Under the Party’s Wing

This chapter examines and compares the social and political history of the communist youth movement in Britain and the Netherlands between 1920 and 1956. It looks primarily at the histories of the British Young Communist League (YCL) and the Dutch Communistische Jeugdbond (CJB; ‘Communist Youth League’) and its post-Second World War successor the Algemeen Nederlands Jeugdverbond (ANJV; ‘General Dutch Youth League’). The chapter details these organisations’ relationships with their respective communist parties and explores the impact of the Class Against Class phase, the Popular Front strategy, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the entry of the Soviet Union into the war on the Allied side, and finally the Cold War on the popularity of these communist youth organisations.

Institutional Changes, Influences and Historical Junctures in the Communist Youth League of China

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regards the Communist Youth League (CYL) as a critical and distinctive mass organization that acts as an “assistant” and “reserve army” for the Party. This article uses the analytical concepts of historical institutionalism and critical junctures to discuss the changes in the CYL during the post-Mao period. We focus on two critical junctures: 1982, when the CYL became a route to rapid promotion for cadres, and 2016, after which its cadres had fewer opportunities for promotion and the CYL was pushed back to its original role in youth United Front work. We also find that the CYL has refined its United Front methods to attract talented young people by offering them services. This reflects the efforts of the CCP regime to adapt to circumstances and ensure its survival.

From Don Juan to Comrade Ivan

This article examines discussions of love and marriage in a regional newspaper of the Communist Youth League (Komsomol) in the central Urals region. Although framed around the intention to communicate official communist morality and ideals about the family, these discussions included stories and readers’ letters that expressed a range of views that could both draw on and challenge Party ideals. While scholarship has emphasized the conservative elements of communist morality and the lack of support for men in the domestic sphere, these sources point to an understanding of love as central to a man’s life and comradely partnership as fundamental to Soviet marriage.

RUSSIAN-CUBAN INTERNATIONALIST IN DEFENSE OF THE SPANISH REPUBLIC: MOISES RAIGORODSKY

More than a thousand Cubans fought in favor of the Spanish Republic. Some of them were people born in the Iberian Peninsula, settled in Cuba a long time ago and before the outbreak of the civil war, they launched themselves to the defense of the legally established government. But there is a very interesting example that reflects how solidarity has no borders or impediments: the case of Moisés Raigorodsky. A young Russian who lived in Havana since he was a child and had participated in the struggles against the dictator Gerardo Machado, showing great courage despite his young age. For this reason he was very persecuted by the police forces and the Communist Youth League, to which he belonged, organized his departure from the country to Spain in 1935. Months later, Moisés did not hesitate to join the Fifth Regiment to defend the Republic from the attack of the Falangist hosts and died heroically in the battle of Casa de Campo, in November 1936.