The Komsomol (All-Union Lenin Committee of the Youth Union), or simply the Komsomol, was the largest youth political organization in the Soviet Union. He was considered the direct reserve of the Communist Party, preparing for it, including, and leading cadres. Any action of the Komsomol members passed the obligatory approval of the “senior comrades”. And one party recommendation for membership in the Komsomol was even equal to two Komsomol recommendations.
How many orders does the Komsomol have?
In Soviet times, it was declared that any citizen of the country from 14 to 28 years old can become a member of the Komsomol. In reality, everything was not so simple. In fact, admission to the Komsomol volunteers was carried out only after a very serious check of the candidate for compliance with the high, as it was believed, the title of a young communist. The first thing that was required of an applicant for a Komsomol ticket was to write a statement to his organization and substantiate it with a desire to build a “bright communist future” within the Komsomol. An important appendix to the statement were two recommendations from Komsomol members with at least ten months' experience, or one, but from a member of the CPSU.
The next stage of admission was to consider the application in the primary Komsomol organization, for example, in an educational institution or in a company of a military unit. She could either approve it or reject it for some reason. Those whose statements were ultimately approved, and theirs, especially at the end of the era of socialism, were the majority, on a certain day were invited to the district committee of the Komsomol or the Komsomol committee of a military unit for an interview. However, it was not too complicated and usually consisted of several stereotyped questions and assumed equally stereotyped and "correct" answers. Future Komsomol members were examined on their knowledge of the Komsomol Charter, asked to tell why they want to join the organization. In addition, they were asked to name the number of state awards from the Komsomol (there were six of them; half of them were the Order of Lenin, three more were the Orders of the Red Banner, the Red Banner of Labor and the October Revolution), recall the names of the leaders of the country and the Komsomol, as well as the most important Soviet dates.
Two-kopeck installment
After passing an interview, a potential Komsomol member usually already knew if he was accepted. And soon he received from the secretary of the committee a new red badge with a portrait of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and a Komsomol ticket of the same color with his photograph and columns for stamps on the delivery of monthly contributions. Schoolchildren, college students, and conscripts paid two kopecks (the cost of two boxes of matches or a daily newspaper). For those who worked, the contribution was one percent of the salary. The Komsomol organizer of the primary organization collected them, and he also put a stamp. Non-payment of contributions was one of the grounds for exclusion from the Komsomol - along with immoral behavior, drunkenness, parasitism, violations of discipline, convictions and others, which were called negative phenomena and were subjected to well-deserved criticism.
By the way, exclusion from the Komsomol, as well as refusal to join it, was not so harmless. In the future, it often affected the content of the characteristics for admission to a university or a good job. A rather serious sanction for a non-partisan, that is, not a member of the CPSU or Komsomol, was, for example, the refusal of the commission of the district party committee to allow travel abroad. Naturally, a person who had not previously received a Komsomol ticket could not join the only political party in the USSR. And, therefore, and make a good career.
Born in October
All the years of its existence, the Komsomol was proud of the fact that it is the same age as the October Revolution. In fact, in October 1917, only fragmented and called "socialist" youth unions were created in Russia. The official date of the creation of the Komsomol is October 29, 1918, when the First All-Russian Congress of the Workers 'and Peasants' Youth Unions opened in Moscow. Efim Tsetlin was elected the leader of the Soviet Komsomol at this congress, who was shot in 1937 as an "enemy of the people." In the same years 1937-1939, the sad fate of Tsetlin was shared by five more pre-war Komsomol leaders. And in general, of the entire first seven of the main Komsomol members of the USSR, only Alexander Milchakov, who had served 17 years in the camps, died a natural death.
