The Presidential Library’s new collection marking Komsomol’s centenary anniversary

Marking the centenary anniversary of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol), the Presidential Library has provided a collection revealing the huge contribution of the younger generation to the formation and development of the young state. The collection presents a chronological structure and is divided into four periods: “1920s”, “1930s”, “1940s (Soviet-Finnish War, Great Patriotic War)”, “1950s-80s”.

In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, when the student movement became more active in Russia, V. I. Lenin in theoretical works noted the importance of propaganda among the youth and the need to involve it in the revolutionary struggle. At the VI Congress of the RSDRP (b) in July-August 1917, it was decided to establish in Russian cities youth organizations (Youth Workers Unions) associated with the party.

On October 29, 1918, the First All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Peasants' Youth Unions opened. This day is considered the day of Komsomol’s formation. In July 1924, the Russian Young Communist League was named after V. I. Lenin. In connection with the formation of the USSR, the Komsomol in March 1926 was renamed the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth Union. The organization welcomed young men and women aged 14 to 28 years.

At enterprises, in collective and state farms, in educational institutions, in the army, primary organizations of Komsomol were formed. In the collection of materials “Komsomol in the Village” (1924), the work of the Youth Communist League’s primary cells in the Tambov province is described in detail: “The cell organizes the political readings for all members, but in addition to these readings, which familiarize Komsomol members with the history and importance of agriculture, with the agrarian policy of the Communist Party, with agriculture and other issues, it is necessary to pay serious attention to the general educational development of the members, without which it will be very complicated to understand political literacy”.

Komsomol members were active participants in the Civil War. The following figures are cited in the collection of the Presidential Library: in 1918-1920 Komsomol sent over 75,000 of its members to the Red Army. In the 1920s and 1930s, Komsomol members participated in rebuilding a destroyed economy, assisted the authorities in the fight against banditry, and carried out propaganda and educational work in the villages. 

N. Bukharin’s report at the 9th Provincial Congress of the Moscow Young Communist League organization on March 23, 1925 “Komsomol, for the in-depth Bolshevik work!”, the editor of the Pravda newspaper, a member of the Executive Committee, announced a forecast that came true in an accelerated timeframe thanks to the widespread system work with by young people: “During this period, when there are no direct battles, there is a powerful craving for in-depth work, the brains are redone in such a way that for future battles we will come in much more uniform, much more close ranks than we have gone to battles until recently”.

The most interesting correspondence of Tver Komsomol members with Alexei Maksimovich Gorky “Letters from Sorrento” (1936) in the editorship of B. Polevoj is also presented: “Maybe because now time is running for me as overlapping, and because I remember too well the painful step of the past but it seems to me that you, Komsomol, are growing surprisingly fast. This is not a compliment to a person who wants to be liked, but really my impression ... "

Komsomol welcomed people to the collectivization and industrialization. With the active participation of Komsomol, the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant, the Moscow and Gorky Automobile Plants, the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant were built. As part of the cultural revolution, Komsomol members held a cultural campaign to eradicate illiteracy.

Since the beginning of Great Patriotic War in the first year, about two million Komsomol members joined the Red Army. In the enemy's rear, there were underground Komsomol organizations: "Molodaya Gvardiya" (Krasnodon), "Partizanskaya iskra" (Nikolaev region) and others. During the war, three and a half million Komsomol members were awarded orders and medals. But there were much more real, modest and courageous war heroes!

The collection of essays and stories “Komsomol of the city of Lenin” of the blockade of 1943 contains a story by E. Polyakov “St. Petersburg sourdough” with a plotting story: “One projectile went straight to the bunker where Zabelin, the young machine gunner, was sitting. The guy was still alive, but during the explosion his legs were pressed with soil. Three days in the fierce winter Zabelin laid under fire, squeezed with logs. By night we brought him food and water. On the fourth day they went on the attack and pulled Pavlusha out of the logs. I asked him how he managed to endure these three days without dropping a tear. He looked at me as if with surprise, then he unfastened the left pocket of the gymnast and showed me a little book: that was the ticket of the Leningrad Komsomol member.

After the war, the party actively attracted Komsomol to the implementation of national economic plans. In 40–50s, Komsomol helped to build large hydraulic structures (Volga-Don Canal), hydropower plants (Volzhsakaya named after Lenin, Kuibyshevskaya, Kakhovskaya, etc.). For land reclamation of virgin lands of Kazakhstan, Altai, Siberia more than 350 thousand young people went having passes from Komsomol. The collection about Komsomol features a postcard of 1956 “The task was given to Komsomol by the country, and virgin soil was raised by friendly labor!”.

In 1990, after the XXVIII Congress of the CPSU, which proclaimed the party’s refusal to interfere in the activities of youth organizations, the XXI Congress of the Young Communist League decided on organizational and political independence with respect to the CPSU. After the August crisis, on September 27, 1991, the XX Extraordinary Congress of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League disbanded the organization.