THE YOUNG COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL AND ITS ORIGINS __TEXTFILE_BORN__ 2007-02-08T13:21:28-0800 __TRANSMARKUP__ "Y. Sverdlov"
PROGRESS PUBLISHERS
MOSCOW
[1]Translated from the Russian by Nick Bobrov
Edited by Kathleen Cook
Designed by V. Dobcr
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__COPYRIGHT__ First printing 1971Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist
[2] CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION . Chapter I. YOUTH MOVEMENT. EMERGENCE AND MAIN STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT . . 17 17 1. Youth Movement Before the First World War 2. International Youth Movement During the First World War...........38 3. Emergence of Revolutionary Youth Organisations in Russia and Their Activities ... 72 Clta/ilcr II. THE GREAT OCTOBER SOCIALIST REVOLUTION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE YOUNG WORKERS' INTERNATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT (1917--1919) . 84 1. Establishment of the Russian Young Communist League............cS9 2. Young Revolutionaries in Western Europe and the USA............102 3. Establishment of the Young Communist International .............121 C.li,,i,tcr III. FROM VANGUARD TO MASSES . . 147 1. Second Congress of the Young Communist International.............153 2. Russian Young Communist League, 1920--1921 l(i() 3. YCI Executive Committee's Implementation ol the Decisions Adopted by the Second Congress ol the YCI...........172 [3] Chapter IV. UNDER LENIN'S BANNER. 211 1. Leninist Young Communist League of the Soviet Union---Vanguard of the International Communist Movement.........211 2. The Young People's International Communist and Democratic Movement Today.....224 [4] __ALPHA_LVL1__ INTRODUCTIONThe young people of the world are becoming increasingly active in the working-class struggle with the passing of the years. They are strongly opposing wars, the bourgeois governments' attempts to overcome economic difficulties at the expense of the working people, and the reactionaries' onslaught on democratic gains.
The younger generation's actions reflect the profound crisis in modern bourgeois society. The International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties, held in Moscow in June 1969, made a very accurate assessment of current events and youth participation in them. The Meeting's main document, entitled ``Tasks at the Present Stage of the Struggle Against Imperialism and United Action of Communist and Workers' Parties and All Anti-Imperialist Forces'', said: ``Working youth, primarily young industrial workers, who are subjected to super-exploitation and see no prospect for themselves under capitalism, are entering the class struggle to an ever greater extent, joining the trade unions and communist and other democratic organisations. Broad masses of students take a stand not only against the defects of the obsolete system of education and for the right to organise and share actively in the affairs of educational centres but also against the policy of the ruling classes.''
5The International Meeting, which underscored young people's active participation in all the important mass movements against imperialism, rated the upswing in the youth movement very highly. At the same time it stressed that ``only close unity with the working-class movement and its communist vanguard can open for them truly revolutionary prospects".
A study of the world youth movement's history, and also of the struggle for the consolidation of the international communist youth movement's unity and greater co-operation between the democratic youth of all countries, will be of great help in understanding the processes we are witnessing.
The international youth movement is an important component of the workers' and communist movement. At the turn of the century the process of drawing young people into the workers' revolutionary struggle was a difficult one. The bourgeoisie, with the whole system of youth education in its hands, tried to distract young people away from politics and blind them with homilies about public interests and peace between the classes. The employment of children and adolescents and their brutal exploitation forced young people to fight for the improvement of their economic position. After studying the experience gained by adult workers in their struggle, young people came to the conclusion that they should join forces and set up their own organisations. Such prominent leaders of the world revolutionary movement as Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin and Wilhelm Pieck helped the young people enormously in this respect.
For several years after their establishment, these youth organisations were under the ideological influence and organisational guidance of the 6 Social-Democratic parties of the Second International, largely as a result of which they had no clear-cut views on the economic and political struggle, and this prevented the youth movement in Western Europe from taking the road of the workers' revolutionary struggle. It must be noted, however, that even at this time the best young people, those who were resolute, courageous and capable of sacrificing themselves for the sake of victory, joined the progressive workers' ranks.
Young people played an extremely important role in all the stages of the working-class movement. They took an active part in all the workers' mass actions. Lenin pinned high hopes on the young revolutionaries and their participation in the revolutionary struggle, the road which he tried to help them take. In his letters and articles, he called on Party workers to encourage young people to join their ranks. This was one of the most important tasks facing the Party at the time.
The allegations made by such bourgeois historians as Ralf Fischer and Richard Cornell that Lenin ``made little mention of the young people and their problems" until 1917 are a downright lie.
Lenin drew the Party workers' attention to the need to educate young people by practical work, and strongly attacked those who did not trust them owing to their inexperience. During the first Russian revolution of 1905, Lenin wrote: "The people in Russia are legion; all we have to do is to recruit young people more widely and boldly, more boldly and widely, and again more widely and again more boldly, without fearing them. This is a time of war. The youth---the students, 7 and still more so the young workers---will decide the issue of the whole struggle."^^1^^
Lenin emphasised the need to attract young people into the Party and make them its reserve; he strongly and consistently fought against the deep-seated conviction that young people are a force which for the time being must be kept away from the political struggle.
Lenin, who was closely connected with the world working-class movement and later headed the international communist movement, devoted much attention to youth organisations.
When the question of anti-militarist activities was raised at the Stuttgart International Socialist Congress (1907), Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg foresaw the gigantic tasks which would face young people in the workers' revolutionary struggle in the near future and stressed that youth must be educated in the spirit of internationalism.^^2^^
The world bourgeoisie, preparing to battle for the redivision of markets and territories, attached great importance to the growth and consolidation of the army. The workers had to step up antimilitarist propaganda among young people, who were liable to be called up for active service. Describing the experience gained in this work by the young socialist workers' leagues, Lenin wrote: ``Everywhere anti-militarist propaganda among young workers has yielded excellent results. That is of tremendous importance. The worker who goes into the army as a class-conscious SocialDemocrat is a poor support for the powers that be."^^3^^
_-_-_~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 8, p. 146.
~^^2^^ .Ibid., Vol 41, p. 200.
~^^3^^ V. I. Lenin on Youth, Moscow, 1970, pp. 153--54.
8In support of this conclusion, Lenin cited tfte activities of the young workers' leagues in France, Belgium and Austria. He wrote: ``In France, the anti-militarist mood has become massive. During the strikes at Dunkirchen, Creusot, Loguivi, Monso-le-Min the soldiers ordered against the strikers declared their solidarity with the workers. ..."^^1^^
Lenin drew attention to the West European youth organisations' achievements in spreading anti-militarist propaganda and winning over the army to the people's side. He emphasised: ``As time goes on, there are more and more SocialDemocrats in the army and the troops become increasingly less reliable. When the bourgeoisie has to confront the organised working class, whom will the army back? The young socialist workers are working with all the enthusiasm and energy of the young to have the army side with the people."^^2^^
Young people began to participate in the workers' revolutionary actions on a mass scale during the First World War. The best young workers, free of petty-bourgeois illusions and reformism, protested against the wholesale slaughter of peoples and stood up for the unity of the internationalist elements in the world working-class movement during the trying years when Social-Democratic leaders openly joined the imperialist camp and many workers in the belligerent countries withdrew from the revolutionary struggle, swayed by their leaders' betrayal and by the atmosphere of frenzied chauvinism.
During the war the celebration of International Youth Day (IYD) became especially important; _-_-_
~^^1^^ Ibid., p. ISC.
~^^2^^ Ibid.
9 it was the young people's sign of protest against the ban on celebrating May Day (Working People's International Solidarity Day). Like all other young people's public protests during the First World War, International Youth Day was accompanied by the slogan ``Down with the Imperialist War!''. It was celebrated for the first time on October 3, 1915 in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, the United States, Rumania and Portugal by about 120,000 persons. Since then more countries have begun to celebrate it.During the First World War young people were very active in all the workers' public protests. In Germany young workers took part in 1916 May Day demonstrations and the protest movement against Karl Liebknecht's arrest. In Italy members of socialist youth organisations filed through the streets on May Day with the slogan ``Down with the War! Long Live the Social Revolution!" Many members of youth organisations and their leaders were arrested and tried for taking part in this demonstration and other actions.
The consistent and unremitting struggle waged by Lenin, the Bolsheviks and the Left-wing internationalists sharply furthered young workers' participation in the revolutionary struggle in the West European countries. It promoted unity among them and helped to free them from the fetters of social-reformism and Right-wing socialtraitors.
Many prominent Bolshevik leaders, living in emigration in the West European countries, took an active part in the youth movement during the First World War. They did not confine themselves to giving advice, but rendered practical assistance in the establishment of genuinely revolutionary organisations in these countries. Among 10 them were Georgy Chicherin in France, Alexandra Kollontai in the Scandinavian countries, Inessa Armand in Switzerland and France, and Nadezhda Krupskaya in Switzerland.
During the world war most leagues of the Young Socialist International took an internationalist stand. The Berne Conference of the Socialist Unions of Youth, held in the spring of 1915 and attended by Inessa Armand and Yegorov, who were delegated by Lenin to represent the Bolshevik Party, stressed that a decisive struggle had to be waged against the opportunists and Centrists in the working-class movement.
Following the Berne Conference the Bolsheviks exercised a growing influence on the International's youth leagues. The Young Socialist International's stand on the most important political and tactical questions became more and more clearcut, and it began to defend the world solidarity of the workers and to hold up the social-patriots' betrayal to shame. It was one of the first to join the Zimmerwald union^^1^^; also, it put its official publication, the Jugend Internationale (Young International) magazine, at the disposal of the Zimmerwald Left group. Lenin, Karl Liebknecht, Alexandra Kollontai and other prominent leaders of the world working-class movement contributed to the magazine.
Recalling his talks with Lenin, Willi Miinzenberg, leader of the Young Socialist International during the First World War, wrote that they helped him and other Swiss internationalists to break with the pacifist and Centrist groups and _-_-_
~^^1^^ An international socialist conference was held in Zimmerwald in 1916 to further the unity of the Left Social-Democrats in the West European countries on the ideological basis of Marxism-Leninism.---Ed.
11 armed them with a revolutionary world outlook.``Lenin explained to us the structure of Kautsky's falsified superficial 'Marxism' and his theoretical school of thought which was based entirely on historical development of economic conditions and barely recognised the importance of subjective factors in the struggle for socialism. Contrariwise, Lenin emphasised the role of the individual and the masses in the historical process, and brought to the foreground the Marxist theory that within the framework of any given economic conditions the people made their own history. This emphasis on the importance of the individual, group and party in the social struggle produced the strongest impression on us and encouraged us to devote all our energy to achieving the maximum results.
``The greatest contribution to the rapid revolutionary development of the Socialist Youth International after the Berne Conference was made by Lenin himself. Without the personal and comradely help which he gave us most tactfully, the International Youth Bureau in Zurich would have been of little use to the youth movement during 1914--18."^^1^^
The First World War and the collapse of the Second International prepared the youth organisations to play an important role in the struggle for the establishment of new workers' parties, parties of a revolutionary type, free from opportunism and social-chauvinism. To achieve this, the young people had to carry out extensive organisational and political work. Stressing the importance of the tasks facing socialist youth _-_-_
^^1^^ They Knew Lenin. Reminiscences of Foreign Contemporaries, Moscow, p. 82.
12 organisations, Lenin wrote: ``With this state of affairs in Europe, there falls on the League of Socialist Youth Organisations the tremendous, grateful but difficult task of fighting for revolutionary internationalism, for true socialism and against the prevailing opportunism which has deserted to the side of the imperialist bourgeoisie."^^1^^Many articles in the Jugend Internationale magazine were designed to instil a deep sense of internationalism in the young people in the West European countries. The magazine won high prestige and became the leading centre of the socialist youth organisations by always keeping its readers in touch with the workers' revolutionary activities in various countries, and by describing the youth leagues' activities and publishing material which was of interest to young people as a whole. It was from this magazine that young people took up Lenin's appeal to establish the Third, Communist International.
The Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 in Russia gave a powerful impetus to the development of the world working-class movement. Youth organisations warmly welcomed the proletarian revolution in Russia and the establishment of Soviet power there.
Young people took an active part in the workers' revolutionary activities in the West European countries and showed considerable courage and heroism in the workers' struggle.
Youth organisations actively helped to set up young Communist parties. In Spain, Belgium and Sweden they became the framework of the Communist parties, which adhered to the platform of the Communist International.
_-_-_~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 23, p. 163.
13The history of the youth movement took a sharp turn when the Third, Communist International was set up. Lenin took an active part in its establishment after the collapse of the Second International.
The question of setting up an international union of young Communists was raised immediately after the First Congress of the new Communist International. The Executive Committee of the Communist International made a passionate appeal to young workers in all countries to set up the Youth International. This was immediately supported by progressive organisations. The Young Communist International held its Constituent Congress in Berlin in November 1919, which was attended by representatives of 14 young workers' unions with a total membership of 229,000.
The congress, which formulated the Young Communist International's political Programme and Rules and declared its adherence to the platform of the Communist International, gave a strong impetus to the consolidation of existing youth organisations and to the establishment of new ones in Asia and America.
Although Lenin was extremely busy at the time, he devoted much attention to the international youth movement; he talked to the leaders of the Young Communist International and helped them in their practical work. He always tried to ensure that the rising generation was educated in accordance with the ideas of proletarian internationalism, the need for the youth movement's political guidance, the unity of young people round Communist parties and unity of action of Communist parties and communist youth organisations.
The Third Congress of the Young Communist International, held in Moscow in December 1922, 14 was attended by representatives of 38 youth organisations from various countries. It discussed the most important tasks facing the young workers' movement: the fight against both fascism and the threat of war, and the need to turn the young communist leagues into mass organisations which would be a militant reserve and active helpmate for Communist parties.
Lenin devoted a great deal of care and attention to the problems facing young people, and his active participation in the elaboration of a correct political line for the young communist movement determined the Young Communist International's place in the vanguard of those fighting against capitalism.
The Young Communist International, which helped to disseminate Marxist-Leninist ideas among young workers in many countries, was the Third International's reliable helpmate and reserve for almost 25 years. The young communist leagues had always given loyal assistance to the Communist parties. By uniting the young communist leagues against fascism and war and by guiding them in the working-class struggle, the Young Communist International made an important contribution to the world working-class movement and the struggle for the bright future of mankind---communism.
The Young Communist International laid the foundations for the young revolutionaries' mass movement, helped to set up strong national youth organisations and trained the personnel of the young communist movement. It prepared thousands of fine young people to fight for the cause of the working class, and produced such prominent leaders of the international workers' and communist movement as Raymond Guyot, John 15 Gollan, Luigi Longo, Francois Billoux, Georges Cogniot and Otto Winzer.
Over 50 years have passed since the establishment of the Young Communist International. The young communist leagues, closely linked with the Communist parties and continuing the best traditions of the Young Communist International, are now playing a very important part in the youth movement, which has millions of members united by the World Federation of Democratic Youth. These leagues are the most consistent and unremitting defenders of the young workers' interests today.
Lenin
[16] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ Chapter I __ALPHA_LVL1__ YOUTH MOVEMENT.The marked increase of young people in the ranks of the working class with socialist parties in the advanced capitalist countries led to the establishment of youth organisations.
The first separate young workers' organisations were set up at the turn of the century.^^1^^ By this time youth organisations had already become a component part of the socialist movement.
The first youth organisation, the Young Guards, was set up in 1886 in the Belgian town of Ghent. A little later youth organisations were set up in Switzerland (1900), Italy (1901), Norway (1902), Austria (1904), Hungary (1905), Denmark (1905), Germany (1906), Spain (1906) and Finland (1906).
At first these youth organisations pursued purely economic aims and hardly took any part in the workers' political struggle.
However as the young people became familiar with Marxist ideas they began to believe in the ultimate victory of the cause of the working class. The process of drawing young people into the revolutionary struggle was checked by the Rightwing leaders of the socialist and Social-- Democratic parties and the leaders of the reformist trade unions. These leaders, backed by the ``labour _-_-_
~^^1^^ The history of bourgeois and religious youth organisations will not be dealt with here.
__PRINTERS_P_17_COMMENT__ 2---197 17 aristocracy'', set themselves the aim of creating more or less tolerable living and working conditions within the framework of the capitalist system, instead of putting an end to the capitalist mode of production. This was the main purpose behind the practical activities of the socialreformists and the numerous ``theoretical'' investigations of the ideologists of opportunism.The leaders of most Social-Democratic parties and reformist trade unions recognised a grave danger in the young workers, who were largely unskilled, untrained and disinclined to conciliatory tactics. Among the other measures, limits were imposed in many countries on the admission of young workers into the socialist parties and trade unions, and non-political youth organisations were set up, which were confined to ``cultural'' activities. A good example of this is the Workers' Party of Belgium, set up in 1885.^^1^^ Its programme mainly called for universal suffrage, free compulsory secular education, the separation of the Church from the state, legal recognition of the trade unions, insurance for all citizens, introduction of progressive income tax, an eight-hour working day, and prohibition of employment of children under 14. It did not include the questions of the revolutionary transformation of Belgium and the struggle for the workers' political power.
The programme included a section entitled ``Youth'', from which it is evident that the Workers' Party of Belgium did not aim at establishing a revolutionary organisation of young workers and turning the young workers into the party's _-_-_
~^^1^^ The Workers' Party of Belgium is singled out here because its charter deals with the party-youth relationship in the greatest detail and because Belgium was the birthplace of the first proletarian youth organisation.
18 militant reserve. This section also made no mention of ensuring unity of action between all the contingents of the working class. Clause 55 read as follows: ``Juveniles and young people of every district may unite into separate groups called the Young Socialist Guards.''The ``socialist'' organisation consisted of young people of various classes living in the given district; this was corroborated also by Clause 61, which made it incumbent on the members of the youth organisation to join the trade union from the age of 18 if they were working; the organisation was therefore not made up of the young workers alone. Instead of uniting the young workers with the other contingents of the working class, the Workers' Party of Belgium disunited the workers. As regards the aim of the youth organisation, Clause 59 of the party programme said: ``The young socialist organisations' task is to educate all its members physically, intellectually and morally by means appropriate to their age and psychology.''
Thus the Workers' Party of Belgium did not aim at giving young people a truly revolutionary world outlook or teaching them to hate and despise the bourgeoisie. The youth organisations were confined to athletic, cultural and educational activities. Such youth organisations were quite acceptable to the bourgeoisie, who did their best to distract young people away from politics and active participation in the country's socio-political life. The only political task with which the party entrusted the youth movement was the spreading of anti-militarist propaganda. This, however, was not contrary to the general nature of the youth organisations' work or to the aims of the leaders of the Workers' Party and the bourgeois state. __PRINTERS_P_19_COMMENT__ 2* 19 Like Switzerland, Sweden and Norway at the time, Belgium adopted a neutral and non-aligned position in the Great Powers' military alliances.
Clause~61 of the party programme said that the members of the Young Guards could join the local party organisation upon reaching the age of 21. Those below this age were virtually barred from participation in the country's political life.
The youth organisation's activity was subject to party control. Before the annual national congress of the Young Socialist Guards could be held, permission had to be obtained from the General Council of the Workers' Party.
Unlike several other parties of the Second International, the Workers' Party of Belgium supported the establishment of special youth organisations, but this was not because it was of a particular revolutionary nature. On the contrary, this fact showed that its leaders had taken skilful and timely account of the political situation and used all possible means to maintain their influence over the young workers.
Starting from the mid-19th century the political struggle in Belgium centred for several decades round the question of education and the separation of the school from the Church. It was fiercely waged by the two main bourgeois political parties, the liberals and catholics, and it distracted the working people from the genuinely revolutionary struggle for their vital interests. The fact that public attention was focussed on the question of education naturally roused young people and made them more active. Moreover, the 1880s was a period when the Belgian working class was being roused and beginning to take part in a mass struggle for its political and economic rights. The banning of youth organisations would have 20 inflamed young people even more. In their efforts to maintain their influence over young people and direct their zeal into the required channels, the leaders of the Workers' Party considered it best to set up non-class youth organisations.
In several other European countries socialist party leaders opposed the establishment of separate youth organisations. One such country was Germany, where young workers' organisations were first set up in 1906. The German SocialDemocratic leaders strongly opposed the establishment of separate socialist youth organisations.
The German workers were remarkably closely united and well organised. This frightened the Right-wing party leaders who were doing their utmost to direct the German working class along reformist lines. It explains why they opposed the establishment of young workers' organisations, fearing that they would develop along revolutionary lines. They had good grounds for fearing this, because in Germany the young workers constituted a large part of the working class. In 1907 there were 13,469,000 wage workers, of which 4,326,000 (33 per cent) were in the 14 to 18 age group.
Both examples quoted above demonstrate that the opportunists in Belgium and Germany opposed the drawing of young workers into the revolutionary, class struggle. This was also true of the Right-wing leadership of the Second International.
The Left-wing representatives of the Second International took a different stand. They supported young people's active participation in political life and the workers' revolutionary struggle. The Right-wing leaders of the international socialist movement, however, began to exercise 21 growing influence, and this strongly affected the youth movement's organisation and general trend.
In an attempt to defend their interests by themselves, the young people in several European countries began a struggle of their own, but in most cases they were caught in the meshes of social-reformism.
The youth movement had a different fate in Russia. There, despite brutal police tyranny, the workers' militant revolutionary party was set up on the eve of the first revolution in 1905. Its aim was to put an end to capitalism and build a socialist society. Setting up such a party under the tsarist regime was a very difficult task demanding the concentration of material resources and human reserves of the working class.
Under these conditions it would have been inexpedient to raise the question of setting up a separate young workers' organisation. Lack of experience in the political struggle and underground work would have inevitably led to the collapse of any such organisation. Analysing the experience gained from the first Russian revolution in 1905, Lenin wrote: ''. . .young workers need the experience of veteran fighters against oppression and exploitation, of those who have organised many strikes, have taken part in a number of revolutions, who are wise in revolutionary traditions, and have broad political outlook."^^1^^
The working youth of Russia, who were very revolutionary-minded, sought to take an extremely active part in the Russian workers' struggle in the impending revolution. The tsarist authorities _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 11, p. 412.
22 therefore did their best to isolate young workers from the other workers.A powerful upsurge of revolutionary enthusiasm among the working people and the threat of revolution forced the tsarist government to take measures, which the authorities passed off as reforms and concessions made by the employers to the workers, but which were in fact only a new means of duping the workers. One such measure was the law on factory monitors, by which, under certain conditions, the workers were given the right of representation in their relations with their employers, the right of some rudimentary organisation. Lenin explained the true significance of this law to the workers, and drew their attention to the fact that the factory monitors had to be at least 25 years of age. It is worth noting that the original draft law proposed a minimum age of 21, but after giving some thought to the matter, the authorities decided that it would be more prudent to raise it to 25, which would prevent many young revolutionary-minded workers from taking part in elections. This alone did not satisfy them, however. The law also provided that at individual enterprises the factory management and the police could, if they so desired, stipulate a higher age qualification and a longer period of service at the enterprise. Moreover, the elections of factory monitors were carried out according to categories, drawn up by the factory owners and the police in such a way as to prevent the workers from uniting and consolidating their solidarity, and sow discord among workers not only of different professions, but also of different nationalities, age, sex, skills, earnings and so on.
Lenin repeatedly stressed that ``...unity, organisation and solidarity are the only source of 23 strength to the downtrodden, oppressed wageslaves of our civilisation, ground down as they are by toil."^^1^^
For the working-class movement to be successful, there has to be cohesion and unity of action between all its contingents. This was what the workers' party of Bolsheviks taught ever since it was established.
The Party adopted its Programme and Rules at its second congress, held in 1903. Among the measures aimed at giving the workers labour protection, the ``minimum programme" raised the following demand to ``protect the working class from physical and moral degeneration": ``Prohibition of the employment of children of school age (up to 16) and limitation of the working day for adolescents (from 16 to 18) to six hours.'' The programme envisaged ``free compulsory general and professional education for all children, male and female, up to the age of 16, and the provision of poor children with food, clothing and educational material at the expense of the state".
The congress also discussed the attitude to young students. Russia was fast approaching the democratic revolution, in which broad sections of the population were to take part. The congress therefore welcomed the upsurge of revolutionary initiative among young students, and called on all ``Party organisations to help these young people in every way possible in their attempts to become organised".
The resolution adopted by the congress mentioned two main tasks for the young student groups: 1) the cultivation of an integrated and consistent socialist world outlook, and 2) the _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 6, p. 512.
24 establishment of ties with Social-Democratic organisations and the use of their instructions to avoid making serious errors in the preliminary stages.At the congress Lenin made a speech on this question, in which he exposed the aim of the bourgeois parties to divert the young student movement from the correct lines; he stressed that the young people must understand the various political trends properly before they could choose the correct political line. The Bolsheviks always attached great importance to winning young people over to their side. It is most significant that the clause on Party membership in the Rules set no age limit on admission into the Party. Moreover, Lenin repeatedly drew the attention of Party workers to the need to swell the Party ranks with young people, and urged them to show more confidence in entrusting young people with Party work. Lenin wrote to S.~I. Gusev: ``A professional revolutionary must build up dozens of new connections in each locality, put all the work into their hands while he is with them, teach them and bring them up to the mark not by lecturing them but by work. Then he should go to another place and after a month or two return to check up on the young people who have replaced him. I assure you that there is a sort of idiotic, philistine, Oblomov-like fear of the youth among us. I implore you: fight this fear with all your might."^^1^^
The impending revolution brought this question to the fore. The young people, with their inherent resolve, courage and selflessness, were to make up the Party's militant force in the coming battle.
Lenin showed the Party workers how important it was for a revolutionary to have the ability _-_-_
^^1^^ Ibid., Vol. 34, pp. 296--97.
25 to find forms and methods of work which corresponded to the new conditions and tasks. He himself was a brilliant exponent of this art.Seeing that revolutionary enthusiasm was rapidly growing among the masses, Lenin repeatedly stressed that there was no need to be apprehensive about young people's inexperience. He said that participation in revolutionary battles was the best school for young revolutionaries, and that in the course of the class struggle the young workers would see for themselves that the Bolshevik Party's theory and programme were correct.
It must be noted that in the Russian SocialDemocratic Party the opportunists, like their Western counterparts, were strongly opposed to young people taking part in Party activities. In a pamphlet, the Menshevik Party leader Y. Larin openly expressed the hope that the party would have less young people and more family and other men weary of struggle.
Lenin expressed his gratitude to Y. Larin for being so frank, and strongly attacked the Mensheviks for their opportunistic policy. He gibed: ``What you want is not a vanguard-party but a rearguard-party, so that it will be rather more sluggish."^^1^^
The heroism displayed by young people in Russia was a shining example for the youth of the world, inspiring them with confidence in their own strength. The young Russian workers who took a very active part in the first Russian revolution (1905--1907) had a strong influence on the young German workers. This is evident from the telegram which the meeting of the Union of the Young Workers of Germany in Mannheim sent to _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 11, p. 355.
26 Russian workers on October 30, 1906. It said in part: ``We ... are especially proud that our class consciousness has been roused and that we have set up our organisation during an historic epoch, the epoch of the Russian revolution. We send our ardent greetings to the Russian freedom fighters, represented by many young people. We admire the forceful energy and inexhaustible selfsacrifice of the working class in its struggle for the destruction of blood-stained tsarism."^^1^^During the Russian bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1905--1907, the German SocialDemocrats began to spread anti-war propaganda widely among the young workers. The growing influence of the Social-Democrats on young people caused marked anxiety among the ruling circles. This is evident in a report from the German War Minister von Einem to Chancellor Biilow: ``I see the ever-growing number of socialist-minded elements among the recruits and reserves, and the anti-militarist agitation, as a grave threat and danger to the army in its main tasks in both peace and war, which, in my opinion, must be fought most vigorously in all circumstances."^^2^^
The government had every reason to be alarmed, for anti-militarist propaganda was yielding fruit. The ranks of the young workers' leagues swelled markedly and new active organisations were set up.
The bourgeois-democratic revolution in Russia greatly furthered the establishment of coherent militant unions in several other countries as well. _-_-_
~^^1^^ Zur Geschichte dcr Arbeiterjugcnd Bewegung in Deutschland. Eine Auswahl von Materialen und Dokumenten aus den Jahrcn 1904--1946, Berlin, 1956, S. 20.
~^^2^^ Die Auswirkungen der ersten russischen Revolution von 1905--1907 auf Deutschland, Berlin, 1956, Bd. I, S. 154.
27 The events in Russia stimulated young people to strive for unity of action on a world scale. Drawing on the experience gained by the socialist parties that were united in an international organisation, youth organisations reached the conclusion that a Youth International must be set up. The first attempt to set up an international youth organisation during the Congress of the International in Paris in 1900 had failed.Another attempt to set up an international organisation was made immediately after the Second International held its congress in Stuttgart in 1907. The young people succeeded in holding a world conference largely owing to the discussion of militarism at the Congress of the Second International. At the proposal of Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg the following demand was entered into August Bebel's resolution: ``Help the young workers to be educated in the spirit of the fraternity of nations and socialism and to be imbued with class consciousness.'' The young people were quick to take up these internationalist ideas, as can be seen from the First International Youth Conference, held from August 24 to 26, 1907. The conference was attended by delegates from Germany, Belgium, Bohemia, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Australia. In all, there were 20 delegates representing 60,000 members of socialist youth leagues.
Karl Liebknecht, the initiator of the conference, was elected its chairman. He was deeply respected by young people all over the world because he attacked the reformists in the Social-Democratic parties and drew youth into the socialist movement's activities. He strongly criticised the leaders of the Second International, who approached the 28 question of setting up an international youth organisation with great caution. A confirmed antimilitarist, Karl Liebknecht recognised the importance of carrying on work among the young people. He clearly formulated the role he had assigned to them by saying: ``He who has the youth has the Army."^^1^^
Thus it is not surprising that the struggle against militarism was the most important issue at the Stuttgart Conference. In his report on antimilitarism, Karl Liebknecht dealt at great length with the history of this question, describing the features of militarism in the epoch of the final stage of capitalism, and emphasising the important part militarism plays as the ``bourgeoisie's main instrument of class domination and political subjugation of the working class"-^^2^^.
The struggle in most countries against militarism was to lead to the political enlightenment of broad sections of the working people and to the unity of the Social-Democratic parties. Youth organisations began to play an important part in this. The struggle against militarism soon became of vital importance to the young workers, who were about to be called up for active service. Karl Liebknecht said: ``The young workers must be systematically permeated with class consciousness and hatred of militarism. Youthful enthusiasm will make the young workers' hearts respond enthusiastically to such agitation. The young workers belong to Social-Democracy, to Social-- _-_-_
~^^1^^ Karl Liebknecht, Gesammelte Reden und Schriften, Berlin, Dietz Verlag, 1958, Bd. I, S. 17.
~^^2^^ At Lenin's and Rosa Luxemburg's proposal this wording was incorporated into the resolution on militarism adopted by the Stuttgart Congress of the Second International.
29 Democratic anti-militarism. If everyone does his duty, they shall and must be won."^^1^^The conference delegates approved Karl Liebknecht's report. The resolution on militarism, proposed by Karl Liebknecht and adopted at the conference, said in part: ``The conference draws particular attention to the danger of militarism in the internal class struggle and holds that it is the duty of the international youth movement to fight against militarism, as stated in the resolution of the congress (Stuttgart Congress of the Second International---author)." This was a step towards uniting the young forces against militarism.
The question of educational work in youth organisations was the second item on the conference agenda. Its discussion showed the influence exercised by the Social-Democratic parties' reformist leaders, who were trying to confine all the youth organisations' activities to educational work. The resolution adopted by the conference stressed that whereas the economic and political struggle was the main task of the adult workers' party and trade-union organisations, the main task of the _-_-_
~^^1^^ Karl Liebknecht, Gesammelte Redcn und Schriften, S. 456. Somewhat later Karl Liebknecht developed the ideas contained in the report in a special theoretical work on militarism, which was published in late 1907 as a separate book entitled Militarismus und Antimililarismus (Militarism and Anti-Militarism). A German court tried and sentenced Karl Liebknecht to one-and-a-half year's imprisonment in a fortress for this book and his speech at the world youth conference.
In the theses on the history of the German working-class movement, the 16th Plenary Meeting of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, held in June 1962, stressed the great theoretical importance of this work, which gave a profound analysis of the anti-popular nature of Prussian militarism (see Einheit, Sonderheft, August 1962, S. 97--98).
30 youth organisations was the struggle for education. This was unsatisfactory, however, for it distracted the young workers from the urgent tasks facing the working class.The young workers' economic struggle was the third item on the agenda. The resolution adopted by the conference said that advanced machinery had considerably increased the number of adolescents in industry, that the capitalists preferred to employ young workers because they could pay them much less than adults, and that there was mounting exploitation of young people. The conference therefore passed a resolution on the need to step up the struggle to regulate adolescents' labour and ensure observance of the labour protection laws for young workers.
A programme of economic demands, several of which are just as important for the youth struggle in the capitalist countries today, was drawn up for the first time in the history of the youth movement. The relevant resolution adopted by the conference stressed that it was necessary to: 1) ban the employment of young people under 16 and at the same time extend the period of compulsory schooling to this age; 2) limit the working day to a maximum of six hours for all workers, including female workers under 18; 3) ban night shifts for workers under 18.
Despite the obstruction by Right-wing forces, the conference specially adopted theses stressing that young people feel the need to be trained for the class struggle and that socialist parties must help them in this respect. The most important result of the conference was its decision to set up an international union of socialist youth organisations, which soon came to be known as the Young Socialist International. The conference elected a 31 Bureau of the Youth International, chaired by Karl Liebknecht, to guide the new union in its work.
The international conference and the establishment of the Youth International were of great importance to the youth movement's further development. The young people set up their own organisations in almost all the West European countries and began to consolidate their international ties. The task of establishing their first international organisation and working out a programme of concerted action was accomplished under very difficult conditions. Despite all its shortcomings, the conference contributed greatly to the development of a sense of internationalism among the young people.
After the defeat of the Russian revolution in 1905--1907 reformism grew in the socialist parties. It was only organisational independence which enabled youth organisations to fight successfully for some time against the socialist parties' reformist influence and the bourgeois governments' mounting persecution.
Although they had to contend with difficult conditions, the representatives of the Left wing of the Second International continued to fight for youth participation in practical revolutionary activities. They regarded the young people as the force which would continue their cause after them.
In his speech at the Congress of the German Social-Democratic Party on September 13, 1909, Karl Liebknecht said: ``We believe it necessary at the present time to draw the attention of our comrades in the party with ever greater vigour to the exceptional importance of the youth movement for the future of our party."^^1^^
_-_-_~^^1^^ Karl Liebknecht, Gesammelte Reden und Schriften, Berlin, Dietz Verlag, 1960, Bd. II, S. 331.
Karl Liebknecht
32
As the likelihood of a world war increased and the ruling circles intensified their attempts to whip up chauvinism in young people, it became necessary to intensify work among young people. The militarists had successfully exploited young people's desire for greater activity and set up numerous athletic and paramilitary organisations. Charitable societies allocated large sums of money for encouraging in young people a spirit of resigned obedience to the authorities. Moreover, many laws were passed creating extremely difficult conditions for the young workers' revolutionary organisations. This was particularly true of Germany. In 1908 a law was passed banning those under 18 from taking part in political activities, which virtually outlawed youth organisations. Youth organisations set up committees consisting largely of the most reactionary representatives of the SocialDemocratic Party and reformist trade unions.
Pressured by the reformist leaders, the German trade unions held a congress in Hamburg in 1908, at which they adopted a resolution condemning independent youth leagues. The same year the German Social-Democratic Party adopted a similar resolution at a congress held in Nuremberg. The reformists in the German Social-Democratic Party and trade unions managed to have youth organisations disbanded despite their protests.
The reformists in the Social-Democratic Party decided to set up commissions under local party organisations to carry on educational work among young people and to replace the existing separate youth organisations in Germany. Most of these commissions were controlled by opportunists who tried to keep the young people away from politics and to confine their activities to excursions and sport.
__PRINTERS_P_33_COMMENT__ 3---197 33Despite persecution a handful of German youth organisations continued to exist under the guidance of the Left Social-Democrats in Berlin, Dresden, Jena, Leipzig, Stuttgart and Weimar, but their importance was considerably undermined by the reformist youth organisations and the Central Board of Young German Workers, headed for a long time by Fritz Ebert, a traitor to the German working class who later became president of the Weimar Republic.
To subordinate youth organisations even further, the Social-Democratic Party of Germany set up the Junge Deutschland League in 1911 as the socialist youth's leading body. Its founders' aim was to train young social-chauvinists to be loyal to the Kaiser government and alien to the class struggle.
The reformists in both the trade unions and the Social-Democratic Party succeeded in making the new youth organisations indifferent to politics by reducing all their activities to sports and games. Thus, by the time the world war broke out, the members of these youth organisations were fullfledged social-patriots.
Things were much the same in Austria, Bulgaria, France, Finland, Holland and Rumania.
However the growth of young workers' organisations could not be halted. In his speech at the Social-Democratic Party Congress in Jena in 1911, Karl Liebknecht stressed that the ``feverish defensive actions by the government and ruling classes" to win the support of young people show the ``power of the young workers' movement and the fear which it strikes into the ruling classes".^^1^^
_-_-_~^^1^^ Karl Liebknecht, Gesammelte Reden und Schriften, Bd. IV, S. 461.
34At the time of the first youth conference in Stuttgart in 1907, youth organisations had 60,000 members, but by 1914 youth organisations, which totalled 15, had a membership of 170,000. This shows clearly that youth organisations continued to grow in the period preceding the outbreak of the war.
These difficult conditions made it essential for revolutionary youth organisations to have permanent ties and unity of action, and for this they had to hold a world conference. It should be noted that several youth organisations in Italy, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and some other countries managed to maintain their independence and did not fall under the influence of social-patriotism and chauvinism.
The socialist youth organisations held their second world conference in Copenhagen in September 1910 at the time when the Second International was holding its congress. The conference was attended by 32 delegates from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Holland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. German youth were not represented at the conference since the Central Board of Young German Workers did not join the international league. The conference was attended by several guests from other countries, including Karl Liebknecht from Germany, who made a report on militarism.
The conference mainly discussed the socialist youth organisations' relation to the socialist parties and trade unions, which were increasingly adopting a position of reformism and flagrant betrayal of working-class interests.
The opportunists did their best to subordinate the young revolutionary leagues to the reformist parties and trade unions, and were largely 35 successful in this. The conference adopted a resolution that the International League of Socialist Youth Organisations should join the Second International.^^1^^
Progressive youth and the best representatives of the Second International opposed the official leadership of the Second International. Despite the actions of the reformist parties and trade unions, all the prewar activities of the Youth International's independent organisations were based on revolutionary aspirations. In his speech at the party congress in September 1911, Karl Liebknecht expressed his confidence in the young people's revolutionary future, saying: ``The young workers will emerge victorious over all their enemies and produce contingents which, with time, will continue the struggle which the adults are waging now."^^2^^
In the socialist working-class movement the young workers' organisations became the main centres of radical opposition to the growing revisionism and opportunism, which was being spread mainly by party and trade union officials.
As the likelihood of war increased, it became essential to decide practical questions concerning young people's tactics. A conference was held in Basle on November 25, 1912, on the initiative of several youth organisations, the Italian one in particular. It was attended by 24 representatives from 19 countries and by many guests from _-_-_
~^^1^^ Later many differences arose when the reformists tried to disband the Youth International on the basis of this resolution.
~^^2^^ Karl Liebknecht, Ausgewiililte Reden, Briefe und Aufsiitze, Berlin, Dietz Vet lag, 1952, S. 185.
36 various countries. These guests were mainly delegates to the congress of the Second International, which had just ended, and included Karl Liebknecht, founder of the Youth International.The conference had one item on the agenda: the tasks facing the Youth International. The resolution adopted by the conference emphasised the growing likelihood of a world war and the unflinching resolve of the young people, the workers' young guards, to fight against war and prevent youth from being slaughtered in the interests of a handful of capitalists.
Despite its inconsistency and vacillation in carrying out its programme, the Youth International took a firm anti-militarist stand and resolutely opposed reformism in the socialist and workers' parties. Chicherin, who took part in the French youth movement, wrote: ``By the outbreak of the war the important historical role of youth organisations in the formation of a new revolutionary socialist working-class movement had become quite clear. At the turn of the century Karl Liebknecht was able to write in his book on anti-militarism that the socialist youth organisations were the only means of fighting against militarism. The role of these organisations increased immeasurably by the outbreak of the war. They were at the very centre of the struggle of the new revolutionary elements in the international working-class movement against all that was bigoted and reactionary in the working class and its organisations; they were in the very centre of the formation of the new, revolutionary tactics and the new concept of the class struggle."^^1^^
_-_-_~^^1^^ G. Chicherin, From llic History of the Youth International (Russ. ed.), Moscow-Leningrad, 1925, p. 73.
37 __ALPHA_LVL2__ 2. International Youth Movement DuringThe First World War, which broke out in 1914, brought great misery to the working class in all countries. The bourgeois governments had been openly preparing for it for several years, and when it broke out the working class was not caught unawares. All the congresses of the Second International, beginning with the one held in Stuttgart, had emphasised the inevitability of another war and called for organised resistance to it. The manifesto of the Basle Congress of the Second International (the last congress to be held before war broke out) also emphasised that the imperialist states were preparing for war, predicting the belligerent parties and stating their main aims. Nevertheless when the war broke out the betrayal by most leaders of the Second International's socialist parties, and their open support of bourgeois governments, naturally threw the ranks of the working class into disarray. Lenin wrote: ``The opportunists have wrecked the decisions of the Stuttgart, Copenhagen and Basle congresses, which made it binding on socialists of all countries to combat chauvinism in all and any conditions, made it binding on socialists to reply to any war begun by the bourgeoisie and governments, with intensified propaganda of civil war and social revolution."^^1^^
At the talks between the French and German socialist parties in early August 1914 it emerged that the French party's parliamentary group would vote for war credits, and the German _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 21, p. 31.
38 socialists decided ``not to fall behind" their French colleagues in the Second International. In his speech at the Reichstag on August 4, 1914, party chairman Hugo Haase said that "the party would not desert the homeland in its hour of need'', that is, it would also vote for war credits. The very same day the French socialists voted for the approval of war bills. In mid-August 1914 the French socialist leaders Jules Guesde and Marcel Sembat became members of the French government; their example was followed somewhat later by Albert Thomas. Emile Vandervelde, leader of the Second International, became a member of the Belgian government as soon as the war broke out. In Germany the socialists gave full support to the government despite the fact that they were barred from government posts. In Britain the Labour Party abstained from voting for war credits at the outset of the war, but later sent James Ramsay MacDonald and others to represent it in parliament.The war roused the workers, many of whom soon realised the full gravity of the betrayal by the leaders of the Second International. It brought great material hardship to the working class, aggravated class contradictions and weakened international ties between the socialist parties. The Left-wing socialists in all countries were confronted with the complete break-up of the Second International, which could not withstand the strain of the war. The Right-wing leadership of the Second International had succeeded in adapting itself to the peaceful capitalist mode of development, but when the imperialist powers unleashed the war, the workers at large became clearly aware of the leadership's inconsistency in the face of new developments.
39Lenin wrote: ``The collapse of the Second International is the collapse of opportunism, which developed from the features of a new bygone (and so-called 'peaceful') period of history, and in recent years has come practically to dominate the International. The opportunists have long been preparing the ground for this collapse by denying the socialist revolution and substituting bourgeois reformism in its stead; by rejecting the class struggle with its inevitable conversion at certain moments into civil war, and by preaching class collaboration...."^^1^^
The betrayal by the leaders of the SocialDemocratic parties and the Second International strongly undermined the international workingclass movement for some time to come and severed international ties between the SocialDemocratic parties and young workers' organisations.
In this extremely difficult situation, it was the Bolshevik Party which successfully worked out the only correct tactics for the struggle against the imperialist war. The manifesto of the CC RSDLP, written by Lenin at the very outbreak of the war and entitled ``War and Russian SocialDemocracy'', clearly defined the workers' tasks under the new conditions. It said in part: ``Seizure of territory and subjugation of other nations, the ruining of competing nations and the plunder of their wealth,, distracting the attention of the working masses from the internal political crises in Russia, Germany, Britain and other countries, disuniting and nationalist stultification of the workers, and the extermination of their vanguard so as to weaken the revolutionary movement of _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 21, pp. 31--32.
40 the proletariat---these comprise the sole actual content, importance and significance of the present war."^^1^^The manifesto called for the turning of the imperialist war into a civil one, Russia's defeat in the reactionary war, and the establishment of a new, truly revolutionary Third International.
Youth organisations reacted to the outbreak of the war in different ways. In Germany, Austria and France, social-patriotism infected the youth organisations as well, which were under the control of the socialist parties, the traitors to the cause of the International. The International Bureau of the Young Socialist International in Vienna, which was not very active before the war, ceased its activities altogether when war broke out. However, most youth organisations remained loyal to working-class interests and the ideals of proletarian internationalism during these trying years. These organisations included the youth leagues in Switzerland and Italy, which were successfully spreading anti-militarist propaganda. As early as in the first few months of the war, Italian and subsequently Swiss youth organisations realised that the International Bureau was completely inactive and decided that it was essential to hold a meeting of their representatives.
At first only the representatives of youth organisations in the neutral countries were expected to attend the meeting, but later, when it was learned that youth organisations in other countries also wished to take part, a decision was passed to hold an international conference.
Youth organisations in Austria, Germany and _-_-_
~^^1^^ Ibid., p. 27.
41 France officially refused to take part in the conference, maintaining that young people should not discuss political matters, particularly since the adult workers had still not expressed their attitude towards the war. German youth representatives, however, came to the conference despite a ban imposed by the Central Board of the Youth Organisations of Germany. The conference was held in Berne from April 4 to 6, 1915, and was attended by delegates from 10 countries representing 33,000 young socialists. It was also attended by the Russian representatives, Inessa Armand and Yegorov, delegated by the CC RSDLP. The conference adopted the following agenda:1. Elections to the presidium and organisational questions.
2. Reports of youth organisations from individual countries.
3. The war and the tasks facing the Young Socialist International and other questions.
After delegates from various European countries had made their reports on the youth organisations' work, the conference turned to the main item on the agenda: ``The war and the tasks facing the Young Socialist International.'' The lengthy discussion showed that the delegates were still divided on this question. The resolution, adopted by 13 votes to 3, stressed that the war was of an imperialist, aggressive nature, and that it was the ``result of the imperialist policy pursued by the ruling classes in all the capitalist countries''. In its resolution, the conference denounced the "civil peace" policy pursued by the socialchauvinists as betraying the workers' interests; it also condemned the betrayal by the leaders of the Social-Democratic parties and the Second International, who had not adhered to the 42 anti-war decisions adopted at the recent congresses of the International. The conference, however, did not go so far as to discuss the tasks facing the socialist movement. It confined itself to a repetition of old resolutions, and did not show the workers that there could be no hope for the cause of socialism unless a struggle was waged against the social-chauvinists.
Lenin attached great importance to the conference. The resolution, however, which was drafted on his instructions and proposed by the Bolshevik delegates, and which called for the turning of the imperialist war into a civil one, was rejected by the conference. This was only to be expected, as the conference delegates were still not ready for such a radical turn of events, largely because a great number of young people were under the influence of the Centrists, who concealed their bankrupt policies with such attractive phrases as ``civil peace''. Robert Grimm, an initiator of the conference, was one of them. He strongly opposed the granting of the vote to the Bolshevik deputies, knowing full well that they would advance revolutionary demands.
The conference made a grave error by adopting the proposal advanced by the delegates from the Scandinavian countries on disarmament, which was unrealistic and Utopian in the situation prevailing at the time. The resolution said: "The international conference of socialist youth organisations demands that the youth leagues in all countries should take part in the working-class movement with the aim of having the demand for complete disarmament declared as a programme item.'' The Left-wing internationalists had to spend a great deal of time and effort helping young people reject this petty-bourgeois, pacifist slogan.
43Among the resolutions passed by the conference, there was one making the anti-militarist International Youth Day (IYD) an annual public holiday. The conference also adopted the Rules of the International and the decision to publish the Jugend Internationale (Young International) magazine. By its decision, the re-established Bureau of the Youth International was transferred to Switzerland, and Willi Miinzenberg, leader of the Social-Democratic youth organisation in Switzerland, became its secretary.
The importance of the Berne Conference lies above all in the fact that it was the first youth conference under extremely difficult circumstances to raise an outcry against the war and the betrayal by the Social-Democratic leaders. It reestablished international ties between youth organisations and gave them a more revolutionary orientation. It also demonstrated clearly that workers' solidarity had grown during the years which were such a great trial for the young workers.
Acknowledging that the young revolutionaries had made certain definite achievements, Karl Liebknecht stressed that the ``programme of the young workers' movement should once again be tried and tested in struggle. It is not only youthful inspiration of being always ready for action that makes the youth movement invulnerable, but also its clarity and resoluteness, strong faith, the urge for a united, international class struggle, the consciousness of class solidarity transcending all bounds, and the anti-militarist basis of its tactics".^^1^^
_-_-_~^^1^^ Karl Liebknecht, Ausgewiihlle Rcden, Briefe und Aufsiitze, S. 321.
44Lenin wrote that the conference was inspired by the fine intentions of its participants, but that it did not realise the danger of the re-- establishment of the Second International by socialchauvinistic methods. He pointed out that ``at best they were marking time"^^1^^.
The conference adopted vague decisions and its leaders did not envisage clearly the tasks facing the young people in the imperialist war. Nevertheless, the local youth organisations increased their anti-war activities considerably.^^2^^ Hundreds of young people distributed illegal leaflets and pamphlets among the population, particularly among the soldiers. In the warring countries this work was illegal and the slightest error could lead to the death penalty. Many young people were executed for taking part in the underground struggle against the war.
Loyal to the youth organisations' traditional anti-militarist slogans, the young people at first took a purely pacifist stand and confined themselves to demands for ending the war. Like the best members of the Social-Democratic parties, they still did not realise the importance of encouraging revolutionary activity among the working people during the war. Lenin wrote: ``At the present time, the propaganda of peace unaccompanied by a call for revolutionary mass action can only sow illusions, and demoralise the proletariat, for it makes the proletariat believe that the bourgeoisie is humane, and turns it into a _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 21, p. 325.
~^^2^^ It must be noted that France did not respond to the Berne Conference until October 1915, when its appeal to the young revolutionaries of the world was published (see A. Ferrat, Histoire du parti franfais, Paris, 1931, p. 47).
45 plaything in the hands of the secret diplomacy of the belligerent countries."^^1^^The war years instilled in young people an intense hatred of the existing system, showing them who was responsible for the war and how they should be fought. A leaflet being circulated at the time said: ``The anger and grief for the millions of killed and maimed brothers must spark off a war against our own traitors and murderers of the people, and must throw a burning torch into the edifice of gross violence and tyranny. Brother workers, we have borne blood-stained fetters far too long among the general grief and suffering."^^2^^
The Bolsheviks gave youth organisations much help in stepping up illegal revolutionary activities, particularly propaganda against the war. They set the young people an example by taking part in preparing anti-war leaflets and teaching them this work, which was of great importance to the revolutionaries. The distribution of illegal literature, however, was only a fraction of the work carried out by youth organisations during the war. Young people also took an active part in the workers' protest strikes and demonstrations.
At this time the young workers' organisations began to exercise growing influence, and more and more organisations joined the Youth International. Between April 1915 and February 1916 alone, youth organisations in Greece, Spain, the United States and Canada joined the Youth International, and were followed by the Youth League of Finland in mid-1916. By the end of _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 21, p. 163.
~^^2^^ Ernst Drahn, Susanne Leonhard, Unterirdische Literatur im revolutionarem Deutschland wiihrend des Weltkrieges. Berlin, 1920, SS. 87--88.
46 the war the young workers' organisations of all countries except Holland and France had joined the Youth International, but in these two countries individual revolutionary organisations also regarded themselves as members of the international youth union.With the outbreak of the war and the breakup of the Second International, the internationalists of all countries were faced with the task of setting up a new international revolutionary organisation. Preparations for its establishment were started in the early months of the war. To carry out this task, the internationalists had to be ideologically united. This very difficult and responsible work in the international working-class movement was taken on by the Bolsheviks. In August 1915 Nadezhda Krupskaya wrote: ``The unity of the Left-wing leaders is now extremely important, and not so much organisational as ideological unity; the former will be the result of the latter.''
Before a new international union could be set up, every Social-Democratic party had to condemn individually the betrayal by the leaders of the Second International, so that concerted action could be taken for the next step.
In establishing the new international union, the Bolsheviks were always mindful of the Party reserve, the youth organisations, which were the most active working-class contingents free of reformism. Lenin took a keen interest in the state of the youth organisations and young people's attitudes. The work of youth organisations could not be neglected, and they had to be given constant practical assistance. In carrying out the task entrusted to her by the Bolshevik Party, Alexandra Kollontai maintained close ties with the youth 47 organisations in the Scandinavian countries. She helped them to adopt the correct line and enjoyed great prestige among the young people. As early as mid-1915 she succeeded in obtaining a statement from the youth organisations in Norway officially condemning the treachery of the Second International's leaders.
In her report to Nadezhda Krupskaya in the summer of 1915, Alexandra Kollontai wrote that the youth organisations in Sweden had joined the Norwegian Socialist Youth Organisation in condemning the activities of the Second International, its leaders, their tactics, the voting for war credits and so forth, and had called this a `` betrayal of socialism".
Swedish youth, who had strong influence on public opinion in their country, were among the most powerful contingents of the Youth International. They had three daily papers and 13 seats in parliament.
Lenin highly valued Alexandra Kollontai's work in the Scandinavian countries. In a letter to her he wrote: ``We were very glad about the statement by the Norwegians and your efforts with the Swedes. It would be devilishly important to have a joint international statement by the Left Marxists!"^^1^^
This action was not long in coming. On the initiative of socialists in several countries, the representatives of the Social-Democratic parties favouring the unity of the internationalist elements in the working-class movement held their first international conference in Zimmerwald from September 5 to 8,1915. The conference denounced the betrayal by the leaders of the Second _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 35, p. 200.
48 International, condemned the imperialist war and demanded that it be ended. Lenin and the Bolsheviks who took part in the conference, set up a revolutionary Marxist group which was subsequently called the Zimmerwald Left. This group, headed by Lenin, proposed a resolution demanding a complete break with the social-chauvinists. The resolution was not adopted, but some of its demands were written into the conference's manifesto. In assessing the document, Lenin wrote: ``In practice, the manifesto signifies a step towards an ideological and practical break with opportunism and social-chauvinism. At the same time, the manifesto... contains inconsistencies, and does not say everything that should be said."^^1^^This conference was of great importance. It accelerated the formation of a revolutionary Left wing in the international working-class movement and subsequently became the basis for the establishment of the Third International. Lenin wrote: ``The unitedness of the former group is one of the most important facts and greatest achievements of the Conference."^^2^^ The Zimmerwald Left group had a strong influence on the Youth International's activities at the time.
Youth organisations ardently supported the Zimmerwald Left group in its ideological battle against the Centrists and social-chauvinists, but before they accepted the Zimmerwald Left group's platform, a struggle took place among the young people themselves. It was only thanks to tireless work among youth explaining the trends in the world working-class movement and the tasks of the workers' organisations in the _-_-_
~^^1^^ Ibid., Vol. 21, p. 384.
~^^2^^ Ibid., p. 389.
__PRINTERS_P_49_COMMENT__ 4---197 49 imperialist war that the process of revolutionising youth organisations was accelerated. The Bolsheviks played a very big part in this activity. Many prominent leaders of the Bolshevik Party living in emigration in West European countries during the First World War took part in the youth movement and helped to set up truly revolutionaryorganisations there by their practical work and advice. They included Chicherin in France, Alexandra Kollontai in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, Nadezhda Krupskaya in Switzerland, and Inessa Armand in France and Switzerland.After the establishment of the Zimmerwald Left group, Lenin, who always attached great importance to youth participation in the revolutionary movement, repeatedly impressed on Party members that the young people had to be won over to their side and helped to understand the position adopted by the group.
This work yielded fruit. As early as January 1916 Lenin received news from Paris that the press there had reported that French youth had sided with the Zimmerwald Left group. This was soon followed by news that other youth organisations had announced their support of the Zimmerwald Left group.
In April 1916 Alexandra Kollontai wrote to Lenin, who asked her to keep him in touch with the stand taken by Scandinavian youth, saying that Norwegian youth organisations had also sided with the Zimmerwald Left. Somewhat later, in another letter to him, she wrote that the Norwegian and Swedish youth organisations "had no other Zimmerwald in view except the Zimmerwald Left".
The Bolsheviks' influence on the young workers also increased in other countries. In July 1916 50 Inessa Armand reported: ``In Zurich I got in touch with the local youth organisation, which is taking a iairly Left-wing stand and which has members who avowedly support the Zimmerwald Left group.''
The youth organisations in Switzerland, one of which Inessa Armand mentioned, set themselves the aim of ``educating their members in the spirit of proletarian class consciousness".
In April 1916 the Second International Socialist Conference was held in Kienthal (Switzerland). Since the Zimmerwald Conference, the delimitation between the internationalists and socialchauvinists had become very pronounced, and the number of those supporting the Zimmerwald Left group's political platform had strongly increased. Although the political demands made by the members of the Zimmerwald Left group to turn the imperialist war into a civil one, to propagandise the defeat of their imperialist governments in the reactionary war and to establish a new Communist International, were not supported by the majority at the conference, they had a considerable impact on the revolutionary movement's development. The Zimmerwald Left group began to play a growing part in the international working-class movement, and this helped to distinguish it from the opportunists of various stripes and to show which were the truly revolutionary forces. The Kienthal Conference was another step forward towards the establishment of the Communist International. A representative of the Youth International was among the delegates at the conference.
The Zimmerwald Left group exerted a growing influence on the young people and strongly supported them in their actions against both the 51 imperialist war and the opportunists in the world working-class movement.
The Jugend Internationale magazine, which was issued in accordance with the decision of the Berne Conference, played an important part in this. It was published in German, Italian and Swedish, and had a circulation of 50,000. Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin and Franz Mehring helped to publish it. It was illegally sent from Switzerland to Germany, where it was reprinted and circulated. Through the magazine Lenin, Karl Liebknecht, Alexandra Kollontai and other prominent leaders of the working-class movement explained the main aspects of the workers' revolutionary movement and the struggle against the imperialist war to the young people. Their articles strengthened the young people ideologically and helped them to rectify their mistaken attitude towards the social-chauvinists and Centrists.
The first issue included an article by Alexandra Kollontai on the new, Third International and the tasks facing the young workers in wartime. She stressed the need to set up the organisation, saying: ``The Third Socialist International is not a utopia, it is not the `unsubstantiated hope' of confirmed optimists. The factors who will set it up are present in our midst and have been engendered by the current crisis. Why, the workers' new International is Karl Liebknecht, it is the five deputies of the Russian State Duma languishing in Siberia, it is the steadily growing `Left' of the German and Russian Social-Democratic parties, which has remained loyal to the principles of the class struggle and socialism."^^1^^
_-_-_~^^1^^ A. M. Kollontai, ``Die neue Internationale und die Arbeiterjugend'', Jugend Internationale. No. 1, Zurich, 1. September, 1915, S. 8.
52The magazine actively began to carry out the decisions adopted by the Berne Conference, rousing the young people to vigorous action. It strongly urged young socialists to take revolutionary action, saying: ``The time has come to act. . . . The soil is ready for a revolutionary uprising: now is the time to sow."^^1^^
The magazine reflected the successes, failures, achievements and errors made by the international youth movement. In response to the urgent questions worrying young people, the March (1916) issue of the magazine began a discussion on the topic ``People's Army or Disarmament'', and carried the editorial ``Disarmament! Relentless Struggle Against Militarism and Its Breeder--- Capitalism'', which advanced the slogan ``We Oppose All War!"^^2^^
This discussion helped the Youth International to reject the appeal for disarmament, which was not a correct one at a time when the imperialist war was being fought. Lenin carefully followed the discussion and gave invaluable assistance in this respect. In October 1916 he wrote the article ``The `Disarmament' Slogan'', which was published in the magazine. In it, he summed up the results of the discussion, saying that the magazine had taken a wrong stand on the question of disarmament. ``There is reason to believe,'' he wrote in his article ``The Youth International,'' = __NOTE__ Looks like missing `` here in original. that this error arises entirely out of the laudable desire to emphasise the need to strive for the 'complete destruction of militarism' (which is perfectly correct); but the role of civil wars in the socialist revolution is forgotten.'' Lenin's articles helped _-_-_
~^^1^^ Ibid., p. 2.
~^^2^^ Jugcnd Internationale, No. 3, Zurich, 1. Marz, 1916, S. 7.
53 the Youth International to rectify its position on this important question.In his article ``The Youth International'', which dealt with the magazine's work, Lenin pointed out several important mistakes made by the central youth organ. He particularly emphasised its wrong evaluation of the difference between the socialist and anarchist attitude to the state. While revealing the magazine's shortcomings and criticising its incorrect views, he advocated patience in dealing with young people's mistakes, and the need to correct them by persuasion and not by force. He stressed that the older generation was often incapable of dealing properly with young people, and that, under the new conditions, the young people were bound to have a different approach to socialism from their fathers. Stressing the young people's desire for the Youth International's organisational independence, Lenin wrote: ''. . . we must decidedly favour organisational independence of the Youth League, not only because the opportunists fear such independence, but because of the very nature of the case. For unless they have complete independence, the youth will be unable either to train good socialists from their midst or prepare themselves to lead socialism forward."^^1^^ = ^^2^^ __NOTE__ Two LCW footnotes but only one quote in body.
In December 1916 the sixth issue of the Jugend Internationale published the theses drawn up by the Secretariat of the International League of Socialist Youth Organisations. They dealt with the young workers' economic and political position, the influence of war on their position, and the tasks facing youth organisations. They also _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 23, p. 165.
~^^2^^ Ibid., p. 164.
54 assessed the situation created by the war, and emphasised the young workers' steadily worsening situation and the growth of their political activities. However, they did not define clearly the tasks facing the young people, and failed to analyse the world working-class movement and pinpoint the main trends in the socialist movement.Lenin wrote with regard to the theses: ``The `declaration of principles of the International League of Socialist Youth Organisations', published in issue No. 6 as the 'Secretariat's draft', contains not a few inaccuracies, and does not contain the main thing: a clear comparison of the three fundamental trends (social-chauvinism, 'centre' and Left) now contending against each other in the socialist movement of all countries."^^1^^
The world war and the collapse of the Second International put youth organisations in the vanguard of the struggle to establish new workers' parties free of opportunism and social-chauvinism, i.e., revolutionary parties. To carry out this difficult task, the young people had to do an enormous amount of organisational and political work.
In stressing the gigantic tasks facing socialist youth organisations, Lenin wrote:
``Most of the official European Social-- Democratic parties are advocating the foulest and vilest social-chauvinism and opportunism....
``With this state of affairs in Europe, there falls on the League of Socialist Youth Organisations the tremendous, grateful but difficult task of fighting for revolutionary internationalism, for true socialism and against the prevailing opportunism _-_-_
~^^1^^ Ibid., p. 166.
55 which has deserted to the side of the imperialist bourgeoisie."^^1^^The Jugend Internationale carried many articles dealing with the task of developing a deep sense of internationalism in the West European youth organisations. It became the socialist youth organisations' leading centre by keeping its readers in constant touch with the workers' revolutionary activities in various countries and by publishing material that was of great interest to young people as a whole. It was from this magazine that the young people adopted the appeal to set up the Third International. Many of its pages echoed with hatred of those who had betrayed the cause of the working class. It is not surprising that all the eleven issues put out during the war were republished in 1926 in accordance with the decision adopted by the Executive Committee of the Young Communist International.
Although Lenin strongly criticised individual articles, he held the magazine in high esteem as a whole. He wrote: ``The Youth International has published a number of good articles in defence of revolutionary internationalism, and the magazine as a whole is permeated with a fine spirit of intense hatred for the betrayers of socialism, the 'defenders of the fatherland' in the present war, and with an earnest desire to wipe out the corroding influence of chauvinism and opportunism in the international labour movement."^^2^^
Lenin always impressed on the others the need to explain matters patiently to young people, to understand their requirements, to direct youth organisations along the right lines and warn them _-_-_
~^^1^^ Ibid., p. 163.
~^^2^^ Ibid., pp. 163--04.
56 against possible mistakes. He set a fine example of this in his personal dealings with youth organisations, which strongly influenced young people. By offering advice and criticising errors, he taught the young workers to be staunch fighters for the cause of the working class.Writing about a report which Lenin was to make to the young people, Nadezhda Krupskaya noted in one of her letters that they were ``part of us'', that they had many fine speakers, and that in general they had ``the right spirit''. The young people liked Lenin's reports, and they themselves willingly made speeches at such meetings.
Owing to wartime conditions, the Bureau of the Youth International did not manage to hold a meeting until early February 1916, ten months after the Berne Conference. It was followed several days later by a meeting between the leaders of the Youth International and the Zimmerwald Commission with a view to improving contacts. As a result, an agreement was reached on providing mutual ideological and moral support in individual actions. It was also resolved that in future a member of the Bureau of the Youth International would be invited to the meetings held by the enlarged commission. In accordance with this decision, the International Commission invited a representative of the Youth International to the Kienthal Conference.
Co-operation between the Bureau of the Youth International and the Zimmerwald Commission soon came to an end, however, when the Youth International left the Zimmerwald union owing to strong influence exerted by the Left group, which withdrew from the Zimmerwald Left to set up the Communist International.
57The Bureau of the Youth International held a meeting in Stockholm from May 19 to 20, 1917, to discuss the international and political stand taken by the Youth International. A resolution was adopted which stressed that: ``The events in Russia, which are of world historic importance, clearly show that the methods of the socialist class struggle which we are propagandising are correct. For this reason socialist youth greets the Russian revolutionaries with especial joy and celebrates their victory as the victory of revolutionary ideas. But just as the Russian revolution can gain a complete socialist victory only by a bitter struggle against the social-patriots, revolutionary tactics can triumph in all the other countries only by a bitter struggle against socialpatriotism. It must therefore be the task of socialist youth to continue to serve as an invigorating factor in the common working-class movement and to fan constantly the flame of the revolutionary struggle. For this reason the International Union of Socialist Youth must strongly denounce all connections with the coming social-patriotic conference."^^1^^
Thus, the Bureau of the Youth International officially confirmed its break with the International Socialist Bureau in The Hague, which tried to revive the Second International. Moreover, this resolution was important because it showed that the socialist revolution in Russia could be victorious only if a decisive struggle was waged against the social-patriots, that is, the socialistrevolutionaries and Mensheviks, who supported _-_-_
~^^1^^ Jugcnd Internationale, No. 9, Ziirich, 1. Sept.. 1917, S. 19.
58 the bourgeois Provisional Government's policy of continuing to wage the imperialist war. The resolution shows clearly that Lenin's criticism of the Youth International's errors had helped the young people to take a correct stand.The celebration of International Youth Day became very important during the war. The young people decided to celebrate it as a protest against the German and French ban on celebrating May Day, the working people's international solidarity day. Like all other protests by young people during the First World War, International Youth Day was accompanied by the slogan ``Down with the Imperialist War!''. It was first celebrated on October 3, 1915 in Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Holland, the United States, Rumania and Portugal by about 120,000 young people. As the years passed, more and more young people began to celebrate it.
International Youth Day was celebrated on an especially wide scale in 1917 in Germany, where the young people's anti-war movement had reached enormous proportions. As early as August 1917 the Socialist Youth Movement put out an illegal leaflet calling for massive demonstrations. It said: ``The socialist youth of all countries calls on their class comrades for powerful demonstrations. . . . International Youth Day must become a powerful onslaught by the revolutionary army of workers and young proletarians on the existing capitalist system.'' The leaflet ended with an appeal to the soldiers in the German army, saying: ``It is to you, brothers in army greatcoats, that we address this appeal: 'If the people, driven to despair, finally take to revolutionary action, venturing upon the mortal battle and raising the 59 banner of revolution, fight along with us.... Be soldiers of the revolution yourselves!'."^^1^^
The actions by the young workers' organisations against the imperialist war took various forms.
In the belligerent countries, where anti-war activities were banned, young people courageously carried on underground work, thus contributing to the working-class struggle against the imperialist war waged by bourgeois governments.
A bitter struggle developed in the neutral countries as well, which also had influential bourgeois groups demanding the prohibition of antiwar propaganda, rallies and demonstrations. In both the belligerent and neutral countries the youth organisations achieved a great deal by their various activities.
In Germany, where even before the war, owing to social-traitors' efforts, youth organisations had been controlled by official leaders appointed by the Social-Democratic Party, the war roused young people to action. The young workers could not continue to flounder in the official organisations which were committed to social-chauvinism and flagrant betrayal of the working-class interests. The young people's official leaders did all they could to turn young workers into soldiers for the Kaiser's army. An appeal made by the Central Committee of Young German Workers to the young soldiers trained by youth organisations was full of hypocrisy about the ``humanity'' and `` human dignity" which the soldiers should show on the battlefield. It said in part: ``We strongly hope _-_-_
~^^1^^ Ernst Drahn, Susanne Leonhard, Untrrirdische Lilernlur im revolulioniircn Dcutsclilmid wiihrcnd dcs UieUkric^ra, Berlin, 1920, S. S7-NS.
60 that on the battlefield they will display the spirit of humanity and respect for human dignity instilled in them by the working youth movement.''The German government valued this `` educational" work among young people very highly, as it did all the other Social-Democratic Party's chauvinist activities. The Minister for Religious Affairs, von Knelling, said: ``The government has often had occasion to declare that, judging by their conduct during the war, Social-Democrats cannot be said to lack patriotic convictions. This also applies to the Social-Democratic youth organisation."^^1^^
The authorities took a very different attitude towards young people who did not wish to remain in the same ranks with those who had betrayed working-class interests, and stoutly opposed the military command's tyranny in the rear. When the authorities tried by force to use the young workers' earnings for purchasing war loans, they forced them to withdraw this decision by staging strikes. This struggle was particularly strong in Braunschweig in May 1916.
Many members began to withdraw from official youth organisations even before the war. During the war this withdrawal assumed massive proportions and led to the establishment of independent organisations in Berlin, Dresden, Stuttgart and other towns. It was these oppositional organisations which upheld the Youth International's best traditions: the struggle against militarism in Germany.
The oppositional youth organisations had no common leadership or even permanent contact _-_-_
~^^1^^ Jugend Internationale, No. 4, Zurich, 1. Juni, 1916, S. 13.
61 until the spring of 1916, and each organisation acted separately. It was the course of events which dictated the need for a union between them.The young workers held an all-German conference in Jena from April 24 to 25, 1916. Its initiator, Karl Liebknecht, opened it with a report on the tasks facing the young people. A resolution was adopted drawing attention to the ever increasing militarist exploitation of the young workers, and stressing that this had roused the young people to vigorous political action and strengthened their role in the country's social life. The conference decisions reaffirmed the young German workers' loyalty to the concepts of internationalism and the Youth International. The conference sent greetings to their comrades waging the class struggle in Poland, France, Britain, Russia and the Balkans. Its resolution ended with the words: ``Long Live the Workers' Youth International! Long Live the Glass Struggle, the International Class Struggle Against War! Long Live the International Solidarity of the Working Class! Down with Imperialism! An End to World Massacre!''
The conference decisions became the young German revolutionaries' action programme. The newly established organisation played a very active role in all the workers' activities. Young workers took part in May Day demonstrations in 1916 and the protest movement against Karl Liebknecht's arrest and imprisonment.
Otto Franke played an important role in leading the youth movement after Karl Liebknecht's arrest. In Hamburg the young revolutionaries were headed by a young worker, Rudolf Lindau, and other leaders including Richard Gyptner.
62Franz Mehring, Leo Jogiches and other members of the Spartacus League helped the young people to put out newspapers and contributed to them. Franz Mehring, for instance, wrote an article about Karl Liebknecht for Freie Jugend (Free Youth), a Berlin paper.
The Spartacus League, which, according to Walter Ulbricht, ``was the largest Left-wing group in Germany. .., the vanguard of the most progressive section of the German working class'', always devoted much attention to the youth movement.
Under its guidance young people took an active part in strikes at munition works, the May Day demonstrations in 1917 and other activities by the German workers.
The sailors' revolt in the summer of 1917 had a great impact on young workers. Max Reichpietsch and Albin Kobis, the two young sailors who led the revolutionary movement in the navy, were court-martialed and shot at the training grounds near Cologne on September 5, 1917. The sentences of other active members of the movement amounted to a total of 400 years' hard labour.
``I perish a victim of military justice,'' Albin Kobis wrote to his parents before his execution. ``It is, of course, not easy to die so young, but I die cursing German militarism.''
In a leaflet entitled ``Take Their Lead'', the Spartacus League called on the German workers to fight like the sailors had and follow their example of courage and self-sacrifice, so as to win a ``socialist peace'' in the decisive struggle. This call was answered and young people became very active in the German workers' struggle. Loyal to their internationalist duty, the young German 63 workers consistently fought for the unity of world youth.
The young German workers' organisation annually celebrated International Youth Day in response to the Youth International's appeal. The celebrations were particularly widespread on September 2 and 3, 1917.
The German military authorities did their best to prevent this day from being celebrated. The commanders of military districts ordered the immediate arrest of anyone distributing illegal leaflets calling for demonstrations and strikes on September 2 and 3, 1917. In their ``warnings'' to the public, the military authorities threatened hard labour or even the death penalty for anyone who took part in strikes, demonstrations and the distribution of leaflets. The young workers, however, were not to be deterred. This was a difficult test for the young workers' organisations, but they passed it with flying colours.
Thousands of best young German workers who fought in the ranks of the working class during the First World War joined the Spartacus League and later the Communist Party of Germany.
Analysing the struggle which the German working class was waging at the time, Ernst Thalmann stressed that the participation of young people in all the major revolutionary actions was of decisive importance. The young German workers had become the ``most important buttress in the German Left-wing anti-war struggle".
In France socialist youth organisations were faced with a somewhat different situation. A large number of young workers who were members of the French National Federation were called up for active service. Not being constantly 64 pressured by the Left, the Executive Committee of the National Federation of Young Socialists openly took a social-chauvinist stand. The refusal of the Executive Committee of the NFYS to take part in the youth conference at Berne met with the approval of the socialist party leaders, who ``decided to announce their support publicly''.
Despite the ban by the Executive Committee of the NFYS, local youth organisations would have sent their delegates to Berne if the government had not refused to grant them passports. In their message of greetings cabled to the Berne Conference, the young French revolutionaries reaffirmed their solidarity with the young socialists of the world and pledged themselves to fight against militarism.
The French youth movement began to snowball after the Kienthal Conference in April 1916. The young people of Paris were especially active in the anti-war campaign. It was the Paris socialist youth section which re-established contact with the Youth International, declared its approval of the decisions adopted by the Zimmerwald Conference and pledged itself loyally to carry out its international duty.
The socialist youth movement in Italy was the strongest in Europe during the war. The Italian socialist youth organisation was among the initiators of the youth conference in Berne. Young Italian socialists held a congress in May 1915, at which they resolved to stage a general strike if Italy entered the war. It was the Italian youth organisations which first welcomed the decisions passed by the Zimmerwald Conference; they also took part in distributing the manifesto adopted by the conference. Although the government banned the celebration of May Day in wartime, __PRINTERS_P_65_COMMENT__ 5---197 65 socialist organisations staged powerful demonstrations throughout the country on May 1, 1916 under the slogan ``Down with the War! Long Live the Social Revolution!''. Many members of the socialist youth organisation were arrested for taking part in the demonstration and for other actions.
In the United States of America the ranks of the Young People's Socialist League swelled considerably during the First World War. By the beginning of 1916 the League had 130 organisations with 4,000 members. Following the example of European organisations, US youth organisations began to spread anti-war propaganda as the country prepared to enter the war. In June 1916 the New York socialist youth organisation held its annual congress in Brooklyn, at which the main topics of discussion were militarism and the armament policy. The congress called on young people to protest against all military training, a stand which was also being taken by the European youth organisations at the time. It was only the lengthy debate on this question and Lenin's article ``The `Disarmament' Slogan" that helped the young people to abandon this incorrect policy.
Although the Young People's Socialist League of the USA joined the Youth International in 1915, owing to the war in Europe the only contact established between them was the exchange of literature and newspapers. But even this definitely contributed to the development of the socialist youth movement in the United States. In August 1916 the Young People's Socialist League of the USA wrote a letter to the Executive Committee of the Youth International, saying that in their supposedly free country they were struggling 66 against the same lawlessness which had brought the members of the Executive Committee into gaol. Thus, they could send their fraternal and comradely greetings, assurances of their deep sympathy and wishes of success in their work. They hailed the International and called for the overthrow of the rule of capital, capitalism and militarism.
The Young People's Socialist League intensified its anti-war propaganda and protest demonstrations when the United States entered the war. In 1917 the president of the Young People's Socialist League, William Kruse, published an open ``Letter to Wilson'', in which he condemned the government's imperialist policy. As a result, he was arrested and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for agitation. However government persecution of youth organisations merely increased the influx of new forces into their ranks, and by the end of 1916 they had 6,000 members.
In Spain socialist youth organisations also opposed the imperialist war and supported the decisions of the Zimmerwald Conference. By the beginning of 1916 the Young Socialist League had 108 local organisations (sections) with 3,779 members.
The young people took part in all the workers' economic and political actions. Socialist youth organisations and individual members of the Socialist Party formed the Left trend which took the stand adopted by the Zimmerwald Conference and opposed the imperialist war.
During the war youth organisations published five issues of the Avanguardia (Vanguard) newspaper, and then regularly began to put out the Nuestra Palabra (Our Word) newspaper. The league also issued the Renovation fortnightly __PRINTERS_P_68_COMMENT__ 5* 67 magazine, which had a circulation of 5,750. The young socialists held their fourth congress from November 27 to December 2, 1916, at which they discussed the political situation created by the war. The congress approved the decision adopted by the Kienthal Conference and entrusted the Central Committee of the Young Socialist League with the task of maintaining permanent contact with the Youth International. The congress was held under the slogans ``Down with the War!'', ``Long Live Peace!" and ``Long Live International Socialism!".
In Switzerland socialist youth organisations continued to spread anti-war propaganda despite the fact that their country remained neutral throughout the war. These organisations had 45 sections with 1,200 members before the war, 106 sections with 3,000 members at the outbreak of the war, and 120 sections with 3,500 members by April 1916. International Youth Day was celebrated widely throughout the country. In September 1916 the Swiss Government issued an order to use machine guns against the young people in the IYD celebrations. Youth organisations took part in anti-war demonstrations and clashes with troops.
The Social-Democratic Party and trade unions, which supported the government's policy, officially declared that they would set up a youth organisation to combat the young people's revolutionary actions.
Lenin was well acquainted with the young Swiss socialists and spoke highly of their organisations' activities during the war. When he was returning to Russia, he wrote on behalf of the Bolsheviks living in Switzerland: ``To these comrades, whose views we share, and with whom we 68 worked hand in hand, we convey our fraternal greetings."^^1^^
In Sweden, where socialist youth organisations were a strong force in the country's socialist movement even before the war, the young workers rallied yet closer round the anti-war platform at the outbreak of the war. Acting against the Social-Democratic Party leaders' will, youth organisations stepped up anti-militarist propaganda among the civil population and the army. They held rallies and staged demonstrations calling for an end to the war. The Youth League was so popular that it had 10,000 members by the beginning of 1916.
The socialist youth organisation began to exert a strong influence on many members of the Social-Democratic Party, helping them to see through their party leaders' treacherous policies. In early 1916 the young people called on the Social-Democratic Party leadership to hold an extraordinary congress to discuss party activity during the war, but the Central Committee of the Social-Democratic Party declined to do so.
The Youth League then decided to hold a conference of its own to discuss party activity. It was opened on March 18, 1916, and was attended by 265 delegates representing youth organisations, the Social-Democratic Party and the trade unions. Chicherin, who carefully followed the work of the congress, wrote in a letter that the Youth League had strongly attacked the Social-- Democratic Party leaders and had declared at the congress that in the event of further deviations by them from the party programme, it would support, at the elections, only those candidates who _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 23, p. 368.
69 clearly pledged themselves to fulfil the programme.The congress also discussed the possibility of using non-parliamentary means of struggle if Switzerland were to become involved in the war.
The congress resolution on this item stressed the importance of the non-parliamentary means of struggle against militarism, a struggle aimed at turning militarism into a weapon which the ruling classes could no longer use against the workers in their struggle for emancipation.
By setting ``disarmament as its aim'', the Youth League showed that it still harboured pettybourgeois, pacifist illusions. Lenin explained the erroneousness of this slogan, which was being proclaimed by socialists in several countries, saying: ``Our slogan must be: arming of the proletariat to defeat, expropriate and disarm the bourgeoisie."^^1^^
Zeth Constantin Hoglund, leader of the Young Socialist League, was arrested immediately after the congress for his vitriolic attack on the SocialDemocratic Party and the government, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment for high treason.
Despite persecution, members of youth organisations stepped up their activities and strongly influenced the Social-Democratic Party's turn to the Left.
In Norway the socialist youth organisation responded to the war with strong protests. As early as August 2, 1914, the Youth League held a big rally, at which demands were made for holding trade union and Social-Democratic Party congresses. The young people were supported in _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 23, p. 96.
70 these demands by the progressive section of the Norwegian working class and by members of the Social-Democratic Party. In less than a year's time during the war, the Youth League grew by two thousand members.The league took an active part in all the workers' actions and attached great importance to the spreading of socialist literature.
In Denmark the ranks of the Union of Youth continued to swell despite the fact that a large number of young people were called up for active service. The country had 61 youth organisations on January 1, 1914, 76 youth organisations by January 1, 1915, and 82 by December of the same year. In 1917 the Union had 8,500 members, compared to 5,700 in 1914.
The formation of the Zimmerwald Union in 1915 influenced the activities of Danish youth, who, like the young workers in other countries, wanted an international union and the formation of a militant front against war and capitalism. The Forward newspaper, the organ of the Union of Youth, was the only publication to print the Zimmerwald movement's appeal.
These are just a few facts about the Western youth organisations' activities, but they should suffice to show that, during the First World War, despite the bourgeois governments' brutal persecution and the hostile activities of the socialchauvinists, the young workers of Western Europe and the United States found the strength and courage to stand up openly for the international unity of all the working-class contingents and to oppose imperialism and war.
The unremitting struggle waged by the Bolsheviks under Lenin's guidance played an important part in freeing the young workers from the 71 social-reformist ideas and taking a stand further to the Left.
Although the social-reformists still had definite influence on many young workers, it was these years that saw the turning point of the international movement of young workers, who took a firm revolutionary stand. This stand led to the establishment of an international communist youth organisation.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 3. Emergence of RevolutionaryThe First World War roused broad sections of the working population to political action in Russia. Exhausted by the war, devastation and hunger, the workers and peasant soldiers rose up to topple autocracy, which they considered to be largely responsible for their misery. As the monarchy fell and the people won democratic freedoms, conditions were created for legal revolutionary activities. Many mass organisations were set up, which took an active part in the revolutionary movement. Lenin wrote: ``Millions and tens of millions of people, who had been politically dormant for ten years and politically crushed by the terrible oppression of tsarism and by inhuman toil for the landowners and capitalists, have awakened and taken eagerly to politics."^^1^^
The first youth organisations were set up immediately after the bourgeois-democratic revolution in Russia in February 1917, but they were not connected with one another. Until then the _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 24, p. 61.
72 young progressive workers had taken part in the Bolshevik Party's illegal work, but this form of activity alone was clearly not enough once the young people had been roused to vigorous action. The young workers, most of whom did not know that there were special, independent youth organisations in other countries, realised intuitively that such organisations had to be set up in Russia. Bourgeois party representatives tried, among other things, to use the spontaneous meetings and rallies to further their own ends, distract the young people away from the political struggle and confine the activities of youth organisations to ``cultural work" and ``self-education''. However the young workers in Russia did not repeat the mistakes made by many youth organisations in Western Europe. The Russian bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties were prevented from deflecting young people from the workers' revolutionary struggle and turning youth organisations into non-political unions and societies largely because the Russian young workers' organisations were always helped and supported by the Bolshevik Party ever since they were set up.The first Russian youth organisations were set up in Petrograd in April 1917 on the young workers' own initiative.
When she returned to Russia in April 1917, Nadezhda Krupskaya wrote several articles on the youth movement for Pravda, to inform Russian youth about the revolutionary youth movement in the West. She stressed that young people must take part in the economic and political struggle. She also emphasised the importance of the first step in the work of youth organisations, saying: "The youth organisation in Russia is now in the process of being formed. These first steps are of 73 the greatest consequence. They are the ones that determine the course of the entire movement: they determine whether the youth organisation in Russia will be a workers' organisation, whether it will march hand in hand with the workers' organisation of its country and the Youth International ... or whether it will divorce itself from the working-class movement for a time."^^1^^
The establishment of the Labour and Enlightenment Union in Petrograd showed that, had it not been for the Bolsheviks, the young workers could have followed the wrong lines and limited themselves solely to educational and cultural activities.
At Nadezhda Krupskaya's proposal, the Second Petrograd City Conference of Bolsheviks adopted the following resolution: ``The conference considers that: = 1) youth organisations must be workers' mass organisations, socialist in spirit and closely connected with the Youth International; = 2) the Party must show every consideration for the emerging independent youth organisations; it must help them and send its members to establish close ties between the adult workers' movement and the youth movement. The conference therefore believes it necessary to support the youth organisation in Petrograd and to assist it in taking a form which will enable it to help train conscientious and active Party members, capable of coping with the tasks with which life will confront them.''
When they heard about the establishment of the first socialist youth organisations, young Russian workers began to write to Pravda, asking how they should set up their own organisations. In _-_-_
~^^1^^ N. K. Krupskaya, "Struggle for the Working Youth'', Pravda, No. 59, May 30, 1917.
74 reply Nadezhda Krupskaya, who had studied the main errors made by youth organisations, such as the drawing up of their own party programmes and excessive involvement in cultural and educational activities, invited young people, in a special article on this question, to discuss her Draft Rules for youth organisations.The Draft Rules envisaged youth participation in the workers' great struggle ``to liberate all the oppressed and exploited from the yoke of capital''. This was followed by a clause on the Russian organisations' solidarity with the international revolutionary youth movement. It stated that since the ``Young Workers' League of Russia is loyal to the slogan 'Workers of all countries, unite!', it hereby joins the Youth International and declares itself to be a section (a part of this International)"^^1^^.
Once the first working youth organisations were set up in Petrograd and Moscow, they mushroomed throughout the country. In May 1917 youth organisations in Petrograd alone had about 50,000 members, which was equal to almost onehalf of the membership of the European socialist organisations in the Youth International.
The emergence of youth leagues greatly increased youth participation in the political and economic struggle. The young people, full of resolve, joined the ranks of the socialist movement under the banner of the Bolshevik Party. They took part in all the workers' activities and began to hold their own meetings and rallies.
In May 1917 Pravda carried a report on a young workers' rally and demonstration held in _-_-_
~^^1^^ N. K. Krupskaya, ``How Should the Working Youth Organise?'', Pravda, No. 75, June 20, 1917.
75 Petrograd on the initiative of the factory youth organisations in the Vyborg District. The demonstrators carried banners saying ``Long Live Socialism!'', ``Long Live the Third International!" and ``The Young Workers Are the Pledge of Socialism!''. One young man said in a speech: ``We young people, who also have the experience of our fathers, will achieve socialism and bring their struggle to an end.''In preparing for the decisive struggle, the Bolsheviks took account of the youth organisations' enormous power and great revolutionary potentialities. Hence, the Sixth Party Congress, which dealt mainly with preparations for the socialist revolution, gave prominence to work among the young people. It adopted the following resolution: ``The congress regards assistance to the class socialist organisations of young workers (in their establishment) as one of the most urgent tasks at the present time and calls on Party organisations to give the utmost possible attention to this work.''
In determining the aims and organisation of youth leagues, the congress rejected the view that the leagues should engage primarily in cultural and educational work or that they should be a component part of the Party. Adopting Lenin's position, the congress recognised the organisational independence of the youth leagues, which were not subordinated to the Party, but were ideologically connected with and guided by it. The Party entrusted the young workers' organisations with the main task of achieving ``the aim of developing the young workers' class consciousness by spreading socialist ideas, by a vigorous struggle against chauvinism and militarism and, at the same time, by defending the legal economic and political interests of adolescent workers, male and female".
76The congress drew Party members' attention to the need for instilling in young people a keen sense of proletarian internationalism, which was so characteristic of most youth organisations in the European countries. It adopted a special resolution, entitled ``Youth Leagues'', which stressed: ``With due regard to the experience of Western Europe, where independent socialist youth organisations, unlike those in the care of official parties, are almost everywhere the buttress of the international Left-wing of the working-class movement, our Party must see to it that the young workers establish independent organisations in Russia as well, organisations which are not subordinated to the Party organisationally, but which are connected with it only spiritually."^^1^^
The resolution also stressed that Russian youth must join the Youth International and that socialist ideas must be spread more widely among young people.
The decisions adopted by the congress played an important part in attracting young people into the leagues and helped provide youth organisations with experienced leaders.
When the congress was discussing youth leagues on August 2, 1917, the young workers at the Putilov Works held a general meeting, at which a worker by the name of Vasily Alexeyev, a congress delegate and a Bolshevik leader of the young workers in Petrograd, made an impressive report, and a message of greetings to Lenin was adopted with great enthusiasm. In its resolution the meeting expressed full support for the Bolshevik assessment of current situation and protested against the _-_-_
~^^1^^ CPSU in the Resolutions and Decisions of Its Congresses, Conferences and Plenary Meetings of the Central Committee (Russ. ed.), Part 1, Moscow, 1954, p. 386.
77 cruel persecution of the ``vanguard of the revolutionary proletariat and army, that is, the Bolsheviks and their leaders''. The meeting expressed ``its deep contempt ... for the socialist-- revolutionaries and Mensheviks betraying the revolution''. The resolution said: ``We youths have learned from our fathers' bitter experience how dangerous it is to fraternise with the bourgeoisie.''The Bolsheviks explained the decisions adopted by the Sixth Party Congress to the young workers. In August congress delegates delivered a series of lectures and reports to the young people in Petrograd on such subjects as ``The Sixth Party Congress and the Tasks Facing the Young Workers' Leagues'', ``The Current Situation" and ``The Workers' Political Tasks".
Owing to the Bolsheviks' great preparatory work, the young workers' organisations in Petrograd were able to hold their first municipal conference on August 18, 1917. It was attended by delegates representing 13,000 young workers. D. Z. Manuilsky made the welcoming speech on behalf of the Bolshevik Party. A. Slutsky, member of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), made a report on the current situation, on the prospects of developing the revolution and on the part the young people were to play in the impending struggle. The conference proclaimed the establishment of the Petrograd Young Socialist Workers' League (YSWL) and adopted its Programme and Rules. The conference resolution gave a clear definition of the tasks of the YSWL; it stated that, as a political organisation, its activities must be aimed at preparing young workers ``for a conscious and resolute struggle to liberate all the oppressed and exploited from the yoke of capitalism".
78The conference declared that socialism was no longer a remote dream, and that the epoch of the ``transition from the dissemination of socialist ideas to a direct struggle for the realisation of these ideas" had set in.
The young people in Petrograd soon gave a practical demonstration of their loyalty to the working-class cause and their readiness to defend it with arms.
The Petrograd workers' struggle against General Kornilov's counter-revolutionary rebellion was the first military trial of strength for the YSWL. During these difficult days the Bolshevik Party alone was able to mobilise the masses and repulse the conspirators. The Party was in close touch with the people through such mass organisations as the Soviets, the trade unions and the Red Guards. On its initiative the workers and revolutionary soldiers rose up to defend Petrograd, thus frustrating the schemes of the bourgeoisie.
The fact that the workers refused to obey the bourgeois Provisional Government's order to disband the Red Guards and hand over their arms played an enormous part in the defeat of General Kornilov and his men. The workers' Red Guards became the mainstay of the revolution. Seeing the danger facing the revolution, thousands of workers joined the Red Guards between August 26 and 30, 1917. They included many young workers who took an active part in protest rallies at all the factories and works in Petrograd, protesting strongly against the conciliators' treacherous policies and demanding the transfer of power to the revolutionary workers and poorest peasants.
At the time the YSWL directed all its activities at carrying out the Bolshevik Party's appeals, which the YS