World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace The World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace ( ) was an international conference held on 25 to 28 August 1948 at Wrocław University of Technology . It was a propaganda conference organized by the Polish and Soviet communists aimed at the " American imperialism " . Organization . The Congress was officially proposed by Polish communist activist , Jerzy Borejsza , but in reality it was most likely conceptualized and approved by the Soviet Union . It was held on 25 to 28 August 1948 at Wrocław University of Technology . It cost the organizers about 100 million Polish zloties . Delegates . A large number of notable individuals , primarily supportive of the left - wing policies , participated in the conference . They included : Pablo Picasso , Louis Aragon , Frédéric Joliot , Irène Joliot - Curie , Julian Huxley , Bertolt Brecht , Jorge Amado , György Lukács , Fernand Léger , Roger Vailland , Salvatore Quasimodo , Paul Éluard , Olaf W . Stapledon , Leon Moussinac , Jorge Amado , Alan J . P . Taylor , John Haldane and Julien Benda . Some Soviet delegates included Alexander Alexandrovich Fadeyev , Ilya Ehrenburg , and Mikhail Sholokhov . Polish representatives were , among others : Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz ( leader of the Polish delegation ) , Maria Dąbrowska , Zofia Nałkowska , Tadeusz Kotarbiński , Józef Chałasiński , Andrzej Panufnik , Kazimierz Wyka , Stanisław Lorentz , Stanisław Ossowski , Władysław Broniewski , Władysław Tatarkiewicz , Julian Krzyżanowski , Antoni Słonimski , Hugo Steinhaus , Julian Tuwim and Jerzy Zawieyski . Borejsza was the Congress ' secretary general . Albert Einstein sent a letter which was read to the delegates – but only after it had been censored to remove the call for a world government that would safeguard the uses of nuclear energy . Overall , the Congress was attended by about 600 individuals from 46 countries . Program . The Congress was part of the Stalin - supported peace movement aimed at slowing down the development of the nuclear weaponry by the West ( at that time , USSR did not have nuclear weapons of its own , although it was engaged in a crash program to develop them ) . Polish historian Wojciech Tomasik noted that the Congress was one of the examples in which the Soviet propaganda hijacked the concept of " defending the peace " , to justify its own policies . The Congress aim was to influence the world ' s public opinion , portraying the communist powers as supporters of peace , and the Western ones , as a threat to it . Dąbrowska in her memories stated that " the Congress was not aimed at preventing the war in general , but at preventing an American - Soviet war from talking place " now " , at the moment in which the USSR is in the inferior position . " Some Polish activists and politicians initially saw the congress as a neutral conference that would boost Polish relations with the West . However , soon after a strongly anti - American opening speech by Soviet delegation leader , Fadeyev , a number of western delegates such as Huxley or Curie declared themselves offended . Some , including Huxley ( then director of UNESCO ) , Léger and Taylor , left the conference in protest . A number of other speeches shared much of the anti - American rhetoric . Journalist Francoise Bondy noted that the Soviet delegation was particularly unfriendly and aggressive towards many of the Western delegates , and their actions sowed much discord into the conference , ruining the attempts by Polish delegates to salvage the neutral tone of the event . The final act of the conference was a resolution to defend world peace . The resolution applauded democracy which saved the world from fascism , and criticized the governments ( but explicitly , not the people ) of United States and United Kingdom , arguing that a small group of greed - motivated individuals in America and Europe " inherited " the evils of fascism , and are planning a coup d ' état against the world ' s peace . Only 11 delegates voted against ( 7 out of 32 from the US , and 4 out of 32 from the UK ) . Another source notes that 371 out of 391 delegates voted in support . Simultaneously with the Congress , another Wrocław event occurred : the Exhibition of the Regained Territories , another international event , this one used by Polish propaganda to justify the territorial changes of Poland after World War II and the securing of the so - called Regained Territories . Together , the Conference and the Exhibition aimed to convince the world that the border change was beneficial to Europe and the world peace . Aftermath . The conference was one of the precursors to the Soviet - dominated World Peace Council organization , which for decades would attempt to influence the world ' s peace movement to support a more pro - Soviet and anti - American stance . In the United States , a pro - American , anti - Soviet Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace was held in New York in March 1949 .