US Friends of the Soviet People

US Friends of the Soviet People is dedicated to supporting struggles to restore socialism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. USFSP is the US affiliate to the International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with the Soviet People. The International Council carries on the traditions of the “Hands Off Russia” committees that were established internationally in 1918 to help protect the young Soviet Republics from foreign intervention. The aim of all Friends of the Soviet People is international cooperation in building socialism and solidarity with the anti-imperialist forces of the world who are struggling against US Imperialism — the main enemy of humanity. USFSP acts as a unifying force to help consolidate and coordinate the anti-imperialist forces of the world with the ongoing movement to restore the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe as socialist states. We act as a unifying front, but are not a forum for ideological debates. The people of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe themselves will choose their paths toward socialism.

History

US Friends of the Soviet People was formed to support the people of the former Soviet Union in their struggle for the reestablishment of Soviet Power and Socialism

US Friends of the Soviet People was formed in the spirit of earlier organizations in support of the Soviet Union. In 1918, 14 capitalist countries invaded revolutionary Russia to join with internal reactionary forces in an attempt to “strangle the Bolshevik baby in its cradle.” Among those was the US, which sent troops to Arkhangelsk and Siberia. In response, the “Hands Off Russia” committees were formed, and together with similar organizations in other countries, helped to defeat the counterrevolutionary forces.

In 1927, the Friends of the Soviet Union was formed on the initiative of the Communist International to coordinate solidarity efforts with the Soviet Union around the world. One of its main aims was to organize friendship with the Soviet Union and among workers in the US, regardless of their political views.

The National Council of American-Soviet Friendship (NCASF) was formed during World War II and included many professionals, including many well-known artists and actors. Charlie Chaplin was one of the sponsors at the founding of the council in April, 1943. When an “American-Soviet Friendship Rally” was held in Madison Square Garden on November 16th, 1944, a number of Hollywood movie stars — including Chaplin, John Garfield, Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, James Cagney, Katharine Hepburn, Gene Kelly, and Edward G. Robinson — signed a message of support for it. During its years of operation, the NCASF released numerous publications focusing upon daily life in the Soviet Union and information regarding the state of American-Soviet relations. It ceased operations with the temporary collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

While this temporary collapse disoriented many wavering friends of the Soviet Union as well as many patriotic, mainly Slavic, groups, it also revitalized others both within and outside of the former Soviet Union. When the revisionist elements that weakened the Soviet Union finally caused the breakup in 1991, the resultant chaos that ensued in Russia and other former Soviet republics served only to prove the futility of the capitalist system. In Russia and other Soviet Republics, seeing the devastation that capitalism had brought to the working people, many parties and organizations considering themselves Marxist-Leninist were formed. Outside the Soviet Union, people around the Society of Carpatho-Russian Canadians formed the Canadian Friends of Soviet People (CFSP) and began publishing the monthly organ, Northstar Compass (NSC). In 2001, the International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with the Soviet People was formed, with NSC as its organ. Besides annual meetings, the International Council has held three congresses within participation of delegates from the former Soviet Union and around the world. In the United States, US Friends of the Soviet People was formed and now has branches all over the country. It publishes a bulletin on a semiannual basis, and members hold monthly teleconferences.

Today, people in the Soviet Union and the formerly socialist countries of Eastern Europe are more and more recognizing what they have lost. People around the world are understanding the important role the Soviet Union played, both as an alternative to capitalism and in opposing imperialism, especially US imperialism, and its increasing warmongering.

Soviet Film Project

At some point in the Early 2000s, the USFSP came into possession of approximately 300 Soviet Films on 16 millimeter film. The USFSP has been restoring and digitalizing these films to preserve them for future generation.

Soviet Film Project Archive

Publications

US Friends of the Soviet People Bulletin