Disbanded Komsomols. how the Komsomol collapsed

There are no other examples in history of such a powerful youth movement as the Lenin Komsomol was. In peacetime and during wars, shoulder to shoulder with the communists, Komsomol members were the first to go into battle, into the virgin lands, to construction sites, into space and led the youth. At each historical milestone, the Komsomol brought forth thousands and thousands of young heroes from its ranks, who glorified it with their exploits. Their example of selfless service to the Motherland, the people will always be in the memory of present and future generations.

And it all began in the distant revolutionary year of 1917 with the creation of socialist unions of working, peasant and student youth. But they were all divided. Therefore, already in 1918, on October 29, the First All-Russian Congress of Unions of Workers' and Peasants' Youth began its work, which brought together 195 delegates from all over Russia and united disparate youth organizations into a single monolithic Russian Communist Youth Union. Day October 29 and became the birthday of the Komsomol.

After the congress in all regions or, as they were then called, provinces, general meetings of the unions of workers' and peasants' youth were held.

The chronicle of the heroic deeds of the Komsomol is endless. Six orders burn brightly on his banner. This is a nationwide recognition of the merits of the Komsomol to the Motherland. Everyone knew the Komsomol heroes: Lyubov Shevtsova, Oleg Koshevoy, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Alexander Matrosov, Liza Chaikina... Eternal glory and memory to them!

The Komsomol is an organization that shapes a person, his personal qualities. Here the life views of young people were affirmed, here the first experience of social work was acquired. The Komsomol is the foundation that formed the Soviet man. Of course, there was everything in the Komsomol. It was good, it was not so good. There were bureaucratic moments that irritated young people, but these moments were criticized. However, fundamentally, it was a wonderful public organization. The Komsomol formed the worldview in certain coordinates - the Soviet worldview. Komsomol is youth. Komsomol is the most wonderful memories! The Komsomol is energy, purposefulness, the desire to turn this world around and make it better!

Komsomol is my destiny

Performed by: VIA "Gems" 1918-1928
The RKSM was an active participant in the Civil War; he spent three all-Russian mobilization to the front. According to incomplete data, the Komsomol sent more than 75,000 members to the Red Army in 1918-20. In total, up to 200 thousand Komsomol members participated in the struggle of the Soviet people against the interventionists, White Guards and bandits. They fought heroically against the enemies: 19-year-old commander of the 30th division Albert Lapin, future writers Nikolai Ostrovsky and Arkady Gaidar, armored train commander Lyudmila Makiyevskaya, commissars Alexander Kondratiev and Anatoly Popov, leader of the Far Eastern Komsomol members Vitaly Banevur and many others. The Komsomol fought selflessly behind enemy lines. In Odessa, the Komsomol underground numbered over 300 people, in Riga - about 200 people, underground Komsomol groups operated in Yekaterinodar (Krasnodar), Simferopol, Rostov-on-Don, Nikolaev, Tbilisi, etc. Many Komsomol members died a heroic death in battles to defend the conquests October revolution. In severe trials, the Komsomol got stronger and grew. Despite the huge sacrifices that he made on the fronts, his number increased 20 times: in October 1918 - 22,100, in October 1920 - 482,000. In commemoration of military merits on the fronts of the Civil War in the period 1919-20 against the troops of the White Guard generals Kolchak , Denikin, Yudenich, the White Poles and Wrangel, the Komsomol in 1928 was awarded the Order of the Red Banner by a decree of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.

Komsomol members of the 20th year

Music: O. Feltsman Lyrics: V. Voinovich
Performed by: V. Troshin 1929-1941
After the Civil War, the Komsomol was faced with the task of preparing the worker and peasant youth for peaceful, creative activity. In October 1920, the 3rd Congress of the RKSM was held. Lenin's speech at the congress on October 2, 1920, "The Tasks of Youth Unions," was the guide for the activities of the Komsomol. Lenin saw the main goal of the Komsomol in "... helping the party to build communism and helping the entire young generation to create a communist society." The Komsomol directed all its efforts to the restoration of the national economy destroyed during the war. Boys and girls participated in the restoration of factories in Petrograd, Moscow, the Urals, mines and factories in the Donbass, and the country's railways. In September 1920, the first All-Russian Youth Subbotnik was held. Komsomol members assisted the Soviet government in the fight against speculation, sabotage, and banditry. In 1929, the Komsomol carried out the first mobilization of youth for the new buildings of the 1st Five-Year Plan. More than 200,000 Komsomol members came to the construction sites with vouchers from their organizations. With the active participation of the Komsomol, the Dneproges, the Moscow and Gorky Automobile Plants, the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, the Turksib railway, etc. were built. development of the national economy ... "The Komsomol was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

Far Eastern song

Music: B. Shikhov Lyrics: A. Pomorsky 1929
Performed by: VR&T Big Choir. Execution 1970 1941-1945
The Great Patriotic War of 1941-45 was a severe test for the entire Soviet people and its younger generation. The Komsomol, all Soviet youth, at the call of the Communist Party, came out to fight the Nazi invaders. Already in the first year of the war, about 2 million Komsomol members joined the ranks of the Red Army. Unprecedented courage, bravery, heroism were shown by Komsomol members, young men and women, defending Brest, Liepaja, Odessa, Sevastopol, Smolensk, Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, Stalingrad, other cities and regions of the country from the enemy. Only the Komsomol organization of Moscow and the region in the first 5 months of the war sent over 300 thousand people to the front; 90% of the members of the Leningrad organization of the Komsomol fought against the Nazi invaders on the outskirts of the city of Lenin. Fearlessly, young partisans and underground fighters of Belarus, the occupied regions of the RSFSR, Ukraine, and the Baltic states acted behind enemy lines. Partisan detachments consisted of 30-45% Komsomol members. Unparalleled heroism was shown by members of the underground Komsomol organizations - the Young Guard (Krasnodon), the Partisan Spark (Nikolaev region), the Lyudinovo underground Komsomol group, and others. In 1941-45, about 12 million boys and girls joined the Komsomol. Of the 7 thousand Heroes of the Soviet Union under the age of 30, 3.5 thousand are Komsomol members (of which 60 are twice Heroes of the Soviet Union), 3.5 million Komsomol members were awarded orders and medals. The names of members of the Komsomol who fell in the fight against the fascist invaders: Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Alexander Chekalin, Lisa Chaikina, Alexander Matrosov, Viktor Talalikhin and many others - have become a symbol of courage, courage, heroism. For outstanding services to the Motherland during the Great Patriotic War and for the great work in educating Soviet youth in the spirit of selfless devotion to the socialist Fatherland of the Komsomol, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on June 14, 1945, he was awarded the Order of Lenin.

Komsomolskaya
("Goodbye, mother, do not grieve, do not be sad,
wish us a good journey")

Music: V. Solovyov-Sedoy Lyrics: A. Galich 1947
Performed by: KRAPPSA, solo. O. Razumovsky Execution 1950 1945-1948
The Young Communist League put a great deal of effort into restoring the national economy destroyed by the Nazi invaders, into the construction of Minsk, Smolensk, Stalingrad, into the restoration of Leningrad, Kharkov, Kursk, Voronezh, Sevastopol, Odessa, Rostov-on-Don and many other cities, into the revival of industry and cities of Donbass, Dneproges, collective farms, state farms and MTS. In 1948 alone, the youth built and put into operation 6,200 rural power stations. The Komsomol showed great concern for the placement of children and adolescents left without parents, for the expansion of the network of orphanages and vocational schools, and the construction of schools. In 1948, the Komsomol celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. On October 28, 1948, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded the Komsomol with the second Order of Lenin.

Komsomol members
(Unforgettable song of the beautiful Stalin era.)

Music: A. Ostrovsky Lyrics: L. Oshanin
Performed by: I. D. Shmelev, Choir and Orc. p / at V.N. Knushevitsky Execution 1948.
1948-1956
The Komsomol took an active part in the implementation of the measures worked out by the Party for the advancement of agriculture. Thousands of young specialists, workers and employees, graduates of secondary schools were sent to state farms, collective farms, MTS. In 1954-55, more than 350,000 young people left on Komsomol vouchers to develop the virgin lands of Kazakhstan, Altai, and Siberia. Their work was a real feat. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for active participation in communist construction and especially for the development of virgin lands of the Komsomol on November 5, 1956, he was awarded the third Order of Lenin.

Friends on the road!

Music: Anatoly Lepin Lyrics: Alexei Fatyanov 1959
Performed by: actor Leonid Kharitonov and others. Performed in 1959. 1956-1991
The scale of activity of the Komsomol in solving national economic problems, in particular in the development of the wealth of Siberia, the Far East and the Far North, in the redistribution of the country's labor resources, has significantly expanded. More than 70,000 All-Union detachments have been formed, and more than 500,000 young people have been sent to new buildings. With the most active participation of young people, about 1,500 important facilities were built and put into operation, including the largest in the world - the Bratsk hydroelectric power station, the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant, the Baikal-Amur Mainline named after Lenin Komsomol, the Druzhba oil pipeline, etc. The Komsomol sponsored 100 shock construction projects , including over the development of the unique oil and gas resources of the Tyumen and Tomsk regions. Student construction teams have become a tradition of university Komsomol members. Millions of students took part in labor semesters. At the initiative of the Komsomol, the construction of youth residential complexes became widespread. Youth residential complexes have been built in 156 cities and regions of the country. The Komsomol is the initiator of all-Union campaigns to places of revolutionary, military and labor glory, in which millions of young men and women take part. The children's and youth competitions "Golden Puck", "Leather Ball", "Olympic Spring", "Neptune" and the all-Union military sports game "Zarnitsa" held by the Central Committee of the Komsomol have become truly massive. Komsomol and Soviet youth organizations cooperated with international, regional, national and local youth associations in 129 countries of the world. On July 5, 1956, the Committee of Youth Organizations of the USSR was established; on May 10, 1958, the Sputnik International Youth Tourism Bureau was established. In four years, more than 22 million young people traveled around the country through Sputnik, and 1.7 million people went abroad. In 1968, for the outstanding services and great contribution of Komsomol members to the formation and strengthening of Soviet power, courage and heroism shown in battles with the enemies of the socialist Fatherland, active participation in the construction of socialism, for fruitful work in the political education of the younger generations in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Komsomol, he was awarded Order of the October Revolution.

Komsomol tradition

Music: O. Feltsman Lyrics: I. Shaferan
Performed by: Vladislav Lynkovsky Performed in 1968

On October 29, 1918, at the First All-Russian Congress of Unions of Workers' and Peasants' Youth, a decision was made to create the Russian Communist Youth Union (RKSM), which would later be renamed the All-Russian Leninist Communist Youth Union (VLKSM). Thus began the history of the Komsomol in the USSR.

After the February Revolution of 1917, youth organizations of workers began to appear, whose members were oriented towards the socialist parties. On October 29, 1918, at the First All-Russian Congress of Unions of Workers' and Peasants' Youth, a decision was made to unite separate disparate unions into an all-Russian organization with a single center, working under the leadership of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks - the RKSM.

In 1924, the RKSM was named after V. I. Lenin - the Russian Leninist Communist Youth Union (RLKSM), and in March 1926 the union was renamed the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (VLKSM).

The initiator of the creation and the main ideologist of the Komsomol organization was V.I. Lenin. At the III All-Russian Congress of the Komsomol in October 1920, he read out the "Tasks of the Youth Unions", which became the fundamental ideological document of the Komsomol for many years. By this time, the VLKSM had 482,000 members (in October 1918, the RKSM consisted of 22,100 people).

Very soon after the creation of the Komsomol, it remained the only political youth organization in the RSFSR, and then in the USSR. Through its structure, the ideological education of young people was carried out, political and social projects were implemented. The Komsomol positioned itself as an "assistant and reserve" of the Communist Party. Under the leadership of the Komsomol in 1922, the All-Union Pioneer Organization named after V.I. Lenin.

In 1930, the Komsomol took patronage over universal education, initiated the creation of two-year evening schools for the semi-literate. The Komsomol announced a campaign of youth in science. In 1928-1929. On Komsomol vouchers, 15,000 people went to study at workers' faculties, 20,000 people went to preparatory courses for universities, and 30,000 went to universities and technical schools. In 1934, the working stratum among students reached 48%. On the initiative of the Komsomol, a new mass form of technical training for workers was born - the technical minimum. “You can become a communist only when you enrich your memory with the knowledge of all the riches that humanity has developed,” V. I. Lenin addressed the delegates of the III Congress of the RKSM with these words.

In 1941, there were more than 10 million Komsomol members in the USSR, and in 1977, over 36 million citizens of the USSR aged 14-28 years were members of the Komsomol.

In the later years of the USSR, the title of a Komsomol member was actually a necessary attribute for a successful career of a young man in the USSR. Komsomol became almost universal (over 60% of young people). This led to organizational blurring, to the fact that membership in the Komsomol was no longer perceived as an honor and responsibility at the same time. In the last years of Soviet power, the Komsomol finally turned into a bureaucratic system.

In 1989, the Lithuanian Communist Youth Union declared its independence. In the same year, the Estonian Komsomol separated. By 1990, the issue of organizational design and the Russian Komsomol was on the agenda. As a result, at the first congress of the Komsomol organizations of the RSFSR, held in February 1990, the Komsomol of the RSFSR was formed, however, it is still part of the Komsomol. However, after the August events of 1991, the Central Committee abruptly took a course towards the liquidation of the Komsomol as an All-Union organization. Everything was decided at the XXII Extraordinary Congress of the Komsomol, convened in Moscow in September 1991.

On September 27-28, 1991, the XXII Extraordinary Congress of the Komsomol was held, declaring the historical role of the Komsomol exhausted and dissolving the organization. RSM and other republican youth organizations continued to exist as independent national youth organizations of the respective republics that were part of the USSR.

The Komsomol organization, which celebrates its 90th anniversary on October 29, ended its existence almost 20 years ago, but its anniversary is celebrated on a grand scale throughout the country.

The All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (VLKSM) is a youth socio-political organization created at the 1st All-Russian Congress of Unions of Workers' and Peasants' Youth on October 29 - November 4, 1918.

The congress united the disparate youth unions into an all-Russian organization with a single center, working under the leadership of the Russian Communist Party. The congress adopted the basic principles of the program and the charter of the Russian Communist Youth Union (RKSM). The theses approved by the congress stated: "The goal of the Union is to spread the ideas of communism and to involve the youth of workers and peasants in the active construction of Soviet Russia."

In July 1924, the RKSM was named after V.I. Lenin and it became known as the Russian Leninist Communist Youth Union (RLKSM). In connection with the formation of the USSR (1922), the Komsomol in March 1926 was renamed the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (VLKSM).

From the Charter of the Komsomol: “The Komsomol is an amateur public organization that unites in its ranks the broad masses of progressive Soviet youth. The Komsomol is an active assistant and reserve of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. True to Lenin's precepts, the Komsomol helps the party educate young people in the spirit of communism, involve them in the practical construction of a new society, prepare a generation of comprehensively developed people who will live, work and manage public affairs under communism. The VLKSM works under the leadership of the Communist Party, is an active conductor of party directives in all areas of communist construction.

According to the Charter of the Komsomol, young men and girls aged 14 to 28 were accepted into the Komsomol. The primary organizations of the Komsomol were created at enterprises, collective farms, state farms, educational institutions, institutions, units of the Soviet Army and Navy. The supreme governing body of the Komsomol is the All-Union Congress; All work of the Union between congresses was directed by the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, which elects the Bureau and the Secretariat.

The history of the Komsomol was inextricably linked with the history of the USSR. Komsomol members were active participants in the Civil War of 1918-1920 in the ranks of the Red Army. In commemoration of military merits, the Komsomol was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in 1928.

For his initiative in the socialist competition, the Komsomol was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1931.

For outstanding services to the Motherland at the front and in the rear during the Great Patriotic War, 3.5 thousand Komsomol members were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 3.5 million Komsomol members were awarded orders and medals; Komsomol in 1945 was awarded the Order of Lenin.

For the work that the Komsomol invested in restoring the national economy destroyed by the Nazi invaders, the Komsomol was awarded the second Order of Lenin in 1948.

For active participation in the development of virgin and fallow lands of the Komsomol in 1956 he was awarded the third Order of Lenin.

In 1968, in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Lenin Komsomol, the Komsomol was awarded the Order of the October Revolution.

In the entire history of the Komsomol, more than 200 million people have passed through its ranks.

In September 1991, the 22nd Extraordinary Congress of the Komsomol considered the political role of the Komsomol as a federation of communist youth unions to be exhausted and announced the self-dissolution of the organization.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

On September 27, 1991, the XXII Extraordinary Congress of the Komsomol announced the self-dissolution of the country's most massive youth organization

When in the early 80s of the last century, each student monthly deducted from his scholarship from 2 to 10 kopecks to the Komsomol funds, this did not particularly bother anyone. As they say, not money. But it was from these kopecks that the fabulous state of the Komsomol was formed, the exact principles for spending which, and most importantly, the fate after the collapse of the organization, remained vague. And it is still not clear how the organization, with which the fate of more than 200 million people was connected, disappeared overnight.

born of revolution

The November coup of 1917 demonstrated that the overwhelming majority of the Russian population did not support the Bolsheviks at all. The outbreak of riots and spontaneous uprisings demanded to strengthen Soviet power in the field. And here, the new government had to come to the aid of completely illiterate youth, into whose head it was possible to put completely different ideas.

On October 29, 1918, the First Congress of the Russian Communist Youth Union was held, the delegates of which were the most active participants in the Civil War. Very important figures in the creation of the Komsomol were Leon Trotsky and Lazar Shatskin. The first subsequently fled abroad, wandered from country to country and was eventually hit on the head with an ice pick. The second was shot in the 37th. Both were deleted from the history of not only the Komsomol, but in general.

Party appendage

The desire of the Komsomol ideologists for sterility quickly led to the fact that from a really powerful and really working to the Civil and Patriotic War, during the years of restoration, the development of virgin lands and other important periods in the history of the organization, the Youth Union turned into an appendage of the party. Enthusiasm has been replaced by show. It is no coincidence that the Komsomol received its last of six orders in 1968, long before the collapse.

Joining the Komsomol became a little more difficult than going to the cinema, and at the same time it was impossible not to join: this made it difficult to get to the university and, in general, the whole future career. Komsomol meetings, which once could uplift or break a biography, have turned into a profanity. The main issues at them were the collection of dues and the attraction of new members to the Komsomol. Moreover, the image of a Komsomol member increasingly began to be associated not with Budyonovka and not with working overalls, but with a suit and tie.

And most importantly, the Komsomol members never did anything that the “senior comrades” would not approve of. Large youth organizations were headed by people who had a party card. Komsomol members reported endlessly with papers and solemn reviews, the preparation for which ate up the efforts of the entire apparatus. All this is well written in the story. Yuri Polyakov"Emergency of regional scale". For some reason, it was called sensational, although the writer did not reveal any secrets.

Private over public

The more socialism "blossomed", the less the Komsomol understood what to do with it. Periodically, the leadership of the CPSU tried to shake up its youth wing. On TV almost every day they showed how hundreds of young people voluntarily go to explore Siberia and build BAM, but in fact all the main work was assigned to prisoners and construction battalion fighters.

And then it turned out that young people are concerned not only with social ideals, but also with their personal lives. Young families had almost no opportunity to get an apartment.

In the 1970s, the idea of ​​building MZhK (youth residential complexes) arose, which were to become shock Komsomol construction projects of a local scale. The goal was good - to give young people to build themselves not only housing, but also to form in these complexes a special, youth subculture, ways of leisure and even principles of self-government. But the indestructible administrative-command system interfered in everything, and the apartments were often given to ordinary “thieves”.

The sentence was carried out

And there is nothing to be surprised that, as soon as the State Emergency Committee was suppressed in August 1991 and the activities of the CPSU were banned, the "orphaned" Komsomol simply did not understand what to do next. First Secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee Vladimir Zyukin announced the Extraordinary Congress.

As eyewitnesses now say, everyone perfectly understood why they had gathered, so the situation was half-burial. Only Belarusians offered to leave the Komsomol alive. Although, in accordance with the regulations, the discussion of this “idea” was paused, the verdict was signed long ago. It is curious that the delegates, having carried it out, sincerely sang “I will not part with the Komsomol, I will be forever young!”.

A very exciting question was where the huge property of the Komsomol would go, which had its own award, its own newspapers, publishing complexes, hotels, camp sites, rest houses and other attractive inheritance.

It was decided to transfer to the republican youth unions all the property located on their territory and even shares in economic enterprises. It turned out to be a little more difficult to divide the general fund of insurance premiums of the Komsomol, which amounted to a fabulous 390 million at that time.

While it was determined how to do it “fairly”, the USSR also collapsed, and the amount practically eaten up by inflation disappeared somewhere. True, even before the collapse of the country, here and there, some “centers of technical creativity of youth” arose, in fact, cooperatives, and only then people with a glorious administrative and Komsomol past appeared in the ranks of Russian oligarchs.

Komsomol

The collapse of the Komsomol: 20 years later.

Why did the Komsomol collapse? How did it happen that a giant youth organization uniting tens of millions of young men and women, possessing huge resources, having representation in the highest structures of state power, could not stand up for itself and crumbled like a house of cards? We are unlikely to get an unambiguous answer to such a question, but still it is worth trying to understand the essence of the processes of 20 years ago.
In the second half of the 1980s, a crisis broke out in the Komsomol, as an integral part of the entire Soviet system. Serious problems in the Komsomol organization were openly discussed not only in the primary organizations, but also at the highest level. So in April 1987, at the XX Congress of the Komsomol, the first secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee V.I. Mironenko publicly stated in his report that "deep contradictions have emerged between the democratic nature of the organization and the bureaucratic methods of leadership, between the desire of young people for something new and forms of work frozen for decades."
Among the causes of the crisis V.I. Mironenko singled out: “a slowdown in economic growth, silence of shortcomings, a residual principle of allocating funds for social needs, a kind of psychology and ideology of stagnation, a gap between word and deed.” Universal set. Today, almost a quarter of a century later, these problems are still relevant.
In a belated attempt to revive the activities of the Komsomol, the 20th Congress adopted a new Charter, which significantly expanded the rights of the primary Komsomol organizations, including in the economic sphere. In addition to this, in August 1988, the Council of Ministers of the USSR, by its Decree, provided the Komsomol with serious tax benefits, which caused a rapid growth of self-supporting youth organizations. By March of the following 1989, about 30 such associations were already operating in the Smolensk region.
Thus, the Komsomol was among the first organizations and economic entities that switched to the principles of full cost accounting and self-financing. We can say that the Komsomol has become a testing ground for the market mechanism in the country. In the cities, "innovative", as they would say today, platforms for working with youth - Youth Houses - began to be created. One of them was opened in 1987 in Smolensk. At the same time, the Komsomol was granted the right to nominate its delegates to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In our region, the first secretary of the regional committee of the Komsomol, Alexander Trudolyubov, became such.
It would seem that here it is - the democratic "perestroika" of the Komsomol, is in full swing. But she did not stop the crisis. Clear evidence of this was the inexorable reduction in the size of the Komsomol organization at all levels. From 1989 to 1990, the Union was reduced by almost 4 million people, in 1989, 58 thousand organizations did not accept a single person into the Komsomol. The ranks of the Smolensk regional organization of the Komsomol from 1986 to 1990, according to reports, decreased from 130.8 thousand to 68.6 thousand boys and girls. The real picture was even worse.
The first "swallow" of the direct collapse of the Komsomol was the Communist Youth Union of Lithuania, which in 1989 declared its independence. In the same year, the Estonian Komsomol separated. Further more. By 1990, the issue of organizational formalization of the now Russian Komsomol was on the agenda. As a result, at the first congress of the Komsomol organizations of the RSFSR, held in February 1990, the Komsomol of the RSFSR was formed, however, it is still part of the Komsomol.
But it has already been said from the podium that it is time to reorganize the “united and indivisible” Komsomol into a federation of independent Komsomol organizations, which was done two months later, at the XXI Extraordinary Congress. The new Komsomol model also required a change in the previous relationship with the party, and the VLKSM finally declared its full political independence. As a result, the Komsomol was far ahead of the Communist Party and many public organizations in the "democratization" of union work. V.M. was elected the first secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee at this congress. Zyukin.
During the preparation of the XXI Congress of the Komsomol, the Central Committee still believed that there were alternative ideas for the development of the Komsomol: in the form of a movement of political clubs, a movement of scientific and technical creativity of youth, youth housing complexes, student construction teams, an environmental movement, etc. But after the August events of 1991, the Central Committee abruptly took a course towards the liquidation of the youth Komsomol, as an All-Union organization.
Everything was decided at the XXII Extraordinary Congress of the Komsomol, convened in Moscow in September 1991. According to the recollections of the participants, this congress was not like any of the previous ones: "there were no orders, no white bust of Ilyich on the stage, no traditional pioneer greeting." In his report, V. M. Zyukin stated: “The old system has been destroyed, and together with it, the organization that was an element of the system must leave political existence. The existence of the Komsomol even in new clothes is objectively impossible.” The fate of the Komsomol was a foregone conclusion, although the argumentation of this conclusion was very unconvincing, and many things caused bewilderment.
The only issue that was actively discussed at the congress was the further fate of Komsomol property. The Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League proposed its own version: the subjects of the federation and local organizations become the legal successor of the Komsomol, among which most of the property is distributed. On this they agreed: reorganization through separation.
The real property of the Komsomol was transferred to the balance sheet of the Sodruzhestvo-91 enterprise for joint shared ownership and use by the labor collectives of enterprises, editorial offices, and organizations. The funds were distributed among 23 legal successors, based on the number of members of the youth union. The apparatus of the Central Committee was abolished. The congress adopted the Agreement on the establishment of the Coordinating Council, which was instructed to conduct negotiations on cooperation between youth organizations of independent states for 10 months with a view to the possible creation of an inter-republican youth structure. But no real action was taken to this end.
The last attempt to save the Komsomol was made by the Russian delegates to the congress. They gathered in Moscow in October 1991 at the first conference of the Komsomol of Russia, at which it was decided to create on the basis of the Komsomol of the RSFSR a new, now non-political, non-governmental and non-profit organization, namely, the Russian Union of Youth. He became the legal successor of the Komsomol in Russia.
Thus ended the history of the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union, an organization whose name has been associated with the youth of many generations since 1918.

Valentin Semenov,
Head of the Museum of the History of the Youth Movement
at Soyuz DM LLC (Youth House)