Indian Society for Cultural Co-operation and Friendship

The Indian Society for Cultural Co-operation and Friendship (ISCUF) is an organization in India promoting people-to-people cultural understanding and friendship. The organization was initially known as the Friends of the Soviet Union and, later, the Indo-Soviet Cultural Society (ISCUS).[1][2]

The Friends of the Soviet Union was founded in West Bengal on June 22, 1941, the same day as Germany attacked the Soviet Union.[1][3][4] An Organisation Committee was formed with Bhupendra Nath Dutta (Swami Vivekananda's younger brother) as the chairman, and, Hiren Mukherjee and S.K. Acharya as secretaries.[1] The poet Rabindranath Tagore was the patron of the Organisation Committee.[1][5] Bhupesh Gupta and Jyoti Basu were active in mobilizing support for the organization.[1] A second conference of the organisation was held in April 1944, presided by Nellie Sengupta.[3] At a convention held in the Convocation Hall of Bombay University June 3–4, 1944 the organisation became the 'All India Friends of the Soviet Union'.[3] Some 2,000 people took part in the event, out of whom a hundred were delegates.[3] In 1944 the organization began publishing Indo-Soviet Journal from Bombay.[1] The organization developed close collaboration with its Soviet counterpart VOKS, and conducted various cultural activities.[1] The organization promoted the Asian Relations Conference of 1946, and participated in the event.[1]

On March 12, 1952 the organization was reconstituted as ISCUS at a convention at Sunderbhai Hall in Bombay, with Dr. A.V. Baliga as the new chairman of the ISCUS National Council.[1]

ISCUS transformed into ISCUF in 1993, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[1] In 2017 ISCUF signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO), outlining cooperation for the period 2017–2022.[4] In December 2018 ISCUF held its 22nd National Conference in Coimbatore, with participation from the embassies of Cuba, Russia and Vietnam.[6]