World Congress of Intellectuals for Peace

The World Congress of Intellectuals for Peace convened in Wrocław, Poland on August 25–28, 1948, in the aftermath of the Second World War. Notable politicians, academics, and artists attended, including Pablo Picasso, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, Irène Joliot-Curie, Bertolt Brecht, Paul Éluard, Aldous Huxley, Julian Huxley, Dominique Desanti, Ilya Ehrenburg, Martin Andersen-Nexo, Sir John Boyd-Orr, Olaf Stapledon, Alexander Fadeyev, Julien Benda, A. J. P. Taylor, William Gropper, Eugénie Cotton, Jerzy Borejsza, Anna Seghers and Alves Redol. The Congress was marked by an anti-American and pro-communist tone.

The Congress elected a permanent International Committee of Intellectuals in Defence of Peace (also known as the International Committee of Intellectuals for Peace and the International Liaison Committee of Intellectuals for Peace) with headquarters in Paris. The Congress called for the establishment of national branches and the holding of national meetings along the same Communist lines as the World Congress. In accordance with this policy, a Scientific and Cultural Conference for World Peace was held in New York City in March 1949.

Several of the foreign visitors were unhappy with what they perceived as a pro-Soviet bias at the Congress; Huxley accused the Congress of intolerance to non-Communist viewpoints and stated "such behaviour cannot lead to peace, and may help to promote war".

Julia Pirotte, a photojournalist known for her work in the French Resistance, covered the event.