YDCHR Opposes Youth Festival As Communist-Dominated Project

The executive committee of the Young Democratic Club yesterday voted unanimously to condemn the forthcoming World Youth Festival. The YDCHR resolution called the Festival, scheduled for July 27-Aug. 5 in Helsinki, Finland, "an obvious attempt by the world Communist movement to misrepresent world student opinion a meeting, ostensibly non-partisan, but in reality dominated and controlled by the Communists."

In the resolution, the YDCHR cited three "whereas's." First, the statement said, the "'Eighth World Festival of Youth and Students for Peace and Friendship' has been organized by and for the Communists to promote their aims."

Second, it noted, the Finnish National Union of Students and the Council of Finnish Youth Organizations have condemned the Festival as a breach of their country's neutrality, and have protested that their approval was neither given nor right.

Final Charge

The resolution charged finally that the Finnish government of Prime Minister Sukselainen had strongly questioned the advisability of holding the Festival in Helsinki.

In conclusion, the YDCHR condemned the Festival, and urged "all responsible student organizations at Harvard and throughout the United States to refrain from "any official participation" in the event.

The Finnish youth organizations aired their objections to the Festival in a cable the Conference of Non-Aligned States in Belgrade last September.

"The national central organizations of the youth and students of Finland, a council the neutrality of which is known and recognized all over the world" wanted protest "a situation, where the endeavour of our country to keep neutral has not been respected and the viewpoint of the representative youth and student organizations has not been taken into consideration," the cable said.

It also noted that, before the Festival arrangers had definitely agreed upon Helsinki as the site, Sukselainen, the Prime Minister at the time, declared, "Since youth organizations but one have declared that they will not take part in this project, the event will be a meeting for one ideological group only...."