Among the international guests taking part in the events are representatives of the St. Lucia Labor Party Youth League, Youth for the Fifth Republic of Venezuela, Casa Juventud of Paraguay, Rock Around the Blockade of the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, Union of Young Communists of Vietnam, and Young Socialists of the United States.

The international delegates first visited an exhibit that outlined highlights of the history of the UJC. On Jan. 1, 1959, workers and peasants in Cuba, mobilized in a revolutionary struggle by the Rebel Army and July 26 Movement, overthrew the hated U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship. In December of that year, the Rebel Army's Department of Instruction, headed by revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevara, launched the Association of Rebel Youth (AJR). In October 1960 the AJR fused with two other youth groups that supported the revolution, the March 13 Revolutionary Directorate and the youth wing of the Popular Socialist Party.

On April 4, 1962, at the AJR's first congress, delegates decided to transform it from a heterogeneous mass youth organization into a communist youth group, founding the UJC. Central to this step was subordinating the youth organization politically to the revolutionary party that organizes the vanguard of the working class in Cuba, which today is the Cuban Communist Party.

The exhibit depicted the involvement of AJR members in one of the first campaigns of the revolution--the literacy campaign of 1960–61, in which 100,000 young people went into the countryside as volunteer teachers and virtually eradicated illiteracy within a year. Another feature was the UJC's role in the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), which today gathers together anti-imperialist youth groups from around the world.

The exhibit also illustrated the UJC's current role in what is popularly known here as the Battle of Ideas, a political offensive to deepen the participation of working people and youth in Cuba's socialist revolution. This effort--central to which is the broadening educational opportunities available to the Cuban people and expanding access to culture--is aimed at confronting the imperialist ideological drive promoting capitalism as the only future for humanity. It also seeks to address the social inequalities that have grown as Cuba has become more directly exposed to the capitalist world market over the past decade, since the collapse of preferential trade with and aid from the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries.

The Battle of Ideas, UJC leaders told the international guests, encompasses more than 70 nationwide educational programs, mostly led by UJC cadres. One is the campaign to train thousands of youth as revolutionary social workers, who go to working-class neighborhoods and, in collaboration with the residents, take initiatives to find solutions to numerous social problems. The students, aged 17–22, are drawn from youth who were previously neither going to school nor working. They are offered the opportunity to enter the university after completing the program.  
 
Organizing to address social problems
The international delegates visited the School of Social Workers in Cojímar, outside of Havana. This is one of four such schools around the country, with a total of 7,000 students nationwide. The students undertake an intensive six-month course of studies, including sociology, law, computer science, English, and Spanish. After completing this course, they are organized into five-person teams that work full-time during the week in some of the worst-off neighborhoods. The students attend the university on Saturdays.

More than 1,000 graduates of these schools are currently in the field, assisting in projects that range from working with mothers with low-weight babies to participating in the recent block-by-block campaign to eliminate breeding grounds for the mosquito that transmits dengue virus. They also work with youth who are in prison, in order to address the social problems that led to their incarceration and involve them in study programs while behind bars as well as organize them into school or work after their release.

The international delegates to the UJC anniversary activities were also introduced to another program that is part of the Battle of Ideas--the hundreds of video clubs that have been set up across the island, where workers and young people can watch movies from all over the world for very low entrance fees.

At one of these clubs in Havana, UJC leaders explained that there are currently 350 video centers in 16 districts of the capital, with a priority on areas that have had fewer cultural and recreational facilities. Before a film is shown, someone gives a presentation on the content of the film, and often there is discussion after the showing.

In addition, the video clubs host lectures, debates, art shows, and musical performances, turning them into neighborhood cultural centers. Certain television programs, from the University for All to coverage of special events such as the Olympics, are also shown at the video clubs. Although most Cubans have TV sets in their homes, the video centers offer an opportunity to watch and discuss these programs together with others in the community.  
 
University for All
The University for All is a series of televised courses aired daily at 7:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 11:00 p.m. to accommodate work schedules and maximize the number of people who can take part in the classes. Fifteen courses have been completed since the launching of the University for All on topics such as English, French, art appreciation, geography, history, and cooking. UJC leaders explained that they are now looking for ways to issue people certificates when they have completed a course.

For the French-language course, for example, a written test was published in Juventud Rebelde, the UJC's newspaper, which students could take and then mail in. Some 500,000 tests have been mailed in and are now being graded.

Another highlight of the UJC anniversary activities was a visit to the International School of Medicine in Havana. The director of the school told the visitors about Cuba's internationalist medical missions throughout Africa and Central America. Detailed maps cover the walls at the entrance of the school showing the countries where Cuban medical teams are working as volunteers and where the students are from. The largest numbers of students are from Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras. There is also a growing number of students from the United States. A student from Equatorial Guinea explained that the methods of instruction compare favorably to those used in other countries. Unlike medical schools in capitalist countries, where the prevailing motivation is individual enrichment and "making it," the International Medical School in Havana fosters a sense of human solidarity and contributing to society.  
 
 
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