WORLD YOUTH ORGANISATION

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25552, 21 July 1948, Page 5

WORLD YOUTH ORGANISATION

INTEREST IN LONDON MEETING “INSTRUMENT OF SOVIET POLICY ” (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, July 20. 'Fhe executive committee of the World Federation of Democratic Youth met in London after a five days’ postponement caused by visa difficulties. An official of the organisation, which the diplomatic correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” describes as Com-munist-dominated, complained last week that the British Foreign Office had failed to grant visas to Russians, Jugoslavs, Czechoslovaks, Poles, and Republican Spanish delegates. All these delegates were present, with Americans, Canadians, and Australians, when the meeting opened yesterday. A Foreign Office spokesman said that the visa applications had been dealt with as promptly as possible. The “Daily Telegraph” correspondent says: “Diplomatic and political circles in London are showing interest in the meeting. The federation, which was formed in 1945, claims a membership of 50.000,000. It Is now one of the main instruments of Russian international policy. It provides a courier service for the dispatch of agents and instructions and a highly-developed network for agitation and propaganda. An outstanding example of this is its activity in South-east Asia, where it was used for briefing the Communist leaders of Burma and Malaya on the plans for revolt which are now being put into effect.”