The Dove Flies East: Whitehall, Warsaw and the 1950 World Peace Congress

Abstract

In 1950 the Cold War turned hot in Korea, the threat of atomic annihilation hovered menacingly and the spectre of another world war haunted Europe. The establishment of the World Peace Council that year was one response to these fears. In November 1950 the Council decided to hold a World Peace Congress in Sheffield. The British Labour government sabotaged this Congress and forced it to shift to Warsaw. This article analyses this event which, to date, has received no scholarly attention. It argues that the attitudes and actions of the protagonists were a microcosm of the Cold War in that each side, East and West, saw the Congress as an opportunity to achieve moral authority, political leverage and strategic advantage over the other. The article also highlights the role of the state in controlling major political events during the Cold War.

Another look at E. P. Thompson and British Communism, 1937–1955

“…51 Ibid. The World Peace Council emerged out of the World Peace Congress orchestrated by Moscow and was proscribed by the Labour Party (Deery, 2001). 52 NA, KV2/4291, Thompson to Ramelson, 24 August 1954. Bert, where the HELL are we going?…”

The Soviet Bloc's Answer to European Integration: Catholic Anti-Germanism and the Polish Project of a ‘Catholic-Socialist’ International

“…Dziś i Jutro then took full advantage of the opportunity to integrate into its expanding network the various Catholic activists in attendance. 84 The congress, from 16 to 22 November 1950, gave Dziś i Jutro the opportunity to host an unprecedented conference of Catholic-socialist peace activists on the territory of the 'People's Poland'. 85 Given how hastily the congress was prepared, the Dziś i Jutro meeting, which took place on the congress's second day, amounted to a spontaneously arranged celebration coinciding with Dziś i Jutro's fifth anniversary.…”