Development and formation of Komsomol organizations in the USSR. Leninist Komsomol: the birth of the Komsomol in the USSR What is the Komsomol in the USSR

One hundred years separate us from the day when the 1st All-Russian Congress unions of workers' and peasants' youth. This happened on October 29th. 1918. Thus was born the Russian Communist Youth Union, which in March 1926 was renamed the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (VLKSM).

×The creation of the Komsomol is one of the brilliant projects Soviet power. By uniting advanced youth in the ranks of the Komsomol, the Bolshevik Party received an active assistant in educating young people in the communist spirit and involving them in the practical construction of a new society. The Komsomol became a reliable reserve for the party. During the existence of the Komsomol, almost 130 million young people attended its school, more than 12 million Komsomol members joined the Communist Party.
The history of the Komsomol is inextricably linked with the history of the revolutionary struggle of the working class for its liberation and the building of communism. In awakening class consciousness among young workers, as well as peasants, in developing revolutionary sentiments among students, the merit of the Bolshevik Party, which has always paid particular attention to education, organization and protection of interests younger generation workers.
V.I. Lenin constantly drew the party’s attention to the tasks of revolutionary education of youth. The draft resolution of the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP “On the attitude towards student youth,” written by Lenin, noted that the spontaneously developing youth movement needed help from revolutionaries, especially in the matter of educating “a coherent and consistent socialist worldview.” He feared that ideologically fragile youth might get carried away by pseudo-revolutionism or become infected with opportunism; Lenin warned against “false friends.” During the Revolution of 1905-07 in Russia, he raised the question of advanced youth as a reserve for the party. The Bolsheviks decisively exposed the attempts of the bourgeois. and petty-bourgeois parties to distract youth from the revolutionary struggle. Lenin resolutely opposed the underestimation of the role of young people and called for them to be drawn into the revolutionary struggle more boldly and broadly and to be drawn into the ranks of the party. In December 1916, Lenin’s article “The International of Youth” was published, which said that one must skillfully lead the “boiling”, seething, searching youth, not forgetting that the youth “... are of necessity forced to approach socialism differently, in the wrong way, in the wrong way.” in the same form, not in the same environment as her fathers.” Insisting on the organizational independence of the youth union, Lenin emphasized that without this, “...youth will neither be able to develop themselves into good socialists, nor prepare to lead socialism forward.” Speaking against petty supervision and administration, Lenin noted the need for comradely criticism of the mistakes of young people. “We should not flatter young people.”
The Bolsheviks carried out tireless work with young people in factories, in villages, in legal societies, Sunday schools, in soldiers' barracks, in illegal circles, fighting squads, in preparation for a strike or demonstration - wherever there was the slightest opportunity for this, they involved her in the direct struggle against oppression and exploitation, and passed on to her the experience of old fighters. In the revolutionary battles, the young generation of the working class and working peasantry was formed and strengthened. As a result of the activities of the Bolsheviks, a broad proletarian youth movement was prepared. After the victory February Revolution In the factories of Petrograd, Moscow and other industrial centers, circles, committees of working youth, and then unions began to appear. Young proletarians uniting to continue the struggle for their political and economic interests. rights, rallied under the slogans of the Bolsheviks.
The 6th Congress of the RSDLP(b) (July - Aug. 1917) played an important role in the development of the youth movement. In the resolution “On Youth Unions,” the congress spoke in favor of creating an independent organization inextricably linked with the party.
The Great October Socialist Revolution produced a radical change in the destinies of the younger generation of Russia. For the first time in history, Soviet power provided ample opportunities to young proletarians in all spheres of socio-political and socio-economic life. Decrees of the Soviet government established a 6-hour working day for teenagers, prohibited the work of children under 14 years of age, established labor protection, and introduced industrial training for youth at the expense of the state. The doors of secondary and higher schools were opened for the children of workers and working peasants.
The 1st All-Russian Congress of Unions of Workers' and Peasants' Youth united disparate unions into an all-Russian organization with single center, working under the leadership of the RCP (b). For the first time, a new type of youth organization was created - communist in goals and objectives, class in character, amateur in the principles of its activities, designed to provide in the system of the dictatorship of the proletariat the role of a “drive belt” connecting the party with the broadest layers of working youth, to be a conductor of party influence on the masses, to serve as the reserve of the Communist Party.
In connection with the formation of the Komsomol, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) in November 1918 sent a circular letter to all party organizations, which indicated that the RKSM was a school that trained new conscious communist cadres. To strengthen the Komsomol, the Central Committee of the RCP(b) recommended that party members of Komsomol age join the RKSM and take an active part in the work of its organizations. The 8th Congress of the RCP(b) (1919) adopted a special resolution “On work among youth.” The congress recognized the RKSM as an organization that carries out enormous work on the unity and communist education of youth, involving youth in the construction of communism and organizing them to defend the Soviet Republic. The congress emphasized the need for ideological and material support for the Komsomol from the party.
It must be said that in all subsequent decisions of party congresses the concern and support of the Komsomol was always provided.
RKSM was an active participant in the Civil War; he carried out three all-Russian mobilizations to the front. The Komsomol organizations of the front line were completely mobilized into the Red Army. In 1918-20, the Komsomol sent over 75 thousand of its members to the Red Army. In total, up to 200 thousand Komsomol members took part in the fight against the interventionists, White Guards and bandits. Heroically fought with the enemies: 19-year-old commander of the 30th division Albert Lapin, future writers Nikolai Ostrovsky and Arkady Gaidar, armored train commander Lyudmila Makievskaya, commissars Alexander Kondratyev and Anatoly Popov, leader of the Far Eastern Komsomol Vitaly Banevur, one of the organizers of the Uzbek Komsomol Abdulla Nabiev and pl. etc. Komsomol members fought selflessly behind enemy lines. In commemoration of military merits on the fronts of the Civil War in the period 1919-20 against the troops of the White Guard generals Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich, the White Poles and Wrangel, the Komsomol was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in 1928 by a resolution of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.
In October 1920, the 3rd Congress of the RKSM took place. The most important theoretical and programmatic document and guidance for the activities of the party and Komsomol was Lenin’s speech at the congress on October 2. 1920 “Tasks of youth unions.” Lenin saw the main goal of the Komsomol as “... to help the party build communism and to help the entire young generation create a communist society.” He called on young men and girls to “learn communism,” linking “... every step of their teaching, upbringing, education ... with participation in the common the struggle of all workers against the exploiters."
From that moment on, the RKSM began to focus its activities on the tasks of socialist construction and communist education of youth. The Komsomol directed all efforts to restore the national economy destroyed during the war. Boys and girls took part in the restoration of factories in Petrograd, Moscow, the Urals, mines and factories in Donbass, and the country's railways. Komsomol members assisted the Soviet government in the fight against profiteering, sabotage, and banditry. Special purpose units were formed from communists and Komsomol members.
The energy and enthusiasm of Komsomol members was also manifested in the implementation of the cultural revolution. They fought for the elimination of illiteracy, for the eradication of religious superstitions, remnants of the past in everyday life, against philistinism, private property psychology, and a greedy attitude to work. Komsomol members organized reading rooms, clubs, distributed books, newspapers, magazines, posters, and leaflets. In 1920, on the initiative of the Komsomol, factory apprenticeship schools were created to train skilled workers and workers' faculties (workers' faculties) to prepare young workers for entering universities.
The Komsomol actively promoted Leninism among young people. A wide network of Komsomol political education was created. There were over 20 thousand circles in the country. More than 100 thousand Komsomol members were involved in the party education system. The Komsomol press played a major role in education: the magazines “Young Communist”, “Young Guard”, “Smena”, “Journal of Peasant Youth”, the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, as well as local newspapers.
The Komsomol acted as the instigator of socialist competition; in 1927 it began a mass campaign for the rationalization of production and for increasing labor productivity. In 1929, the Central Committee of the Komsomol carried out Lenin’s recruitment of youth into shock brigades, called on youth to start the All-Union Socialist Competition, and carried out the first mobilization of youth for new buildings of the 1st Five-Year Plan. Over 200 thousand Komsomol members came to construction sites with vouchers from their organizations. With the active participation of the Komsomol, the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant, the Moscow and Gorky Automobile Plants, the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant, Railway Turksib et al.
The role of Komsomol members in collectivization was significant Agriculture. There were over 1 million young peasants in the ranks of the village Komsomol. The Komsomol put forward a number of effective forms of mobilization of peasant youth: it held an All-Union harvest campaign, a “plow month”, created “detachments of red plowmen”, “agricultural scouts”, etc. Among the twenty-five thousand workers who went to the village, more than 2 thousand people were members Komsomol. Komsomol members brought the experience of socialist competition and shock work to the villages, young workers helped in the repair of agriculture. equipment, launched a movement for the creation of Komsomol tractor columns, and took an active part in the construction of machine and tractor stations (MTS). "Komsomolets - on the tractor!" - this slogan was one of the most popular in the village. Based on the recommendations of Komsomol cells, thousands of young collective farmers were sent to courses for tractor drivers and machine operators.
By resolution of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR on January 21. 1931 “for the initiative shown in the matter of shock work and socialist competition, ensuring the successful implementation five year plan development of the national economy...” The Komsomol was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
In subsequent years, the Komsomol, without weakening its participation in economic and state construction, pays significant attention to the ideological education of youth, the organization of their education, physical development boys and girls, preparing it for the defense of socialist gains. The Komsomol devotes a lot of effort to the development of the defense industry and industries related to it, in particular ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, and oil production. Envoys of the Komsomol participated in the creation of the “Second Baku”, the construction of the Amurstal plant, the Komsomol patronizes the construction of new cruisers, submarines, destroyers, airplanes, tanks, etc., strengthens patronage ties with the Navy and Air Force fleets. The Komsomol Central Committee is conducting a mass military-technical examination of Komsomol members. About 1 million members of the Komsomol became “Voroshilov Riflemen”, more than 5 million passed the standards of PVHO, military topography and other military specialties. In 1936 alone, about 4 million people passed the standards for the “Ready for Labor and Defense” badge. On behalf of the party, the Komsomol was engaged in recruiting military schools. On July 1, 1940, among the officers of the Red Army there were 56.4% communists and 22.1% Komsomol members.
The Komsomol did a lot of work in the Communist Youth International, trying to create a united front to fight fascism, against the threat of world war.
The Great War was a severe test for the entire Soviet people and their younger generation. Patriotic War. The Komsomol and all Soviet youth, at the call of the Communist Party, came out to fight the Nazi invaders. Already in the first year of the war, about 2 million Komsomol members joined the ranks of the Red Army. Komsomol members, boys and girls showed unprecedented courage, bravery, and heroism, defending Brest, Liepaja, Odessa, Sevastopol, Smolensk, Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Stalingrad, and other cities and regions of the country from the enemy. The Komsomol organization of Moscow and the region alone sent over 300 thousand people to the front in the first 5 months of the war; 90% of the members of the Leningrad Komsomol organization fought with the invaders on the outskirts of the city of Lenin. Young partisans and underground fighters from Belarus, the occupied regions of the RSFSR, Ukraine, and the Baltic states acted fearlessly behind enemy lines. The partisan detachments consisted of 30-45% Komsomol members. Unparalleled heroism was shown by members of underground Komsomol organizations - “Young Guard” (Krasnodon), “Partisan Spark” (Nikolaev region), Lyudinovskaya underground Komsomol group (Kaluga region), underground Komsomol members of the village. Obol (Vitebsk region), Khotin (Bukovina), Kaunas (Lithuanian SSR), etc.
Komsomol members worked selflessly in the rear, providing the front with everything necessary. A significant portion of front-line orders fell on the shoulders of young people who came to enterprises to replace those drafted into the army. The Komsomol members put forward the slogan: “Work for yourself and for a comrade who has gone to the front!” A movement has developed in youth groups to exceed production and assignments by 2-3 or more times, thousands of workers, multi-machine operators. By the end of the war, there were over 154 thousand front-line Komsomol youth brigades in industry. By working on Sundays and overtime, young people contributed tens of millions of rubles to the country’s defense fund. Boys and girls, teenagers, along with women, have become the main force in agriculture. 70% of trained rural machine operators at that time were young people.
Of the 7 thousand Heroes of the Sov. Union under the age of 30, 3.5 thousand are Komsomol members (60 of them are twice Heroes of the Soviet Union), 3.5 million Komsomol members were awarded orders and medals. The names of the members of the Komsomol who died in the fight against the fascist invaders: Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Alexander Chekalin, Lisa Chaikina, Alexander Matrosov, Yuri Smirnov, Victor Talalikhin, Grigory Kagamlyk, Gafur Mamedov, Alexandra Passar, Marite Melnikaite, Imanta Sudmalisa, Noya Adamiya, Feodosius Smolyachkov and pl. others - have become a symbol of courage, courage, heroism. For outstanding services to the Motherland during the Great Patriotic War, the war and for the great work in educating Soviet youth in the spirit of selfless devotion to the socialist Fatherland of the Komsomol by Decree of the Presidium of the Top. On June 14, 1945, he was awarded the Order of Lenin by the USSR Council.
The Komsomol invested enormous work in restoring the national economy destroyed by the Nazi invaders, in the construction of Minsk, Smolensk, Stalingrad, in the restoration of Leningrad, Kharkov, Kursk, Voronezh, Sevastopol, Odessa, Rostov-on-Don and many others. other cities, in the revival of industry and cities of Donbass, Dneproges, collective farms, state farms and MTS. In 1948 alone, 6,200 rural power plants were built and put into operation by youth. The Komsomol showed great concern for the placement of children and adolescents left without parents, for the expansion of the network of orphanages and vocational schools, and for the construction of schools.
In the 40-50s. The Komsomol helped to build large hydraulic structures (Volga-Don Canal), powerful hydroelectric power stations (Volzhskaya named after Lenin, Kuibyshevskaya, Kakhovskaya, etc.).
In 1948, the Komsomol celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. Oct 28 1948 Presidium Top. The Soviet of the USSR awarded the Komsomol the second Order of Lenin.
The Komsomol took an active part in the implementation of measures developed by the party to boost agriculture. Thousands of young specialists, workers and employees, and high school graduates were sent to state farms, collective farms, and MTS. In 1954-55, St. went out on Komsomol vouchers to develop the virgin lands of Kazakhstan, Altai, and Siberia. 350 thousand young people. Their work was a real feat. By Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme. The USSR Council for active participation in communist construction and especially for the development of virgin lands of the Komsomol on November 5, 1956, was awarded the third Order of Lenin.
In subsequent years, the scope of the Komsomol’s activities in solving national economic problems, in particular in the development of the riches of Siberia, expanded significantly. Far East and the Far North, in the redistribution of the country's labor resources. All-Union detachments numbering more than 70 thousand people were formed, over 500 thousand young people were sent to new buildings. With the active participation of young people, about 1,500 important facilities were built and put into operation, including the largest in the world - the Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station, the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant, the Baikal-Amur Mainline named after the Lenin Komsomol, the Druzhba oil pipeline, etc. The Komsomol patronized 100 impact construction projects , including the development of the unique oil and gas resources of the Tyumen and Tomsk regions. Student construction teams have become a tradition for Komsomol members of universities. Millions of students took part in labor semesters. At the initiative of the Komsomol, the construction of youth residential complexes became widespread. Youth residential complexes have been built in 156 cities and regions of the country. The Komsomol is the initiator of all-Union campaigns to places of revolutionary, military and labor glory, in which millions of boys and girls participate. The children's and youth competitions “Golden Puck”, “Leather Ball”, “Olympic Spring”, “Neptune” and the all-Union military sports game “Zarnitsa”, held by the Komsomol Central Committee, became truly widespread. The Komsomol and Soviet youth organizations collaborated with international, regional, national and local youth organizations in 129 countries. On July 5, 1956, the Committee of Youth Organizations of the USSR was created, on May 10, 1958, the Bureau of International youth tourism"Satellite".
The highest Komsomol award, which had prestige in society, was the Lenin Komsomol Prize. Only a few received it - “stars of the first magnitude”. Over 25 years (from 1966 to 1991), 5,527 people became laureates.
The Komsomol paid great attention to the political education of youth. The central link of this system was the Higher Komsomol School under the Komsomol Central Committee, created in 1969. Over the years of its existence, high school students received higher and second degrees. higher education over 20 thousand people plus almost 10 thousand foreigners from 110 countries. More than 1,000 people have completed postgraduate studies and defended their dissertations.
In 1968, for outstanding services and great contribution of Komsomol members to the formation and strengthening of Soviet power, courage and heroism shown in battles with the enemies of the socialist Fatherland, active participation in the construction of socialism, for fruitful work on the political education of younger generations in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Komsomol awarded the Order of the October Revolution.
This was a well-deserved reward. No other socio-political organization has received such high recognition of its merits. And it was completely justified. For many years, Komsomol was truly a real life school for Soviet youth. The functional elasticity of the Komsomol allowed it to find its application in the most diverse spheres of life in Soviet society and made it an indispensable assistant to the party in all matters.
But the situation gradually began to change, and it changed especially dramatically in the second half of the 80s. This period is much more difficult than all the previous difficult periods with which the Russian history. Evolutionary processes in the Komsomol proceeded without the proper political will to implement them, and did not find the proper response and support from members of the Komsomol. The Komsomol organization deteriorated following the degeneration of the party. It was struck by the same diseases: formalism, hushing up shortcomings, the gap between word and deed, the weak influence of the Komsomol on solving youth problems, excessive centralization of leadership, the deep contradiction between the democratic nature of the organization and bureaucratic methods of leadership, between the desire of young people for something new and forms that have been frozen for decades work.
In a belated attempt to revive the activities of the Komsomol, the 20th Congress adopted a new Charter, which significantly expanded the rights of primary Komsomol organizations, including in the economic sphere. In addition to this, in August 1988, the Council of Ministers of the USSR, by its Resolution, provided the Komsomol with serious tax benefits, which caused the rapid growth of youth self-supporting organizations.
Thus, the Komsomol was among the first organizations and economic entities to switch to the principles of full economic accounting and self-financing. We can say that the Komsomol has become a testing ground for the market mechanism in the country. In cities, “innovative”, as they would say today, platforms for working with youth began to be created - Youth Houses. Those. a destructive injection of alien ideology and alien values ​​was made into the body of the Komsomol.
It would seem that here it is - the democratic “perestroika” of the Komsomol is in full swing. But she did not stop the crisis. The organization began to disintegrate. The first “swallow” of the immediate collapse of the Komsomol was the Communist Youth Union of Lithuania, which in 1989 declared its independence. In the same year, the Estonian Komsomol separated. Further more. By 1990, the issue of organizing the now Russian Komsomol was on the agenda. As a result, at the first congress of Komsomol organizations of the RSFSR, held in February 1990, the Komsomol of the RSFSR was formed, although still within the Komsomol.
But it was already said from the rostrum that it was time to reorganize the “single and indivisible” Komsomol into a federation of independent Komsomol organizations, which was done two months later, at the XXI extraordinary congress.
The new model of the Komsomol also required a change in the previous relationship with the party, and the Komsomol finally declared its full political independence. As a result, the Komsomol was significantly ahead of the Communist Party and many public organizations in the “democratization” of union work. V.M. was elected first secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee at this congress. Zyukin.
During the preparation for the 21st Congress of the Komsomol, the Central Committee still believed that there were alternative ideas for the development of the Komsomol: in the form of a movement of political clubs, scientific and technical creativity youth, youth housing complexes, student construction teams, environmental movement, etc. But after the August events of 1991, the Central Committee sharply set a course for the liquidation of the Komsomol as an All-Union organization.
Everything was decided at the XXII Extraordinary Congress of the Komsomol, convened in Moscow in September 1991. This congress was not like any of the previous ones: “there were no orders, no bust of Lenin on the stage, no traditional pioneer greeting. In his report, V. M. Zyukin stated: “The old system is destroyed and with it the organization that was an element of the system must leave political existence. The existence of the Komsomol even in new clothes is objectively impossible.” The fate of the Komsomol was predetermined.
Of course, after the ban on the CPSU and the collapse of the entire socialist system The Komsomol, as part of the system (political and social), could not survive alone.
All this happened in the immediate historical past of the Komsomol, and its lessons are directly related to what is happening today.
Today, young people are disunited and subject to the corrupting influence of the social environment formed over the years of the so-called democracy, which plunges them into a state of hopelessness, dragging them into drug addiction, pushing them into crimes, etc. Young people are afraid for their future.
At the same time, other processes are also taking place. There is a renaissance of left-wing ideas among young people. Life makes young people increasingly think about what is happening around them, about social injustice, about the gap between rich and poor. You can increasingly see young people at protest rallies.
Fortunately, the Komsomol has not died, it lives and fights in new conditions, having been reborn as the Russian Leninist Communist Youth League. The Russian Komsomol is gaining strength and experience in political struggle, reviving the traditions of the Leninist Komsomol, such as, for example, supporting defrauded shareholders, providing assistance to the struggling Donbass, organizing student construction teams, etc. Time has given birth to new youth leaders who have already declared themselves. These are Vladimir Isakov, and Yaroslav Listov, and Maria Drobot, and Georgy Kamnev, and Anatoly Dolgachev, and many others.
The future belongs to the young, and it is they who will revive socialist Russia.
Ivan Nikitchuk,
Chairman of the Central Council of RUSO

On October 29, 1918, at the First All-Russian Congress of Unions of Workers' and Peasants' Youth, a decision was made to unite individual disparate unions into an all-Russian organization with a single center, working under the leadership of the Bolshevik Communist Party - the Russian Communist Youth Union (RCYU).

In 1924, after the death of V.I. Lenin, it received the name of the leader, and in 1926 it was renamed the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (VLKSM). Over 73 years, more than 160 million people passed through the ranks of the Komsomol. For example, in 1977 alone, over 36 million young people of all nations and nationalities of the USSR were members of the Komsomol.


One of the bright pages in the history of the Komsomol was the initiation and support in 1978–1990 of the YHC (youth housing complex) movement - a large-scale socio-economic experiment that escaped centralized control. The activists of the new youth movement, having comprehended the foundations of the ideology of building communism and in practice encountered the essence of this ideology, in the late 1980s moved to the position of democratization and decommunization of the country. In fact, representatives of the MWK at the last, XXI Congress of the Komsomol, were the main supporters of the liquidation of the All-Union communist organization youth.


The decision to dissolve the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union was made on September 27–28, 1991 at the XXII Extraordinary Congress of the Komsomol.
IN modern Russia The ideological successors of the Komsomol are various youth public organizations.



Were some kind of people once upon a time
Young children and boys.
It's good, that's good.
And be careful not to be lazy.
Stɑρшux u dρyg-dρygɑ yʙɑzhɑlu,
Hugo was not bullied anywhere.
My body hurts a lot
This is our mighty loss.
I wish you a good day,
Tex, which means: “Young”,
Tex, who went this way.
Happy birthday, homomol!

The glorious path traveled, the honorably deserved military and labor awards, remained in the past, when all activities began to be reduced to regular reports and events for show, and the organization itself turned into a huge bureaucratic apparatus. Nevertheless (or because of this), among the successful bankers, entrepreneurs, and politicians today there are many former Komsomol leaders of various ranks.

The day is now gone -
Let me pray!
Let him be the one,
We don't need to sing,
I wanted a lot from him,
New thoughts are not warm...
But he WOULD be, that’s the point.
I drink it boldly!

INTRODUCTION

Komsomol is a communist youth movement created in 1918. The All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (VLKSM) was created as a mass socio-political organization of Soviet youth. The All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union was part of the social political system Soviet Union. His fate was closely connected with the fate of the country, and his disappearance from the political arena was a natural result of the perestroika process.

According to B. Bazhanov, Stalin’s secretary in the 20s, the idea of ​​organizing a Komsomol was put forward by L. A. Shatskin: “Shatskin was a very smart, cultured and capable young man... He was the one who invented the Komsomol and was its creator and organizer.” Memoirs of B. Bazhanov // stepanov01.narod.ru/library/bazan.htm

In the Komsomol Charter, which was in force before the start of perestroika, it was written: “The Komsomol is an active assistant and reserve of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union... The Komsomol sees the whole meaning of its activities in the implementation of the decisions of the party and the Soviet government, the implementation of the great Program for building a communist society in the USSR” Charter of the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union. M., 1986. P. 3..

The activities of the Komsomol in different periods were assessed ambiguously. Research literature of the 1960s and 1970s. replete with examples of military and labor exploits of Komsomol members. 1980s characterized by sharp criticism of the Communist Party and Komsomol. And only after the collapse of the Soviet Union do works appear whose authors try to comprehend the historical experience of the formation and actual activities of the communist youth union.

In this work, an attempt is made to turn to the history of the emergence and development of the All-Russian Komsomol organization and to identify its ideology, features of the implementation of ideas, and methods of educating Komsomol members.

The purpose of the work is to study the methods, techniques and features of educating Komsomol members. To do this, it is necessary to solve a number of problems:

· trace the history of the emergence of the Komsomol as a unified socio-political organization of youth

· characterize the organizational foundations of the Komsomol;

· identify the main tasks that were set for the Komsomol;

· trace the connection between the Komsomol and the pioneer organization;

· find out the positive and negative aspects in the education of Soviet youth.

History of the creation of the Komsomol and the system of education of Komsomol members

The history of the emergence of the unified communist youth union

The history of the Komsomol, the proletarian youth movement, is inextricably linked with the history socialist revolution and the leadership of the Communist Party for building communism. Under the influence of the labor movement at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The student movement intensified in the country. Bolshevik organizations in the highest educational institutions helped the party unite the democratic students, propagated the ideas of Marxism. Following the workers in revolutionary struggle The peasantry took part. Noting this fact, V.I. Lenin wrote that “in the Russian village there appeared new type- a conscientious young peasant. He communicated with the “strikers”, he read newspapers, he told peasants about events in the cities, urging them to fight against large landowners, nobles, against priests and officials” Lenin’s Komsomol. Essays on the history of the Komsomol. M., 1963. P. 34. V.I. Lenin constantly drew the party’s attention to the tasks of revolutionary education of youth. The draft resolution of the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP “On the attitude towards student youth,” written by Lenin, noted that the spontaneously developing youth movement needed help from proletarian revolutionaries, especially in the matter of educating “a coherent and consistent socialist worldview.” In December 1916, Lenin’s article “Youth International” was published, which said that “boiling”, seething, searching youth must be led skillfully.” The Bolsheviks worked with young people in factories and factories, in villages, in legal societies, Sunday schools, in soldiers' barracks, and in illegal circles. The Bolshevik Party was the organizer of the proletarian youth movement. On June 7 (20), 1917, a model charter of the Union of Working Youth of Russia, compiled by N.K. Krupskaya N.K., was published in Pravda. Pedagogical essays. T. 5. M., 1959. P. 563.

The Komsomol, according to modern researchers, is a child of the civil war with its strict centralization of government and the subordination of all forces and means to the fulfillment of the main ideological task for the entire Soviet Republic - defending the young socialist Fatherland from the encroachments of internal counter-revolution and external intervention Galagan A.A. Undiscovered pages of history: about the white spots and black holes in the history of the Lenin Komsomol. Saratov, 1989. P. 32.. The war dictated both the form of political unification of youth unions, and the methods of intra-union life, and the style of leadership of social organizations of workers.

The outbreak of a civil war, victory in which could only be ensured on the basis of the united will and actions of the party and the people, and the becoming real phenomenon of a one-party political system of the dictatorship of the proletariat caused everywhere and almost simultaneously the desire of youth unions to unite the efforts of all existing youth unions. In the face of the mortal danger hanging over our revolution, the idea of ​​universal unity under the banner of October became dominant. This idea permeated the activities of the Organizational Bureau for convening the First Congress of Unions of Workers' and Peasants' Youth, which took place in October-November 1918: it was this idea that was the catalyst that accelerated the convening of this congress and proclaimed the creation of the RKSM.

The appeal of the Organizing Bureau, formed to prepare for the congress, said: “... The revolutionary enthusiasm that gripped all the youth since the beginning of the revolution helped them find their friends in the struggle for socialism. ...We are fighters... We all feel how weak our organizations are to prepare us to build a new life. But if we fail, if our attempts at construction have led to nothing, then we will solve these problems all together.” Documents of congresses, conferences and the Central Committee of the Komsomol, T. 1. M., 1969, p. 5-6.. Here there is a clear call for joint coordinated activities of various youth unions. It is no coincidence that the congress was constituted and opened as the First All-Russian Congress of Unions of Workers' and Peasants' Youth. The speeches of the delegates on the first day of the opening of the congress showed, as the congress delegate and member of its presidium M. Akhmanov wrote, “the most varied picture of the diverse activities of local youth organizations ... from the heroic struggle at the front and in the underground among the whites - to the organization of dance courses.” And, characteristically, none of the delegates even touched upon the issue of the need for a unified youth union on a national scale, although representatives of Moscow and St. Petersburg pursued this line from the very beginning. Judging by the published protocols of the First Congress of the RKSM, one of the leaders of the Moscow youth union “III International”, Lazar Shatskin, spoke most definitely. “We need to unite our unions and develop a common program” Documents of congresses, conferences and the Central Committee of the Komsomol, T. 1. M., 1969, p. 11-12., - he said in his greeting to the congress, but his call remained unheeded. However, already on October 31, at the fourth meeting of the congress, L. Shatskin, who made a report on the Program, spoke about a single youth union as a decided matter. Subsequently, other important issues were hotly debated - about the name of the union, about its organizational structure, finances, the Charter and others, but the very raising of these issues became possible only after the main issue was resolved - about a single youth union. It was the solution to this issue that prompted the restructuring of the agenda of the congress on the fly, which had previously been “drawn up” with an emphasis on the problems of Proletkult. Closing the congress at the morning meeting on November 4, 1918, E. Tseitlin called the most important achievement that “in the upcoming struggle we will act as a single powerful organization.” The last speaker at the congress was L. Shatskin: “I propose, closing the congress, to call it the First Congress of the Russian Communist Youth Union.”

So, the congress, which opened as the First Congress of the Unions of Workers' and Peasants' Youth, completed its work as the First Congress of the RKSM. This is how a unified youth union was formed on a national scale.

Komsomol

Collapse of the Komsomol: after 20 years.

Why did the Komsomol collapse? How did it happen that a giant youth organization, uniting tens of millions of boys and girls, possessing enormous resources, having representation in the highest structures of state power, could not stand up for itself and fell apart like a house of cards? We are unlikely to get a definite answer to such a question, but it is still worth trying to understand the essence of the processes that took place 20 years ago.
In the second half of the 1980s, a crisis broke out in the Komsomol, as an integral part of the entire Soviet system. Serious problems in the Komsomol organization were openly discussed not only in the primary organizations, but also on top level. So in April 1987, at the 20th Congress of the Komsomol, First Secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee V.I. Mironenko publicly stated in his report that “deep contradictions have emerged between the democratic nature of the organization and bureaucratic methods of leadership, between the desire of young people for something new and forms of work that have been frozen for decades.”
Among the reasons for the crisis are V.I. Mironenko highlighted: “a slowdown in economic growth, the hushing up of shortcomings, the residual principle of allocating funds for social needs, a peculiar psychology and ideology of stagnation, a gap between word and deed.” Universal set. Today, almost a quarter of a century later, these problems are still relevant.
In a belated attempt to revive the activities of the Komsomol, the 20th Congress adopted a new Charter, which significantly expanded the rights of primary Komsomol organizations, including in the economic sphere. In addition to this, in August 1988, the Council of Ministers of the USSR, by its Resolution, provided the Komsomol with serious tax benefits, which caused the rapid growth of youth self-supporting organizations. By March of the following 1989, there were already about 30 such associations operating in the Smolensk region.
Thus, the Komsomol was among the first organizations and economic entities to switch to the principles of full economic accounting and self-financing. We can say that the Komsomol has become a testing ground for the market mechanism in the country. In cities, “innovative”, as they would say today, platforms for working with youth began to be created - Youth Houses. One of them was opened in 1987 in Smolensk. At the same time, the Komsomol was given the right to nominate its delegates to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In our region, this was the first secretary of the Komsomol regional committee, Alexander Trudolyubov.
It would seem that here it is - the democratic “perestroika” of the Komsomol is in full swing. But she did not stop the crisis. A clear proof of this was the inexorable reduction in the number of Komsomol organizations at all levels. From 1989 to 1990, the Union shrank by almost 4 million people; in 1989, 58 thousand organizations did not admit a single person to the Komsomol. The ranks of the Smolensk regional organization of the Komsomol from 1986 to 1990, according to reports, decreased from 130.8 thousand to 68.6 thousand boys and girls. The real picture was even worse.
The first “swallow” of the immediate collapse of the Komsomol was the Communist Youth Union of Lithuania, which in 1989 declared its independence. In the same year, the Estonian Komsomol separated. Further more. By 1990, the issue of organizing the now Russian Komsomol was on the agenda. As a result, at the first congress of Komsomol organizations of the RSFSR, held in February 1990, the Komsomol of the RSFSR was formed, although still within the Komsomol.
But it was already said from the rostrum that it was time to reorganize the “single and indivisible” Komsomol into a federation of independent Komsomol organizations, which was done two months later, at the 21st Extraordinary Congress. The new model of the Komsomol also required a change in the previous relationship with the party, and the Komsomol finally declared its full political independence. As a result, the Komsomol was significantly ahead of the Communist Party and many public organizations in the “democratization” of union work. V.M. was elected first secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee at this congress. Zyukin.
During the preparation for the 21st Congress of the Komsomol, the Central Committee still believed that there were alternative ideas for the development of the Komsomol: in the form of a movement of political clubs, a movement of scientific and technical creativity of youth, youth housing complexes, student construction teams, an environmental movement, etc. But after the August events of 1991, the Central Committee sharply took a course towards the liquidation of the Youth Komsomol as an All-Union organization.
Everything was decided at the XXII Extraordinary Congress of the Komsomol, convened in Moscow in September 1991. According to the recollections of the participants, this congress was not like any of the previous ones: “there were no orders, no white bust of Ilyich on the stage, no traditional pioneer greeting.” In his report, V. M. Zyukin stated: “The old system is destroyed and with it the organization that was an element of the system must leave political existence. The existence of the Komsomol even in new clothes is objectively impossible.” The fate of the Komsomol was predetermined, although the reasoning for this conclusion was very unconvincing, and many things caused bewilderment.
The only issue that was actively discussed at the congress was further fate Komsomol property. The Bureau of the Central Committee of the Komsomol proposed its own option: the legal successor of the Komsomol becomes the constituent entities of the federation and local organizations, between which most of the property is distributed. This is what they agreed on: reorganization through division.
The real estate of the Komsomol was transferred to the balance of the Sodrugestvo-91 enterprise for joint shared ownership and use by labor collectives of enterprises, editorial offices, and organizations. Cash distributed among 23 legal successors, based on the number of members of the youth union. The Central Committee apparatus was abolished. The congress adopted an Agreement on the creation of a Coordination Council, which was tasked with conducting a negotiation process for 10 months on cooperation between youth organizations of independent states with the goal of the possible creation of an inter-republican youth structure. But no real action was taken towards this.
The last attempt to preserve the Komsomol was made by the Russian delegates to the congress. They gathered in Moscow in October 1991 at the first conference of the Russian Komsomol, at which it was decided to create on the basis of the Komsomol of the RSFSR a new, now non-political, non-governmental and non-profit organization, namely, the Russian Youth Union. He became the legal successor of the Komsomol in Russia.
Thus ended the history of the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union, an organization with whose name the youth of many generations was associated, starting in 1918.

Valentin Semenov,
Head of the Museum of the History of the Youth Movement
at LLC Soyuz DM (Youth House)

Komsomol is a mass patriotic organization of Soviet youth. There are no other examples in history of a youth movement that, over the years of its existence, has reached more than 160 million people and could boast of real achievements. Civil War, labor five-year plans, heroism during the Great Patriotic War, virgin lands, Komsomol shock construction projects - all this is the Komsomol. The birth of the Komsomol is not an act imposed from above, it is the unification of the energy and heat of the hearts of young people who dream of being useful to their Motherland.

Background

The initiator and ideologist of the organizational completion of attempts to create numerous youth groups was V.I. Lenin. And they were created even before the revolution. At first, youth primary groups were formed within the party and united workers and students. It was the students who were the most revolutionary class of that time. During the period of Dual Power (February-October 1917), when history could have turned either towards the bourgeois or towards the socialist system, N.K. Krupskaya and V.I. Lenin developed a program of revolutionary youth associations.

Organizations were created in large cities that became the basis for creating a structure on an all-Russian scale. For example, the SSRM (Union of Socialist Working Youth) in Petrograd, approaching the birthday of the Komsomol.

Congress of Workers' and Peasants' Youth

At the height of the Civil War (1918), the first congress of delegates from scattered youth organizations throughout the country took place in Moscow. 176 people came from everywhere: from territories captured by the White Guards, as well as by the German army (Ukraine, Poland); from the separated Finland and the self-proclaimed Baltic republics, as well as from Japanese-occupied Vladivostok. They were united by the desire to create a new power built on the principles of justice. The opening day of the congress (October 29) will go down in history as the birthday of the Komsomol, which united more than 22 thousand people.

In the adopted charter and program all-Russian organization it was said that it was independent, but acted under the leadership of the Communist Party, which determined its ideological orientation. The main speaker was Lazar Abramovich Shatskin, the author of the program. His name is little known in the country, because within a few years he would be shot for being accused of Trotskyism. Like many other first secretaries of the Central Committee who headed the organization up to

Symbols of RKSM

The lists of delegates to the first congress were not preserved even in the archives. Subsequently, the task arose of identifying membership in an organization called RKSM (Russian Communist Youth Union). Already in 1919, Komsomol tickets appeared. During the civil war, during which the Central Committee announced three mobilizations, they were kept and protected at the cost of their lives. A little later the first icons appeared. Their release, at first in insufficient quantities, was carried out by the Komsomol itself. The birth of the Komsomol was immortalized with four letters RKSM against the background of a flag with a star. Badges were also awarded to the best representatives of the organization.

Since 1922, a new uniform form was approved with the abbreviation KIM, meaning youth. The form would also change in 1947, acquiring its final form only in 1956. It will already be awarded to everyone joining the ranks of the organization along with a Komsomol card.

Komsomol tasks

In 1920, the Civil War was still ongoing, but it became clear that the Red Army was winning. This posed serious tasks for the Bolshevik Party to restore the destroyed economy, create the country’s energy base and create a new society. The state needed competent personnel, so 2.10. 1920 at the next (IIIrd) Komsomol congress V.I. made a speech. Lenin, who defined the mission of the newly created organization: to study communism. It already consisted of 482 thousand people.

In the year the Komsomol was born, it was important to win, but now it was necessary to form the generation that was to live in different social conditions. The military front was to be replaced by a labor front. Grand achievements in pre-war years became possible thanks to the participation of working youth in collectivization, Komsomol construction projects, patronage of general education, the movement of “thousanders” (who fulfilled the plan 1000%) and obtaining a higher education vocational education(workers' faculties). Many Western analysts believed that the success of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War became possible thanks to the education of a person of a new formation, putting the interests of the country above personal ones, in which the Komsomol succeeded.

The birth of the Komsomol: the name of V. I. Lenin

In January 1924, the country was shocked by the news of the death of V.I. Lenin, the leader of the world proletariat and leader of the country. In the summer of the same year, the VI Congress of the RKSM took place, at which the issue of naming the Komsomol after V.I. Lenin was decided. The address spoke of a firm determination to live, fight and work like Lenin. His book “Tasks of Youth Unions” became a reference book for every Komsomol member.

The birthday of the Leninist Komsomol (12.07) added the letter “L” to the abbreviation of the organization’s name, and over the next two years it was called RLKSM.

Status of an all-Union organization

The date is considered to be December 30, 1922, when four republics became part of the union state: the RSFSR, the Byelorussian SSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Transcaucasian SFSR. The Komsomol organization received all-Union status in 1926 at the VII Congress. The birthday of the USSR Komsomol is March 11, while the Komsomol of all union republics was preserved. This structure existed until the Komsomol was alive. The birth of the Komsomol in 1918 ended with its self-dissolution in September 1991, which was associated with the collapse of the Union. Despite the emergence of organizations that consider themselves the legal successors of the Komsomol - the Komsomol of the Russian Federation, the RKSM, the RKSM (b), such mass structure no longer exists in the history of the country. In 1977, its members were 36 million people, almost the entire population of the country from 14 to 28 years old.