The festival, organised by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) was previously hosted in East Berlin in 1951.

Around 8 million visitors and 25,600 guests from 140 countries attended, under the motto, "For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship".

[1] Notable attendees of the festival included Communist Party USA member and activist Angela Davis, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat.

[2] The Communist Party of Turkey also sent a notably higher delegation to the event compared to previous years.

[3] It was followed by the 11th World Festival of Youth and Students, hosted in Havana, Cuba in July to August 1978.