Komsomol

The All-Union Leninist Communist League of Youth, founded in 1918, incorporating almost all persons between the ages of 14 and 28. Its purpose being the socialization of youth in the thought and ways of the Communist Party, it served as a recruiting ground for party membership. It was disbanded in 1991.

Komsomol (Комсомол) is a syllabic abbreviation word, from the Russian Kommunisticheskiy Soyuz Molodiozhi (Коммунистический союз молодёжи), or "Communist Union of Youth".

Komsomol served as the youth wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the youngest members being fourteen years old, the upper limit for an age of rank and file being 28, while Komsomol functionaries could be older.

Komsomol had little direct influence on the Communist Party, and on the government of the Soviet Union. But Komsomol played an important role as a mechanism for teaching the values of the CPSU in the young, and as an organ for introducing the young to the political domain. For example, Yuri Andropov, CPSU General Secretary for a short time following Leonid Brezhnev, reached political heights by means of the Komsomol organisation of Karelia.

During the revolution, the Bolsheviks showed no interest in establishing or maintaining a youth wing.

The reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev, perestroika and glasnost, finally recognized that Komsomol was no longer serving the interests of the youth; the calibre of Komsomol leadership was low, and these, along with other structural problems, could no longer be hidden in the new, more open, atmosphere.

During the early stages of perestroika, when private enterprise was cautiously introduced, Komsomol was given privileges in opening businesses, with a motivation to give youth a better chance. At the same time, many Komsomol leaders entered and headed the Russian Regional and State Anti-Monopoly Committees. As a result, many Komsomol activists were given an advantageous foot on the business ladder—Mikhail Khodorkovsky being a prominent example.

The organ of the Komsomol, Komsomolskaya Pravda, survived the organization.

1930 poster urging Komsomol members to join "the Bolshevik shock sowing".

Komsomol on construction of cities, 1958 USSR stamp to the 40th anniversary of VLKSM

1966 Soviet Union stamp dedicated to Komsomol

70th anniversary of VLKSM badge