Lecture format: on site
Room: 2Q-EG-27 (Seminar Room of the Institute for Eastern European History).
Street address: Spitalgasse 2,  Campus of the University of Vienna, Hof 3.2

Founded in 1946 in Prague, the International Union of Students was meant to be a universal federation representing student interests internationally. Soon after its foundation, however, the IUS aligned itself with the Eastern Bloc and started promoting socialist student internationalism.

The book Student Internationalism and the Global Cold War. The International Union of Students in Socialist Prague tells the history of the organization, providing an account of a significant but understudied vehicle of internationalism amidst the Global Cold War. Focusing on three main themes; student internationalism, decolonization, and socialist transnationalism, it draws on a vast array of archival sources to explore cooperation and exchange between the Cold War’s three worlds, and the role of the organization in developing global socialism.

Centering Prague as a key co-ordinating center of Cold War internationalisms and with an international focus on student organizations, the book contextualizes the legacy and impact of student internationalism in the twentieth century. Paying particular attention to the role of ‘Third World’ delegates who communicated and legitimized topics such as colonialism, racism, global inequality and national liberation, it shows how the language and agenda of the IUS changed over time, and how the organization struggled to find its place after the end of the Cold War in 1989.

The book will be presented by its author, Mikuláš Pešta (Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences) and discussed by a panel of scholars (TBA).

Mikuláš Pešta is a researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences, and an assistant professor at the Institute of History at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. He focuses on the role of Czechoslovakia in the Cold War and decolonization, in particular the fields of education, cultural diplomacy, ideology, or secret services. Currently, he researches the role of socialist-oriented international organizations and student internationalism during the Cold War and beyond.