Translated material
Eternal youth
The 90th anniversary of the Komsomol was celebrated throughout the country
On October 29, the Komsomol organization celebrated its 90th anniversary. Officially, it ceased to exist almost twenty years ago, but the organization’s birthday is widely celebrated throughout Russia. Yesterday, for example, the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region Valery Shantsev met with the former first secretaries of the regional committee of the Komsomol. And in Adygea, in honor of the holiday, an anniversary alley of 90 trees was planted. Other regions of the country also did not lag behind. Ceremonial events took place in almost all constituent entities of the Russian Federation.The Komsomol was created on October 29, 1918, when the first All-Russian Congress of Unions of Workers' and Peasants' Youth was held. The new youth organization received the name of the Russian Communist Youth Union (RKSM), and in 1926 it was renamed the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (VLKSM).
“The anniversary of the Komsomol is a real national holiday. After all, the Komsomol is the nest from which a colossal part of modern society entered adulthood. It is worth noting: for those who went through the Komsomol school of life, the experience gained greatly helped them in the future. The Komsomol provided unique skills in organizational work and teamwork. The Komsomol provided colossal spiritual and moral baggage, because the essence of the Komsomol is collective creation, coupled with enthusiasm and a comradely atmosphere,” First Deputy Chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Central Committee, Vice-Speaker of the State Duma Ivan Melnikov told a Vremya Novostey correspondent.
The Komsomol is remembered with kind words not only by the communists, but also by the current party in power. It is not for nothing that United Russia deputy Artur Chilingarov joined the organizing committee of the Komsomol 90 holiday. And yesterday’s meeting of the State Duma began with congratulations from the lips of United Russia. First Vice Speaker of the State Duma, deputy head of the United Russia faction Oleg Morozov congratulated the deputies on the Komsomol’s birthday, noting: “We have all grown out of this overcoat.” The parliamentarians responded to this with thunderous applause. Speaker of the State Duma, chairman of the bureau of the Supreme Council of the party in power, Boris Gryzlov, also did not remain in debt to the Komsomol. “It was also a very pleasant period of life for me,” said the speaker. The coordinator of the Communist Party faction in the State Duma, Anatoly Lokot, congratulated all deputies and members of the government, except for Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Russia Alexei Kudrin. He explained this by the fact that the minister had not yet come to the chamber with a report on the state of the stabilization fund.
“What did the Komsomol sing about? Honesty, conscience, fatherland, work, justice. Yes, there was an organizing role of the CPSU. But these values corresponded to the aspirations of young people. The Komsomol also expanded the life opportunities of young people. I’ll give you my example: working in student construction teams, I earned money for a cooperative apartment,” says Ivan Melnikov. - Without exaggeration, there were tens of thousands of such people. Is this possible today? Of course not. And what can the current unified youth structure, created from above, sing about? Searching for a compromise with big business, striving for increased profits, individualism? This will not be a chanting of pure thoughts, but a chanting of power, which is unnatural for young people, among whom there are always many critically thinking people.”
The chairman of the unregistered Republican Party of Russia, Vladimir Ryzhkov, remembers his Komsomol youth differently. “In our school the Komsomol did nothing. And then, when I entered the university, it was already Gorbachev’s time, perestroika was underway. And I participated in the liquidation of the Komsomol organization. Thus, I remember the Komsomol at school for its complete inaction, and at the university for the process of its self-dissolution. I have never held any positions in the Komsomol,” Mr. Ryzhkov told a Vremya Novostei correspondent.
Today, the successor to the Komsomol is the Communist Youth Union (SCM), the youth organization of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Now she is going through hard times. Last summer, part of the SCM, led by Konstantin Zhukov, held a congress at which they rejected the leaders of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and swore allegiance to A Just Russia. The other part of SCM, headed by Yuri Afonin, remained under the banners of the Communist Party and Comrade Zyuganov. Since then, two parallel structures have been operating, and their mutual claims are gathering dust somewhere in the judicial authorities.
Meanwhile, the liberal part of society is accustomed to ironically calling completely different structures, pro-Kremlin youth organizations: “Nashi” and the “Young Guard of United Russia” “Komsomol”. Young people are not offended by such comparisons, quite the contrary. Recently, Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov expressed the opinion that the positive aspects of the Komsomol were and remain an indisputable fact. And the chairman of the federal political council of the Young Guard, Ruslan Gattarov, said that his organization, like the Komsomol, is training “qualified, competitive, effective personnel,” preparing young people “for successful work in politics, business, production, and the social sphere.”
But the communists do not approve of such imitation. “There is no need to weave Komsomol traditions into today’s youth movements in power,” says Ivan Melnikov. — Of course, it’s not so simple: all kinds of people join these movements, and I don’t want to say that they are all selfish people looking for a career. Many come for good reasons, they believe that it is patriotic, that they can realize themselves there. But such an organization as in the Komsomol cannot develop there. The true Komsomol is an organization with leftist views, it is a communist vector. And we will still come to the point where such an organization will become big and strong again.”