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p The establishment of the Young Communist International accelerated the development of the youth movement and consolidated yet further the contingents of young workers under Lenin’s banner.

p The RYCL made a particularly valuable contribution. As early as its third congress, it declared that its sacred duty was to render assistance to the young workers’ organisations in the capitalist countries. The congress decisions stressed that the league’s most important task was to instil in its members the spirit of the young workers’ international solidarity and to spread the Youth International’s ideas and information on the international youth movement among the young Russian workers and peasants.  [211•1 

p The young people of the first socialist country developed and consolidated international ties as they carried out Lenin’s behests and the decisions adopted at the Third Congress of the RYCL. A recognised authority on the most important problems facing the youth movement, the RYCL helped to set up young communist leagues in various countries and overcome “vanguardism” in 212 several youth organisations; it also played an important part in the recognition of the Communist parties’ leading role.

p When the international communist youth movement’s headquarters was moved to Moscow, closer ties were established between the RYCL and the representatives of young communist leagues abroad who came to the YCI Executive Committees’ congresses and plenary meetings.

p The correspondence and meetings with representatives of foreign communist youth organisations helped to develop an internationalist spirit among the young Soviet people. The material assistance which Soviet young people rendered to their brothers abroad also contributed greatly to the development of proletarian internationalism. Besides taking an active part in the collection of international dues, the RYCL launched a big agitational campaign to consolidate international ties and explain the young working people’s situation abroad and th«r struggle to improve their economic position.

p The Russian Young Communist League, which consistently supported the unity of all the working-class contingents, was one of the initiators of talks with the Young Socialist International (YSI), a mass young workers’ organisation in the capitalist countries which was under social-reformist influence. Taking into account the strong desire for concerted action of the YSI rank and file, the CC RYCL and the YCI Executive Committee sent a letter to the YSI Executive Committee in August 1925 proposing the setting up of a united front for the young workers’ movement. Unfortunately, like several other proposals made at various times, it found no support with the young socialists’ leaders.

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p The guidance of the Young Communist International’s foreign sections by the Leninist Young Communist League of the Soviet Union (LYCLSU)  [213•1  assumed an organisational form in early 1925, and this helped establish permanent ties with young communist league members in other countries.

p The foreign delegations’ visits to the Soviet Union played a very important part in consolidating international ties. For instance, a delegation representing Austrian youth organisations spent a whole month in Soviet Russia in September 1925. When they returned home the Vienna delegates made an impressive report, on the basis of which a special resolution was adopted. This resolution said in part: “In their eight-year-old heroic struggle against a whole world of enemies, the Russian workers and proletarian youth have created for themselves labour conditions which are a shining example to workers at large. The Russian revolution’s achievements—a four- and six-hour working day, adequate wages, a month to six weeks paid leave ... encourage us Austrians to improve the young Austrian people’s position by vigorous struggle."  [213•2 

p The same year representatives of young people in Germany, France, Belgium and Czechoslovakia also visited the Soviet Union.

p The Central Committee of the LYCLSU approved new forms of stimulating international understanding which had arisen as a result of close contact between young people in Soviet 214 Russia and other countries. These included international soirees to which members of foreign delegations were invited, active young communist league members’ study sessions on the international communist youth movement, circles for studying foreign languages, and a regular exchange of publications.

p After dealing with the question of expanding international ties, the CC LYCLSU adopted the following appeal to young workers at large in April 1926: “We once again fraternally call on you comrades to send young workers’ delegates to our country. Choose them at the factorieX^t the young workers’ conferences and in workers’ organisations. Let them be people of various political trends. If they really represent the young workers and really want to find out about our life and struggle, they are welcome. The young workers of Soviet Russia will welcome them as dear guests, as brothers in labour and as class brothers.”

p Unable to send Soviet youth delegations abroad because foreign governments refused to grant them entry visas, the LYCLSU organisations made use of foreign delegations’ visits to Soviet Russia to expose bourgeois allegations that young people in Soviet Russia suffered poor conditions and were politically inactive. First-hand knowledge of life in Soviet Russia and the activities of the LYCLSU organisations inspired young people in capitalist countries with revolutionary enthusiasm, made them intensify the struggle against the capitalist system, and produced a keener sense of proletarian internationalism.

p When they returned home, most delegates started to agitate for a new, socialist society and demanded that the imperialist governments end 215 their aggressive policy towards the Soviet Union.

p It became customary for youth delegations to make reports after visiting the Soviet Union. A British youth delegation which had visited the Soviet Union launched a campaign to mobilise young workers to support the Soviet Union. British workers held a grand rally in Glasgow, at which they adopted a resolution greeting the young Soviet workers and undertaking to fight against all encroachments on the Soviet Union.

p A young French workers’ delegation returned from the Soviet Union and launched an extensive campaign. Ten rallies were held in the Paris district. The delegates visited all the large industrial centres in northern, central and southern France, where they received a warm welcome.

p Correspondence also played an important part in consolidating international ties. No less than one hundred young communist league cells in the Soviet Union corresponded with their counterparts in the West. The Soviet cells’ correspondence greatly encouraged the Western comrades’ work. Young workers in capitalist countries wrote saying that adolescents were deprived of all rights at the factories, and that the workers were waging an economic and political struggle in which they were taking part. In a letter to the young workers at the Krasny Proletary Printshop, German workers in Mannheim said that their factory owner was a tyrant and they worked from 12 to 15 hours a day. They also described the establishment of a communist youth organisation at the factory and their struggle against the factory owners.

p The Young Communist League of Germany held a conference in 1927 to discuss the question of consolidating ties with LYCLSU organisations. 216 The conference adopted a decision stressing that it considered “close ties between all the German cells and the LYCLSU cells to be most important".

p Young American workers wrote from Chicago saying that they would like to receive information about the position of the Soviet workers in the clothing industry, their wages, trade union activities and political work. They were also interested in relations between the foreman and workers, and in the young communist league cells’ practical activities.

p The enormous amount of work which the LYCLSU did in consolidating ties with young communist league members in capitalist countries was praised by the Fifth Congress of the Young Communist International, which passed a resolution saying that the LYCLSU was doing a great deal “to support, both morally and materially, the young communist leagues in the capitalist and colonial countries.... The congress believes it to be an important task to extend and strengthen ties between the young workers at large and the young emancipated proletariat in the Soviet Union"  [216•1 .

p The development of international ties enabled the LYCLSU to step up its activities. The CC LYCLSU stressed that LYCLSU organisations were devoting considerable attention to promoting international understanding and that it was an organic part of the league’s everyday educational work.

p A special decision was adopted to hold an allUnion review of international ties in 1928. 217 LYCLSU guidance of young communist league organisations abroad grew during preparations for the review. In 1928, 51 republican and regional LYCLSU organisations set up contacts with young communist leagues abroad.

p By taking an active part in the work of the International Red Aid (IRA), the LYCLSU contributed greatly to proletarian internationalism. The Soviet IRA organisation had contact with 291 political prisons in various countries. Besides material, moral and legal aid to the prisoners, the organisation gave assistance to their families and political emigres.

p The visits of Soviet delegations to capitalist countries played an important part in the development of the young Soviet people’s international ties. There were many young people in the first Soviet delegation, which toured Europe on the S/S Abkhazia, visiting Hamburg, Naples, Istanbul and other cities. The delegates stayed in Hamburg for three days, where they visited German workers and talked to young communist league members. On their return home the delegates gave an account of their trip to workers at factories and mines, and made concrete proposals for improving international understanding.

p The Soviet delegation’s participation in the anti-war and anti-fascist youth congress, held in Paris in the autumn of 1933, furthered the growth of the LYCLSU’s prestige and the consolidation of international ties. For the first time ever youth representatives of the two worlds met in the heart of capitalist Europe.

p The report made by the leader of the Soviet delegation and first secretary of the CC LYCLSU, A. V. Kosarev, was warmly welcomed. The 218 Soviet delegation’s determined stand and strong sense of responsibility for the fate of mankind determined the course of the congress, which helped to consolidate progressive young people in the struggle against war and fascism.

p The young people carried out the decisions adopted at the congress by holding anti-fascist congresses in France, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and other countries in 1934. Although Soviet young people could not take part in these congresses, they warmly welcomed their decisions. In a telegram to the anti-fascist congress of Swedish youth, the CC LYCLSU said: “On behalf of the millions of builders of socialism, we warmly welcome the congress and wish you success in the struggle for a united front against war and fascism. We always have been and always will be with you in this struggle.”

p The LYCLSU and the young communist leagues in the capitalist countries regarded the exposure of the fascist ideology as one of their main tasks. This task could be carried out only if a united front were set up and the forces of the progressive youth organisations at large were united.

p The World Youth Conference, held in Paris in April 1935, praised the LYCLSU activities in consolidating and developing international ties and its participation in the struggle against fascism. In its address to the young Soviet people, the conference said: “No world youth league that struggles for these aims is complete without you, without the young people of the country whose peace-loving policy is inspiring and consolidating the common ties between all the true champions of peace.”

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p The fascists’ assumption of power in Germany, open preparations for a war against the Soviet Union, and the establishment of an anti-Soviet bloc called for the unity of all the workers’ forces. The anti-fascist movement grew in the ranks of the working class, and the need to set up a united workers’ front became ever more pressing.

p The Sixth Congress of the Young Communist International, held in Moscow in the autumn of 1935, was of especial importance to the development of international ties and the unity of the young workers’ organisations in the struggle against fascism. The youth congress was attended by such prominent leaders of the international communist movement as Georgi Dimitrov, Wilhelm Pieck, Maurice Thorez, Palmiro Togliatti and Klement Gottwald. In his speech at the congress, Georgi Dimitrov formulated the tasks facing young communist league members as follows: “The young communist leagues must strive in every possible way to unite all the non-fascist mass youth organisations even to the extent of setting up various general organisations for the struggle against fascism, unparalleled injustice and the militarisation of young people, and for the economic and cultural rights of the rising generation and to win these young people over to the anti-fascist front, wherever they may be."  [219•1 

p The YCI congress decisions attached special importance to achieving unity of action with the socialist youth organisations.

p The resolution which the congress adopted said: “In the cause of uniting all the young working people, the congress believes it to be the 220 primary task of the young communist leagues to achieve unity with the socialist youth leagues.”

p In implementing the decisions adopted at the Sixth Congress of the Young Communist International, the young communist leagues carried out an enormous amount of work to establish close ties with the basic socialist youth organisations which, in several instances, joined forces in the anti-fascist struggle against their leaders’ will. An increasing number of religious, athletic and other youth associations began to take part in these concerted actions by the communist and socialist youth organisations, and this made it possible to start preparations for an international youth congress.

p The first international youth congress, attended by delegates from 36 countries representing various trends in the youth movement (fascist excepted), was held in Geneva in September 1936.

p In his speech at the congress on behalf of the young Soviet people, A. V. Kosarev formulated the main tasks facing the young people at large. He said: “We sincerely and ardently appeal from the rostrum of the world youth congress to the young people of all countries, organisations and nationalities—let us consolidate peace!”

p The young Soviet people, who followed the young communist leagues’ struggle in other countries and rendered them assistance, highly valued their activities. The Soviet people ardently supported the Spanish people in their heroic struggle against fascism. The young Soviet people’s proletarian solidarity was expressed especially clearly during those difficult years. Meetings and rallies were held throughout the country calling for 221 an end to the intervention by other states in the affairs of the Republic of Spain.

p Young workers at a factory in Moscow held a meeting at which they adopted a message of greetings to the young Spanish people. The message said in part: “In these days of fierce battle, we want to tell you, our Spanish brothers and sisters, you, the young Spanish people, to continue your courageous struggle for the Democratic Republic of Spain—- We are with you, dear Spanish comrades; gathered together at this meeting in defence of the Spanish people’s courageous struggle, we send you our warm greetings.

p “We have adopted a decision to give onequarter of our daily wages to assist the Spanish fighters’ families. We are confident that thousands of young working people in our country will follow our example, because it is a great joy to all of us to be of help to you in the struggle for the free Republic of Spain.”

p The movement was especially widespread on the eve of the Second World War. The tense international situation and the German fascists’ frenzied war preparations created a real threat to peace and security. The youth movement’s aim was to unite all the young people’s democratic forces for a joint struggle against the threat of fascist aggression.

p Emphasising the enormous amount of work which the YCI carried out in the struggle against the threat of war, the French Communist Party’s central organ wrote: “Ever since it was established, the Young Communist International has been loyal to the traditions of the struggle against war."  [221•1 

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p The YCI Executive Committee and the CC LYCLSLJ frequently proposed uniting the young working people in a common anti-fascist front, but the Right-wing socialists invariably opposed all efforts to set up a democratic young peoples’ united front. In the summer of 1939, when nazi Germany was preparing for new acts of aggression in Europe, another attempt was made, this time at a conference of European young communist leagues, to unite the socialist youth organisations in the struggle against fascism. It failed, however, because the Young Socialist International’s leaders, who were agents of the bourgeoisie in the youth movement, pursued a policy of “non-interference” and capitulation to the fascist aggressors like their leaders in the Socialist International.

p The absence of a united popular front greatly facilitated the unleashing of another world war.

p The war caused the LYCLSU’s international ties with the young communist leagues to diminish sharply. The youth leagues’ actions on a national scale became increasingly important. As the Resistance Movement grew, the young communist league organisations switched from propaganda activities to a vigorous armed struggle against fascism.

p Judging it inexpedient to maintain a single centre for the international working-class movement because this partly gave rise to bourgeois slander about “Moscow’s interference" in other countries’ internal affairs, the Executive Committee of the Communist International adopted a resolution on May 15, 1943, to disband the Third Communist International. This decision, approved by the Communist parties of the world and the Young Communist International, meant that the 223 international communist youth organisation would also cease to exist as a section of the Communist International.

p Closely linked with the Communist parties and continuing the YCI’s best traditions, the communist youth organisations are consistently and staunchly defending the young working people’s interests in every country.

p Mankind faced a terrible threat during the Second World War, when German armies occupied almost the whole of Europe. The Soviet Union’s entry into the war marked a turning point, determined its outcome, and inspired and consolidated the Resistance Movement in the occupied countries. In France, Czechoslovakia and Poland many thousands of young people joined guerrilla detachments in the forests and set up underground organisations in towns and cities; these organisations waged a relentless struggle against the invader. It was the Communists and the young communist league members who organised the Resistance Movement.

p The Soviet peoples were in the vanguard of the democratic forces’ struggle against fascism. The young Soviet people and the LYCLSU set young democrats the world over an example of selfless struggle for freedom and independence against the armies of the nazi invader.

p The young Soviet people held a large antifascist rally in Moscow in September 1941, at which they adopted an appeal to the young people of the world to unite all their forces in the struggle against the arch-enemy of mankind, fascism. This appeal was warmly supported by the young people at large. Following the Soviet Union’s example, many countries set up antifascist youth committees.

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With the active participation of Soviet young people, an international youth conference was held in London in November 1942, which was attended by the young democrats’ representatives from 28 countries. The Conference, at which the World Youth Council was set up, was the first step towards international unity in the youth movement. With the Soviet representatives’ participation, the World Youth Council carried on fruitful work during the war to increase the young democrats’ international ties.