The International Union of Students (IUS) was a worldwide nonpartisan association of university student organizations. The IUS was the umbrella organization for 155 such students' organizations across 112

countries A country is a distinct part of the Earth, world, such as a state (polity), state, nation, or other polity, political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, List of states with limited r ...

and

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representing approximately 25 million students. This was recognised by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

granting the IUS a consultative status in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

. The primary aim of the IUS was to defend the rights and interests of students to promote improvement in their welfare and standard of education and to prepare them for their tasks as democratic citizens. It collapsed in the 2000s due to an unreliable membership system and a lack of grassroots engagement.

Aim and work areas

The aims of the IUS were spelled out in the 1946 preamble to the organization's Constitution:

The purpose of the International Union of Students, which is founded upon the representative student organizations of different countries, shall be to defend the rights and interests of students to promote improvement in their welfare and standard of education and to prepare them for their tasks as democratic citizens.

According to the IUS's entry in the

Non-Governmental Organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

list, the priority work areas of the IUS were: "Exchange of information, defence of students' status,

peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

, environment, development,

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

Activities

The IUS worked through: *Issuing ''Student Statements'' *''Circular News Letters'' and ''Calls for Action'' to members *Celebration of the International Students' Day on November 17 *Organizing ''Student Conferences''

Logo symbolism

The logo and flag of the IUS is a burning torch and an open book set against the red and blue outline of a stylized globe. It symbolizes youth's persistent quest for knowledge.

History

Early history 1946–1956

The International Union of Students was founded in Prague on August 27, 1946. Student organizations from 62 countries participated in its founding envisioning a more inclusive successor to the short lived 1941-1944 International Council of Students (also known as the International Students' Council) which was set up on the initiative of the British National Union of Students to maintain open lines of communication with student organizations in allied countries during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. From its earliest inception, the IUS was marked by a fundamental schism:

"The spirit of ost-warco-operation and the desire to prevent a resurgence of fascism in Europe brought together otherwise divergent groups. The main divisions, evident even at the founding congress, were between the Communist student organizations, which gained control of the executive bodies of the IUS from the beginning, and the student unions from
western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
, many of which were primarily interested in preserving the idea of a non-political international agency which would provide concrete services to the students of various countries"

In response to the increasingly partisan Communist course of the IUS and the broad powers of its secretariat and executive committee to initiate new policy programmes on behalf of the members, several non-Communist members withdrew their membership in the following years. Following which the IUS also referred itself as Independent Federation of Left-Wing and Alternative Student Unions. Consequently, 21 such break-away national students organizations met in Stockholm in 1950 to form the International Student Conference (ISC) as a nonpartisan rival organization to the pro-Communist IUS.Altbach, Philip G. (1970): 'The International Student Movement'; Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 5, No. 1, p. 163Kehr, Marguerite (1958): 'The International Program of the USNSA'; The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 29, No. 6. (June, 1958), p. 317 Notable among these founders was the United States

National Student Association The United States National Student Association (known as the National Student Association or NSA) was a confederation of college and university student governments in the United States that was in operation from 1947 to 1978. NSA held annual nati ...

(USNSA or NSA) though "Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavians and Dutch wielded the greatest influence n the ISC. At the time of the formation of the ISC, the dominant view in later analyses is that the IUS had become Communist controlled to such a degree that it is often referred to as a

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Communist

front organization A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy ...

with the IUS and ISC aligned along the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

fronts toward the

and the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

respectively.Lyonette, Kevin (1966): 'Student Organisations in Latin America'; International Affairs" (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), Vol. 42, No. 4. (October, 1966), p. 660 A dissenting view that the IUS was strongly influenced by

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

but not ''de facto'' controlled by Soviet Communist interests, has also been expressed, however, by Trotskyist Lawrence Brammer:

"It is significant that several former IUS officers later became outspoken liberals in Czechoslovakia and in the French and Italian Communist Parties. The outward pro-Soviet orientation of the IUS often obscured real differences within the organization"

IUS activities in this period included Student Games held by the IUS Sports Council. The first such games were held in Paris in 1946 and were subsequently integrated into the World Youth Festivals (also known as

World Festival of Youth and Students 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. History The festival has been held occasionally since 1947, mainl ...

) which the IUS co-sponsored with the equally Communist oriented

World Federation of Democratic Youth The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

(WFDY). Such festivals brought up to 30,000 youth and students together for a social, cultural and sporting eventAltbach, Philip G. (1970): 'The International Student Movement'; Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 171-172 (see

IUS from 1956–1969

From 1956 onwards, the IUS and ISC competed to attract student unions non-aligned in the

sense. Focus was on

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and recruitment of member unions from here resulted in a broader political base for the IUS. Activities in this period included among others regional student seminars, donation of duplication machines and cameras to help affiliates, the establishment of student Health Centres in India, international student conferences as well as the publication in German, Russian and Czech of the ''World Student News'' journal of the IUS, the ''Democratic Education'' journal of the IUS, and topical pamphlets concerning education. More spectacularly, the IUS continued to co-sponsor World Youth Festivals with the

(WFDY). It was well known from the outset that the IUS was funded by Soviet and Czech government contributions:

"The cost of international meetings, large-scale publications, and the other activities in which they engage, are beyond the financial resources of university students"

However, the IUS's inability to win leadership in

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

student movements in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

despite its many activities caused the

to re-evaluate its support.Altbach, Philip G. (1970): 'The International Student Movement'; Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 5, No. 1, p. 173 The major challenge for the IUS in this period turned out to be its preoccupation with an ideological agenda rather than a focus on actual student concerns and affairs. As a consequence of this stance, the organization became detached from its student base and was circumvented by grassroots movements in, e.g. the planning of international

anti-war An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...

demonstrations in relation to the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. The major achievements of the IUS in this period were therefore firstly helping create national student unions in developing countries and secondly aiding student union members with information and idea exchange. The dissolution of the IUS's rival organization the International Student Conference (ISC) owing to lack of funds became a reality in 1969. The demise of the ISC were hastened by the 1967 revelation that the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

had indirectly funded the ISC and recruited student representatives from the United States

(USNSA) to actively oppose

Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

in the IUS. This undermined both the financial and student political support of the ISC leaving, once again, the IUS as the only worldwide student organization.

IUS from 1970–present

This period in IUS history is marked by the chairmanship of the same chairman from 1977 to 1986 under whom a flurry of international IUS activity took place in 1979. The most significant event of the period for the IUS, however, was the turmoil the organization encountered after the 1989 - 1991

fall of Communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

(see also

) during which the IUS lost most of its funding.Fine, Philip (2003): 'International Union of Students Marks Its Comeback With Call For Worldwide Day of Protest'; The Times Higher Education Supplement, TSL Education Limited, August 8, 2003, No.1601; Pg.2 Additionally, in August 1991, the Czechoslovak Minister of the Interior decided to expel the IUS and other Communist front organizations from

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

.The British Broadcasting Corporation (1992): 'International organisations protest expulsion from Czechoslovakia'; BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, January 15, 1992, Part 2 Eastern Europe; A. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS; 1. GENERAL AND WESTERN AFFAIRS; EE/1278/A1/ 1 The reasons given for the expulsion were close ties with the old Communist regime and abuse of tax privileges granted during the old Communist regime.CTK National News Wire (1992): 'INTERNATIONAL UNION OF STUDENTS ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP'; CTK National News Wire, April 23, 1992, NEWS Despite the hardships caused by the changing power dynamics of the 1990s, the organization elected a new leadership at its 1992

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

Congress and initiated structural changes of it
Constitution
to renew itself and evolve beyond its Communist past:

"At the 16th Congress of the International Union of Students (IUS), which took place in January 1992 in Larnaca,
Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
, the organisation underwent major changes, including the development of a new constitution. These initiatives were adopted to establish the basis for a more democratic, representative, and independent international student organisation"

The new leadership and its successors continued to make press appearances in, e.g., relation to International Students' Day celebration in Dublin in 1994 and the 1998

World Conference on Higher Education. In August 2003, the International Union of Students marked a comeback by calling for a worldwide day of protest against the inclusion of Higher Education in the

WTO The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

General Agreement on Trade in Services The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is a treaty of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which entered into force in January 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations. The treaty was created to extend the multilateral trading ...

. The IUS is still, however, struggling with its expulsion from its Prague headquarters as of October 2006:

"Most cold war institutions shriveled in the 1990s, along with their superpower backing. The big communist front outfits that fought propaganda wars, awash with cash and stuffed with spies, have fizzled away in a mixture of apathy and swindles. This week's court-enforced auction of a hulking concrete pile in the heart of Prague belonging to one of them, the International Union of Students, was halted amid squabbles among its dozens of creditors"

Members

The IUS had the following members:

Notes

External links

Official website

Old (2002) website

ESU - The European Students' Union: The International Student Movement during the Cold War (1946 - 1969)
*
Communist international front organizations: An analysis of the international union of students
' by John Jay Barr {{Authority control Groups of students' unions International organizations based in the Czech Republic Students' unions International student organizations Organizations based in Prague Communist front organizations Student wings of communist parties Student organizations established in 1946