars have finished their work. At one of them, the secretary of the Union of Composers of the USSR, People's Artist of the RSFSR Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky (1904–1987) spoke. famous composer spoke about the development of musical culture in the USSR. famous violinist, Professor of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, People's Artist of the USSR David Fedorovich Oistrakh (1908–1974) gave an open lesson and performed several works for violin.

large group delegates from Germany visited the Moscow Electric Lamp Plant, got acquainted with its history and production. About 500 festival delegates from New Zealand, Finland, Algeria, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Japan and Nigeria visited the Paris Commune factory.

Boys and girls from Syria, Hungary, Peru and Spain took a walk along the Moscow Canal on the motor ships Soyuz and Mir. In total, more than 15,000 guests from around the world took part in the boat trips.

A grand youth carnival took place in the parks, streets and squares of Moscow.

The foreign delegates were presented with sets of long-playing records and rolls of tapes for tape recorders with recordings of Russian and Soviet songs. The largest delegations received as a gift half a whole film about the festival, which was prepared by the Central Studio of Documentary Films by order of the International Committee of the Festival.

August 11 (15 day). The last day has come. Buses with festival participants from around the world solemnly drove through the streets of Moscow towards Luzhniki. Thousands of Muscovites saw them off along the way.

In the evening, the closing ceremony of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students began at the Central Lenin Stadium in Luzhniki.

Members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU - Secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU Averky Borisovich Aristov (1903-1973) and Mikhail Andreevich Suslov (1902-1982), Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, First Secretary of the MGK CPSU Ekaterina Alekseevna Furtseva (1910-1974), candidates for membership Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU - First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia Jan Eduardovich Kalnberzin (1893-1986) and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin (1904-1980). Those gathered in the stands greeted their appearance with prolonged applause.

The combined orchestra of the All-Union Voluntary Sports Society "Labor Reserves" appeared on the emerald field of the stadium. In the center of the field, an unusual tribune was built in the form of a huge festival badge, on which members of the International Committee of the Festival climbed. To the sounds of the march and the applause of the audience, columns of standard bearers appeared. 5 young men carried white banners with the emblem of the festival, then they carried 131 national flags of the countries participating in the festival. The flag-bearers lined up in the center of the field. thousands colorful balloons, rising above the bowl of the stadium, filled the evening sky.

The chairman of the Committee of Youth Organizations of the USSR Sergei Kalistratovich Romanovsky (1923–2003) delivered a farewell speech. WFDY President Bruno Bernini announced the statement of the International Committee of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students for Peace and Friendship "Strengthen friendship always and everywhere!". The statement was met with applause and attentively listened to. Chairman of the Committee of Youth Organizations of the USSR Sergei Romanovsky, on behalf of the Soviet youth, delivered a warm farewell speech and declared the VI World Festival of Youth and Students closed. The festival flag was slowly lowered from the tower of the South Stand. The participants unanimously sang the “Hymn of Democratic Youth” in different languages, last words who drowned in applause. Boys and girls of all delegations unanimously chanted 2 Russian words "Peace and Friendship".

A huge white-winged dove soared in the spotlights above the stadium. Suddenly, the searchlights went out, in the dusk a fiery river poured out of the gate and spread across the field. Under the alternating sounds of a waltz by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, fabulous pictures of a fantastic dance arose. The girls were dancing in white outfits with maces scattered with sparks and sparkling sparklers. A blue luminous wave rolled down the rows of the East Stand, and the stadium froze with delight. The tribune flared up with blue, green, lilac, red and violet colors - as if a fairy-tale box with Ural gemstones had opened! To the beat of the music, the athletes changed the flags, illuminated by spotlights, and 3 huge letters lit up - "MIR". The word originated in English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese. A multicolored wave splashed across the podium, leaving the silhouette of a huge dove of peace. And the motto of the festival was lit up - "For peace and friendship!".

An announcer's voice was heard over the stadium: “Dear friends, our holiday is over. Now we invite you to the stadium - to sing, dance and have fun." A farewell festival ball took place on the squares and alleys of Luzhniki, on the embankments of the Moskva River, flooded with festive illumination. A huge festive fireworks bloomed in the sky. Thus ended the VI World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow - the most famous event of the thaw era.

instead of an epilogue.

During the days of the festival, there were some curious cases. A point of public order protection was hastily created with the task of hastily escorting annoying guests. Morally stable Komsomol members were engaged in other delicate tasks. A real sexual revolution happened in the USSR - the appearance of foreigners in Moscow turned the heads of young girls. To combat debauchery in Moscow, motor brigades of Komsomol members were provided with flashlights and hairdressing machines. Komsomol combed metropolitan parks, caught the girls, politely apologized to foreigners and almost shaved the girls. After the end of the festival, many girls wore headscarves. In the spring of 1958, young girls appeared on the streets of the capital with baby carriages, in which were lying a variety of babies - black, yellow, cross-eyed, black and the like. They were "festival kids".

After the VI World Festival of Youth and Students in the USSR, the fashion for jeans, sneakers, rock and roll and badminton spread. The musical super hits “Hymn of Democratic Youth”, the song “If only the guys of the whole Earth” and others became popular. At the closing ceremony of the festival, the song "Moscow Nights" (music by V. Solovyov-Sedoy, lyrics by M. Matusovsky) was performed by the actor of the Moscow Art Theater Vladimir Konstantinovich Troshin (1926-2008) and the soloist of the ensemble "Druzhba", a student of the philosophical faculty of the Leningrad State University named after A A. Zhdanova Edita Stanislavovna Piekha (b. 1937). The hit "Moscow Nights" became the hallmark of the USSR for many years. One of the festival competitions became a regular TV show and laid the foundation for the mass distribution of the "Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful" / "KVN". In memory of the Moscow Festival, on December 13, 1957, by a decree of the Moscow City Executive Committee, the streets 1st Meshchanskaya, Bolshaya Alekseevskaya, Bolshaya Rostokinskaya, Troitskoye Highway and part of the Yaroslavl Highway were renamed Prospekt Mira, which became one of the largest highways of the capital. On the wall of house No. 2 on Mira Avenue there is a memorial plaque: "MIRA PROSPECT IS NAMED IN HONOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT FOR PEACE AND IN CONNECTION WITH THE FESTIVAL HELD IN MOSCOW."

The Moscow festival took place in the middle of the “thaw” and was remembered for its atmosphere of freedom and openness. The Moscow Kremlin and the M. Gorky Central Park of Culture and Culture were opened for free visiting. Soviet people began to learn to speak and communicate openly. The foreigners who arrived freely communicated with Muscovites - this was not pursued by the KGB. The participants of the festival left Moscow with the brightest and most joyful impressions. For the first time Moscow was wide open for all guests from 5 continents of the Earth.

Kirill Lobanov, member of the Kemerovo regional movement "Veterans of the Komsomol".

World Festival of Youth and Students- an irregular festival of left-wing youth organizations, held since 1947. The organizers are the World Federation Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union Students (UIS). Since 1947, festivals have been held under the slogan "For Peace and Friendship", since 1968 - under the slogan "For Solidarity, Peace and Friendship"

To prepare for the festival, an International Preparatory Committee and national preparatory committees in the participating countries are being created. The program of the festivals includes sports competitions in various types sports, political seminars and discussions, concerts, mass festivities, as well as the obligatory colorful procession of delegations. [ ]

Story

After the end of World War II (October-November 1945), a world conference of youth for peace was held in London. It was decided to create the World Federation of Democratic Youth and start holding world festivals of youth and students.

First The World Festival of Youth and Students took place in 1947 in Prague. It was attended by 17 thousand people from 71 countries. This was followed by festivals in the capitals of Eastern Europe: Budapest (1949), Berlin (1951), Bucharest (1953) and Warsaw (1955). The first festivals were held every two years. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, there was an increase in the number of participants and the number of countries they represented. The number of participants by the mid-50s had increased to 30,000. They have already represented more than 100 countries.

The initial objectives of the festival were the struggle for peace, for the rights of youth, for the independence of peoples, and the promotion of internationalism. Communist, socialist and religious organizations took an active part in the festivals. Representatives came to the festival a wide range youth organizations opposed to fascism and military dictatorships. Representatives of radical left organizations, including those outside the law in their countries, were allowed to participate. Particular attention was paid to the issue of the inadmissibility of the revival of fascism and the incitement of a new world war.

Festivals of youth and students provided the citizens of the host country with the opportunity to communicate live with foreigners and find out what really interests young people abroad. This did not always correspond to the tasks of the organizers, and sometimes even contradicted them. For example, after the VI festival 1957 , dudes, blackmailers appeared in the USSR, and a fashion arose to give children foreign names.

VI World Festival of 1957, held in Moscow, became the most massive throughout history festival movement. It was attended by 34 thousand people. They represented 131 countries around the world, a record at the time. At subsequent festivals, the number of participants was smaller, but the record for the number of countries that were represented at the festival was broken.

Festivals were held not only in the territory of the socialist countries, and the program was often so informal that the result of the festival was the opposite of the expectations of the heads of the socialist delegations. In 1959, the VII Festival of Youth and Students first held in a capitalist country in the capital of Austria, Vienna. Then the festival was hosted by Helsinki (1962) and Sofia (1968).

From the 1960s, the break between festivals began to increase to several years.

A break of 6 years between the festivals of 1962 and 1968, previously held every 2-3 years, is explained by the fact that in 1965 the IX festival was scheduled to be held in Algeria, which gained independence from France in 1962. All were carried out preparations, but in 1965 a military coup took place in Algeria, Houari  Boumedienne came to power, proclaiming a course towards building a pragmatic economic and political system, taking into account Algerian specifics and without focusing on any samples. The country has a one-party system. IX festival was cancelled. It took place only three years later, in 1968, in the capital of Bulgaria - Sofia.

Delegates from the countries of capitalism and socialist camp, including those who entered into a military confrontation. For example, from the USA and North Korea.

In the 1940s - 1960s, each new festival was held in a new country. In 1973, the X World Festival of Youth and Students was held for the second time in Berlin. In the 1970s, the festival movement took on a pronounced pro-communist coloring.

In 1978 XI festival first held in the Americas- in the capital of Cuba, Havana.

By the 1980s, the festival, conceived for free communication, had become a highly formalized event. At the XII World Festival of Youth and Students, held in Moscow in 1985, Soviet citizens who were not part of the delegations were not allowed to communicate with the guests of the festival, and the program was designed to minimize the communication of foreigners with random, unverified people.

In 1989, the XIII World Festival of Youth and Students broke two records. First, he first time in Asia. The capital of the DPRK, Pyongyang, hosted the guests of the festival. Secondly, this festival has become most representative- guests from 177 countries of the world participated in it. Especially for the festival, a grandiose stadium was built on the First of May for 150,000 people, which to this day remains the largest stadium on Earth.

As a result of the collapse of socialism in the countries of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was a the longest break- about 8 years. Thanks to the perseverance of WFDY member organizations and the support of the Cuban government, the festival movement was revived in the second half of the 1990s. In 1997, the XIV Festival took place in Havana. Formalism disappeared, the festival returned to its original goals.

In 2001, the XV festival was held in Algiers. This festival has become first held in Africa. Participated in this festival the smallest number of participants in the entire history of the festival movement - 6500 people.

The XVI World Festival of Youth and Students was held in Caracas (Venezuela) in 2005. It was attended by 17 thousand people from 144 countries.

The XVII festival was successfully held in Pretoria, South Africa on December 13-21, 2010, and the XVIII - in Ecuador in December 2013, bringing together over 8 thousand participants from 88 countries.

The next XIX Festival will be held in Russia in 2017. The decision to hold it was made at the international consultative meeting of the WFDY and international student organizations held in Moscow on February 7, 2016 at the request of Russian youth organizations - members of the WFDY. Only one of the WFDY's Russian member organizations, the Revolutionary Communist Union of Youth, refused to sign the application, voicing fears that government officials would try to turn the festival into an expression of loyalty to the Russian authorities. Earlier, the application was supported by the administration of the President of Russia and the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, it was presented by the delegation of Rosmolodezh during the WFDY General Assembly in Cuba on November 10, 2015. The Russian Youth Union, the International Youth Center and others joined the application. holdings have not been determined.

Dates and venue of the Festival, as well as the logo and motto "For peace, solidarity and social justice, we fight against imperialism - by respecting our past, we are building our future!" were determined at the first meeting of the international preparatory committee in Caracas (Venezuela) on June 5, 2016. It was decided that the Festival will be held on October 14-22, 2017 in Moscow (the solemn parade of delegations) and Sochi (the festival itself).

Hymn

The musical emblem of the festival is the Anthem of the Democratic Youth of the World (music by Anatoly Novikov, text by Lev Oshanin). The anthem was first performed at the Strahov Stadium in Prague at the opening of the I festival.

Chronology