The first year of joining the Komsomol. Entry procedure, symbols, organizational structure of the Komsomol organization
Natasha was 14 years old when, from June 21 to 22, she traveled by train with many peers to Grodno for a youth rally, where she, along with others, was to be accepted into the Komsomol. She was still wearing a pioneer tie, a pioneer camp-festive uniform with all its accessories - white clean socks, which were pulled over thin tights, because it could be cold on the road, under a thin field-tailored jacket there was a white shirt, which was crowned with a red tie and a brown school skirt with piquant frills.
At the beginning of five in the morning, something unimaginable began: explosions all around, an air raid on the train, where half of it was bombed, screams, horror. It was about 50 km to Grodno. We remained in a stop, somewhere in a field near the highway, which lay parallel to the railway tracks.
The survivors, including Natasha, gripped with fear, looked in alarm through the windows of the carriages from which they did not leave, as on the western side, after the silence that followed, the noise grew. A few minutes later, tanks and cars in which they were sitting began to drive past on the highway. German soldiers. Seeing all this, involuntarily, for a moment, the memory of the day before yesterday flashed in the mind of the pioneer, where she stood on watch at the monument to the hero of the Civil War at the ceremonial line in the same clothes. She stood proudly, knowing that not a single enemy would get into her homeland and that she herself would always be under the protection of such heroes, at whose obelisks she then stood.
But the enemy broke through. A huge mechanized column, raising dust, crawled to the east and did not pay any attention to them. It seemed like there was no end to it, but finally it dried up and everyone took a breath. The sun had already fully come into its own.
But then the noise of engines was heard again. This time the soldiers were somehow different from those who had advanced earlier. These have already stopped. In some places they forcefully expelled everyone from the carriages. They beat some people with rifle butts, and they shot several people, including children. They lined everyone up at the slope. The officer walked along the line and assessed everyone with his eyes. He walked past Natasha, but then suddenly returned and, taking her roughly by the shoulder, led her far to the side. The same thing happened to several other girls. They were all taken to the bus, except for Natasha, the officer put her in his car. He gave some orders and negotiated with some other officer for a long time. It looked like they were even arguing. But this first one returned and fell heavily into Natasha’s back seat and said something to the driver. He turned around and went to reverse side. When they drove a certain distance, similar shots barely reached Natasha’s ears, but they were not single, but like volleys.
We drove for quite a long time, about four hours at a decent speed. At first everything around was smoking, then the picture changed. Along the road there were some inscriptions in Polish and German. Finally they turned into the depths of the forest. All this time the officer was silent, as if he were a mummy. Distracted anxiety reigned in the girl's head. They drove along the forest road for about 20 more km and finally entered some gates. The officer got out of the car and said to Natasha in broken Russian:
-Come out! Don't be afraid. This is your temporary camp.
The word “camp” sounded to the girl’s ear with a certain hope, because she was the original one and was going to the camp for a rally. They walked past the barracks, where people appeared in certain clothes. There was more sadness on the faces of these people than joy. They looked at the girl with a doomed expression.
Natasha obediently walked forward. She was given nothing else at this time. They followed the back streets and entered the room. Here the officer ordered her to sit at a distance in front of the table and, taking something on the form, began to ask:
-What is your name?-
“Natasha,” the schoolgirl answered quietly.
-How old are you, Natasha? - the officer asked politely.
-It's fourteen now-
-Where were you going? - the German asked unnaturally tenderly.
-I was going to a youth rally-
-For a youth rally? - the interrogator asked sympathetically and softly. - What is a rally and what do they do there? - the interlocutor added in the voice of a storyteller.
“There are a lot of young people there,” Natasha perked up slightly, “and there I was supposed to be accepted into the Komsomol.” I'm still a pioneer now.
“Pioneer...?” the German asked somehow strangely, and his gaze slid towards the girl’s knees, which were shyly pressed close to each other.
“Ah, I heard!” the German said with peculiar softness. - Pioneers are friendly guys! You are taught not to lie, to help the elderly, to sing, to dance and to love your homeland……..
“Yes,” Natasha answered with sympathy, but somewhat modestly. A glimmer of a smile appeared on her face.
“You are a very good girl,” the officer flatteringly praised. “But I didn’t have time to join the Komsomol,” he continued. Then he added, “Are Komsomol members even better than pioneers?”
“Yes, of course,” Natasha perked up even more. - They are much more worthy and stronger.....
-Yes Yes Yes! Stronger! - the German confirmed. - I know. Komsomol members are honest, like you, pure in body and heart, like you. You deserve to be a Komsomol member…….
Natasha was slightly embarrassed by the praise and felt that everything would be fine. Then suddenly she asked:
-Isn’t this a war?
The German smiled cordially, thought a little and answered:
-No, of course, this is not a war. These are big exercises between Germany and the Great Stalin. We agreed to make them so that everyone would believe that this is really so. But everything is not real. Everything, as your pioneers say, is all make-believe.
The officer suddenly looked sloppy and said:
-Oh, I let it slip to you... I told you the whole secret. Now how can we honorably accept you into the Komsomol if you already know everything? But the idea was that supposedly the enemy gave you a test, even on pain of death, but you survived, did not betray the Komsomol, which you will have to join with dignity...
Natasha's eyes sparkled:
-So you are going to accept me into the Komsomol here now!? - she said joyfully.
-Yes, comrade pioneer! - the officer said affirmatively. - Now and right here! But since I’ve already told you a little secret, then let’s, despite this, let’s take this more seriously and formally go through with you all the conditions for worthy admission into the Komsomol, where you will supposedly withstand the tests and courageously accept the title A STRONG and HONEST KOMSOMOLE MEMBER. Then I will personally telegraph Comrade Stalin himself about your high patriotism.....
Natasha again saw an image of herself, where she stands with honor at the obelisk.
The German stood up. Natasha, in her purity, was unable to pay attention to the fact that the officer’s trouser leg bulged out greatly in the area of the fly. He took a couple of candies from the table and, untwisting their candy wrappers, handed them to the teenager.
“Here, have some sweetener and refresh yourself before the exam,” he told her and, when she had already begun to swallow the first candy, he somehow strangely, with his large palm, almost completely clasped her thin delicate neck, with two index fingers he pressed on her trachea, which was dancing as she swallowed, felt her pulse, and then embarrassedly let go, with the direct look of her slightly perplexed eyes.
You have the strong neck of a Komsomol member! - he said almost solemnly, and then a little more moderately, - And we will break them...!
“What should I break?” without suspecting anything, Natasha asked with slight misunderstanding.
“To break our enemies,” the German clarified. Then he said, “Sit here for a while, I’ll go do something.” Here's some more candy for you, don't be shy, eat it. Here's some lemonade, drink it. There is no cake. Swallow everything, then we will give all the plumbing a major preventive maintenance, clamp all the pipes, clean some places………
Natasha's eyes responded with a lack of understanding of the topic. He caught it and said: “I’m just kidding, don’t be embarrassed.” Tomorrow you will go home. We’ll telegraph your mom to meet you……..
The German returned an hour later. During this time, he thoroughly prepared everything for “joining the Komsomol” and agreed with his superiors that he still had somewhat unresolved matters in the Polish rear, where he might return to the proposal that his work would still continue for some time here in camp, in the light of the ideas and plans of the Reich. He still couldn’t tell himself exactly what he should actually do next, move forward eastward, towards great deeds and victories, or stay here. He was brought back here, unexpectedly for himself, by the impulse of suddenly taking over the life of a juicy schoolgirl. He had never personally hanged anyone before. He stupidly shot all sorts of goons, as it seemed to him, and he did it with a sense of duty. But, here she is. Maybe she reminded him of someone? Maybe yes. Probably my first unrequited love. She then owned it completely, but it was not in demand. He suffered for a long time. I was ready to throw myself at her feet. He hated her and at the same time loved her dearly. As time went. But what could he do? He often tore her clothes in his thoughts and tore her legs apart. Lust, instead of love, took possession of him more and more. And finally, one day an impulse came to hang her passionately. But the law, society, opinions, etc. All these foundations. He could only hang her in his fantasies, where she remained at the same school age at which he first fell in love with her and fell madly in love.
But then came the war, and he met it. Let her name be Natasha, it makes no difference. After all, she looks so much like her and is dressed the same way. This is the only chance. Yes, he has practically never hanged women, especially girls. But this is war! There are no longer laws, prosecutors, investigations, society and its opinions, morality. And most importantly, the Fuhrer said - kill everyone!!! I will be responsible for this!!!
Yes! - the officer repeated to himself. - The Fuhrer said so! And he, and not I, will be answerable to GOD for this.
He couldn't think any further. He was already burning with passion. The member was literally torn through the riding breeches. The smell of the first wet dreams could already be heard.
She sat in the same place and looked at him confidentially. It was clear that she was even a little bored. For her there was no war, there was only the thought of how cunningly and wisely the authorities arranged for her and all the other peers to be admitted to the Komsomol. She was already looking forward to bragging about it to her boys.
He approached her. Now, despite the fact that he convinced himself to decide on this, at the same time he became embarrassed by her. After all, SHE was in front of him! But feelings and thoughts feverishly began to change. Either the dirty Slavs, then suddenly SHE again. For a moment he was overcome with panic that he was about to miss her. He carefully lifted her from the chair by the shoulders and said in a slightly trembling voice, “Helga, it’s time……….”
1949 Museum of Ukrainian Fine Arts. Ukraine. Kyiv.
Sergei Alekseevich Grigoriev was one of the prominent Soviet genre artists. He stood on a par with such outstanding masters of the Soviet everyday genre as B.V. Ioganson, A.A. Plastov, F.P. Reshetnikov, T.N. Yablonskaya.
The artist became widely known at the turn of the 40s and 50s. The distinctive style of Grigoriev’s works is the visual accuracy of the reflection of events and scenes Everyday life. His canvases are restrained in terms of color solutions.
Painting Admission to the Komsomol demonstrates S. A. Grigoriev’s ability to generalize life observations and highlight significant aspects of events. It is necessary to note the expressive nature of the work. Each character has its own face, its own psychological picture. A red tablecloth and a bust of the “leader of the peoples” (which will disappear in a later edition of the canvas after Stalin’s death) in the interior of the painting create a solemn atmosphere. Grigoriev seeks to emphasize the pathos of the event.
The viewer does not see the face of the young heroine of the picture. Thus, the artist shows a certain generalized image of advanced Soviet youth: “It is a great honor to be a member of the Leninist Komsomol, a great honor to be in the forefront of the fighters for communism. But this is also a great responsibility” (Memo to a Komsomol member).
Painting Admission to the Komsomol became an exemplary work of socialist realism. The canvas became widely known thanks to reproductions in school textbooks and on postage stamps.
In 1950, Sergei Alekseevich Grigoriev was awarded the title of laureate of the Stalin Prize of the second degree for his paintings Admission to the Komsomol And
Moreover, voluntarily, in the USSR any schoolchild who had ceased to be an October student by age and had not reached the age of 14 had the opportunity. But there were often, albeit formally, some restrictions. They were associated, first of all, with the student’s academic performance and behavior. In any case, the right to become a pioneer was seriously discussed, first in his class, and then at the School Council. And sometimes they could refuse him. In fact, almost everyone wore red ties. The majority of fourth-graders were given them on April 22, Lenin’s birthday. Moreover, these ceremonies took place either at the monument to the leader, or in a large hall, for example, a cinema.
First, the boys and girls read the Solemn Promise aloud. After which one of the invitees or communists tied each of them a red tie, symbolizing with its three ends the connection of three communist generations, and presented a pioneer badge of the same color with a portrait of Lenin. The holiday was completed with the gesture of the newly minted pioneer with his hand raised diagonally above his head in a cap, and a kind of password with the words “Be prepared! Always ready!". Those who were not lucky enough to become a pioneer in April received their chance on the holiday of May 19. But only without any special celebrations and speeches.
Squads and units
Having become a pioneer, an ordinary school unit immediately turned into a detachment, led by a counselor from among the high school students and, as a rule, bearing the name of some pioneer hero or simply a deceased hero of one of the wars of the 20th century. For example, Pavlik Morozov, or the “Young Guard” Oleg Koshevoy, who was killed with his fists. The detachment was divided into units. And the totality of all school detachments was called a squad. The main activities of the pioneers, in addition to good studies and preparation for joining the Komsomol, were considered participation in the “Timurov movement” and subbotniks, collecting waste paper and scrap metal. A pioneer could leave the ranks of the organization only in two cases: after reaching 14 years of age and joining the Komsomol, or upon expulsion for “D” marks and hooliganism.Pioneer Day
By the way, the holiday celebrated on May 19 and which at birth received the name “Day of the All-Union Pioneer Organization named after V.I. Lenin” could become such on another day. But the first attempt made in 1918 to create detachments of young communists in Soviet Russia, following the example of American scouts, was not very successful. The country has begun Civil War, and the Bolsheviks had no time for the small detachments of their minor followers.The second attempt, which occurred in November 1921, turned out to be more viable. After deciding to create a nursery political organization, which initially bore the name of the Roman slave and gladiator Spartacus, several “Spartacus” groups appeared in Moscow, using previously unseen symbols - red ties and five-pointed stars. On May 7 of the same year, the first pioneer bonfire burned in one of the capital’s parks. And after another 12 days All-Russian Conference Komsomol, which later became the Komsomol Congress, decided to create an organization in the country consisting of pioneer detachments. In the same year, composer Sergei Kaidan-Deshkin and poet Alexander Zharov wrote a song with the words “Raise your bonfires, blue nights! We are pioneers - children of workers,” and it immediately received the status of an anthem.
Komsomol is a mass patriotic organization of Soviet youth. There are no other examples in history of a youth movement that, over the years of its existence, has reached more than 160 million people and could boast of real achievements. The Civil War, five-year labor plans, heroism during the Great Patriotic War, virgin lands, Komsomol shock construction projects - all this is the Komsomol. The birth of the Komsomol is not an act imposed from above, it is the unification of the energy and heat of the hearts of young people who dream of being useful to their Motherland.
Background
The initiator and ideologist of the organizational completion of attempts to create numerous youth groups was V.I. Lenin. And they were created even before the revolution. At first, youth primary groups were formed within the party and united workers and students. It was the students who were the most revolutionary class of that time. During the period of Dual Power (February-October 1917), when history could have turned either towards the bourgeois or towards the socialist system, N.K. Krupskaya and V.I. Lenin developed a program of revolutionary youth associations.
Organizations were created in large cities that became the basis for creating a structure on an all-Russian scale. For example, the SSRM (Union of Socialist Working Youth) in Petrograd, approaching the birthday of the Komsomol.
Congress of Workers' and Peasants' Youth
At the height of the Civil War (1918), the first congress of delegates from scattered youth organizations throughout the country took place in Moscow. 176 people came from everywhere: from territories captured by the White Guards, as well as German army(Ukraine Poland); from the separated Finland and the self-proclaimed Baltic republics, as well as from Japanese-occupied Vladivostok. They were united by the desire to create a new power built on the principles of justice. The opening day of the congress (October 29) will go down in history as the birthday of the Komsomol, which united more than 22 thousand people.
In the adopted charter and program all-Russian organization it was said that it was independent, but acted under the leadership of the Communist Party, which determined its ideological orientation. The main speaker was Lazar Abramovich Shatskin, the author of the program. His name is little known in the country, because within a few years he would be shot for being accused of Trotskyism. Like many other first secretaries of the Central Committee who headed the organization up to
Symbols of RKSM
The lists of delegates to the first congress were not preserved even in the archives. Subsequently, the task arose of identifying membership in an organization called RKSM (Russian Communist Youth Union). Already in 1919, Komsomol tickets appeared. During the civil war, during which the Central Committee announced three mobilizations, they were kept and protected at the cost of their lives. A little later the first icons appeared. Their release, at first in insufficient quantities, was carried out by the Komsomol itself. The birth of the Komsomol was immortalized with four letters RKSM against the background of a flag with a star. Badges were also awarded to the best representatives of the organization.
Since 1922, a new uniform form was approved with the abbreviation KIM, meaning youth. The form would also change in 1947, acquiring its final form only in 1956. It will already be awarded to everyone joining the ranks of the organization along with a Komsomol card.
Komsomol tasks
In 1920, the Civil War was still ongoing, but it became clear that the Red Army was winning. This posed serious tasks for the Bolshevik Party to restore the destroyed economy, create the country’s energy base and create a new society. The state needed competent personnel, so 2.10. 1920 at the next (IIIrd) Komsomol congress V.I. made a speech. Lenin, who defined the mission of the newly created organization: to study communism. It already consisted of 482 thousand people.
In the year the Komsomol was born, it was important to win, but now it was necessary to form the generation that was to live in different social conditions. The military front was to be replaced by a labor front. Grandiose achievements in the pre-war years became possible thanks to the participation of working youth in collectivization, Komsomol construction projects, patronage of general education, the movement of “thousanders” (who fulfilled the plan 1000%) and obtaining higher professional education (rabfak). Many Western analysts believed that the success of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War became possible thanks to the education of a person of a new formation, putting the interests of the country above personal ones, in which the Komsomol succeeded.
The birth of the Komsomol: the name of V. I. Lenin
In January 1924, the country was shocked by the news of the death of V.I. Lenin, the leader of the world proletariat and leader of the country. In the summer of the same year, the VI Congress of the RKSM took place, at which the issue of naming the Komsomol after V.I. Lenin was decided. The address spoke of a firm determination to live, fight and work like Lenin. His book “Tasks of Youth Unions” became a reference book for every Komsomol member.
Birthday Lenin Komsomol(12.07) added the letter “L” to the abbreviation of the organization’s name, and over the next two years it was called RLKSM.
Status of an all-Union organization
The date is considered to be December 30, 1922, when four republics became part of the union state: the RSFSR, the Byelorussian SSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Transcaucasian SFSR. The Komsomol organization received all-Union status in 1926 at the VII Congress. The birthday of the USSR Komsomol is March 11, while the Komsomol of all union republics was preserved. This structure existed until the Komsomol was alive. The birth of the Komsomol in 1918 ended with its self-dissolution in September 1991, which was associated with the collapse of the Union. Despite the emergence of organizations that consider themselves the legal successors of the Komsomol - the Komsomol of the Russian Federation, the RKSM, the RKSM (b), such a mass structure no longer exists in the history of the country. In 1977, its members were 36 million people, almost the entire population of the country from 14 to 28 years old.
On the one hand, even in the last years of the existence of the Soviet Komsomol, it was still the first “school of life” for many prominent politicians and businessmen modern Russia. On the other hand, this can be explained by the fact that there was simply nothing else where in the 1970-1980s a young man could realize his talents and start building a career: the one-party system did not imply any competition in the ideological field. Komsomol members recent years existence of the USSR, they remember that era and the crisis of their organization.
Exactly 20 years ago, on September 27, 1991, the XXII Extraordinary Congress of the Komsomol began, with one single question on the agenda: “On the fate of the Komsomol.” At the end of its work, the congress declared the historical role of this organization exhausted, and it itself was dissolved. At the end of the congress (and I’m not joking), the delegates sang while standing: “I will not part with the Komsomol, I will be forever young” and began to “derib” the property of this wealthy organization.
Well, God bless them - unfortunately, we were not allowed into this “deriban”, so let’s remember each of our Komsomol (who had one, of course).
Stages of development public life any Soviet schoolchild was reminded of the stages of insect development. But if in invertebrate arthropods they proceeded in the order: egg -> larva -> pupa -> imago, then in vertebrate Soviet schoolchildren they took place in the following sequence: first-graders became October students, October students - pioneers, and pioneers, upon reaching 14 years of age, automatically turned into Komsomol members , and this was not discussed.
The rules for admission to the Komsomol were as follows: it was necessary to collect recommendations from either 1 communist or 2 experienced Komsomol members; fill out the form for admission to the Komsomol; turn in two 3x4 photographs; get a description and learn the answers to the following questions:
Who Secretary General Central Committee of the CPSU?
Who is the first secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee?
Who is your favorite Komsomol hero?
How many orders does the Komsomol have?
And what is “democratic centralism”?
(ideally, of course, it would be advisable to read the Komsomol Charter - but this is not for everyone).
The acceptance of our class into the Komsomol took place in two stages - in spring and autumn. In the spring, the Komsomol accepted the “best” (excellent and good students), in the fall the “worst” (C students and slobs, as well as those born in the summer). Naturally, I was accepted in the fall. Moreover, life had not yet “broken me down” and I loved to show off - when everyone brought recommendations from high school Komsomol members, I brought a recommendation from a communist friend who was a Hero of the Soviet Union.
After a public discussion of the candidates at the school Komsomol meeting, a gala reception took place at the district/city Komsomol committee with the presentation of tickets and badges (sometimes the gala reception was replaced by a simple presentation of a Komsomol ticket in the “Pioneer Room”).
After this action, the Soviet schoolchild received every right:
b) pay monthly Komsomol dues in the amount of 2 kopecks;
c) get bored at Komsomol meetings;
d) after school go to college.
You will say - there were those who refused to join the Komsomol: they believed in God, or they listened to the Rolling Stones. There were, of course, some. But then usually in their lives there was Soviet army, and there they didn’t give a damn about what you believe in or what you listen to. They also didn’t care about the rules for admission to the Komsomol established “in civilian life” and the soldier’s ignorance of the answers to the above questions. There, simply one fine day, during the morning formation they announced: “Private Pupkin, get out of formation! Congratulations on joining the glorious ranks of the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union! Get in line!” The warrior shouted: “I serve the Soviet Union!” and joined the multi-million ranks of Soviet Komsomol members.
But I, in the army, refused to stand in a single Komsomol formation. I hated being part of this thoroughly rotten, formalized organization into which everyone was driven en masse in pursuit of interest and reporting. I was sick of these false slogans and of Komsomol functionaries who themselves did not believe in what they were saying from high tribunes. From their showing off, careerism and hypocrisy...
No, I refused to participate in all this and in the army became a candidate member of the CPSU.
First Secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee (1986-1990). Special Advisor to USSR President M. Gorbachev. Historian, candidate of historical sciences...
The Komsomol did not collapse. His time has passed. Please note - as soon as our country began to become what it should be, it fell apart and ceased to exist. This is where you need to think and ask yourself: what happened? We need to figure out what happened to our country in the twentieth century? What started in 1905 and ended, I hope, in ’91? What was it? From a historical point of view, it is simply impossible to understand the heap of myths that shrouded the entire twentieth century. We live in a completely false coordinate system. We live in a completely mythologized historical space. It turns out that we had the first Russian revolution in 1905. Then, it turns out, there was the February bourgeois-democratic revolution. Then six months later it happens socialist revolution. What can you call the revolution that took place in 1991? Capitalist, it turns out? From my point of view as a candidate of historical sciences, this is complete nonsense.
A bourgeois-democratic revolution began in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. But it was very different from those that took place before - from the English, French, North American. All of them were in a completely different historical period. Our revolution was late, like everything else with us. It began at a time when globalization processes began to manifest themselves. Our revolution differs from all others in that, oddly enough, it turned out to be a revolution not so much for our country as a revolution for the rest of the world. All other revolutions also influenced the world, but this was an indirect influence. Our revolution had a colossal impact on the whole world. The whole world has changed. John Reed was wrong when he called the book Ten Days That Shook the World. They changed the world...
- Viktor Ivanovich, when you left your post, you lost not only your job, but also your privileges.
What privileges? What are you talking about? Sometimes today my wife points her finger around me and asks: “What privileges did you have?”
I was the head of an organization that had two billion dollars in its bank account alone. I received five hundred rubles, I had a Volga car and they also gave me coupons for a special store. Yes, there was also a clinic, from which I was immediately expelled. Now I feel fine at the district clinic. But I never even went to the Central Clinic because I was young and healthy.
- Excuse me, but where did the two billion dollars you mentioned go?
Don't know. I left them safe where they were...
In the comments I remembered that I worked in the Komsomol city committee. They asked me to tell you how it was.
Alas, there will be no dirty details in the style of the film “Regional Emergency”. In our city committee there was no drinking in saunas, ********, theft and other things that were attributed then, during the era of perestroika, to party and Komsomol functionaries. There was the usual work of organizing life and leisure in a small area - the Slobodsky district of the Kirov region.
We had four offices - the office of the First Secretary, the Second, and the accounting department with the organizational department. And I worked as acting third secretary - the position of working with student youth. In the same office as the Second. In the office there were two tables, a Yatran typewriter, I think a dozen chairs, a wardrobe and a bookcase. A! There was also a rotator - this is such crap for printing leaflets.
There was a car - either a “five” or a “Muscovite” - I don’t remember. But definitely not Volga. This miracle broke down once a week, so we often took regular buses on business trips around the region. The salary was 250 rubles. Soviet. True, in 1990-1991 there was nothing special to buy. I personally subscribed to newspapers home - dozens of them. From “Soviet Russia” to “Literature” and “Football-Hockey”. Lunch in the dining room cost about a ruble. The dining room, by the way, was common to the city party committee, Komsomol, district executive committee, city executive committee and other councils.
Entrance to the dining room was free for everyone. No passes, no policemen at the entrance. And there were no pineapples in the champagne either. And there was no black caviar either. In my opinion, the food was tastier in factory canteens. There were also subsidiary farms there. Something like a collective farm at a factory. There were no special privileges, additional rations, or dachas with swimming pools. The only “privilege” that I took advantage of was taking two vacations at my own expense, going on a ski trip around the region in February and on a hiking trip in Crimea. Your own expenses). All. After working there for a year, I probably became anti-Soviet for about ten years.
Because a boy at seventeen needs a feat - to overcome himself. Previously, Komsomol members had a fight against devastation, Budennovka, OSOAVIAKHIM, war, restoration, virgin lands, BAM... We had a city KVN competition and reporting and election conferences. By the way, since then I can’t stand KVN people. Antics with forced humor and a huge superiority complex. How was the festival organized?
Very simple.
You write a statement on two pages - the topic of KVN, the jury, prizes. You print it on a rotator, smearing it with black ink. You call the secretaries of the school committees of the Komsomol. You give them a position and a pointer so that there is a command by such and such a date. Then you go to the House of Culture - for us it was the House of Culture named after. Gorky - you agree on the provision of a stage and hall for such and such a date. No money, everything is free. You buy prizes at a sporting goods store and prepare certificate forms. You persuade important people to sit on the jury. Again for free. You've been calling secretaries for a month - how are they doing with their team preparation?
That's all. And where is the feat?
And constant reports to the regional committee - monthly, quarterly, annual. The main part of the report is how many new members of the Komsomol were accepted. There is a reporting and election conference in April. So many events were carried out: then they liked to call collective creative activities - KTD. How many members have been accepted? A plan for admission was lowered from above - 90% should be covered and that’s it. Well, and the indispensable Gorbachev spells - democratic centralism, glasnost, a brake on perestroika. Boredom.
By the way, I don’t remember any loud exits from the party and Komsomol here. Komsomol tickets were not burned. There were no punks or metalheads in large numbers. And those who were, at times, were Komsomol members. It seems that there was a Komsomol rock club. I even thought about opening a Komsomol video salon, where after watching the film there would be a mandatory discussion. Did not have time.
In the summer, organizing a regional activist camp, sending a delegation to the regional camp of the Komsomol activist “Stremitely” and the camp of the regional pioneer activist “Zvezdny”. There was no overarching goal of all these KTD, activist camps, reports and elections.
Everything was rolling by inertia into the abyss. But we didn't notice this. It seemed that everything was about to end. The Komsomol and the USSR are about to emerge from the crisis renewed.
Now, of course, it’s good to say from a height of years that it was necessary to do this or that. Just jump naked on Revolution Square in Slobodskoye - everything was decided not in the regional centers, but in the Kremlin and on Old Square. It was there that the Supergoal and Supertasks disappeared. And without them the USSR is impossible. Ask, maybe I missed something?
By the time I graduated from school, the Komsomol had almost collapsed... At the school’s annual meeting, we discussed the work Komsomol organization unsatisfactory rating, it was brave! But we consoled ourselves with integrity and courage, not knowing that we were kicking a corpse. The Komsomol ceased to exist a year later. I recommend everyone who remembers the Pioneer and Komsomol to re-watch this film - “Emergency of a Regional Scale”.
Also, this film is about what a person really is, namely a man. Dedicated to all men leading a double life, making deals with their conscience for the sake of a career. The most interesting thing is when men do unseemly acts, but at the same time they hide behind lofty words: I do this for the sake of the family. Komsomol members, volunteers...
And at one time I was on this nomenklatura career ladder: “Pioneer Komsomol”, dad didn’t let me in! He hated party privileges, and believed that the only real privilege of a party member was to stand up and lead a platoon into the attack. Dad was upset that the school's squad council was meeting New Year's celebration separately from the rest of the school students. He screamed and got angry. Thanks to him, and the Kingdom of Heaven! He understood everything correctly.
From the comments.
IMHO in Komsomol (not the militarized one, but the regular one) there is positive side- young men are left without elders and take on certain matters on their own (for example, conduct cell meetings), and take responsibility themselves. Such a difference between people, that one person is a Komsomol member, and another person is just a Komsomol member, structures society. Structures. And thus contributes to its understanding.
The Komsomol helps you to remain without elders, and to do something yourself, without elders.
I was born in 1984 and I think that my childhood and youth were very much spoiled by the absence of a universal, widespread organization like the Komsomol.
I recently watched the film “Regional Emergency” (a perestroika film about how bad the Komsomol is and how much hypocrisy and lies there are in it). I liked the film. Soviet Union bad. Komsomol is bad. But it’s better to have a lying Komsomol than none! He, with all his deceit, gives the experience of independence, gives the experience of life without dependence on elders!
Well, the positive side of Komsomol is not deceit, but that it would provide the opportunity to hold events without the participation of elders. By ourselves, on our own. And in my generation, no one thought about the fact that someone was entrusted with being “responsible” for what was happening in the classroom (like a Komsomol organizer is responsible). It is not the teacher who takes responsibility (as in our generation), nor the father, nor the mother, but one of the young people.
And the Komsomol pointed to moral values (which are written in the charter) - truthfulness, mutual assistance, etc. In our generation, no one said: “you must be truthful, because you are members of such and such an organization, and the members of this organization must correspond to a high moral level." We were told about morality - but it was vague, unclear. There was no argument - “BECAUSE YOU ARE MEMBERS OF THE ORGANIZATION.” This argument could be more convincing. And special We were not given tickets, we did not pay fees. Having a ticket in your pocket and some paraphernalia could REMIND you of moral duty. And without paraphernalia it is easy to forget.
And in general, in the Komsomol Charter there are ideas that are closer to pacifism than to militarism:
Everyone’s concern for the preservation and enhancement of public wealth;
High consciousness of public duty, intolerance to violations of public interests;
Collectivism and comradely mutual assistance: each for all, all for one;
Humane relations and mutual respect between people: man is friend, comrade and brother to man;
Honesty and truthfulness, moral purity, simplicity and modesty in public and personal life;
Mutual respect in the family, concern for raising children;
Intransigence to injustice, parasitism, dishonesty, careerism, money-grubbing;
Friendship and brotherhood of all peoples of the USSR, intolerance towards national and racial hostility;
Intransigence towards the enemies of communism, the cause of peace and freedom of peoples;
Fraternal solidarity with the working people of all countries, with all peoples.
When a person is told about all this, it can help the development of critical thinking. A modern youth They just don't talk about it! And they are not given the responsibility that “you must live up to a high moral standard.” There is another anti-Soviet film - “Tomorrow there was a war.” But the Komsomol women from this film were to some extent inspired by Komsomol ideology. And this is justified in the film. They were capable of thinking - Spark, for example, could change their views under the influence of some arguments. And the Komsomol noodles on the ears did not prevent this. On the contrary, Komsomol ideology contributed to this.
