On the alternatives in the youth movement of Russia (1917-1920s)

The youth movement in 1917-1920s was presented by a wide range of non-communist political associations. A serious alternative to the Communist Youth League became the opponents of the Bolsheviks: the Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries (SR) and anarchists. Their degree of political activity differed. Associations of anarchists included workers and peasants, intellectuals and young students, regardless of social status and the type of work. Their activity was expressed in the spiritual and cultural development of the individual, in protection of the professional interests of young people. The Komsomol was worried about the rise of these organizations and since 1919 was forced to develop methods for their elimination. An alternative to the Komsomol youth organization were the Mensheviks, some of them united in the Russian Social-Democratic Union of Working Youth (RSDSRM) at the end of 1920. The main objective of its activity was political education and fight against Bolshevism and the Young Communist League. The organization advocated democratization of public order, freedom of strikes, assemblies, speech, press, personal inviolability. Such an activity forced the Young Communist League and the authorities to resort to repression. The organization of the Cheka and GPU monitored the actions of the Mensheviks, made arrests, eliminated the organizations. 1925 was actually the last year of the Menshevik youth organizations. In 1917 - the beginning of the 1920s in many regions of the country peasant and student youth was under the influence of the Socialist Revolutionary propaganda. The fight with the unions of young peasants in the early 1920s turned into the primary task of the Komsomol. For this it used different means of agitation and propaganda: press, rallies, demonstrations. However, there were forms of physical confrontation. Unlike the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, the Socialist-Revolutionary Party thought that mass youth associations should be politically neutral, organizationally independent and autonomous from the party. In the basis of the socialist unions lay the development of en-lightment, cultural and moral education. SR youth associations promoted the independence of agriculture free from state coercion, were in favor of the independence of schools and the development of student self-government, freedom of the press and cooperation. After the trial of the Socialist Party their youth organizations are beginning to disappear. During the 1920s with the active participation of the Komsomol there were prepared activities aimed at the destruction of alternative youth associations. The main tool in this fight was the party and administrative resources. Deprived of the material and ideological basis and the actual legal right to existence the youth organizations of the Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries and anarchists actually ceased their activities.

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