p There was a marked decline in the workers’ revolutionary movement in Western Europe in late 1920 and early 1921. The first wave of mass revolutionary actions collapsed against the wall of stout resistance put up by the bourgeoisie. The new situation immediately rallied all the counterrevolutionary forces into a united front against the working class.

p The reformists rendered a great service to the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie. The Rightwing leaders of the socialist parties, who did their best to check the growth of the revolutionary movement in the postwar years, still exerted an influence on many workers.

p The young Communist parties, which attracted the progressive and most revolutionary-minded workers into their ranks, were still very weak ideologically and organisationally. Because of their refusal to take part in the trade unions and parliaments, the Communist parties were torn away from the broad sections of the working people. In the new situation, the Communist parties had to use new tactics, and forces had to be regrouped for a new stage in the struggle. The Communist parties pinned high hopes on the coming congress of the Communist International, which was to deal with the strategy and tactics of the workers’ revolutionary struggle. The 148 comrnunist youth movement was also looking forward to the congress, because it was to settle once and for all the relations between the Communist International and the Young Communist International, between the Communist parties and communist youth organisations. Attaching great importance to this, the Executive Committee of the Communist International proposed to the central committees of the Communist parties that the delegations to the Third Congress of the Communist International should include youth representatives.

p The Third Congress of the Communist International was held at a time when the increasing reactionary offensive made it impossible to think in terms of a rapid victory, and painstaking dayto-day work was necessary to prepare Communist parties for new revolutionary actions.

p The congress, which began in Moscow on June 22, 1921, was attended by 57 representatives of young communist leagues. Like the largest Communist parties, the young communist delegation was given 40 votes.

p The first two congresses had set up the Communist International organisationally and worked out conditions for admission. The Third Congress of the Communist International now had to decide on the general lines of its future activities. Lenin wrote: “At the Third Congress it was necessary to start practical, constructive work, to determine concretely, taking account of the practical experience of the communist struggle already begun, exactly what the line of further activity should be in respect of tactics and of organisation."  [148•1 

p After carefully analysing the international situation, the congress came to the conclusion that new tactics had to be employed now that the workers’ revolutionary movement had reached a new phase.

p It had already been stressed at the Second Congress of the Communist International that Communist parties must consolidate relations with trade unions and set up their own groups in all the workers’ mass organisations. The congress emphasised that the Communist parties would not gain mass support until they found ways of coming into contact with the masses and learned to advance slogans that corresponded to the given situation.

p The debates at the Third Congress of the Communist International on the most important items on the agenda were most educative politically for the delegates of youth organisations as well. It was at the congress sessions that many delegates of the Young Communist International realised how erroneous their views were.

p The report made by the Executive Committee of the Communist International at the congress said in part: “During the last year contacts have increased between the Communist International and the Young Communist International. All the efforts made by the leaders of the Socialist International to introduce a split in the communist youth movement and to tear the Young Communist International away from the Communist International by all possible means have been resolutely rebuffed"  [149•1 .

p The Third Congress of the Communist International stressed that if their struggle was to be 150 successful, the young people must join forces yet further. It also emphasised that Communist parties must guide the workers politically in their actions. To consolidate the unity of action of all revolutionary organisations, the Young Communist International must subordinate itself to the political guidance of the Communist International, while preserving its organisational independence and initiative in the solution of other questions concerning the youth movement.

p In its report the Executive Committee of the Communist International stressed the need to step up work among the young people. The dissidents had failed in their attempts to start a conflict “between the young people and the Executive Committee, to set the young people at loggerheads with the Executive Committee"  [150•1 .

p In his special report, “The Communist International and the Communist Youth Movement" which was discussed at the congress, Willi Munzenberg dealt at length with the question of winning over young people to the side of the Communist International. He told the congress about the constant day-to-day work which the youth leagues were carrying out to replenish their ranks. The increase in the membership of the young communist leagues clearly showed that the young people were on the right road and that their class consciousness was enabling them to find a correct solution to the question of whether to join the Communist or Socialist International. Willi Miinzenberg called on delegates to help those young people who had not yet found their way, and said that the Young Communist 151 International was awaiting assistance from the Communist parties and the Communist International. He also dealt with relations between the Young Communist International and the Communist International, between the young communist leagues and the Communist parties in the respective countries. In this connection he stressed that the Youth International had not only united the young workers who strongly condemned the betrayal by the leaders of the Second International, but had also become the centre of opposition to the Second International. It had united the revolutionary forces fighting against the world war and in several instances had played the part assigned to the Communist parties. Now that such parties had been set up and had launched a successful struggle, there was no longer any need for political guidance by the youth leagues, and they could concentrate on their own particular sphere of activity, i.e., the youth movement, and considerably reduce the scope of their activities.

p Youth organisations, which had fought long for their full independence of the socialist parties, were themselves beginning to draw the conclusion that political guidance must be concentrated in the hands of the Communist International and Communist parties. This was very important. Willi Miinzenberg concluded his report by stressing the growing importance of replenishing the young workers’ parties, and adopting a serious attitude towards the problems facing the young people. He said that the future belonged to them, and therefore they had to be won over “so that they can continue and complete the cause of the revolution in the world at large"  [151•1 .

p The report provoked a lively discussion, which was reflected in the Communist International’s theses on the communist youth movement, adopted at the congress. The theses contained the new principles in the relations between the YCI and the Communist International, between communist youth organisations and the Communist parties. They said in part: “The relationship of the communist youth organisations to the Communist parties differs radically from the relationship of the young revolutionaries’ organisations to the Social-Democratic parties. The common struggle for the proletarian revolution calls for the greatest unity and strictest centralisation. Political influence and guidance on a world scale can belong only to the Communist International and its local sections in each individual country. It is the duty of the organisations to submit to this political guidance (the programme, tactics and political directives) and to join the common revolutionary front."  [152•1 

p The historic decisions of the Third Congress of the Communist International marked a complete break with the old views prevailing in several youth leagues and concentrated attention on the urgent task of reconstructing all the work.

p The Third Congress of the Communist International was of great importance not only because it was a turning point in the general policy of the Youth International, but also because it adopted a fundamental decision on the nature and tasks of the youth movement itself. The congress worked out a programme of practical activities for the new situation, and set the sections of the Communist 153 International the task of preparing for new battles. Lenin wrote: “More careful, more thorough preparation for fresh and more decisive battles, both defensive and offensive—that is the fundamental and principal thing in the decisions of the Third Congress."  [153•1 

The Young Communist International was to discuss these decisions at its second congress and work out new tactics for the youth movement.