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p Young people, who account for over half of the world’s population, actively influence the economic, political and cultural development of society. The role the younger generation plays in all spheres of society’s life is continuously growing. The future of any nation is conditioned, to a great extent, by the views, aspirations, system of values and practical activities of its youth.

p The progressive and democratically-minded young people of the world represent an important force in the international revolutionary and liberation movement. They are taking an increasingly resolute stand in the struggle against the omnipotence of international monopolies and capitalist exploitation in its diverse forms, against national oppression, racialism and remnants of the colonial past, against militarism and aggression, and for peace, nuclear disarmament and broad democratic freedoms.

p The campaigns waged by young people in the capitalist countries to safeguard their vital 6 interests and rights reflect the profound crisis affecting bourgeois society today. They constitute one of the streams of the broad anti-imperialist movement, forming part of the peace movement together with courageous fighters for democracy and social progress.

p The progressive young people of the world are anxious to organise their lives on the basis of justice, and aspire to rid mankind of wars, hunger, poverty and uncertainty of the future. Young people want to have free access to education and freedom to exercise their right to work—which would give them moral satisfaction apart from material well-being.

p In the socialist states young people are an important force in society, and make a sizable contribution to the building of socialism and communism.

p The young men and women of developing countries are fighting to strengthen the economic and political independence of their peoples. They wage a courageous struggle within the national liberation movement to put an end to the power of foreign capital and to the domination of dictatorial and reactionary regimes.

p The young generation is not homogeneous in its social composition, therefore the youth movement is marked by a great diversity of views. In their search for a practical answer to the burning issues of the day the young people in the capitalist countries try out different methods, but do not always find the correct, radical solution. Quite often their protest becomes spontaneous and 7 assumes politically immature forms. The bourgeoisie is always ready to capitalise on such a situation by diverting their attention from the struggle which could undermine the capitalist structure. In an attempt to weaken its class adversaries, the reactionary quarters try to drive a wedge between the old and the young generations of revolutionaries and to split the democratic movement. The bourgeoisie will go to any length to push the young people into adventurism and extremism, using flattery and demagogy, empty promises and bribery, intimidation and brute force.

p Experience has shown the progressive youth that in the struggle for their vital interests young people have to act together with the working class. The objective conditions of social development have made the working class the people’s vanguard in the pursuit of interests common to all the exploited and oppressed. The revolutionary core of the working class—the Marxist-Leninist and Communist parties—consistently fight for the abolition of exploitation of man by man, for the liquidation of all forms of material and spiritual enslavement, and for the building of a classless, communist society which would provide the individual with unlimited opportunities for free and all-round development and allow every man to benefit from the tremendous achievements of science, technology and culture.

p While fighting for the triumph of genuine democracy, the Communists are guided not only by the interests of the working class, but also by those 8 of the peasantry and intellectuals. The goals and the programme of the struggle waged by the Communists correspond to the vital interests and requirements of young people. Throughout their history the Marxist-Leninist parties have shown real concern for the younger generation and understanding of young people’s demands in the spheres of social development and civil rights. Realising this fact the progressive youth demonstrates its readiness to follow the path trailblazed by the Communists. An increasing number of young activists are joining the ranks of communist youth organisations which voluntarily help the Communist and Workers’ parties safeguard the interests of all working people on earth. The communist youth organisations, representing an integral part of the international communist movement, share its goals. Since these parties have a good command of scientific theory, coupled with the tremendous experience of the revolutionary struggle, the youth organisations regard them as their political leaders, thus underscoring the fact that their ultimate goals objectively coincide.

p This is a book about one such organisation—the Komsomol, or the Leninist Young Communist League—which is the vanguard organisation of young people in the USSR.

p The Komsomol: what does it stand for?

p The Komsomol is short for the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (or YCL).

p Let us try to understand the role played by the Komsomol within socialist society by expanding 9 the meaning of each of the five words in its name.

p The word ‘All-Union’ means that it is a single, centralised organisation with members from all territorial and national regions of the Soviet Union.

p The Komsomol and its local organisations are international, since they include young people irrespective of their nationality. From its very foundation, the Komsomol has honoured the principle of national equality when enrolling new members. Nowadays its membership includes young people of all nationalities and ethnic groups which inhabit the Soviet Union (there are over 100 such groups). The main condition for anyone wishing to join the Komsomol is his or her readiness to abide by the Komsomol Rules  [9•1 , in particular that which obliges its members to participate actively in the building of communist society. According to the Komsomol Rules now in force, ‘membership of the Komsomol is open to any young citizen of the Soviet Union who accepts the Komsomol Rules, takes an active part in the building of communism, works in one of the Komsomol organisations, carries out all Komsomol decisions and pays membership dues.’

p In literature describing the early years of the Komsomol one comes across several other names of the organisation, such as the Russian Young 10 Communist League (RYCL) and the Russian Leninist Young Communist League (RLYCL).

p The name RYCL was adopted by the First AllRussia Congress of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Youth Leagues, held from 29 October to 4 November 1918. The Congress laid the foundation stone of the Komsomol. The word ‘Russian’ in that name emphasised the place of its origin—the Russian Soviet Republic, which was proclaimed by the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies (25-27 October 1917) following the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution.

p However, the attribute ‘Russian’ should not be understood in the sense that the RYCL included only the young people of Soviet Russia. The international essence of the Komsomol (in terms of its organisational structure, activities and spheres of influence) was revealed from the very first days of its existence in the fact that the RYCL also incorporated those young communist leagues that had been formed in other Soviet republics—the Ukraine, Byelorussia and Transcaucasia. These young republics came into being in the outskirts of the former Russian Empire following the victory of the socialist revolution and as a result of the implementation of the Leninist principle of every nation’s right to self-determination.

p The Komsomol retained the word ‘Russian’ in its name until its Seventh Congress in March 1926, when it was renamed ‘All-Union’. The new name fully corresponded to the new type of state 11 organisation which came into being on 30 December 1922, when the First Ail-Union Congress of Soviets adopted the Declaration and the Treaty on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).  [11•1 

p Both these attributes—’Russian’ and ‘All-Union’ —indicate the multinational character of the communist youth organisation. The Komsomol was founded on the principles of friendship and fraternal solidarity among the peoples of the world’s first worker-and-peasant state and on the principles of proletarian internationalism. This subject will be described in more detail below.

p And now about the word ’Leninist’. At its Sixth Congress, which was held from 12 to 18 July’1924, the Komsomol was named ‘Leninist’ after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Explaining its decision to rename the RYCL the ‘Russian Leninist Young Communist League’ (RLYCL), the Congress emphasised that this was done not solely to honour the memory of the great man, but also ‘to inspire the working youth of all Soviet peoples, together with its 12 leading body—the Young Communist League—with a single will and the determination to live, work and fight as Lenin did and to follow all Lenin’s behests.  [12•1 

p By the time of the Sixth RLYCL Congress, the country had lived for several months without Lenin, whose death shocked the country on 21 January 1924. But the Communist Party, founded by Lenin, continued his cause. It was the Communists that led the country’s working people in implementing Lenin’s plan for building socialism in the Soviet Union, and it was they who immortalised his ideas and behests through their tireless efforts. The Leninist party had won high authority among the people, as was demonstrated by the wish of progressive workers, peasants and intellectuals to join the Party ranks. In the first week after Lenin’s death the workers of the Moscow region filed over 6,500 applications for Party membership.

p Taking into account the prevailing mood of the workers, the Central Committee of the RCP(B)  [12•2  announced the Leninist Enrolment 13 Campaign in January 1924. The Komsomol followed suit by sending its best members—industrial workers—to join the Party. At the same time the campaign to enrol young workers and ‘toiling’ peasants as new RYCL members was also started. In the course of these campaigns 89,240 of the best Komsomol members joined the Party while the Komsomol membership was boosted by 400,000 new members. The campaign to increase the Komsomol membership encouraged the organisational and political consolidation of its ranks and enlarged the proletarian core in the youth league.

p Therefore, when the Komsomol took Lenin’s name, it fully realised the extent of its civilian duties to the country. ‘Specially important tasks and even greater responsibilities were placed on us Komsomol members,’ said the Komsomol Manifesto adopted by the Sixth RLYCL Congress, ‘when we inscribed the name of Lenin, our teacher and leader and an example for all of us to follow 14 in all matters, on our banner. Our task is not merely to double and triple our efforts in implementing Lenin’s behests. ... Komsomol members enjoy no extra benefits as compared with the non- partisan youth, but they do have greater responsibilities.  [14•1  The Manifesto, known among the Soviet youth as The Komsomol Oath, went on to list the RLYCL’s main objectives. The first one was to involve all young working people in the building of socialism, to lead them in their liberation from the burden of centuries-old superstitions and morals, to instil feelings of civil responsibility and collectivism, and to encourage young people to broaden their education. The second task was, while assimilating the historical experience of the older generation of Communists and the heroic traditions of the Communist Party, to become staunch Leninists and courageous fighters against all opportunistic attempts to challenge its unity.

p The Komsomol remains faithful to its oath. This was convincingly proved in the speeches made by the delegates and guests to the 17th Komsomol Congress during the jubilee session (27 April 1976) to mark fifty years since the Komsomol was given Lenin’s name.

p It is not surprising that when a future member is asked by Komsomol veterans why the organisation bears Lenin’s name, he or she gives several reasons. Bearing great name means to implement faithfully Lenin’s behests, to bring up the young 15 people as conscientious fighters for the ideals of the proletarian revolution and as well-educated, industrious and staunch young builders of communism who take an active part in society’s life. To be worthy of Lenin’s name means set an example for all young people to follow, to inform the younger generation about Lenin’s doctrine about the Party, the proletarian revolution and the building of socialism and communism, and to mould the young people’s outlook on the ideas of MarxismLeninism and the examples of Lenin’s life and work.

p One more thing should be added here: even before assuming Lenin’s name, the entire history of the Komsomol was intimately linked with Lenin and the revolutionary proletarian Party which he founded.

p In the most crucial moments of the struggle waged by the working class, the Party took important decisions which simultaneously affected the destinies of the youth movement and the formation of its ideological and organisational foundations.

p The resolution ‘On the Attitude Toward the Student Youth’, the draft of which was prepared by Lenin and which was adopted by the Second RSDLP Congress, was the first Party document dealing with developing a youth movement in Russia. Moreover, this document was adopted by the Congress which in fact created the Marxist party, a fundamentally new organisation in the international communist movement (the First RSDLP Congress only proclaimed its establishment while it was 16 the Second Congress that adopted its Programme, Rules and organisational procedures).

p This resolution formulated the priorities of the youth organisations which were being set up, and contained basic statements about their activities and about Party guidance of the youth revolutionary movement. Though the title of the resolution mentioned only the RSDLP’s attitude toward students  [16•1 , its importance was not confined to the Party’s relations with only one stratum of young people or only to the early 20th century. The main idea behind this resolution was to elaborate the fundamental principles of RSDLP contacts with young people in general since this coincided with the interests of the proletarian struggle against autocracy and capitalism. While regarding the progressive youth as a reserve contingent, first of a bourgeois-democratic and then of a socialist revolution, Lenin repeatedly pointed out that the Party’s active support to the youth campaigns, while ensuring their correct political orientation, would multiply the forces of the revolutionary movement. And, on the other hand, any 17 underestimation of the younger generation’s potential would objectively make the class enemies stronger.

p Therefore, the resolution emphasised, the main objective facing youth groups and societies was to foster a clear-cut socialist world outlook among their members. This obliged youth organisations on the one hand to make serious efforts to master Marxism, and on the other hand to have a full understanding of opposing political views. Lenin and the Party encouraged young people to develop a comprehensive attitude toward Marxism, devoid of any dogmatism, which would be instrumental in shaping their active class orientation and their conscious selection of ideological principles.

p Lenin repeatedly emphasised that the unification on ideological grounds of young proletarians and students into one organisation left no room for double standards and amorphous behaviour and ruled out the peaceful coexistence of opposing views within one organisation. Any ideological unification, according to Lenin, signified a compromise-free ideological break from the class enemies. ‘...The first thing to do is to achieve a clear, definite, precise, well-thought-out delimitation of “positions”, platforms and programmes,’ Lenin advised, ‘and then to combine the forces that can march together by conviction and social nature; combine them only for the action on which unanimity can be expected.’  [17•1 

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p Thus, ideological unanimity based on Marxism is the first condition for the success of revolutionary youth leagues. Their activities are realised in two directions:

p —the propagation of socialist ideology among young people in general;

p —the young people’s participation in class battles on the same barricades as the proletariat, with the Marxist party at its head, is fighting. Moreover, Lenin always pointed out the advantage of teaching young workers and students in the course of the struggle itself.

p However, the true unification of the progressive youth hinges not only on ideological, but also on organisational foundations.

p Lenin’s article ‘The Youth International’ (1916) had special importance in shaping the organisational principles of the youth revolutionary movement. In it, Lenin defended his idea about the organisational independence of youth leagues and substantiated his view with the following three arguments. Firstly, every new generation ‘advances to socialism in a different way, by other paths, in other forms, in other circumstances’ compared to their fathers. Secondly, ‘the opportunists fear such independence. . .’. Thirdly, the league needs this organisational independence ‘because of the very nature of the case’, for ‘unless they have complete independence, the youth will be unable either to train good socialists from their midst or prepare themselves to lead socialism forward.’  [18•1 

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p Thus, Lenin regarded organisational independence as the organisational and operational form of the activities of youth leagues best suited to drawing young people into the life of society and to their interests and age. At the same time Lenin thought that the organisational independence of youth leagues would encourage the independent behaviour and the revolutionary zeal of their members. Such organisations could transmit the Party’s influence to the broad masses of young people.  [19•1 

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p Guided by Lenin’s theoretical views and practical instructions and having analysed the experience of the youth movement, the Sixth Party Congress (July-August 1917) adopted a special resolution ‘On Youth Leagues’. This historic document laid down the ideological, political and organisational foundations of the future Komsomol. In order to consolidate the driving forces of the approaching proletarian revolution, it obliged all Party organisations to pay maximum attention to the establishment of class-conscious socialist unions of the working youth. The latter had to be organisationally independent (i.e., be self-governed, operate outside Party cells, have Rules of their own, and central and local organisations), be truly mass organisations in terms of their composition and operation, ideologically linked with the Party and working under its guidance.

p Thus, Lenin’s ideas about creating a class- conscious proletarian youth and about the activities of revolutionary youth leagues were further developed by the Sixth Party Congress. Since that time such leagues have become the main organisational forms of the youth. Their activities laid the corner-stone for the formation of the Komsomol.

p The continual efforts of the Leninist Party resulted in attracting wide sections of the youth to the cause of the socialist revolution. The youth organisations in Moscow, Petrograd and elsewhere 21 took an active part in the October Revolution of 1917. Many young heroes and leaders of the young workers’ organisations died on the battlefield defending the revolutionary cause and paving the way to the triumph of Soviet power.

p After the dictatorship of the proletariat had been established, it became urgent to unite isolated unions of the worker-and-peasant youth in one All-Russia organisation.

p The socialist revolution created favourable conditions for the solution of the economic, political, cultural, moral and legal problems facing the nation and its younger generation. The worker- andpeasant government nationalised industry, banks, railways, land and handed it all over to the working people as public property. These radical revolutionary measures undermined the social base of exploitation. Soviet power put an end to national privileges, inequality and oppression of nations, nationalities and ethnic groups. With the toiling peasantry’s support, the working class had to safeguard and consolidate these gains, suppress the inevitable resistance of the deposed classes, lay the foundations of a socialist economy, overcome the country’s material and cultural backwardness and carry out the complex tasks of forming new social relations and creating a new moral code.

p The execution of this tremendously complex and unprecedented task was headed by the Communist Party which, after the proletariat had gained political power, became the leading and guiding force of society.

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p The very first decrees of Soviet power gave the working youth full civil and social rights. The exploitation of child labour was ended once and for all: the revolution banned child labour in industry and limited the employment of juveniles.

p Given the ideological, political, organisational and material assistance of the Party and the state, young workers and peasants enthusiastically joined in the task of building socialism. And this is understandable, for the objectives of building socialism coincided with the urgent needs of young people and with the awakening of their enthusiasm for work and political activities.

p However, the people’s work was interrupted by the Civil War and the foreign military intervention. In 1918, a sizable part of the Soviet state was occupied by the imperialist troops of Germany, Britain, France, the USA and Japan. The White Guards and the domestic counter-revolutionary forces, which included landlords and capitalists who had been deposed in October 1917, as well as kulaks who hated Soviet power, started a fierce struggle against the workers and peasants.

p In these conditions the consolidation of the Party’s links with the masses, including trade union and youth organisations, was of paramount importance. However, the absence of an all-Russia youth organisation hampered the Party’s guidance of the youth movement and lessened the Party’s influence on the upbringing of young people in the communist spirit. The Party tried to win the youth over to its side in the course of the struggle 23 against the attempts of counter-revolutionary parties to control the youth movement.

p Such was the pre-history of the Komsomol which was intimately linked with the activities of Lenin and the Communist Party of which he was the leader.

p After the victory of the October Revolution Lenin, though constantly occupied with the important affairs of the state, displayed, as before, a keen interest in young people and showed concern for the fostering of social activism, communist ideals and moral values among them.

p On the instructions of the Party Central Committee, Nadezhda Krupskaya, Lenin’s spouse and closest confidante, was put in charge of the Organising Bureau, set up in July 1918, and entrusted with the task of convening All-Russia Congress of Young Workers’ and Peasants’ Leagues.

p Delegates to this Congress were anxious to greet Lenin in person and hear his statement on the burning issues of the day. However, mindful of the fact that Lenin had been wounded recently,  [23•1  doctors asked him to abstain from addressing big rallies. Despite this Lenin closely followed the deliberations of the First RYCL Congress and played host to a delegation of the Congress’s presiding officers. One of the Komsomol veterans, present at 24 this meeting, recollects that Lenin was specially interested in the ideals and heroes of the young people as well as in their ideas and aspirations. He asked the visiting delegates such questions as ‘What heroes of the past do you most esteem?’, ‘Whom do you want to imitate?’ and ‘What songs do you like best?’ Lenin also wanted to know how the young people visualised the goals and objectives of the established communist league, what role young workers played in the struggle for Soviet power and what contribution the youth made to the building of socialism and communism. Therefore, he asked the delegates whether all the country’s regions were represented at the Congress, whether there were many young peasants, what local youth leagues did in their localities and what they knew about the activities of their young colleagues abroad.

p Listening to the delegates’ replies, Lenin gave them much practical advice. However, Lenin’s main speech to the first Komsomol members, ‘The Tasks of the Youth Leagues’, took place on 2 October 1920 at the Third RYGL Congress.

p The Civil War was drawing to a close. The encirclement of the enemy forces around the young Soviet republic was broken and the main counterrevolutionary forces smashed. For three years the White Guards and interventionists tried to strangle the world’s first worker state, but all in vain. The heroism of the people who defended the sacred socialist Motherland foiled their schemes.

p The Civil War and the armed foreign 25 intcrvention, however, deprived the country, for a considerable time, of fuel and raw materials—many industrial enterprises, mines and transport networks were either destroyed or stayed idle. Large agricultural areas remained unsown and crop yields drastically declined. Hunger and devastation were weakening the Soviet republic. On the opening day of the Third Komsomol Congress Pravda wrote that in the last four months food supplies to Moscow, including bread, had declined catastrophically. A telegram sent to Lenin on 1 October 1920 informed him about the food shortage in Petrograd. Similar news reached the Kremlin from all over the country.

p The Communist Party took urgent measures to fight hunger, devastation and disease.

p Having a profound belief in the country’s communist morrow, Lenin managed to visualise its outlines even in that dreadfully difficult year of 1920. Addressing the Third Komsomol Congress, he devoted his speech not to the burning issues facing the country, but to the tasks and prospects of the Komsomol and the entire Soviet youth in defending gains of socialism. He appealed to the millions of young men and women to begin a campaign for a new socialist way of life and new culture.

p Lenin’s speech ‘The Tasks of the Youth Leagues’ culminated his thorough study and creative application of Marxist theory, resulting from his analysis of the class nature and origins of the proletarian youth movement in the countries of 26 Western Europe and the social activism of young people in Russia’s three revolutions in the epoch of imperialism (in 1905-1907, in February 1917 and October 1917). Lenin also summarised the Communist Party’s varied experience in the ideological and organisational consolidation of the militant youth and the Party’s patronage of the Komsomol over the past two years.

p Lenin’s ideas on the youth movement, set forth in some 200 books and articles written by him at different periods of his life, show that he connected the question of bringing up the younger generation with the proletariat’s interests and the goals of its Communist Party.

p Lenin’s speech at the Third Komsomol Congress contained a precise and laconic formula which graphically expressed the meaning of the Komsomol activities as the forward contingent of the Soviet youth. ‘The Youth League, and the youth in general, who want to advance to communism,’ Lenin said, ‘should learn communism.’  [26•1 

p This means:

p —study Marxism—the revolutionary ideology of the working class—and transform this knowledge into convictions, in order then to turn them into actions (’the ability to evolve communist views independently’  [26•2 , ‘organise and unite the entire young generation and set an example of training and discipline’  [26•3 ); 

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p —master the best achievements of world culture and contribute to the establishment of socialist culture (’You can become a Communist only when you enrich your mind with a knowledge of all the treasures created by mankind’  [27•1 ); 

p —be always and everywhere an active builder of the new society (’Every day, in every village and city, the young people shall engage in the practical solution of some problem of labour in common, even though the smallest or the simplest’  [27•2 ); 

p —foster in oneself and in one’s friends the features of true sons and daughters of the country and become bearers and propagandists of the new communist morale, based on the struggle against the exploiters and the psychology of egoism, petty ownership and careerism (’the struggle for the consolidation and completion of communism’  [27•3 ).

p Thus, Lenin’s most important political behests and instructions concerning the problem of bringing up the rising generation in the communist spirit and his views on the urgent economic and cultural issues, became known to the Party and the Komsomol on 2 October 1920. Having taken Lenin’s ideas as practical instructions for actions, the Komsomol has become the genuine school of communist education through which over 140 million have passed since its founding.

p The word ‘communist’ in the Komsomol’s full 28 name implies that it has developed as an integral part of the overall communist movement and as one of its organisational forms.

p From the very beginning the word ‘Communist’ was inscribed on the Komsomol banner, was present in all its subsequent full names, and is laid down in its Rules. It points to the political nature of the Komsomol activities and to the ultimate goal—communism—for whose sake the socialist revolution took place. ‘We must take a definite communist platform. . . for without communism we, of course, do not have and cannot have any other programme,’  [28•1  proclaimed a report to the First Komsomol Congress.

p It is known from memoirs about the Komsomol’s early days that the idea of calling it ‘Communist’ came from Yakov Sverdlov, Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee, who had previously consulted with Lenin. The idea was later debated in the Congress Organising Bureau, at the conferences of local youth leagues and in the hostel where the delegates, who had come from all corners of Russia, lived. The Petrograd delegation had the most firm stand on this issue and resolutely argued in favour of ‘Communist’. Some delegates, however, thought that this word sounded too categorical and would not attract many young workers, to say nothing of the peasants, into the 29 league. Therefore, they preferred some ‘non- partisan’ name. One delegate expressed the idea that the youth league should merely be engaged in cultural and educational activities while bearing the lofty ideas of communism in the deep of its members’ hearts. ‘The Communists’ duty is to fight,’ objected vehemently one Petrograd (later Leningrad) representative. While speaking in favour of the Petrograd delegation’s proposal, Oskar Ryvkin, the future Chairman of the Presidium of the Komsomol’s first Central Committee, elected by the Congress, declared: ‘We want to bear this communist spirit not only in our hearts but in the organisation’s name, too.’ The Congress adopted the name ‘the Russian Young Communist League’ by a majority of votes.

p The political essence of the Komsomol was clearly manifest from its first steps in October 1918. Its First Congress clearly defined the Komsomol’s short-and long-term objectives as ‘to spread communist ideas and involve young workers and peasants actively in the construction of Soviet Russia.  [29•1  In this way the Komsomol firmly took up the positions of the working class and its vanguard—the Marxist party.

p The word ‘Communist’ reflects the ideological unity of the Komsomol and the Party and defines its place and role in the political system of Soviet society as the CPSU’s helpmate and reserve.

p The first function of the Youth League was to 30 ‘help the Party build communism’  [30•1  (italics supplied). This is a multifarious function realised primarily through the Komsomol’s permanent task of bringing up tin: rising generation in the spirit of loyalty to the revolutionary cause and continuation of their fathers’ heroic accomplishments. The Marxist-Leninist doctrine serves as the ideological and theoretical foundation, the most important factor for drawing young men and women into the Komsomol ranks, and an effective instrument for educating the non-partisan youth.

p The Komsomol helps the Party with its organisational work and through its active efforts to encourage young people to carry the economic and cultural tasks facing Soviet society.

p The second Komsomol function is to be a reserve pool for the CPSU. This function is linked with the first one, for young Communists and officials for Party, trade union and economic organisations are all trained within the Komsomol ranks. Of all public organisations operating in the Soviet Union, only the Komsomol has the right to recommend its members for CPSU membership and it has utilised this right since 1922. All in all, over 13 million have joined the Party ranks on Komsomol recommendations.

p The closeness of the Komsomol to the Communist Party, apart from being reflected in its name and in the nature of its activities, lies also in the fact that in its early days the Komsomol initiated 31 the idea of worldwide unification of young revolutionaries under the communist banner. Since October 1918, the Komsomol Central Committee sought information on the revolutionary youth movement in the West and looked for ways of establishing contacts and coordinating its activities with the Youth International. The Komsomol members devised plans for setting up an international youth organisation as soon as possible. Six weeks after the establishment of the Third Communist International (Comintern) on 20 April 1919, the Komsomol Central Committee issued an appeal to convene the founding congress of the Young Communist International. The objective and subjective conditions for such a meeting were clearly ripe: as a result of the October Revolution in Russia the world revolutionary movement had gained momentum and Communist parties were established in a number of countries, thus making it possible to set up the Comintern. Besides, some young communist leagues were in the making and the youth unions abroad declared, one after another, their support of the Comintern. The Young Communist International whose establishment marked the beginning of the modern international communist youth movement was set up on 20 November 1919, with active organisational and political support from the Komsomol.

p Now about the word ’League’. In practically every language this word stands for community, unity or a federation of unions. In November 1918 the Komsomol united 22,100 young men and 32 women, whereas now its membership has swollen to almost 38 million. This is a body of like-minded people who are united by common political views, moral values and the goal of building communism.

p As to the word ’Young’ Komsomol membership is open to Soviet citizens between the age of 14 and 28. However, if elected to higher Komsomol organs, people over 28 years may still be counted as members.

p The age limit means that the Komsomol is constantly renewed. The period when young men and women are qualified for Komsomol membership coincides with the natural period when young people’s personalities, ideological views and moral values are being formed.

p The Komsomol is not a sectarian, closed and elitist’ (as alleged by bourgeois historians and sociologists) group, isolated from the broad masses of the rising generation, but a truly mass and democratic (by its composition and nature) organisation. Of course, the Komsomol has always had strict membership qualifications, never trying to enroll as many new members as possible. At the same time, the Komsomol does not follow any restrictive membership policy, since that would weaken its role as an organisation for bringing up wide sections of young men and women. Today, some 60 per cent of the Soviet Union’s younger generation are Komsomol members.

p As for the membership criteria, the Komsomol is more open than the Communist Party. Initially, it was primarily young workers and peasants who 33 were admitted as its members. Later on, however, the Komsomol opened its ranks to the youth from all social strata. Today, young workers, peasants and intellectuals have equal rights in joining the Komsomol, without any restrictions in terms of educational standard, profession, etc.

p The ‘grass-root’ nature of the Komsomol is not only reflected by the figures of its annual growth and the absence of any social restrictions on its membership—it is revealed in the very nature of the Komsomol activities, which wisely take into account the specific requirements of its members, differing by age, education or trade, but still draw all of them into the orbit of interests and affairs of the state.

p The Leninist Komsomol was decorated by the six highest Soviet orders:

p Order of the Red Banner was the first decoration given to the Komsomol for its members’ military feats during the Civil War.

p Order of the Red Banner of Labour marked the heroic labour and initiative which distinguished Komsomol members during the building of socialism and the development of socialist emulation.

p Order of Lenin was awarded for outstanding services to the Motherland during the Great Patriotic War (1941-45).

p Order of Lenin was awarded for successes in bringing up the Soviet youth in the communist spirit, active participation in the construction of socialism and on the occasion of the Komsomol’s 30th anniversary.

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p The third Order of Lenin was awarded for the Komsomol’s sizable contribution to economic and cultural development, especially for its members’ heroic labour while developing the virgin lands.

p Order of the October Revolution was awarded on the occasion of the Komsomol’s 50th anniversary, for its outstanding services and successful work in bringing up the younger generation.

During the jubilee session held in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses in October 1978 to mark the Komsomol’s 60th anniversary, Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, presented the Komsomol Central Committee with a Memorial Red Banner of the CC CPSU in recognition of the great achievements of the Komsomol in the building of communist society.