The 1973 World Congress of Peace Forces was held in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, USSR, October 25-October 31, 1973. At the congress over 3200 delegates from 143 countries, representing more than 1100 political parties, national organizations and movements. Representatives from 123 international organizations took part in the event.

Opening session

The Congress was opened by Sean McBride, president of the International Peace Bureau

International Peace Bureau

International Peace Bureau is the world's oldest international peace federation. It was founded in 1891, and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910....

 and vice chairman of the international preparatory committee of the Congress. Romesh Chandra, the general secretary of the World Peace Council

World Peace Council

The World Peace Council is an international organization that advocates universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass destruction and all forms of discrimination...

, was elected chair of the Congress.

Other speakers at the opening of the conference were Abdulrahim Abby Farah, representative of the UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim

Kurt Waldheim

Kurt Josef Waldheim was an Austrian diplomat and politician. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and the ninth President of Austria, from 1986 to 1992...

, Peter Onu, vice general secretary of the Organisation of African Unity, and Pierre Lebart, representative of the UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 Director-General René Maheu

René Maheu

René Gabriel Eugene Maheu , a close friend of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, was a French professor of philosophy and the sixth Director-General of UNESCO....

.

The main speaker of the event was Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev  – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...

, general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...

. His speech was followed by a short intervention by Horace Perera, general secretary of the World Federation of United Nations Associations

World Federation of United Nations Associations

The World Federation of United Nations Associations was created in 1946, inspired by the opening words of the United Nations Charter "We the Peoples". Today it is a global network of people linked together through United Nations Associations in over 100 member states of the United Nations...

, who thanked Brezhnev for his contributions for the cause of peace.

Commissions

Fourteen separate commissions, who held parallel meetings during the Congress, were formed. These were:

Committee:	Chair:
Peaceful co-existence and international security	Józef Cyrankiewicz Józef Cyrankiewicz Józef Cyrankiewicz was a Polish Socialist, after 1948 Communist political figure. He served as premier of the People's Republic of Poland between 1947 and 1952, and again between 1954 and 1970... , chairman of the All-Polish Peace Committee
Indochina Indochina The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...	André Souquiere, chair of the executive committee of the Stockholm Conference on Indochina
Middle East Middle East The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...	Klim Čorbe, presidium secretariat member of the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia The Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia or SSRNJ , formerly the People's Front , was the largest and most influential mass organization in SFR Yugoslavia from August 1945 through 1990. In 1990 its membership was thirteen million, including most of the adult population of the country...
Security and cooperation in Europe Europe Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...	Raymond Goor (Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... )
Peace and security in Asia Asia Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...	Abdus Samad Azad Abdus Samad Azad Abdus Samad Azad was a diplomat and politician from Bangladesh. Azad was elected to Bangladesh's parliament five times from 1970 to 2001. He was also elected Member of Lower Assembly in the Parliament of then East Pakistan... , honorary president of the WPC, Minister of Agriculture of Bangladesh Bangladesh Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
Disarmament Disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear arms...	Richard Andriamanjato Richard Andriamanjato Richard Mahitsison Andriamanjato is a former Malagasy politician.After leaving education, Andriamanjato became a Pastor. He also became involved with the nationalist cause. From 1950 to 1957, he studied in France. In 1957, he attended the Bandung Conference and became the leading figure in the... , chairman of Party of the Independence Congress of Madagascar Party of the Independence Congress of Madagascar Party of the Independence Congress of Madagascar , is a communist political party in Madagascar. AKFM was founded on November 8, 1958. One of the organizations that took part in the formation was the UPM of Francis Sautron...
National liberation movement, struggle against colonialism and racism	Marcelino dos Santos Marcelino dos Santos Marcelino dos Santos is a Mozambican poet, revolutionary, and statesman. As a young man he travelled to Portugal, and Paris, France for an education. He was a founding member of the Frente de Libertacao de Mocambique , in 1962; and served as the party's deputy president from 1969 to 1977... , vice chairman of FRELIMO, Mozambique Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
Development and economic independence	Dr. César Rondon Lovera (Venezuela Venezuela Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south... )
Environmental care	E. K. Fjodorov (Soviet Union Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.... )
Cooperation in education and culture	James Aldridge James Aldridge Harold Edward James Aldridge was a multi-award–winning Australian author and journalist whose World War II despatches were published worldwide and formed the basis of several of his novels, including the prize-winning The Sea Eagle about Australian troops in Crete.Aldridge was born in White Hills,... , author (UK)
Economic and scientific-techological cooperation	Franz Nemschak, director of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research
Social progress and human rights	Enrique Pastorino, chairman of World Federation of Trade Unions World Federation of Trade Unions The World Federation of Trade Unions was established in 1945 to replace the International Federation of Trade Unions. Its mission was to bring together trade unions across the world in a single international organization, much like the United Nations...  (Uruguay Uruguay Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area... )
Cooperation between intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations	Knud Nielsen, president of the World Federalist Association (Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... )
Chile Chile Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...	Vilma Espin de Castro, chair of the Federation of Cuban Women Federation of Cuban Women The Federation of Cuban Women was established in 1960 under the revolutionary government with Vilma Espín as its president. Espin fought in the Sierra Maestras with Fidel Castro and Raul Castro and married Raul in 1959. She was the president of the FMC till her death in 2007. From its inception...