Komsomol (All-Union Leninist Communist League of Youth) VLKSM
The Komsomol (Vsesoiuznyi Leninskii kommunisticheskii soiuz molodezhi) — Ail-Union Lenin Communist Youth League was an organization administered by the CPSU for youth between ages fourteen and twenty-eight. Since its establishment in 1918, the Komsomol helped the party prepare new generations for an elite role in Soviet society. It instilled in young people the principles of Marxism-Leninism and involved them in large-scale industrial projects, such as factory construction and the virgin land campaign. Members were expected to be politically conscious, vigilant, and loyal to the communist cause. Membership privileges included better opportunities for higher education and preferential consideration for career advancement. In 1982 the Komsomol had 41.7 million members.
At the age of 14, everyone who wanted to build a professional career and move up the career ladder was sure to join the ranks of the Komsomol. The Komsomol played an important role in training personnel for the CPSU. Almost all of them went through a school of political training. Many of the best undertakings were brought to life with the direct participation of Komsomol members - all kinds of Komsomol construction projects, people's squads.
Those who joined the ranks of the Komsomol members were given an interview. The Komsomol Council, representatives of the district committee asked the candidate questions about the charter of the organization, its leaders, and important dates. But the most important thing was to answer the question: "Why are you joining the ranks of the Komsomol?". Ideology had an impact on the masses only because the values and interests of the whole society coincided. Belief in a "bright future" rallied people in the Soviet Union. Much was embodied immediately: freedom, equality, the opportunity to study for free, receive medical services.
To instill communist values into the younger generation, the CPSU employed a system of nationwide youth organizations: the Young Octobrists, the Pioneers, and the Komsomol. Of the three organizations, the Komsomol was, by the late 1980s, by far the largest and most active organization, with over 40 million members ranging in age from fourteen to twenty-eight. The Komsomol's structure mirrored the party's structure, from its primary units in schools and workplaces to its first secretary. The congress of the Komsomol met every five years and elected a central committee, which in turn elected a bureau and secretariat to direct the organization's day-to-day affairs between central committee meetings.
Komsomol members were encouraged to take part in political activities of the CPSU and to assist in industrial projects and harvesting. Most important, its members received preference for entry into higher education, employment, and the CPSU. The other two youth groups, the Young Octobrists and the Pioneers, were organizations devoted to the political indoctrination of children through age fifteen. The Young Octobrists prepared children ages six to nine for entry into the Pioneers, which in turn prepared them for entry into the Komsomol beginning at age fourteen.
The task of molding the "builders of communism" was advanced as well through extracurricular activities centered on youth organizations that had close ties to the CPSU. Almost all schoolchildren belonged to these groups: the Young Octobrists, for ages six to nine, and the Pioneers, ages ten to fifteen. Most of the students in the upper classes of secondary school belonged to the Komsomol for ages fourteen to twenty-eight, which was specifically tasked with providing active assistance to the CPSU in building a communist society. To this end, Komsomol members supervised and guided the two younger groups in a wide range of activities, including labor projects, sports and cultural events, field trips, summer camp programs, and parades and ceremonies commemorating national holidays (for example, May Day and Lenin's birthday), to develop in them proper socialist behavior and values and to attract them, even at these early stages, to "socially beneficial" work.
The standards for admission into the CPSU required that a person be at least eighteen years old, have a good personal record, and possess some knowledge of the principles of Marxism-Leninism. Those who wanted to become party members had to secure references from at least three party members of at least five years' standing. In the case of prospective members entering the party from the Komsomol, one of the references had to have been written by a member of the Komsomol city or district committee. These references attested to the candidate's moral, civic, and professional qualities.
In 1989 over 20 percent of all armed forces personnel were CPSU or Komsomol members. Over 90 percent of all officers in the armed forces were CPSU or Komsomol members. The figures for party membership were even higher in such armed services as the Strategic Rocket Forces or the Border Troops, in which political reliability has been especially crucial. The Komsomol was important in the armed forces because most soldiers and young officers were in the normal age- group for Komsomol membership.
Komsomol'skaia pravda (Komsomol Truth), published by the Komsomol, was distributed to between 9 and 10 million people. The authoritative newspaper of the Communist youth organization (the All-Union Lenin Communist Union of Youth), Komsomolskaya Pravda, printed on October 18, a brief but sharp attack on the editorial staff of the magazine Young Bolshevik, another organ of the same youth league, for having published in its June, 1946 issue a “politically [Page 603]harmful and theoretically illiterate” article on the attitude of a Komsomol (member of the youth organization) toward religion and for having compounded the sin with a similar article in its June 1947 issue.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda attack charges that Young Bolshevik had clumsily criticized and cast doubts upon the completely correct attitude of Komsomols who “consider it impossible and inadmissible for a Komsomol to believe in God and to observe religious rituals.” It further criticizes the latter publication for emphasizing the use of educational methods to eliminate religious belief in the Komsomol rather than categoric prohibitions against ecclesiastical practices. “Such a presentation of the matter,” states the item, “is nothing other than an attempt to prove the possibility of the reconciliation of materialism with popishness and idealism. Such a position essentially signifies a departure from Marxism.”
The critical article proceeds to quote Comrade Stalin on the subject of religion and then lays down the dictum that, since the Komsomol member is obligated by the organization’s charter to conduct anti-religious propaganda, he must naturally himself be free of superstitions and religious prejudices. It states categorically: “A young man cannot be a Komsomol unless he is free of religious beliefs.”
Komsomolskaya Pravda concludes with the news that the Central Committee of the Komsomol (which itself is at least nominally responsible for both these publications, since its name appears on their mastheads) has promulgated a decree “on the mistake of the magazine Young Bolshevik,” sharply condemning its position on this “deeply principled question” and noting that it has done damage “to the matter of the Communist education of youth.” As is customary whenever Soviet “self-criticism” reaches the press, the account stated that “The Central Committee of the Komsomol has taken a number of measures to eliminate the mistakes of the magazine Young Bolshevik”.
With the aim of further party career, only a few, "particularly gifted" units became Komsomol members. It was possible to join the Komsomol upon reaching the age of 14, upon a written application for admission submitted to the school Komsomol organization. Who was accepted: almost everyone. Teachers and Komsomol members conducted educational work with those who did not want to, urged them to join. One could excuse himself that he was not yet worthy of high honor. No repressive measures were taken against those who did not join.
The history of the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth League (the Komsomol) organization dates back to the late 19th - early 20th cc., the time of the growing student movement in Russia. Vladimir Lenin’s theoretical studies highlighted the importance of propaganda among the young people and the need to involve them in the revolutionary struggle. The revolution of 1917 led to dramatic increase in the number of working youth circles. At the 6th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) in July-August 1917 it was decided to set up youth organizations (Unions of Working Youth) associated with the party in the cities and towns of Russia. The working youth played an important role in the armed uprising. In particular, in the autumn of 1917 about 5,000 young workers joined the Red Guard through the efforts of the Petrograd Soviet.
The 1st All-Russian Congress of the Workers' and Peasants' Youth Leagues was held from October 29th through November 4th, 1918. The Russian Communist Youth League was established in order to band together separate unions into the all-Russian organization with one center, working under the guidance of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks. October 29th is considered the day of the foundation of the Komsomol. The League was intended to spread the ideas of communism and involve the working and peasant youth in the active construction of the Soviet Russia. To honour Lenin’s memory the name was changed in July 1924 to the Russian Leninist Communist Youth League. After the USSR was formed, in March 1926 the organization was renamed the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth League.
The All-Union Congress was the highest governing body of the Komsomol. Between congresses, it was its Central Committee that directed the work of the Komsomol and elected a bureau and a secretariat. The primary Komsomol organizations were set up at enterprises, at kolkhozes (cooperative agricultural enterprises) and sovkhozes (state-operated agricultural estates), at educational institutions, and units of the army.
The Komsomol members took an active part in the Civil War. From 1918 to 1920 the Komsomol sent over 75,000 of its members to the Red Army. Underground Komsomol groups struggled with the White Army behind the lines of the enemy. By 1920 the Komsomol numbered 482,000 members. In May 1922 the pioneers organization was founded, and supervision over it was entrusted to the Komsomol. During the 1920s - 1930s the Komsomol members participated in restoring the economy destroyed by the war, assisted the authorities in the fight against banditry, mounted propaganda campaigns and carried out educational work in villages. The Komsomol members were engaged in collectivization and industrialization. Among the projects completed with the active participation of the Komsomol were the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station (Dneproges), the Moscow and Gorky Automobile Plants, the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, and the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant. As part of the cultural revolution, Komsomol members launched a cultural campaign to wipe out illiteracy. The Komsomol introduced a new form of mass technical training for workers called tekhminimum courses.
In the first year of the Great Patriotic War about 2 million Komsomol members joined the Red Army. Behind the lines of the enemy there were underground Komsomol organizations: Molodaya gvardiya (Young Guard) (Krasnodon), Partizanskaya Iskra (Partisan Spark) (Nikolaev Region), etc. There were more than 154,000 Komsomol youth brigades working in industry to meet the needs of the front line. In agriculture young people made up 70% of the trained operators of agricultural machinery. During the war 3.5 million Komsomol members were decorated with orders and medals.
After the war the Komsomol expended great effort in implementation of national economic projects. In the 1940s and 1950s the Komsomol helped to construct major hydraulic works such as the Volga-Don Canal and hydropower stations, such as the Lenin station, the Kuybyshev and the Kakhovka stations. In 1954 and 1955 over 350,000 young people set off to Kazakhstan, Altai, and Siberia on Komsomol assignments to cultivate the virgin lands there. Between 1961 and 1966 up to 1,050 industrial facilities were built as part of the all-Union Komsomol shock-work construction projects.
In 1990 after the 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), which announced the party’s non-interference in the activities of youth organizations, the 21st Congress of the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth League declared organizational and political independence from the CPSU. After the August crisis, on September 27, 1991 the 20th Extraordinary Congress of the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth League disbanded the organization.
The new, state-sponsored youth organizations in Russia, in many respects, resembled the Soviet-era organizations such as the Komsomol (Communist Youth League). But they also draw on elements of the conceptual apparatus of international democracy promotion that transformed Russian society in the nineties.
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