The "Chelyabinsk Komsomol Case", 1949: on the work of regional committees of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League in the post-war period

The article considers problems that regional Komsomol committees faced in the post-war period. These problems are described on the example of the Chelyabinsk regional committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (AULYCL) which headed one of the largest Komsomol organizations of Soviet Union and was involved in a resonant scandal in 1949. On the basis of archival documents it was established that the Komsomol bodies of Chelyabinsk Oblast felt shortage of material resources and experienced personnel in the post-war period. During the war these objective difficulties were partially overcome by the enthusiasm of Komsomol members and an active work of the Komsomol regional committee. After the war, the value of patriotism as a mobilizing factor decreased, and the quality of Komsomol staff considerably worsened. In 1946-1948 the leadership of the Chelyabinsk regional committee of AULYCL was twice and almost completely renewed, so it became less skilled and efficient. The regional committee also worked unsatisfactorily because its first secretary A.Ya. Borisov abused his official position and fulfilled his duties badly. At the same time the Central Committee of AULYCL weakened control over regional organizations and therefore could not immediately trace and correct the situation in Chelyabinsk. The party leadership of the region knew about the problems of the Komsomol organization, but in order to avoid undesirable consequences it hid them from the central authorities. The situation began to change in the spring of 1949, when the Central Committee of AULYCL, after the XIth Congress, began to check the work of the local bodies more carefully. That is why it attached importance to the incidents in Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk. Investigating these incidents, the Central Committee of AULYCL unexpectedly found serious shortcomings in the Chelyabinsk komsomol organization. The "Chelyabinsk Komsomol Case" was publicized at the same time as "Zaltsman's Case", so it attracted special attention of the Central Committee of CPSU(b) and caused a serious resonance. Not only the leaders of the Chelyabinsk regional committee of AULYCL, but also the secretaries of the Chelyabinsk regional committee of CPSU(b) lost their posts. At the same time the "Chelyabinsk Komsomol Case" inspired the Central Committee of AULYCL to conduct personnel purges in other regions. Large-scale changes of the local leadership were accompanied by a considerable assistance from the center and the party bodies. In 1950-1952 all these measures allowed the regional committees of AULYCL to solve some of their problems and improve their work.

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