World Federation of Scientific Workers

The World Federation of Scientific Workers (WFSW) is an international federation of scientific associations. It was a Cold War-era Communist front. The group was composed of scientists who supported communism. The federation opposed nuclear tests conducted by the United States.

The WFSW was founded at a conference in London July 20–21, 1946 held at the initiative of the British Association of Scientific Workers. The original conference was attended by 18 organizations, representing 14 countries.

The WFSW was accused of toeing the Soviet line during the Cold War. At the time of the Tito-Stalin split the Yugoslav affiliate was expelled from the Federation. During the Korean War it supported the Communist Chinese forces. The Federation protested against restrictions on the free exchange of scientific information or the movement of scientists by the withholding of visas or passports by Western countries, but never by Communist ones. Likewise, the WFSW spoke out against American, British and French nuclear testing, but not against Soviet nuclear testing. During the Cuban missile crisis the World Federation of Scientific Workers mobilized its members to send telegrams to John F. Kennedy and the United Nations condemning the quarantine of Cuba, however they never mentioned the presence of nuclear missiles on the island, nor was any protest sent to Nikita Khrushchev. After a series of Soviet nuclear tests in the early 1960s, the president of the Federation wished to protest, and threatened to resign from the organization, but was overruled. That same year the British and French affiliates also threatened to leave if statements kept on being issued without their approval. The WFSW toned down its rhetoric in order to keeps its two most important Western members.

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