Internationally, the group proclaimed its loyalty to the Soviet Union. The group sought recognition from the World Communist Movement as the legitimate representative of the Iraqi communist movement, thus challenging the international position of the Iraqi Communist Party. Rayat ash-Shaghilah sent its own delegation to the 5th World Festival of Youth and Students held in Warsaw, Poland, in 1955. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union did however not recognize the group and continued to identify it as a splinter-group.