The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students after 1947.
The festival has been held occasionally since 1947, mainly in communist states, as an event of global youth solidarity for democracy and against war and imperialism. The largest festival was the 6th, held in 1957 in Moscow, when 34,000 young people from 131 countries attended the event. This festival also marked the international debut of the song "Moscow Nights", which subsequently went on to become a widely recognized Russian song. There were no festivals between 1962 and 1968, as events proposed in Algeria and then Ghana were cancelled due to coups and political turmoil in both countries.[1] Until the 19th festival in Sochi, Russia in 2017 (with 185 countries participating),[2] the largest festival by number of countries with participants was the 13th, held in 1989 in Pyongyang when 177 countries attended the event.[3]
The most recent festival took place in Sochi, Russia, from 13 to 22 October 2017.
| Edition | Year | class=unsortable | Logo | Country | Host City | Participants | No. of countries represented | class=unsortable | Motto |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | 17,000 | 71 | "Youth Unite, Forward for Lasting Peace!" | ||||||
| 1949 | 20,000 | 82 | "Youth Unite, Forward for Lasting Peace, Democracy, National Independence and a better future for the people" | ||||||
| 1951 | 26,000 | 104 | "For Peace and Friendship – Against Nuclear Weapons" | ||||||
| 1953 | 30,000 | 111 | "No! Our generation will not serve death and destruction | ." | |||||
| 1955 | 30,000 | 114 | "For Peace and Friendship – Against the Aggressive Imperialist Pacts" | ||||||
| 1957 | 34,000 | 131 | "For Peace and Friendship" | ||||||
| 1959 | 18,000 | 112 | "For Peace and Friendship and Peaceful Coexistence" | ||||||
| 1962 | 18,000 | 137 | "For Peace and Friendship" | ||||||
| 1968 | 20,000 | 138 | "For Solidarity, Peace and Friendship" | ||||||
| 1973 | 25,600 | 140 | "For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship" | ||||||
| 1978 | 18,500 | 145 | "For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship" | ||||||
| 1985 | 26,000 | 157 | "For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship" | ||||||
| 1989 | 22,000 | 177 | "For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship" | ||||||
| 1997 | 12,325 | 136 | "For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship" | ||||||
| 2001 | 6,500 | 110 | "Let’s Globalize the Struggle For Peace, Solidarity, Development, Against Imperialism" | ||||||
| 2005 | 17,000 | 144 | "For Peace and Solidarity, We Struggle Against Imperialism and War" | ||||||
| 2010 | 15,000 | 126 | "Let's Defeat Imperialism, for a World of Peace, Solidarity and Social Transformation!" | ||||||
| 2013 | Quito | 8,500 | 80[4] | "Youth Unite Against Imperialism, for a World of Peace, Solidarity and Social Transformation!" | |||||
| 2017 | 30,000 | 185[5] | "For peace, solidarity and social justice, we struggle against imperialism. Honoring our past, we build the future!" | ||||||