172

p After the Second Congress of the Young Communist International, all the YCI sections began to implement the congress decisions on the most important aspects of the international youth movement.

p The new Executive Committee which the Second Congress of the YCI elected was more efficient than the old one. The mere fact that its headquarters had been transferred to Moscow greatly enhanced its prestige. Close ties were established between its members and the Executive Committee of the Communist International.

p The under-secretariats- which were set up for the various groups of countries rendered great assistance to the YCI Executive Committee. They consisted of the Berlin Under-secretariat (for the West European countries), the Vienna Under- secretariat (for Austria, Hungary and the Balkan countries), the lar East Under-secretariat (with its centre in Irkutsk) and the Middle East Undersecretariat (with its centre in Tashkent).

p Some members and candidate-members of the Executive Committee were sent to individual countries as permanent or temporary representatives. As a result, many important practical questions concerning the international youth movement were solved efficiently and well.

p The decisions which the congress adopted with a view to improving and consolidating the 173 communist youth organisations had a mixed reception. Some leagues accepted them as a guide to practical action, while in others great differences arose and caused lengthy debates. In both cases great obstacles had to be overcome before the decisions could be implemented. Lack of experience in revolutionary work and the grave political situation in several countries were the main obstacles.

p On the other hand, the congress decisions on the relations between the Communist parties and the communist youth organisations, which, as we have seen, was the most pressing question at the congress, were put into effect in a relatively short space of time by most youth organisations. Their implementation was strongly opposed in two countries only, Germany and Norway.

p The YCI Executive Committee had many organisational shortcomings. This was particularly true of the period between the first and second youth congresses. However these shortcomings did not pose any grave danger, and it was only a matter of time before they were eliminated. The vanguardist feelings which many leaders of the international youth movement inherited from the Youth International turned out to be more of a problem. Vanguardist theories became widespread in the West European countries owing to the communist youth movement’s "infantile disorder”, the theoretical weakness and inadequate training of the youth movement’s leaders, their hatred of opportunism, the opportunistic degeneration of Social-Democratic parties in the West, the weakness of the Left-wing groups and their inability to lead the youth movement, and the Left-wing elements’ overestimation of the maturity of the revolutionary situation. The Left-wing groups in 174 the West, including revolutionary youth organisations, did not have a clear understanding of the Marxist-Leninist doctrine concerning the new type of party, the workers’ militant and revolutionary party.

p The influence of vanguardist theories was gradually overcome as the communist youth organisations gained revolutionary experience, as Leninism became widespread in the West European countries, and above all as the Left-wing elements gained a true understanding of MarxistLeninist teaching concerning the party.

p During the First World War the revolutionary youth organisations started a determined struggle against socialist party leaders who had betrayed the interests of the working class. The socialist parties’ Left wing, the workers’ most progressive section, sympathised and supported the young people in this struggle. Under difficult wartime conditions youth organisations carried out an enormous amount of work to unite the revolutionary factors in their ranks and won high prestige among the workers. The young people of Western Europe fought courageously in the revolutionary uprisings which were triggered off by the Great October Socialist Revolution. Youth organisations were among the first to announce that they were joining the Communist International, and did a great deal to spread the ideas of the Third International and set up Communist parties in their countries. In Spain and Belgium Communist parties were set up on the basis of youth organisations.

p Although Communist parties were set up in several countries, communist youth organisations continued to adhere to their own political programme for some time to come, using adult forms 175 and methods of work, because these parties were weak organisationally. The development of the working-class movement urgently demanded joint efforts by all the workers’ organisations, action according to a single political programme, and a single centre of political guidance. It was only the Communist parties, equipped with Marxist theory, which could become the true leaders.

p Most members of the communist youth organisations realised that the youth organisations had to be reorganised in the new situation and that they must renounce their own political programme, because the young people and the adult workers needed a common programme of action. However there were some youth leaders who called for their organisations’ autonomy and for the establishment of relations as equal organisations, saying that the young people were the workers’ vanguard. They maintained that this was necessary since the socialist parties had previously brought the youth movement under their control. Unfortunately, these ideas were supported by some members of the YCI Executive Committee, elected at the YCI’s First Congress..

p The relations between the Communist parties and the youth leagues, between the Communist International and the YCI, became the stumblingblock to unity of action by all the contingents of the working class. We have already quoted typical vanguardist statements in the Youth International magazine. The theory of vanguardism probably saw its heyday on the eve of the Second Congress of the YCI, when the Executive Committee said in its report to the congress: "That which millions of people are expecting of the Communist International is being realised in the Young Communist International.”

176

p It should be noted that certain leaders of the working-class movement supported the young people in their vanguardism for some time. These leaders soon betrayed the cause of the working class. In their efforts to win over the young people, they called them the “vanguard’s vanguard”, the “party’s barometer”, and so on.

p Vanguardism was very widespread in the West European countries. Individual manifestations of it were also observed in the RYCL, some of whose leaders demanded the Young Workers’ Councils and youth sections under the trade unions should be set up, and even that the RYCL should be turned into the Young Communist Party These views met with little support, although the RYCL’s central organ, the Yuny Kommunist magazine, did carry several controversial articles.

p The Executive Committee of the Communist International carried out an enormous amount of work to rectify these mistakes and eliminate vanguardist sentiments by careful explanation Although the Second Congress of the YCI in the main rejected the theory of vanguardism when it discussed relations between Communist parties and communist youth organisations, some manifestations of vanguardism were observed in the YCI’s activities for some years to come.

p The economic questions which the Second Congress of the YCI brought up were solved when communist youth organisations consolidated their ties with the masses and began to take an active part in trade union work.

In implementing the decisions adopted at the congress, the YCI Executive Committee strengthened international ties with the YCI sections considerably and carried out several organisational measures to consolidate these sections.

Til den arbeidende ungdom i alle land.

p Cover of the Appeal by the Executive Committee
of the Young Communist International to the young
working people of all countries, published by the
Young Communist League of Norway. 1927

ENIN
IEBKNECHT
UXEMBURG
DCRKOMM.
PARTAKU/ ’ LEBT
REVOLUTBILDER

p jr,19!/aUHR.
NOBDPARK

p Pamphlet put out by the Young Communist League of
Germany during the Lenin-Liebknecht-Luxemburg
campaign. 1928

177

p The Executive Committee began to hold regular meetings. It met 66 times in the eight months following the Second Congress of the YC1 in early July 1921. It also attached great importance to united front tactics.

p Like the Communist International, the YCI was faced with the task of mobilising the broad mass of the working people to carry out its day-to-day activities. One of the most important tasks was still to free the masses from reformism’s influence and to win them over to the communist movement.

p The purpose of united front tactics was above all to expose the reformist leaders as bourgeois agents and traitors to the working class. This became a pressing problem for a number of reasons, some of which are mentioned here. Along with the world revolutionary youth’s powerful contingent, which took an active part in the workers’ revolutionary actions, there were also many other youth organisations, which supported the socialist parties and the international socialreformist centre. The Right wing exerted influence on some young socialists, and the Centrists on others. The differences that arose between the Right wing and the Centrists in the political parties caused corresponding clashes among the young people.

p Socialist youth organisations were at first relatively small, and it was not the best young socialists that they attracted into their ranks. In 1920 they began to grow numerically as they stepped up their activities. With the active support of the social-chauvinists, they embarked on the gigantic task of uniting the remains of the socialist leagues which did not join the communist organisations and the Young Communist International.

178

p Being under the social-reformist parties’ guidance, the socialist youth organisations did not have much influence on the young workers, and in mid-1921 they had only about 120,000 members. However the very fact of their existence did great harm to the working-class cause; they undermined the unity of the working class and drew many young workers away from the political struggle. It should be noted that the socialist youth organisations’ ranks themselves were disunited. These youth organisations were at first united by the Young Socialist International (YSI), which was established immediately after the socialist parties held their first international conference in Berne in 1919. Somewhat later, however, there was a split in the YSI, which was a repetition of the developments at the London or the so-called Berne International.

p Immediately after the Centrist parties held a conference in Vienna which resulted in the establishment of the so-called Two-and-a-Half International, the socialist youth leagues held their conference in the same town on the initiative of the Austrian and French organisations on February 28, 1921. The only organisations that agreed to take part in the conference were those which had fallen under the influence of the Centrist parties, most of which were hostile to the Communist International’s platform.

p The Young Communist League of Germany, however, also accepted the invitation to take part in the conference, in order to expose the treacherous policy pursued by the Centrists and the newly established Two-and-a-Half International.

p The German YCL was fully aware of the danger posed by the establishment of a third international youth organisation. For this reason its 179 delegates proposed a resolution saying that the socialist youth organisations which were represented at the conference should join the Young Communist International. The resolution was actually adopted, but it ran counter to the principles which had inspired the holding of the conference. The conference organisers, who included Friedrich Adler, Karl Renner and Otto Bauer, had hitherto concealed their real sentiments by talk about their impartiality towards the political trends in the national and international youth movement, but now they were forced to show their true colours. They managed to manipulate the conference’s work by first sending away the German YCL delegation. Following the example of the International Workers’ Association of Socialist Parties, the conference set up the International League of Socialist Youth Organisations, which consisted of the Social-Democratic youth organisations in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Latvia and Yugoslavia, and the socialist youth organisations in Germany and France. Leopold Thaller (Austria) was elected chairman of its Executive Committee.

p The conference approved the association’s new Rules and Programme, which were a copy of those of the Two-and-a-Half International. The YSI was in a difficult position since most young people were united by the Young Communist International and others by the Centrist International. The trade unions’ reformist leaders, who headed the so-called Amsterdam International, then came to its aid. On their initiative, the Young Workers’ International was set up; preparations for its establishment were started as early as 1920 by representatives of socialist organisations in Denmark, Sweden and Germany.

180

p Together with representatives of the Belgian and French organisations, they held a meeting in Hamburg in January, 1921, at which it was decided to hold an international congress of young workers’ organisations.

p The Young Workers’ International held its Constituent Congress in Amsterdam from May 12 to 13, 1921. It was represented by the leagues of the Social-Democratic youth organisations in Germany, Belgium and Holland and by small groups in Sweden, Denmark and France. The congress adopted a manifesto to the young workers and the Programme and Rules of the Young Workers’ International. Berlin became the permanent headquarters of the Bureau of the Young Workers’ International, and P. Voogd, leader of the organisation in Holland, was elected its secretary.

p The Young Workers’ International had a small membership. It had about 30,000 members in mid1921, over 50 per cent of whom represented the Young Workers’ League of Germany, which held the key positions in this international association. Like the leagues in other countries that belonged to the Young Workers’ International, the Young Workers’ League of Germany carried on mainly cultural and educational work.

p The league’s members took no part in the workers’ revolutionary actions, for they hoped to improve their position by legislative measures alone. Never before had the youth front been so disunited, and its forces so scattered, as in mid-1921.

p Realising that the organisations had to be brought together to form a single international organisation, the Executive Committee of the Young Communist International tried hard to secure the concerted action of the young workers at large.

181

p On July 26, 1921, the YCI Executive Committee sent a letter to the International Workers’ Association of Socialist Youth Organisations in Vienna saying that the ranks of the working class had to be firmly united if the struggle was to be successful, and that the steps taken by the YCI were intended to defend the young workers and support their struggle against capital’s mounting offensive. It read in part: “As the largest international association of young workers, the Young Communist International feels bound in the interests of the hundreds of thousands of its members and the millions of young working people in general to convene an international congress of all the young workers’ organisations.”

p At the same time the YCI Executive Committee sent a letter to the Young Workers’ International in Berlin, where it proposed to hold a world congress of young workers and dwelt at length on the questions which it believed had to be solved at the congress.

p The YCI Executive Committee proposed that the following questions be discussed: 1) the situation of the young workers suffering under capital’s mounting offensive; 2) the advancing of common demands by the young working people of the world; 3) the establishment of a united front with the adult workers.

p The letter concluded by saying: “The experience gained by your German section’s numerous local groups in the joint actions with the communist youth organisations in the defence of the young workers’ urgent demands must once and for all convince you that such co-operation is possible in the struggle.”

p The socialist youth organisations’ leaders ignored the YCI Executive Committee’s proposal. 182 As for the Executive Committee of the International League of Socialist Youth Organisations, it acknowledged receipt of the letter and promised to discuss it in the near future.

p However it soon became obvious that the Young Workers’ International and the International League of Socialist Youth Organisations were delaying the holding of a world congress of young workers’ organisations to conceal their attempts to rally their forces and ward off the attacks made by rank-and-file members supporting a united front.

p Although the YCI Executive Committee did not succeed in uniting all the young workers’ leagues, its actions had a strong impact on the young workers. Communist youth organisations stepped up their activities as fresh forces entered their ranks.

p An entirely different situation was observed in the socialist youth organisations. William Foster wrote: “The YCI cultivated international and national youth organisation, a breadth of programme, a united front spirit, and an intense political militancy that were all quite unknown in the weak, anemic, skeleton youth organisations of the Second International."  [182•1 

p The refusal by the Executive Committee of the International League of Socialist Youth Organisations and the Young Workers’ International to join forces with the communist youth organisations was used by the YCI to mount a broad campaign among the rank-and-file members of these organisations. The ranks of the communist youth organisations at large swelled as the YCI carried on vigorous action in this sphere.

183

p The YCI Executive Committee rendered an enormous amount of assistance to Soviet Russia, where some of the country’s largest grain- producing regions were suffering from drought in 1921 and hundreds of thousands of people had no food. The Executive Committee of the Communist International called on the entire world to help Soviet Russia. This appeal received a warm response from millions of working people, and a world-wide campaign was launched to help Soviet Russia.

p The YCI Executive Committee called on the young workers and peasants to take an active part in collecting for the relief fund. Its appeal said: “Forward towards the active work of rendering proletarian assistance to Soviet Russia. The young workers, who zealously helped the workers in wartime to fight against the war, now have to be the staunch fighters against hunger."  [183•1 

p The YCI Executive Committee’s appeal was supported by all the Young Communist International’s sections. At the time the young people regarded assistance to Soviet Russia as their main task.

p The Help-the-Hungry movement was conducted on an especially large scale among youth organisations in Germany. Funds were collected throughout the country for a children’s home in the hunger-stricken Volga area. When the home, named after Karl Liebknecht, was built, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Germany passed a resolution obliging its members to make a special monthly contribution for the maintenance of the home. In its letter to the 184 RYCL, the Young Communist League of Germany said: “We hope that the Liebknecht Children’s Home will be a lasting memorial to the young German communists’ solidarity with the Russian workers and peasants."  [184•1 

p The young people’s active participation in the movement to help the starving in Soviet Russia demonstrated the young revolutionaries’ proletarian internationalism.

p The YCI Executive Committee attached great importance to the development of the youth movement in the colonial and dependent countries, where youth organisations were just beginning to be set up.

p Prominence was given to the countries of the Far East, where the young revolutionaries’ organisations could develop on a sound basis. The YCFs Far Eastern Secretariat took the initiative in proposing that a congress of the youth organisations of China, Korea, Japan and Mongolia be held simultaneously with the scheduled congress of the peoples of the Far East.

p In its appeal to the young people in China, Japan, Korea and’Mongolia, the YCI’s Far Eastern Secretariat said: “Young Comrades! Protest against the international imperialists’ gross violence and tyranny, expose the predatory nature of the Washington conference, hold meetings and rallies for this end and start to agitate on a large scale for a congress of the peoples of the Far East. Elect your organisations’ representatives to this congress. From among the youth organisations’ delegates to the congress of the peoples of the Far East, a congress of the young 185 revolutionaries of the Far East will also be held to discuss their problems.”

p It was decided to hold the Far Eastern youth conference in Moscow in January 1922. About 50 per cent of the delegates represented youth organisations in China, Korea, Japan and Mongolia, which by this time had over 140,000 members. The congress was attended by about 60 delegates.

p The young Far Eastern revolutionaries’ congress, held immediately after that of the peoples of the Far East, had a strong impact on the establishment of new and the consolidation of already existing young revolutionaries’ organisations in the colonial countries. It took account of the specific conditions in these countries and analysed the problems and methods of work there. Their actual stay in Soviet Russia, the friendly talks, the opportunity to find out about RYCL work, and the trip to Petrograd made a great impression on the delegates.

p At the congress the delegates enthusiastically adopted an appeal to young revolutionaries in China, Korea, Japan and Mongolia, which said: “Comrades! Brothers! The representatives of the working youth in Korea, China, Japan and Mongolia have come together in the Red capital of Soviet Russia, the country where power is concentrated in the hands of the workers and peasants. They have come to Moscow to attend the young revolutionaries’ Far Eastern congress with a view to discussing together their grave position and mapping out the immediate tasks in their struggle. This congress appeals to you to consider carefully your fate and to understand what every one of you has to do to become free of poverty and oppression.”

p The celebration of the Karl Liebknecht and 186 Rosa Luxemburg Memorial Day  [186•1  played an important part to consolidate the young people’s internationalism and international solidarity. The young people at large staged mass demonstrations on January 15 in keeping with a decision adopted by the Second Congress of the YCI. They were well organised owing to the YCI Executive Committee’s efforts. The young people’s activities were particularly widespread in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Germany, Soviet Russia and several Balkan countries. Thousands of leaflets were circulated, special newspaper and magazine issues were put out, and rallies and demonstrations were organised; as a result thousands of people joined the communist youth leagues in various countries. These demonstrations by young people, organised under the slogans of “For Soviet Russia!”, “For the Communist International!" and “For the Proletarian Revolution!”, encouraged a spirit of internationalism among the young workers and met with the support of the workers at large.

p As part of its activities to consolidate yet further the international ties between the young workers and to implant the spirit of internationalism in youth organisations, the YCI Executive Committee continued the wartime practice of celebrating International Youth Day. This day, the first Sunday of every September, became the young revolutionaries’ show of strength. During the war it was celebrated with anti-war slogans, and after the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia 187 with slogans calling for the defence of Soviet Russia, for the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat in all countries and for a world revolution.

p In 1921, after the Second Congress of the YCI, International Youth Day was celebrated on an especially wide scale, with slogans urging the implementation of the congress decisions on the establishment of a mass organisation and preparations for the workers’ struggle.

p The YCI successfully carried on various activities. These activities yielded results, which were reflected in the growth and consolidation of the ranks of the young Communists’ national organisations, as can be seen from a few examples from the history of individual organisations, starting with the Young Communist League of Germany (YCLG). In keeping with the decisions adopted at the Second Congress of the YCI, the CC YCLG did an enormous amount of work to ensure the young German people’s unity of action.

p There was a rapid delimitation of forces in the Free Socialist Youth organisations after the congress in Weimar, which marked a turn towards a rapprochement with the Communist Party. With the help of the Independent Social-Democratic Party, a group of young people who were opposed to the Free Socialist Youth League held their own congress in Halle from December 14 to 16, 1919, where they proclaimed the establishment of the Young Socialist Workers’ League. For almost a year this league was still part of the Free Socialist Youth organisation. The Independent Social-Democratic Party drew many young workers to its side by its slogans calling for the youth organisations’ neutrality and complete independence,

188

p Controversial points in the Free Socialist Youth League’s programme were explained, and the work in the trade unions and relations with the parties were discussed, throughout almost the whole of 1920. The developments in Central Germany in March 1920 strongly furthered the delimitation of forces both in the Communist Party and in the Free Socialist Youth League. The young people’s participation in the general strike and armed clashes, the establishment of workers’ security squads, the distribution of leaflets, and so on, promoted the young people’s activities and aggravated the contradictions in their ranks.

p As differences on fundamental political questions continued to exist in the Free Socialist Youth League, its leaders were compelled to hold a national conference. It was held in Berlin on May 9 and 10, 1920, and showed clearly that a total split in the youth movement could not be averted.

p The question of relations with the party, which gave rise to marked differences at the conference, was dealt with further at local conferences, where several organisations called for an end to the ceaseless disputes and for a final settlement of the relations with the Communist Party and the Communist International.

p The opposition, which supported the Independent Social-Democratic Party’s platform, began to openly advocate a complete break with the communist movement and withdrawal from the Free Socialist Youth League; in several areas it seized control of the local organisations.

p The Central Committee of the Free Socialist Youth League held a meeting on September 11 and 12, 1920, at which it discussed the existing 189 situation and adopted a decision which made the split official.

p To solve the problems which it faced after the delimitation of the opposition, the Free Socialist Youth League held a national congress in Berlin on December 28, 1920, at which it soberly assessed its strength in the youth movement and outlined immediate tasks. It was then that the slogan of “winning over the masses" was first advanced. The most important congress decision was on the recognition of the need for close unity with the Communist Party.

p The Young Communist League of Germany, whose ranks thinned somewhat after the split with the opposition, managed in a short space of time to consolidate ties with the local organisations and to unite its ranks. By early 1921 it already had 824 local groups in 25 districts with 27,882 members. Its central organ’s circulation increased to 30,000. The league became one of the largest organisations in the Young Communist International and exerted a strong influence on the international youth movement.

p The league carried out an enormous amount of work to consolidate solidarity with Soviet Russia. In March 1921 the CC YCLG issued an appeal to the young workers of all countries, in which it strongly supported the establishment of relations with the Soviet Union and the consolidation of workers’ unity. It ended with these words: “We demand economic relations with Soviet Russia. We want to fight side by side with our Russian brothers in the East. We call for an alliance with Soviet Russia. Young German workers, that is the banner under which you should wage the joint struggle with your elder comrades in labour!”

p The league held a two-day congress in Halle 190 on September 10-11, 1921. It was the most representative congress ever to be held by the league since it was set up. The congress was attended by 349 delegates and many guests from Switzerland, Austria, Italy, America, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France and Luxemburg. Its agenda included the following items: 1) political situation; 2) report on the Young Communist International’s world congress; 3) Central Bureau’s report; 4) relations between communist youth organisations and Communist parties; 5) the economic struggle and the young Communists’ activities in the trade unions.

p In its address to the congress, the YCI Executive Committee said that the Young Communist League of Germany was faced with the “task, as emphasised by the Second Congress of the Young Communist International, of bringing together and organising the young workers and educating them in a communist spirit on the basis of their active participation in the revolutionary struggle and educational work and of the transformation of small narrow communist youth organisations into mass organisations that will embrace hundreds of thousands of young workers, attract new broad sections of young people as yet indifferent to communism and prepare them for the impending battle".  [190•1 

p The congress dealt at great length with the economic struggle and youth participation in trade union work. These questions were brought up because the young workers’ situation was steadily deteriorating in Germany, whose defeat in the war brought severe hardship to the German working people alone.

191

p In this connection the congress adopted a resolution which clearly showed the young workers’ intolerable working conditions. It said that they suffered from a “disproportionately long working day, remuneration which beggars all description, and corporal punishment" and that “ beginners were employed in both household chores and in the sphere of mechanised mass production".

p The congress decisions reflected all the most important resolutions adopted by the Communist International and the Second Congress of the YCI.

p A resolution adopted at the congress also said: “The trade unions are the working class’s bodies for improving its economic position. For their part, the young workers are a component of the working class, since they will succeed in their economic struggle only with the adults’ help. Therefore, the young working people, each of them individually, must become organised in the free trade unions.”

p To reach this decision, the German communist youth organisation had to overcome resistance within its ranks and show the opposition the need for trade union work. The decisions adopted at the congress helped to turn the league into a mass organisation and played an important part in drawing new members into it from the German socialist youth organisation.

p However the German communist youth organisation faced certain difficulties owing to the existence of several young workers’ organisations which were in the Young Workers’ International, the Young Socialist Workers, and the International League of Socialist Youth Organisations. Moreover, there were several large bourgeois youth organisations in Germany, including the German 192 Young National League, the Young People of the German People’s Party, and Young Germany, which were the tools of counter-revolution. Almost 20 per cent of the young German population belonged to bourgeois youth organisations. Such were the conditions under which the young German people’s communist contingent carried on its work. Confident; in the victorious outcome of the workers’ struggle and devoted to the cause of the revolution, young German Communists wrote a letter of greetings to Lenin, the working people’s leader, saying: “Confident that our slow but steady successes will serve the great aim which you have taught us, we promise to increase by tenfold our vigour and our will on the road to victory through struggle.”

p Having overcome all the difficulties, confusion and vacillation, the Young Communist League of Germany took the true road of struggle and trained hundreds of loyal sons of the people to continue Karl Liebknecht’s cause.

p The historic decisions which the Second Congress of the YCI adopted and the measures taken by the YCI had an impact on youth organisations in other countries as well.

p In France the young revolutionaries waged a determined struggle to win recognition of the YCI, expose the social-reformists, and unite their ranks. The revolutionary-minded members of the French National Federation of Young Socialists proclaimed the youth movement programme and began to popularise it in youth organisations. These activities yielded results, which were first reflected in the establishment of the Committee of Struggle for the Autonomy of Youth Organisations and Affiliation to the Third International.

p The committee began to prepare vigorously for 193 a French youth conference; it issued several appeals to the young people, in which it denounced the federation’s reformist leaders and those supporting affiliation to the Workers’ Socialist International, as opportunists in the working-class movement.

p The socialist youth organisation held its national congress in Troyes on April 4 and 5, 1920, at which it discussed youth organisations’ autonomy and their relations with the Young Communist International. Until the congress in Troyes, youth groups which sympathised with the Communist International had existed on an autonomous basis without joining the French National Federation of Young Socialists. Owing to various circumstances, the Centrists gained the upper hand at the congress under cover of pseudo- revolutionary talk. Although they were obliged to give in under pressure from the federation’s revolutionary minority and agree to join the Young Communist International, they advanced preliminary conditions which were quite unacceptable to the Young Communist International. These conditions boiled down to a demand to recognise the federation’s complete freedom of action in organisational matters and to hold the second international youth congress immediately, which was to be attended by all the organisations that were in the Youth International before the outbreak of the war and had expressed their agreement with the revolutionary socialist tactics.

p The YCI Executive Committee refused to admit the French National Federation of Young Socialists into the Young Communist International on the grounds that it. was still not free of social-pacifism.

p There was a fierce struggle within the 194 federation in the months that followed. The young revolutionaries, whose ranks swelled quickly, soon launched another campaign against the federation’s leaders. The occasion for this were the talks with the Belgian socialist youth organisation, the Young Guards, at which the establishment of a new youth association was discussed. Most local organisations condemned their leaders’ intrigues. As a result of the efforts made by the revolutionary minority, which was supported by most of the federation’s members, a national congress was held.

p The Extraordinary Congress of the National Federation of Young Socialists, held in Paris from October 30 to November 1, 1920, once again brought up the question of joining the YCI and turning the federation into the Young Communist League of France. In a resolution, adopted by 6,943 votes to 1,958, the congress pledged loyalty to the concepts of the workers’ class struggle.

p After a lengthy discussion, which at times became very heated, the congress proclaimed the establishment of the Young Communist League of France and elected both the Central Committee and the editorial staff of the league’s central organ, the I’Avant-Garde (Vanguard) newspaper. This was a great achievement for the young French revolutionaries, who were guided by the leading representatives of the French working class.

p After the congress the league embarked on its work most efficiently. Its Central Committee quickly won the support of several local socialist organisations with its successful anti-militarist propaganda, which infuriated the government, and started the publication of political literature and leaflets.

p L’Avant-Garde won great prestige and became 195 very popular among the young workers. For a long time its editor-in-chief was Gabriel Peri, one of the most prominent leaders of the Communist Party of France who lost his life in the Second World War fighting for the cause of the working class against the German fascists.

p When there was another army call-up in February 1921, the communist youth organisations began to spread anti-militarist propaganda intensively with the help of their special Le Consent (The Conscript) newspaper. The government took very severe measures against the communist youth organisations. The secretary of the Young Communist League, Maurice Laporte, was arrested on February 15 on charges of inciting servicemen to insubordination, and legal action was brought against the newspaper. The premises of the league’s Central Committee were ransacked, property was confiscated, and about 40 activists were arrested.

p In connection with this government persecution for anti-military propaganda, the Young Communist League put out a manifesto on February 17, 1921, which said in part: “Nothing can stop the Federation of Young Communists in the task which it has undertaken. The battle will continue despite the police and the magistrates on the government’s payroll, the arrests, and perhaps even murder."  [195•1 

p These were not mere words. By their actions the young Communists showed that they were loyal to the cause of the working class.

p The Young Communist League spread antimilitarist propaganda on so wide a scale that the ruling circles in France became alarmed at the 196 situation. Acting as a mouthpiece for the rich bourgeoisie, the Figaro newspaper wrote: “The young people’s anti-militarist campaigns make quick repression necessary because they are assuming a scope and violence that could endanger national security.”

p The Young Communist League of France held its first congress from May 15 to 16, 1921, to discuss urgent problems facing the working-class movement. In its resolution the congress acknowledged the need to use offensive tactics and to step up the struggle against opportunism in the working-class movement; it also discussed and approved the YGI Executive Committee’s theses on relations between young communist leagues and Communist parties, according to which the parties were to have political leadership and the leagues were to be independent in organisational matters, propaganda and educational work.  [196•1  The decisions it adopted helped the Young Communist League to establish closer ties with the Communist Party.

p The young Communists’ national congress was immediately followed by regional congresses all over the country. The young Communists of the Paris district, for instance, held a congress in late June, which was attended by 120 delegates representing 80 organisations. It approved the decisions adopted at the national congress and drew up a plan of work.

p The resolutions adopted at the Second Congress of the YCI had a strong impact on the work carried on by the Young Communist League of France. A special conference was held in October 1921, which discussed the reorganisation of 197 propaganda work in the light of the decisions adopted at the congress and drew up a programme for winning over broad sections of the young people. The conference delegates were divided on the question of the economic struggle, which was being waged because young people were being more and more exploited. Some delegates continued to believe that the economic struggle was of secondary importance, and gave precedence to organisational tasks.

p In an appeal to its members, the Central Committee of the Young Communist League of France emphasised the need to step up the economic struggle. It said: “It is quite incredible that in our country, where the most atrocious capitalist exploitation of the young people reigns supreme, we have been unable to draw them into the economic struggle for their vital interests. The young workers’ situation, which in general is always graver than that of the adults, has deteriorated even further. The long working day, the extremely low wages, difficult living conditions and heavy unemployment can be regarded as its most typical features."  [197•1 

p The ranks of the Young Communist League of France swelled considerably within a year owing to the policy of drawing young workers into the active struggle, which it proclaimed at its first congress. It had about 6,000 members when it held its second congress, compared with a few hundred members in 1921. But this number was small in relation to the vast body of young French workers. Much work still had to be done before a mass organisation could be set up.

198

p The situation in Italy at the time was far more advantageous. Relying in its activities on a numerically strong contingent of young people, the Italian Socialist Party said in a report to the Second Congress of the Communist International that the “young socialists’ movement with 50,000 members" was "quite a substantial" force.

p The young revolutionaries began to play an important part in the country’s political life and initiated the movement for the renewal of the socialist party. The leader of the Italian working class, Palmiro Togliatti, wrote at the time: “The young people, who started and headed the movement, and the workers from factories in Turin and other industrial centres who became its backbone, were unable to take the lead in national political life or even take on the leadership of the socialist party, owing to their inexperience and incapability and the conservative resistance offered by the officials of the traditional trade union and political movement; but although their prospects were limited, they raised in a new way the main questions of economic and political construction."  [198•1 

p The powerful upswing of the working-class movement and the strikes and demonstrations in 1920, in which the young people took a very active part, were an important political school for the young revolutionaries. Close ties with the socialist party and mutual representation on the central bodies even before the Second Congress of the Communist International adopted a decision on these points helped the young people a great deal in gaining experience of organisational work.

199

p The split in the socialist party at the congress in Livorno in January 1921 and the establishment of the Communist Party caused a corresponding division in the ranks of the young socialists. The young socialists held their eighth congress in Florence from January 27 to 29, 1921, at which they proclaimed themselves the Federation of Young Communists. This was a relatively easy victory for the supporters of the Communist Party, for out of the 60,000 members of the Federation of the Young Socialists of Italy, only 6,000 supported the socialist party. The congress adopted a new Programme and Rules drawn up by the Central Committee and declared its loyalty to the Communist International. It passed the following resolution: “Taking into account the results of the 18th Congress of the Italian Socialist Party and the establishment of the Italian Communist Party, a section of the Communist International, the Eighth Congress of the Federation of the Young Socialists of Italy, resolves to renounce further participation in the Italian Socialist Party with a view to supporting the Italian Communist Party in keeping with the requirements of the Communist International’s Rules, and at the same time announces a change in the name of its organisation, which is to be called the Federation of the Young Communists of Italy."  [199•1  Ninety per cent of the delegates voted for this resolution.

p The congress played an important part in the subsequent development of the young Italian workers’ movement. As its decisions were carried out, ties between the federation’s new Central Committee and the local organisations were 200 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1971/YCI237/20070208/237.tx" consolidated and new groups were set up in several Italian provinces. An end was soon put to the weak centralisation and poor discipline, inherited from the socialist league.

p The work which the Federation of the Young Communists of Italy carried on at the time was greatly appreciated by the YCI Executive Committee. In a special appeal to the young Italian Communists, the committee said: “We are strongly convinced that by your vigorous activities you will succeed in drawing not only more young people who up to now have remained indifferent, but also the majority of the Unitarian group which split away from you in Florence, into the Federation of the Young Communists of Italy, the Young Communist International and the cause of the proletarian revolution.”

p As soon as it was established, the Italian Communist Party began to guide and help the youth movement. In response to its appeal the communist youth organisations took a very active part in setting up communist cells at factories all over the country. In this connection the young Communists held a district congress in early 1921 at which they adopted a resolution proposed by Palmiro Togliatti on the establishment of communist cells.

p About 10,000 of the federation’s best members joined the Communist Party to consolidate its ranks. In accordance with a decision adopted by the federation’s Central Committee, the young Communists held regional congresses in July and August 1921 to discuss practical activities and ways of consolidating the organisation’s links. These congresses demonstrated that the young Italian Communists were strongly united.

p The young workers stoutly resisted the increased 201 activities of the Italian fascist organisations. Together with the party, they took part in clashes with fascist bands, and when these clashes became frequent, they set up special detachments on military lines to make their opposition more effective.

p Members of the socialist party and its youth leagues began to sympathise more and more with the Communists as the Communist Party and the Federation of Young Communists took resolute action against fascist bands. As far back as the young socialists’ second congress, which mainly discussed the question of entry into the Young Communist International, most delegates supported the idea of concerted action with the young Communists against the fascists, but the young socialists’ leaders once again succeeded in preventing the adoption of such a decision.

p As the fascists mounted their offensive, the Federation of Young Communists had to reorganise its ranks. Moreover, it had to do so illegally. Preparing for a fierce battle against fascism, the young people decided to set up militant groups which would defend democratic freedoms with arms.

p The decisions of the Second Congress of the Young Communist International helped to consolidate communist youth organisations. In its special theses on the youth movement in Italy, the YCI Executive Committee criticised it for its “lack of centralised discipline, one-sided party and political agitational work, and revolutionism in mere words.”

p The young Italian workers managed to overcome these deficiencies. In close touch with the Communist Party, the Italian communist youth organisations "made a very big contribution to 202 the cause of the struggle against fascism"  [202•1 . Many youth leaders, including Luigi Longo and Pietro Secchia, later became prominent leaders in the Italian Communist Party.

p Unfortunately, the Communist parties and communist youth leagues in some of the other European countries were not so influential, and most of their young people fell under the reformists’ and bourgeois leaders’ influence. This was true of Britain, Belgium, Austria and several countries in the Balkans and the Danube basin.

p In Britain the socialist youth movement was not set up until after the First World War. One of the main reasons why socialist youth organisations arose so late was that the young workers enjoyed relatively tolerable economic conditions, and there was a better system of labour protection for adolescents. Another important fact was that, motivated by selfish aims, the British bourgeoisie showed great “concern” for the education of working-class children and subsidised Boy scout organisations, Sunday schools, and so on. The ruling circles in Britain sought to educate the rising generation in a spirit of obedience, indifference to politics and loyalty to the bourgeois homeland, which they succeeded in doing in a very subtle and calculated way.

p The young British people set up their first socialist groups as a result of the impact of the Great October Socialist Revolution and the upswing in the world working-class movement, which involved Britain as well. Work among the young people was carried on very successfully in the north of England and Scotland. The young 203 workers’ first organisations, however, concentrated exclusively on educational work and physical training, and naturally could not become mass organisations. The Young Socialist League of Great Britain was set up in London in 1917. Its aim was to spread socialist ideas among young people who had just left school. Its organ was The Young Rebel newspaper. But the league, which was largely made up of ex-soldiers who opposed militarism, did not have a permanent nucleus of members. This was also more or less true of the Young Labour League, a small group carrying on propaganda work.

p The development of the communist youth movement was greatly hindered by its scattered ranks and the existence of many youth organisations. Among the largest of these organisations was the Tory Party’s youth section, the Young Conservatives, which had many young workers among its members; next came the various religious youth associations, and so on. With a membership of about 400,000, Boy scouts continued to be the largest youth organisation in Britain at the time.

p The YCI Executive Committee often tried unsuccessfully to unite the scattered socialist youth groups in Britain.

p The young socialists opened their first national conference in the International Socialist Club in London on March 27, 1921, with a view to approving a plan for uniting the Young Socialist League and the Young Labour League. Although after lengthy discussion agreement was reached on unification, it was decided that, like all other adults’ organisations, the new organisation should be independent.

p It was also agreed to start publication of The 204 Young Worker in April 1921. In a resolution the conference greeted the young people of Soviet Russia, who had taken up arms to defend the Great October Socialist Revolution, and also promised to take an active part in the workers’ common struggle.  [204•1 

p However, the conference never really united the young workers’ organisations.

p Britain still had no communist youth organisation when the Young Communist International held its second congress in Moscow in July 1921. When the young British workers’ delegates returned from Moscow, they carried out together with the Central Committee of the Communist Party the enormous task of laying the organisational foundations for the Young Communist League. The Young Communist League of Great Britain, which consisted of the young progressive workers and students, was set up in 1922.

p A similar situation existed in Austria. Ever since it was established, the Communist Union of Youth faced great difficulties owing to the existence of many socialist youth organisations in the country and the transfer of many members who had played the most active part in the union to party work. But the greatest obstacle of all was possibly the failure of many union members to realise the need for an independent youth organisation. However, by helping the Communist Party, participating in all the workers’ actions against the bourgeoisie and distributing Communist Party leaflets, political literature and newspapers, the Communist Union of Youth became the true centre of the young 205 revolutionaries and its membership increased. By July 1921 it had 41 groups with 1,500 members compared with a few groups totalling about 500 members when it was set up. In its work the union attached great importance to giving assistance to the young revolutionaries in Soviet Russia and Hungary.

p Acting against the wishes of its leaders, the union held a special meeting together with the Austrian Socialist Union of Youth in August 1921 to discuss the question of rendering assistance to Soviet Russia. As a result, the meeting elected a joint committee for the collection of funds.

p After the Second Congress of the YCI, the young Communists held a national congress in Vienna on September 17 and 18, 1921. This congress, the most important one since the union was set up, discussed the following agenda: 1) Central Committee’s report; 2) delegation’s report on the Moscow congresses; 3) urgent economic and political tasks, and other questions. There was an interesting debate on youth participation in the economic struggle and the young workers’ joining of trade unions, formerly considered as completely unnecessary.

p The congress adopted a resolution approving the decisions of the Second Congress of the YCI and outlining practical measures for their implementation. After a lengthy period of organisational formation, the Austrian Communist Union of Youth resolutely embarked on the struggle for the workers’ cause.

p In Bulgaria Social-Democratic youth organisations were not set up until the eve of the First World War. The youth movement was under the influence and guidance of the revolutionary wing 206 of the Social-Democratic Labour Party of Bulgaria (the Tesnyaki). Owing to its small membership, the young workers’ organisation had very strong centralisation and strict discipline.

p The founding of the Communist Party of Bulgaria in May 1919 and its affiliation to the Communist International had a strong impact on the young workers. On May 26, 1919, immediately after the party congress, the Social-Democratic Youth League held a conference at which it adopted a decision to set up the Young Communist League of Bulgaria (YCLB). The conference announced that the YCLB would join the Communist International and adopted the Programme of the Communist Party of Bulgaria as a guide to action.

p Another conference was held on May 30 and 31, 1920, which discussed the work carried out over the past year, amendments to the league’s Rules and matters concerning the international youth movement. The Young Communist League of Bulgaria had 3,640 members at this point.

p The young people’s active participation in strikes, demonstrations, distribution of leaflets and all the workers’ activities won the young Communists high prestige among young people in the town and countryside. As Bulgaria was an agrarian country, communist youth organisations attached great importance to work among young people in the countryside and set up special " village commissions”. The league’s membership increased considerably and by mid-1922 it was 15,000.

p The young communist youth organisation in Bulgaria differed from other sections of the Young Communist International in that it was completely subordinate to the Communist Party, which 207 even appointed its leaders. Obviously, it did not have to worry about relations with the Communist Party, unlike in other countries, where the problem of relations between young people and Communist parties became a very pressing one, hampering the work that had to be carried out. These close organisational ties with the Communist Party also determined the league’s activities, gave it a strong sense of direction and made it the Party’s loyal helpmate.

p In Czechoslovakia the young workers were members of the Austrian Socialist Union of Youth during the First World War and were under the Social-Democratic Party’s influence. The socialist youth organisations led a wretched existence, not daring to protest against the war or defend their rights. These organisations did not step up their activities until 1919. The main obstacle was that, like the Social-Democratic and other parties, separate youth organisations existed for the various nationalities, Czech, Slovak, German and Hungarian.

p A movement began among the young workers’ organisations in 1920 to break away from the Social-Democratic Party which was led by the avowed opportunists in the working-class movement. The young Social-Democrats convened a congress in Prague on February 20, 1921 to set up an independent communist youth organisation.

p The congress, which was attended by the representatives of the Czech, Slovak, German and Hungarian youth leagues, adopted a decision to set up a united Young Communist League of Czechoslovakia without national sections. The ranks of the newly established Young Communist League, which supported the decisions adopted by the Young Communist International, quickly 208 swelled with the most progressive young workers. By early 1922 the league had over 20,000 members while the Socialist Union of Youth had only 17,000.

p A conference was held in Prague in July 1921 to discuss a report by the league’s Central Committee and a report on the league’s Draft Rules. The speakers emphasised that, despite persecution, the league had stepped up its activities and carried out some important work. At the same time it was mentioned that insufficient attention was paid to organisational questions, and that abstract propaganda did not and could not help draw broad sections of the young people into the league. The struggle against nationalist trends was given prominence. The conference emphasised the communist movement’s influence on the young socialists, who took an active part in several of the Young Communist League’s activities without fearing that they would be excluded from their organisations for their "radical frame of mind.” There was a lengthy discussion on the second item on the conference’s agenda, the league’s Draft Rules, which were to take account of all the country’s national features. It was with this end in view that a decision was adopted to publish the league’s central organ, the Young Communist newspaper, in Czech, Slovak, German and Hungarian.

p The YCL Central Committee which the congress in Prague elected could not cope with the task of guiding such a large multinational organisation as the league. The errors made when the committee was elected were rectified only with the intervention of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the YCI Executive Committee. A Provisional Committee was set up which Arbetaru ngtiom i alta land, f&rentt er! Till all varldens arbetareoch bondeungdom! Pi den ryska proletarrevolutionens tioarsdag. TrvcberUfetieboUgrt pram - Stocbhotm t««7 Cover of the Appeal by the Executive
Committee of the Young Communist
International to the young working people ol
all countries, published by the
Young-Communist League ot Sweden. 1927 November 10, 1945. Participants in the World Youth Conference
in London have set up the World Federation of Democratic Youth 209 vigorously began to improve the league’s work.

p The Young Communist League of Czechoslovakia, which was in close touch with the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, overcame many difficulties during its organisational period; both in legal and illegal work among the young workers, it showed its power and became the Communist Party’s loyal helpmate.

p In Yugoslavia the first young workers’ organisations were set up under the direct influence of the October Socialist Revolution in Russia and the upswing of the working-class movement in the West European countries. The country’s grave economic situation severely affected the young workers, and as a rule the adolescents worked ten hours or more a day. Even the most rudimentary conditions for labour protection did not exist. The young workers began to set up the Young Communist League of Yugoslavia during the grim days of reaction in October 1919. The league’s aim was to mobilise the young people for the struggle for democratic rights, social justice, freedom and independence. The Communist Party and the Young Communist League were banned and had to go underground as early as 1920. League members were constantly persecuted, arrested and even murdered.

p The young Communists held their first congress in July 1920, at which they summed up the results of the organisational period and drew up practical measures to help the Communist Party spread leaflets, newspapers, and so on. The congress gave prominence to supporting the party in the elections to the constituent assembly.

p Owing to its lively participation in the workers’ political activities, the league quickly grew into a large organisation with a membership of 210 about 10,000 very conscientious young workers. This large membership for a relatively small country with a poorly developed industry clearly shows that the league carried out an enormous amount of work. The youth organisation started publication of its newspaper, Crvena zastava (Red Banner), which as early as 1920 and 1921 had a circulation of 6,000.

p The league set up a large network of organisations throughout the country. By mid-1921 it had 45 local organisations. Through its practical activities it brought about a radical change in the attitude of young people and established good relations with the trade union organisations.

p Communist youth organisations were set up in other countries as well. In close touch with the Communist parties, they overcame organisational and ideological difficulties. By combining legal and illegal methods in their work among the young proletariat, they passed the test and rendered valuable assistance to the Communist parties.

p The Young Communist International helped consolidate the international youth movement and turn it into a powerful working-class contingent.

Although the Young Communist International did make several grave errors, by the time of its third congress it had taken the correct road of revolutionary struggle and was confidently leading the international young workers’ movement.