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9/9/1968 - World Youth Festival I -- Papa’s Communism is Dead by Barbara W. Bright

NOT FOR PUBLICATION INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS BWB Im Rosental World Youth Festival I Bonn Papa Communism Is Dead West Germany September Mr Richard H Nolte Institute Current World Affairs Madison Avenue New York N Y lOO17 Dear Mr Nolte Moscow bigwigs Bulgaria littlewigs thought covered contingencies Those communist rebels revolutionary Cuba China Albania listed among national delegations represented Ninth World Festival Youth Students SoLidarity Peace Friendship July through August Sofia Bulgaria A group counter revolutionary Czechoslovakians stopped Yugoslav Bulgarian border Israel delegation Moscow party support Arab peoples protest against Israeli aggression The young French firebrands May Revolution Union Nationale Etudiants France refused delegate status Sofia Festival bureaucrats officially registered Soviet trained students Iran Greece turning outcries National Union Iranian Students Greece leftist Lambrakis Youth Although Algeria officially boycotted Festival Bulgarians welcomed Algerian representatives probably another Yugoslavs called participants representing themselves Sofia fathers spared expense preparing young people tourists parts world One official government spent extravaganza He shrugged suggestion Russia kicked oblique comment Every country delegation Gift shops shelves stocked colorfully costumed dolls bright flowered ceramics wooden intaglio handicrafts sprang hastily vacant empty shops center Three hundred nation progressive students persuaded Vacation workcamps provinces duration Festival To orals visiting yOuth Sofia hundred prostitutes hustled tourist resorts along Black Sea But native population To slack perhaps offer cordial hospitality purity thought intention Peter Mladenov secretary Bulgarian National Preparatory Committee press thousands civilian police roamed broad cobblestone avenues Bulgaria capital loitered around dormitories dangerous delegations West Germany Czechoslovakia joined students attention during symposiums Estimates secret police force ranged conservative Bulgarian Interior Ministry official guess West German Czechoslovakian delegates sight ffered cheery greetings bulls young Germans called received stony stares pretended indifference return The shops missing prostitutes secret police Tere probably naught Although after Russia Czechoslovakia following platitudinous peace friendship paeans Sofia would predict Moscow outlandish scheme Ninth World Youth Festival probably Such heavy handed sincere smile propaganda begun Russia Eastern allies Western nations including their Communist parties disgust As West German student trace irony It communist acquaintance Sofia began Saturday July I arrived three Canadian Festival delegates reporter liberal German weekly Di__e Zeit Dutch television journa small Sofia terminal built baked lains several miles outside All Youth Festival delegates please right slight hunchbacked young English If moment hotel Eager deposit luggage sights Sofia German reporter I attempted hitch West German delegates arrived flight being picked airport small Fiat Socialistischer Deutscher Studentenbun president Karl Dietrich Wolff K D Jine viewed briefly Frankfurt before I hoped during Festival commented engine suitcase That color The little hunchback ushered again waiting where assurances No moments intervals fifteen minutes impatient prisoners least hours It first taste velvet gloved organization became Western journalists received applied credentials Since I observers without official delegation would refused admission symposiums I decided register Festival Newsweek corre spondent Press accreditation nonetheless several bewildering hours Saturday evening Sunday mornin I I retracing steps Kafka surveyor K tryin castle Ironically Festival bureaucracy Kafka Th__e Castle_ which I reading Marxist philosopher sociologist Herbert Marcuse description alienated totalitarian industrial society Bulgaria Bofia seemed symbo Aze Marxism astray symbolism I believe evident Western Latin delegations those beginning through Russia Iron Curtain Why Newsweek write weeks asked official peevishly Bb wouldn helped former Fellow Washington Star correspondent Smith Hempstone proved When applied credentials Monday having written advance press officer brusquely We enough Western correspondents already You accredited Smith being ridiculous Amazingly My first night Sofia I bunked Bulgarian family whose haired daughter student University worked translator Festival But daughter I arrived attempts common language fruitless mother spoke French Bulgarian I German English We managed agree however morning cracked fixtures badly repair water plentiful breakfast With least secure night I hailed returned downown Sofia young American Yale graduate finished Asia Peace Corps Attempts politics student protests young rocky trying entrance Festival group American singers wanted participate concerts symposiums being labeled CIA agent For reason since Bulgarian Preparatory Committee already accused West German delegation harboring CIA provo catoeurs Despite protests K D Wolff later passed charge along gratuitously booby trapping planned interviews Swedish Dutch student leaders refused After dinner Yalie I walked Alexander Nevski Square where Yugoslavian Bulgarian dance troupes performing rousing dances Fun colerful performances scorned following polit ically volatile New Left Western European delegations inappropriate The language problem stymied attempts finding local young people thought Festival But three young Bul garians I Sunday afternoon taught mentary phrases their language molle plashtam check please blagodara thank doviadane goodbye vsichko chubaro wishes The important nicety Bulgarian language I figured later after several drivers practically thrownme their Da which means accompanied nodding which money meant To gesture Bulgarians shake their heads I I thought climb wildly gestured sidewalk again These amusing asides moved background Sunday afternoon official parade opening Festival under Here circumstance strictly Soviet propaganda Dashing young white gymnast suits sitting ramrod straight astride their motorcycles carrying streaming white banners reminded Ajax knight parade Ruski Boulevard Alexander Nevski Memorial Church University The delegations trooped according Cyrillic alphabet which Guiana Mozambique after lively rumba dancing group Brazilians Bulgaria Romania Yugoslavia Hungary German Democratic Republic spruced almost identical suits distinguished different colored shirts blouses Of Eastern nations Czechoslovakians tossing plastic beach balls imprinted peace doves marched avoided rubber starep similarity official Festival costume The Vietnamese delegation their battle fatigues The American delegation about fifty strong looked scruffiest Despite strong tactics Bulgarian hosts secret police trying wrench pictures Che Guevara Mao Tse Tung West German delegation large photographs Alexander Dubcek Ludvik Svoboda Czech Slovak marchers idyllic picture solidarity among youth within Communist world shattered Festival opening moments While thousands spectators hospitably greeted other delegat applause wound Vassil Levski stadium audience embarrassingly silent Czechoslovakian delegation appeared Undaunted cheerleaders rooting David against Russian Goliath Czechs Slovaks bravely roared their greetings crowded stadium Dubcek Dubcek Svoboda Our Democracy Is Our On Business The Slovak journalist sitting beside cringed little temerity countrymen delegation marched below seats raised joined handful other spectators timid clapping The American imperialism peace friendship rhetoric Bulgarian First Party Secretary Todor Zhivkov others clear Festival emphasis Vietnam But speakers calls unity followed ceremonial lighting Festival flame sprays Bulgaria famous smellingrose perfume little impression West European delegations Czechoslovakians Bulgarian youth carry flags J42 Youth Festival nations Young Czechoslovaks their imprinted beach balls North Vietnamese delegation fatigues BWB On Monday Day Solidarity Heroic Struggle People Youth Vietnam Against U S Imperialist Aggression K D Wolff group West Europeans seized Vietnam issue pretext protesting absence cussion Festival The Festival program promised political meetings discussions topics Israeli aggression against Arab people struggle against resurrection Nazism Federal Republic Germany unity imperialist forces struggle peace national independence guarantee European security world peace colonialism national independence tribunes socialism capitalism youth politics indivi society But complaints about Festival Committee discrimination assigning speakers symposium forum discussions decibels Festival The West German SDS twenty youth organizations included official West German delegations voted stage demonstration front American Embassy protestt Vietnam The Communist Party SDS majority SDS Sofia delegation however delegates split carry demonstration K D wante strike protesting political discussion Festival voted Stalinists embarrass hosts Other West German delegates including representatives Verband Deutscher Studentenschaften national student council Liberaler St udente Deut schlands Socialdemokratischer_ Ho chshu lbund supported K D motion To chagrin their Bul garian hosts West Germans sneaked banner announcing Vietnam demonstration Vassil Levs Stadium Sunday evening unfurled marched around cnder track stadium By Mon afternoon Bulgarian bulle uniformed street clothes thick picnic around American Embassy Trucks blockaded street policemen horseback stood guard front trucks Although Vietnam demonstration planned Communist Party SDS their ranks elled delegates orthodox Communist youth group Socialistische Deutsche Arbe iterjugend appeared shortly before Red banners hoisted began marching Sofifijska Kommuna street lined business offices other The Stalinistic SDS German reporter later informed Bulgarian police demonstrators present expecting police close ranks Wolff demonstrators Such tactics K D arrived usual BB Left Bulgarian police guard American Embassy Below Stalinistic SDS march Above Anti Festival SDS New students demonstration Right K D Wolff SDS president protests Festival rigidity BWB levis sport shirt Eisenhower jacket girls young The quintet moved middle street smack before hooves policemen horses How ABC television commentator asked K D readjusting glasses because slipped beads sweat As student leader answered He speaks flawless English protest training civil rights demonstrations gained foreign exchange student Marshall High School Marshall Michigan We announced solidarity Vietnam protest discussion Festival K D barely finished explaining goals television commentator earlier arrived demonstrators pushed shoved their through crowd photographers reporters almost trampling K D stalwarts Like U S Cavalry arriving force Wolff supporters strong rescued K D whose glasses rumpus hoisted other march Here demonstrati shambles Wolff group arguing other Stalinistic SDS about I00 about whether march The marchers Bulgarian bystanders spontaneously joined chants Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh adding their yells Drusba friendship Vietnam With Bulgarians already Bulgarian bulle moved marching group shouldered Wolff pushing bushes The Bulgarian bulle Despite years newspaper first experience second three later I rushed alarmed bearded Berlin student taken K Do bushes Stoically hands tight banner holding asked other SDS Wolff I nodded assured would To surprise relief Wolff reappeared minutes later roughed slightly summoned demonstrators retire other discussion The group included Swedes Irish American students Students Democratic Society Finns Italians Iranians French Argentinians Czechs Yugoslavians joined West German authori tarian group We assembled front Georgi Dimitroff Mausoleum Wolff After being successful initiating demonstration before American Embassy Bulgarian people began Wolff English German crowd pushed forward discuss derive experience The International Festival Coittee condemned demonstration because would provoke demonstrations Bulgarian police people They revisionist groups We conclude solidarity basis Festival variously interpreted different fronts Listg police actions united front against West Germans Ir anians Greeks Wolff compared peaceful policies Soviet Union pursued Americans bombed Hanoi Kosygin murderer Johnson Glasboro Although common knowledge Czechoslovakian delegation having problems united front Wolff neglected recitation Some West German students because their CSSR silence Wolff Frankfurt CSSR reformers revisionists catch phrase explain Outslde Mausoleum More Speeches BWB I0 To Festival world peace folkloris games continued Wolff inappropriate We fronted situation which there great variety opinions Festival those follow stronger _idariy Vietnam allowed participate We think forces Festival should express solidarity Vietnam Enthralled discussion although obviously under stood little transpired crowd several dozen Bulgarians pushed closer students One Bulgarian offered services translator actually voiced Wolff comments When realized speaker sentiments West German Ulbricht stamp fearfully handed appeared crowd Before impromptu discussion broke group agreed again Wednesday afternoon teach broad front West German dormitory Lenin Boulevard It beginning Festival _ncerelyyo Barbara Br Received New York September