World Peace Council

(WPC), the supreme permanent body of the worldwide movement of Partisans of Peace, elected at world congresses and sessions of the movement.

The WPC was formed at the Second World Congress of Partisans of Peace, held in Warsaw in November 1950; it replaced the Permanent Committee of the World Congress of Partisans of Peace, which had existed from 1949. It directs and coordinates the activity of the partisans in various countries, mobilizes them for the struggle against the threat of world war and against imperialist aggression and for general disarmament, and supports the struggles of peoples for national independence. It awards individuals and organizations the Joliot-Curie Gold Peace Medals for outstanding services to the cause of the struggle for peace. In the interest of uniting all forces waging the struggle for peace, the WPC strives to coordinate its own activity with that of other peace-loving international organizations, for example, with respect to such questions as disarmament and the struggle for peace in Vietnam. Initially the WPC had 226 members. In early 1971, it included 600 people recommended by national organizations of supporters of peace, as well as by international social organizations, such as the World Federation of Trade Unions, the Women’s International Democratic Federation, and the International Commission of Jurists. The WPC includes representatives of broad social circles from 104 countries (1973), regardless of their political and religious views.

The WPC holds sessions at least once every two to three years. The directing bodies of the WPC are the Presidium (established in 1959, after the death of F. Joliot-Curie, who was president of the WPC from 1950 to 1959) and the Secretariat, located in Helsinki, which is headed by the general secretary (since 1966, R. Chandra, India). The executive president of the WPC between 1959 and 1965 was J. Bernal, the coordinating president from 1965 to 1969 was Isabella Blum.

The WPC publishes two monthly journals: Peace Courier in English, French, German, and Spanish and New Perspectives in English and French.