Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:10:16.081Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Case of Youth Exchanges and Interactions Between the PRC and Italy in the 1950s*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2016

SOFIA GRAZIANI
SOFIA GRAZIANI*
Affiliation:
Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Bologna, Italy Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Soon after the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), youth exchanges came to be a major part of the Chinese campaign to reach out and influence the people of other nations. Despite the growing scholarly discussion regarding the role of people-to-people diplomacy and external propaganda in China's foreign policy, so far no direct attention has been paid to the Chinese Communist Party's efforts to institutionalize youth exchanges and use them as a tool to promote the new Chinese government's foreign relations. This article locates the position of young people within the PRC's people-to-people diplomacy. It attempts to explore youth exchanges with the West in the early years of the Cold War by focusing on relations between Italian and Chinese youth groups in the 1950s. Relying mainly on unexplored archival material and memoirs, this article documents contacts and exchanges between adult-led youth organizations and their members, and shows how Italian left-wing party-affiliated youth groups and Soviet-dominated transnational organizations provided important channels for Sino-Italian encounters and for building long-lasting contacts among potential future leaders of these countries.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 51 , Special Issue 1: Circumventing the Cold War: The parallel diplomacy of economic and cultural exchanges between Western Europe and Socialist China in the 1950s and 1960s , January 2017 , pp. 194 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Research for this article was made possible thanks to a postdoctoral fellowship from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange Postdoctoral Fellowship held at the Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (2012–2013). It was carried out within the framework of a collective project entitled ‘Italy, Europe, China. Economic, political and cultural relations in the Cold War years’ led by Professor Guido Samarani. Further research for this article has been conducted as part of my research project at the University of Bologna. I would like to thank Professor Li Yuqi for sharing some of his insights on the international dimension of China's youth organizations during the Mao era in conversations we had in May 2015 in Beijing. I am also grateful to the anonymous readers of this journal for their comments on an earlier draft of this article and to Shen Zhihua, Li Danhui, and Yu Minling for their valuable input and help.

References

1 The literature on the socio-cultural aspects of the Cold War in both Europe and Asia has grown in recent years. See, for instance, Caute, D. (2005). The Dancer Defects: The Struggle for Cultural Supremacy During the Cold War, Oxford University Press, Oxford Google Scholar; Scott-Smith, G. and Krabbendam, H. (eds) (2003). The Cultural Cold War in Western Europe 1945–1960, Routledge, New York Google Scholar; Mitter, R. and Major, P. (eds) (2004). Across the Blocs: Cold War Cultural and Social History, Frank Cass, London CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Pieper Mooney, J. E. and Lanza, F. (eds) (2013). De-centering Cold War History: Local and Global Change, Routledge, New York Google Scholar; Vu, T. and Wongsurawat, W. (eds) (2009). Dynamics of the Cold War in Asia: Ideology, Identity and Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, New York CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Yangwen, Zheng, Liu, Hong and Szonyi, M. (eds) (2010). The Cold War in Asia: The Battle for Hearts and Minds, Brill, Leiden.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 The literature on youth and the Cold War is too large to reference here. On young people as a main target group of the cultural Cold War in Europe, see, for instance, Paget, K. (2003). ‘From Stockholm to Leiden: The CIA's Role in the Formation of the International Student Conference’ and Kotek, J. (2003). ‘Youth Organizations as a Battlefield in the Cold War’, in Scott-Smith and Krabbendam, The Cultural Cold War, pp. 134–167 and 168–191 respectively. Kotek, J. (1996). Students and the Cold War, Macmillan, London, remains the most extensive study of youth and student organizations in the Cold War published to date. On international youth movements and communism in the post-Second World War period, see Cornell, R. (1965). Youth and Communism. An Historical Analysis of International Communist Youth Movements, Walker and Company, New York, pp. 73–179 Google Scholar. On the world youth festivals, see Koivunen, P. (2011). ‘Overcoming Cold War Boundaries at the World Youth Festivals’, in Autio-Sarasmo, S. and Miklossy, K. (eds). Reassessing Cold War Europe, Routledge, New York, pp. 175–192 Google Scholar; and the Institute for International Youth Affairs (1959). Courtship of Young Minds. A Case Study of the Moscow Youth Festival, East European Student and Youth Service, New York Google Scholar. On the importance of the World Youth Festival as an instrument of cultural diplomacy within the Socialist world, see Volland, N. (2008). ‘Translating the Socialist State: Cultural Exchange, National Identity, and the Socialist World in the Early PRC’, Twentieth-Century China, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 56–57 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For new and fresh insights into the role of young people in the history of post-Second World War international affairs, see the articles in the special forum entitled ‘Transnational Generations: Organizing Youth in the Cold War West’, Diplomatic History, vol. 38, no. 2, 2014.

3 On the PRC's Cold War era public diplomacy and cultural exchanges, see Brady, A.-M. (2003). Making the Foreign Serve China: Managing Foreigners in the People's Republic, Rowman and Littlefield, Oxford Google Scholar; Zheng Yangwen, Hong Liu and Szonyi, The Cold War in Asia; Volland, ‘Translating the Socialist State’; and the still-useful Passin, H. (1963). China's Cultural Diplomacy, Frederick A. Praeger, New York Google Scholar. For an interesting exploration of China's cultural diplomacy towards Western Europe, see De Giorgi, L. (2014). ‘Alle radici della diplomazia culturale cinese: l'interesse per l'Europa occidentale negli anni Cinquanta’, in Meneguzzi Rostagni, C. and Samarani, G. (eds). La Cina di Mao, l'Italia e l'Europa negli anni della Guerra fredda, Il Mulino, Bologna, pp. 119–146 Google Scholar.

4 Chi, Wen (2005). ‘Kaizhan waijiao gongzuo de zhuyao jichu he houdun’ [The main foundation and reserve force for the development of foreign affairs work], in zhongyang, Tuan lianluobu, guoji (ed.). Ruge suiyue: qingnian waishi gongzuo huiyilu, Waiwen chubanshe, Beijing, pp. 121–125 Google Scholar (quotation on p. 123).

5 Brady, Making the Foreign Serve China, p. 23.

6 Yan, Li (2005). ‘Yi tuan tiaodong de huoyan: yuan tuan zhongyang shujichu houbu shuji Li Shuzheng fangtanlu’ [Notes from the interview with Li Shuzheng, former alternate member of the Secretariat of the Communist Youth League Central Committee], in Yuqi, Li (ed.). Qingyun Chunqiu. Di er ji [The history of the youth movement, Vol. 2], Zhongguo qingnian chubanshe, Beijing, p. 206 Google Scholar. On Chinese participation in the activities of the World Federation of Democratic Youth and the International Union of Students, see, respectively, zhongyang, Gongqingtuan lianluobu, guoji (ed.) (2009). Budapeisi de huiyi. Canyu shijie minzhu qingnian lianmeng ershiyi nian (1945 nian–1966 nian) [Budapest memories. Twenty-one years of experience in the World Federation of Democratic Youth (1945–1966)], Zhongguo qingnian chubanshe, Beijing Google Scholar; zhongyang, Gongqingtuan lianluobu, guoji (ed.) (2008). Bulage de huiyi. Canyu guoji xuelian gongzuo ershinian (1947 nian–1966 nian) [Prague memories. Twenty years of experience in the International Union of Students (1947–1966)], Zhongguo qingnian chubanshe, Beijing Google Scholar.

7 Shaoming, Li (2012). ‘Wo canjia qingnian waijiao jiedai gongzuo de huiyi’ [Memoirs regarding my participation in the work of receiving young foreign guests], Wuhan wenshi ziliao, no. 7, pp. 15–22 Google Scholar.

8 Li Shuzheng (2005). ‘Fahui youshi, zheng cuo gongxian, duochu rencai’ [Exploit advantages, struggle to make a contribution, develop far more talents] and Cai Wu (2005). ‘You huodong cai you huoli’ [Vigour only comes with activities], in Tuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu (ed.). Ruge suiyue, pp. 45–46 and p. 235 respectively.

9 Li Shaoming, ‘Wo canjia qingnian waijiao jiedai gongzuo de huiyi’, pp. 15–22.

10 These data are drawn from zhongyang, Gongqingtuan lianluobu, guoji (2000). Zhongguo qingnian waishi dashiji (1949–1999) [Chronicle of events related to China's youth foreign affairs (1949–1999)], Shishi chubanshe, Beijing Google Scholar. Even though the data provided here should be treated with caution, it is nonetheless useful to help work out general trends in China's youth exchanges with foreign countries.

11 Li Shaoming, ‘Wo canjia qingnian waijiao jiedai gongzuo de huiyi’, pp. 15–22.

12 Weizhou, Cao (1999). ‘Zhongguo qingnian waishi fazhan de lishi yu zhuyao jingyan’ [The historical development of China's youth foreign affairs and its fundamental experience], Zhongguo qingnian zhengzhi xueyuan xuebao, no. 4, p. 1 Google Scholar; Cai Wu, ‘You huodong cai you huoli’, p. 234.

13 For Peace and Friendship: The Work of the Third World Youth Congress, Bucharest, 25th–30th July, 1953, World Federation of Democratic Youth, pp. 130–139 (quotation on pp. 137–138).

14 Brady, Making the Foreign Serve China, p. 89.

15 Ibid., p. 97.

16 Ying, Fu (1954). ‘Qingnianmen yao guanxin zhengqu heping de waijiao huodong’ [Youth should care about diplomatic activities aimed at building peace], Zhongguo qingnian, no. 17, pp. 18–19 Google Scholar.

17 Yaobang's, Hu report to the Third National Congress of the Communist Youth League (1957), in Zhongbing, Zheng (ed.) (2005). Hu Yaobang nianpu ziliao changbian (Materials for a chronological record of Hu Yaobang's life), 2 vols, Shidai guoji chuban youxian gongsi, Hong Kong, Vol. 1, p. 169 Google Scholar.

18 Croft, M. (1958). Red Carpet to China, Longmans, Green and Co, London, p. 48 Google Scholar.

19 Hu Yaobang's report to the Third National Congress of the Communist Youth League (1957), in Zheng Zhongbing (ed.). Hu Yaobang nianpu ziliao changbian, p. 168.

20 Passin, China's Cultural Diplomacy, pp. 72 and 77.

21 Gongqingtuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu, Zhongguo qingnian waishi dashiji, pp. 1–26.

22 Liqun, Zhang, Ding, Zhang, Ruping, Yan, Fei, Tang and Gongtian, Li (2005). Hu Yaobang zhuan, di yi juan (1915–1976) [Biography of Hu Yaobang, first volume (1915–1976)], Renmin chubanshe—Zhonggong dangshi chubanshe, Beijing, p. 281 Google Scholar.

23 Gongqingtuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu, Zhongguo qingnian waishi dashiji, p. 17.

24 Circular no. 4 (6 March 1956), Beijing Municipal Archives, file n. 038-002-00193, p. 12.

25 Volland, ‘Translating the Socialist State’, p. 56.

26 See Koivunen, ‘Overcoming Cold War Boundaries’. In 1951 the World Youth Festival was held in East Berlin and saw considerable numbers of young Westerners participating, despite the fact that many Atlantic alliance governments had revoked the passports of a large number of the delegates; see Kotek, ‘Youth Organizations as a Battlefield in the Cold War’, pp. 173–176. From 1947 until 1962 eight world youth festivals were held biannually (in Prague, Budapest, East Berlin, Bucharest, Warsaw, Moscow, Vienna, and Helsinki). For data on the numbers of foreign participants and countries represented during each festival, see Kotek, Students and the Cold War, p. 212.

27 Sixth World Festival of Youth and Students for Peace and Friendship, Moscow, July 28th–August 11th, 1957, World Federation of Democratic Youth, p. 25. The same numbers are found in Chinese memoirs; see zhongyang, Gongqingtuan lianluobu, guoji (ed.). Budapeisi de huiyi, p. 45 Google Scholar.

28 Koivunen, P. (2009). ‘The 1957 Moscow Youth Festival: Propagating a New, Peaceful Image of the Soviet Union’, in Ilic, M. and Smith, J. (eds). Soviet State and Society Under Nikita Khrushchev, Routledge, New York, p. 52 Google Scholar. On the Soviet intention to use the Festival to restore its prestige internationally and on the efforts to emphasize its non-partisan character, by extending participation in the preparation to non-Communist organizations, see also the Institute for International Youth Affairs, Courtship of Young Minds, pp. 38–43, p. 46

29 Institute for International Youth Affairs, Courtship of Young Minds, p. 49.

30 Li Shuzheng. ‘Fahui youshi’, p. 36.

31 Liang, Zhu (2012). Duiwai gongzuo huiyi yu sikao [Remembering and reflecting on external work], Dangdai shijie chubanshe, Beijing, pp. 18–21 Google Scholar; Gongqingtuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu (ed.). Budapeisi de huiyi, pp. 44–47.

32 Zhu Liang, Duiwai gongzuo huiyi, p. 20.

33 Ibid., p. 18; Gongqingtuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu (ed.). Budapeisi de huiyi, p. 44.

34 Zhu Liang, Duiwai gongzuo huiyi, pp. 17–18.

35 Hu Yaobang, ‘Shijie ge guo qingnian youhao hezuo de xin jieduan’ (A new phase of cooperation and friendship among youth from every country of the world), Renmin Ribao, 1 September, 1957, p. 6.

36 See Frankel, M. ‘41 defy warning, set off for China: Americans in Moscow insist on their “right to travel”’, New York Times, 14 August 1957: http://radfilms.com/1957_forbidden_journey_ny_times.htm, [accessed 17 August 2016]. The tour was filmed by Robert Cohen who accompanied the young Americans. His films of those six weeks resulted in the documentary entitled ‘Inside Red China’: see http://www.radfilms.com/inside_red_china.htm, [accessed 17 August 2016].

37 Zhou Enlai also stressed that in the absence of official diplomatic relations, China supported people-to-people exchanges and that unofficial exchanges of delegations represented the ‘driving force’ of the friendship between the two peoples and could benefit the relationship between the two countries as well. See ‘Zhou zongli jiejian Meiguo qingnian daibiaotuan de tanhua jilu’ (The Prime Minister Zhou Enlai receives the American youth delegation: minutes of the conversation), in Zhongguo qingnian, no. 20, 1957, pp. 1–5.

38 Zhu Liang, Duiwai gongzuo huiyi, pp. 21–22.

39 Samarani, G. and De Giorgi, L. (2011). Lontane, vicine. Le relazioni fra Cina e Italia nel Novecento, Carocci, Roma, pp. 105–112 Google Scholar.

40 On the contacts and exchanges between the Communist parties of Italy and the PRC, see Samarani, G. and Graziani, S. (2015). ‘Yidali Gongchandang yu Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo: zhengzhi lianxi yu jialiu (1949–1965)' [The Communist Party of Italy and People's China: Political Ties and Exchanges (1949–1965)]’, Lengzhan guoji shi yanjiu (Cold War International History Studies), no. 19/20, pp. 5–29. An exploration of some aspects of relations between Communist parties at the time of the crisis in the international Communist movement is found in Höbel, A. (2005). ‘Il PCI nella crisi del movimento comunista internazionale tra PCUS e PCC (1960–1964)’, Studi Storici, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 515–572 Google Scholar.

41 For a description and analysis of the role and activities of the Centre for the Development of Economic and Cultural Relations with China (or ‘Centro Cina’), see Samarani, G. (2014). ‘Roma e Pechino negli anni della Guerra fredda: il ruolo del Centro studi per le relazioni economiche e culturali con la Cina’, in Meneguzzi Rostagni and Samarani, La Cina di Mao, pp. 93–117.

42 Samarani and De Giorgi, Lontane, vicine, p. 120. The question of student exchanges was addressed on 23 September 1956 during a talk that Ferruccio Parri, then president of a cultural delegation to China and head of the ‘Centro Cina’ in Italy, had with Zhou Enlai; see Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC, 110-00320-04 (1). On their experience see De Giorgi, L. (2015). ‘Shenghuo zai shehuizhuyi youyi qianxian: dui 1950 niandai he 1960 niandai chu Yidali zai Hua lujuzhe jingli de chubu pinggu’ [Living at the Forefront of Socialist Friendship: A Preliminary Assessment of the Experiences of Italian Sojourners in China during the 1950s and Early 1960s], Lengzhan guoji shi yanjiu, no. 19/20, pp. 31–46, and Zuccheri, S. (2010). ‘I primi studenti italiani in Cina’, Sulla via del Catai, special issue edited by Romagnoli, C., Pechino chiama Roma: Quranta anni di relazioni diplomatiche tra Italia e Cina, pp. 39–47.

43 Ledda, R. (1959). ‘Universiadi: ha vinto la coesistenza’, Nuova Generazione, no. 32, pp. 3–4 Google Scholar.

44 Gongqingtuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu, Zhongguo qingnian waishi dashiji, p. 30, pp. 35–36. See also ‘Gongqingtuan Shanghai shiwei jiedai Yidali Liusu xuesheng daibiaotuan de jihua’ [Communist Youth League Shanghai Municipal Committee's plan for receiving the delegation of Italian students in the Soviet Union], Shanghai Municipal Archives, C21-2-1501-1.

45 Federazione giovanile comunista italiana (1957). Dal XIV al XV Congresso. Atti e risoluzioni degli organi dirigenti, Stampa Moderna, Roma, pp. 49–52.

46 Gongqingtuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu, Zhongguo qingnian waishi dashiji, p. 9.

47 Pecchioli, U. (1953). ‘Note di un viaggio nella Cina popolare: calamità che scompaiono’, l'Unità, 27 August, p. 3.

48 Ibid.

49 Pecchioli, U. (1953). ‘Note di un viaggio nella Cina popolare: Sciangai senza misteri’, l'Unità, 29 August, p. 3.

50 Pecchioli, U. (1953). ‘Note di un viaggio nella Cina popolare: in volo sulla Grande Muraglia’, l'Unità, 2 September, p. 3.

51 De Giorgi, ‘Alle radici della diplomazia culturale cinese’, pp. 133–139.

52 De Giorgi, L. (2014). ‘Impressioni d'Italia nella Cina di Mao. Cronache italiane dalle pagine di Shijie zhishi 1946–1957’, in Abbiati, M. and Greselin, F. (eds). Il liuto e i libri: Studi in onore di Mario Sabattini, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, Venezia, pp. 291–301 Google Scholar, available online at http://virgo.unive.it/ecf-workflow/upload_pdf/Sinica_Venetiana_1.pdf, [accessed 17 August 2016].

53 Zanwei, Chen (1953). ‘Yidali qingnian wei shehui de jinbu er douzheng’ [Italian youth in the struggle for social progress], in Shijie zhishi, no. 16, pp. 28–29 Google Scholar.

54 Gongqingtuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu, Zhongguo qingnian waishi dashiji, p. 19.

55 The theme of the Congress was the struggle for peace and for the improvement of the economic and social conditions of the young, under the slogan ‘A Stronger Communist Youth Federation in the Struggle for the Italian Road to Socialism’, reported in Bettini, G. (1957). ‘750 delegati oggi a Bologna per il 15° Congresso della FGCI’, l'Unità, 20 June, pp. 1–2.

56 Togliatti was the national secretary of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 and held this position until his death in 1964.

57 ‘Tuan Zhongyang shujichu guanyu canjia gongqinglian shiwu ci daibiao dahui de baogao’ [Report of the Secretariat of the Communist Youth League Central Committee on the participation in the Fifteenth Congress of the Italian Communist Youth Federation], 15 July 1957. The historical documents quoted here and in footnotes 64 and 68 belong to the archival fund of the Communist Youth League Central Committee and are maintained in the China Central Archives. By a combination of effort and good luck I was able to access a copy of these documents in August 2011.

58 Pajetta, G. C. (1976). ‘Come il Pci ha guardato alla rivoluzione cinese’, Rinascita, no. 37 (September), pp. 7–9 Google Scholar.

59 ‘Tuan Zhongyang shujichu guanyu canjia gongqinglian shiwu ci daibiao dahui de baogao’, pp. 32–38.

60 Ibid., p. 36.

61 Pini, M. F. (2011). Italia e Cina, 60 anni tra passato e futuro, L'Asino d'oro, Roma, pp. 86–88 Google Scholar. On his visit and on the Italian Socialist Party's pro-China policy, see the article by Meneguzzi Rostagni in this special issue.

62 Gongqingtuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu, Zhongguo qingnian waishi dashiji, p. 20.

63 Online Archives of the Senate of the Republic, Turati Foundation, Fund of the National Direction of the Italian Socialist Party, Collection of Circulars, 1958, Circular no. 102, 9 June 1958.

64 Gongqingtuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu, Zhongguo qingnian waishi dashiji, p. 21; ‘Gongqingtuan Zhongyang quanguo qinglian jiedai Yidali shehuizhuyi qingnian yundong daibiaotuan de gongzuo jihua’ [Communist Youth League Central Committee and the All-China Youth Federation's work plan for receiving the delegation of the Italian Socialist Youth Movement], 13 June 1958.

65 ‘Yidali shehuizhuyi qingnian yundong daibiaotuan dao Beijing’ [The delegation of the Italian Socialist Youth Movement arrives in Beijing], Zhongguo Qingnian Bao, 28 giugno 1958, p. 1.

66 The Italian Socialist Party and its youth movement had been operating for years within the framework of an alliance with the Italian Communist Party and the Italian Communist Youth Federation. However, the Soviet action in Hungary prompted critiques of the totalitarian nature of communism in the people's democracies by Nenni and the autonomist faction. Nevertheless, the leftist faction was able to maintain a strong influence within the national party organs until 1959. Within the youth movement a battle unfolded in 1957 at the Seventh Congress of the Italian Socialist Youth Movement, with the autonomist faction, which favoured a departure from Communist positions, being temporarily defeated. On the political experience of the Italian Socialist Party in those years, see, for instance, Landolfi, A. (1990). Storia del PSI. Cento anni di socialismo in Italia da Filippo Turati a Bettino Craxi, Sugarco, Milano, pp. 232–290 Google Scholar.

67 ‘Gongqingtuan zhongyang quanguo qinglian jiedai Yidali shehuizhuyi qingnian yundong daibiaotuan de gongzuo jihua’, 13 June 1958.

68 ‘Tuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu guanyu jiedai Yidali shehuidang qingnian yundong daibiaotuan canguan Dalian, Anshan de zhuyi shixiang gei Tuan Liaoning shengwei, Tuan Dalian shiwei, Tuan Anshan shiwei de han’, 19 July 1958.

69 Egoli, E. (1958). ‘Un popolo in cammino’, La Conquista, 1–15 October, p. 4 Google Scholar.

70 Cornell, Youth and Communism, pp. 73–95; see also Kotek, Students and the Cold War.

71 Koivunen, ‘Overcoming Cold War Boundaries’, p. 177; Kotek, ‘Youth Organizations as a Battlefield in the Cold War’, p. 169.

72 For Peace and Friendship, p. 291.

73 Boccara, E. (1951). ‘Foreword’, in Young Builders of New China: The Report of the W.F.D.Y Delegation which Visited the Chinese People's Republic in September–October 1950, People's Publishing House, Bombay Google Scholar.

74 Enrico Berlinguer, who led the Italian Communist Party from 1972 to his death in 1984, emerged in the 1970s as one of Italy's most prominent and powerful politicians. Under his leadership, the Italian Communist Party further distanced itself from Moscow and increased its popularity within Italian society. Aware of the importance and weight of the PRC in the world, Berlinguer stepped up efforts to relaunch the Italian Communist Party's interest in the Chinese question as early as 1976 and set in motion the process of resuming relations with the Chinese Communist Party. In 1980 his historical visit to the PRC took place. See the memories of Antonio Rubbi who was in charge of the Italian Communist Party's foreign section when it and the Chinese Communist Party resumed dialogue in the late 1970s: Rubbi, A. (1992). Appunti cinesi, Editori riuniti, Roma, pp. 3–18 Google Scholar and 101–150.

75 Linjin, Wang and Dacheng, Zhu (1992). ‘Yi jiu qi jiu nian wo dang yu yigong neibu jiechu de qianqian houhou’ [Around the 1979’s internal contacts between the Chinese Communist Party and Italian Communist Party], in lianluobu, Zhonggong Zhongyang duiwai and xiaozu, Zhonggong duiwai guanxi shiliao bianji (eds). Zhonglianbu sishi nian [40 years of the Chinese Communist Party External Liaison Department], Renmin huabao she, Beijing (neibu collected works), pp. 376–377 Google Scholar.

76 La gioventù italiana nel fronte mondiale della pace. Il Comitato Esecutivo della FMGD sulle lotte della Gioventù Italiana (Bucharest 17–21 gennaio 1950), Edizioni ‘Gioventù Nuova’, Roma.

77 As Antonio Rubbi recalls, during Berlinguer's visit to China in 1980, talks with the Chinese Communist Party delegation headed by Hu Yaobang were facilitated by their common past and experience within the World Federation of Democratic Youth. This fact helped establish a friendly atmosphere; see Rubbi, Appunti cinesi, p. 106.

78 Mei, Man (2005). Sinian yiran wujin: Huiyi fuqin Hu Yaobang (Longing without end: memories of my father Hu Yaobang), Beijing chubanshe, Beijing, p. 109 Google Scholar.

79 Notes from Catia Sonetti's interview with Bruno Bernini (Livorno, 8 August 1998). I thank Catia Sonetti, director of the Livorno Historical Institute of Resistance and Contemporary Society, for kindly and generously allowing me to use the transcript of the interview. For a brief biographical sketch see also http://www.comune.livorno.it/_cn_online/index.php?id=463&lang=it, (accessed 17 August 2016). On the Komsomol pressures, see: Livorno Historical Institute of Resistance and Contemporary Society (from now on ISTORECO), Bruno Bernini's Archival Fund, autobiographical manuscript, p. 76.

80 Cornell, Youth and Communism, pp. 97–135.

81 Livorno Historical Institute of Resistance and Contemporary Society (from now on ISTORECO), Bruno Bernini's Archival Fund, autobiographical manuscript, pp. 85–86.

82 Another important international meeting held in Beijing in the 1950s was the Fifth World Student Congress (in September 1958).

83 See Word Federation of Democratic Youth, Council of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, Peking 9–15 August 1954.

84 Ibid., p. 8.

85 Calamandrei, F. (1954). ‘Nell'antico palazzo imperiale aperto a Pechino il consiglio della FMGD’, l'Unità, 11 August, p. 6.

86 Zhang Liqun et al., Hu Yaobang zhuan, pp. 278–279; Gongqingtuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu (ed.). Budapeisi de huiyi, p. 40.

87 Besides, the choice of convening the Council in an Asian country—and especially in Beijing—was also due to the fact that the World Federation of Democratic Youth hoped to weaken the influence of the World Assembly of Youth which had planned to convene its Third Congress in Singapore in the same month; see Gongqingtuan zhongyang guoji lianluobu, Budapeisi de huiyi, pp. 36–37.

88 ISTORECO, Bruno Bernini's Archival Fund, autobiographical manuscript, p. 86.

89 Ibid., pp. 86–87. Togliatti had played an important role in reorienting the Communist movement in the mid-1930s, pushing forward a new strategy based on ‘popular fronts’ against fascism and linking communism with anti-fascism; see Pons, S. (2012). La rivoluzione globale. Storia del comunismo internazionale (1917–1991), Einaudi, Torino, pp. 98–105 Google Scholar. See also Agosti, A. (2003). Togliatti. Un uomo di frontiera, UTET, Torino, pp. 191–197 Google Scholar.

90 ISTORECO, Bruno Bernini's Archival Fund, autobiographical manuscript, p. 88. The meeting and talks held with Mao Zedong are covered on p. 97.

91 Ibid., pp. 87, 96–97.

92 Croft, Red Carpet to China, pp. 13–14.

93 Liren, Qian (2005). ‘Wo congshi qingnian gongzuo de huiyi’ [Recalling the time I was engaged in the youth work], in Yuqi, Li (ed.). Qingyun chunqiu. Di er ji, Zhongguo qingnian chubanshe, Beijing, pp. 65–66 Google Scholar.

94 ISTORECO, Bruno Bernini's Archival Fund, personal photo album.

95 Rubbi, Appunti cinesi, p. 299.

96 ISTORECO, Bruno Bernini's Archival Fund, autobiographical manuscript, p. 88.