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World Federation of Scientific Workers

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Through Cold War, Communism and Cuban Missile Crisis

History

The WFSW was founded at a conference in London held on 20–21 July 1946 at the initiative of the British Association of Scientific Workers. The original conference was attended by 18 organisations, representing 14 countries.

The WFSW was accused of toeing the Soviet line during the Cold War (but there is no indication of the source of these accusations). At the time of the Tito–Stalin split the Yugoslav affiliate was expelled from the Federation. During the Korean War it supported the Communist Chinese forces. The Federation protested against restrictions on the free exchange of scientific information or the movement of scientists by the withholding of visas or passports by Western countries, but never by Communist ones. Likewise, the WFSW spoke out against American, British and French nuclear testing, but not against Soviet nuclear testing. During the Cuban Missile Crisis the World Federation of Scientific Workers mobilised its members to send telegrams to John F. Kennedy and the United Nations condemning the quarantine of Cuba, however they never mentioned the presence of nuclear missiles on the island, nor was any protest sent to Nikita Khrushchev. After a series of Soviet nuclear tests in the early 1960s, the president of the Federation wished to protest, and threatened to resign from the organisation, but was over-ruled. That same year the British and French affiliates also threatened to leave if statements kept on being issued without their approval. The WFSW toned down its rhetoric in order to keep its two most important Western members.

During the Vietnam War the Federation condemned American aggression and accused the US of breaking international agreements and using biological and chemical weapons. The 1966 Executive Council meeting in East Berlin adopted a "Scientists Statement on Vietnam" signed by 13 scientists – including 9 Nobel Prize winners – calling for financial aid for laboratories, scientific equipment and scientific books for Hanoi University.

The WFSW was also affected by the Sino-Soviet split. In 1963 a "Peking center of the World Federation of Scientific Workers" was founded. While it claimed to be an Asian regional branch of the Federation, it was in fact a rival to it. The Peking WFSW held an "International Scientific Symposium" in 1964 and a "Summer Symposium on Physics" on 23–31 July 1966 which was held exclusively for physicists from Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America and drew participants from 33 countries. In September 1966 the Executive Council at Varna established a rival committee for scientific organisations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

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