Third Congress of the Young Communist International, Moscow, December 4th-16th, 1922. Text from the English editions of the Y.C.I.: Resolutions and Theses adopted by the Third Congress of the Y.C.I., Berlin, Publishing House of the Young International, 1923, pp. 4-58 (marxists.org), and, for the Resolution on the Programme, the Tentative Draft of the New Program and the Resolution on the Economic Demands, The Programs of the Young Communist International, Berlin-Schoeneberg, Publishing House of the Young International, 1923, pp. 26-56 (marxists.org). Misprints of the originals are kept. Traducción al español
The Berlin program of 1919 is given on the page of that congress: Congreso de fundación de la Internacional Comunista de la Juventud (1919). The resolution of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International on the Y.C.I., reprinted at the end of the Resolutions and Theses, is given on the page of that congress: IV Congreso de la Internacional Comunista (1922).
Resolution on the Report of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International
AFTER hearing Comrade Zinoviev's report on the work and the results of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International, the Third Congress of the Y.C.I. endorses all the decisions of that congress and enjoins all the Leagues to do their utmost towards carrying these decisions into effect, by giving their support to the political policy of the E.C. of the Communist International.
The congress welcomes the decision of the Fourth Congress to sweep aside the last relics of federalism and to transform the Communist International into a real, well-disciplined and centralised world party. It instructs the E.C. of the Y.C.I. and all the Leagues to continue with still greater energy to educate the working class youth in the spirit of an international Communist World Party.
In view of the growing strength and enlarged scope of Reaction and Fascism in all countries, the congress enjoins the Leagues to participate wholly and energetically, under the leadership of the E.C. of the Y.C.I., in the struggle against World Reaction and the menace of a new war. It calls upon the young workers throughout the world to join the Y.C.I. and the C.I. in this struggle, and thus to establish the united front of the entire working class youth for the struggle against the political and economic offensive of the international bourgeoisie.
Resolution on the Report of the Executive Committee
AFTER hearing the report of the E.C., the Third Congress of the Y.C.I. endorses the political programme on which it is based and the practical work done during the period covered by the report.
The Third Congress endorses the attitude and activities of the E.C. in the establishment of the United Front of the young and adult workers and in the convocation of the World Congress of young workers, as well as its attitude towards the antagonistic youth organisations.
The Third Congress, furthermore, endorses, as a whole, the activity of the E.C. in connection with the elucidation, popularisation, and defence of the decisions of the Second Congress, and in particular with the interpretation of the disputed question of the young workers' economic struggle and with the educational work.
While approving of the efforts made to consolidate the relations between the Leagues and the Communist Parties, the congress instructs the future Executive to pay special attention to the practical assistance given the Leagues by the Parties; to the efficient coordination of the activities of the Leagues in regard to youth questions and also their participation in the life and struggle of the Communist Parties.
The congress records its satisfaction with the successful activity of the Executive Committee regarding the economic struggle, and instructs the new Executive to intensify the daily work of the Leagues in this field.
The congress endorses the educational work accomplished by the E.C. One of the most important tasks of the new Executive will be the elaboration of more material and the publication of educational literature.
The congress affirms the improvement in the anti-militarist work of the E.C.; it thinks it essential, however, that anti-militarist education and the supervision of the anti-militarist work of all Leagues be intensified, especially so in countries with volunteer armies.
The congress takes cognizance of the work of the International Publishing House. It instructs the new Executive to issue more publications in languages other than German. The Executive must intensify the work among children, students, and peasants. This is also essential in the realm of sports.
The congress records that the E.C. has taken a great step forward in guiding the work and the struggle of the various Leagues, especially of those in the Latin, Anglo-Saxon and Oriental countries.
The congress considers the policy of the Executive with regard to the legal forms of work in the countries under the sway of white terror as correct. The future Executive, however, must render more practical assistance to the illegal Leagues, and must prepare the other Leagues for possible periods of illegality.
The congress approves of the intervention of the E.C. in the case of the Italian, the Norwegian, and the Checho-Slovakian Leagues.
The cooperation of the Leagues under the guidance of the E.C. as well as the supervision in the reorganisation of the Leagues must be strengthened. The rapid development of the movement in the East during the last year necessitates a stronger leadership in the countries of the Orient.
As, however, some organisational shortcomings—especially with respect to the delay in the preparation of material—were noticed in the work of the E.C., and as the tasks of the E.C. are growing in volume, the congress resolves to enlarge the E.C. and instructs it to subdivide its work more than hitherto.
Cooperation of the E.C. of the Y.C.I. with the E.C. of the C.I., which has decidedly improved, must be still more intensified on the part of both, the Y.C.I. as well as the C.I.
The congress reiterates its conviction that strict international centralisation within the Y.C.I. is absolutely necessary, and instructs the E.C. and the Leagues to effect it with precision.
Resolution of the Italian Commission on the Work of the E.C.
(With Regard to the Attitude of the E.C. on the Question of the Young Socialist League of Italy.)
THE commission is of the opinion that it is imperative to organise systematic work within the Young Socialist League of Italy for the purpose of winning over to the communist ideas as many of its members as possible.
The commission endorses in principle the efforts of the E.C. made with the object of amalgamating the Young Socialist League of Italy (freed from the reformist elements) with the Young Communist League of Italy.
In view of the situation created by the amalgamation of the Socialist and Communist Parties of Italy, decided upon by the Fourth Congress of the Communist International, the commission declares that the application of this principle under the most favourable conditions to the youth movement, is the only possible consequence and the only practical solution.
Resolution on the International Press
THE International of Youth is to be divested of its present character as a theoretical organ for officials as well as a propaganda organ for the indifferent young workers. In the future it will appear under the same name as heretofore and as the leading international organ for the more advanced members of the Leagues.
Illustrated papers (on the model of Pictures from the Life of Soviet Russia's Youth) are to be published for propaganda and mass distribution on the occasion of important events, anniversaries, etc.
The German edition of the Correspondence of the Young International as a saleable organ is to be discontinued. It will henceforth appear in bulletin form, transmitting to the various Leagues communications of the E.C., manifestoes, important material and information from other Leagues.
Results of the Realisation of the Decisions of the Second Congress of the Y.C.I.
I
THE Second Congress of the Y.C.I. charged the Young Communist Leagues with the task of becoming mass organisations of the working class youth. The development to mass organisations by the Leagues signified:—
Broadening of the hitherto purely political activities by taking up all questions connected with the life of the young workers as part of the militant and educational tasks of the Leagues in order to acquire a permanent influence on the mass of young workers;
Throwing open the doors of the Leagues to all young workers willing and ready to participate in their struggle and in their educational work;
Introducing such forms of organisation and activity as will enable the Leagues to penetrate into the masses of the young workers and to secure a permanent and guiding influence over them.
With this object in view, the Second Congress issued special directions for the reorganisation of the Leagues, for the guidance of the struggle against bourgeois militarism, and the fight for better economic conditions, revolutionary education, and the spiritual and physical training of the proletarian youth, the winning over of the young agricultural and native workers as well as of the proletarian children (bringing the latter under the influence of the Leagues), etc. All this was to broaden out into the political enlightenment of the young workers who, through the medium of the Leagues, must be brought into close contact and cooperation with the political activity of the Communist Parties, the leaders of the revolutionary proletariat.
II
A number of handicaps combined to hinder the fulfilment of the decisions of the congress by the Leagues.
Owing to the numerous setbacks in the class struggle, the entire working class movement had shown a decreasing will to struggle. This mood found its expression in the ranks of the young workers by the diminution of their direct and active interest in political questions. Moreover, the attacks of Reaction against the Young Communist Leagues increased in number and in strength, forcing some of our sections into illegality.
The tasks put before the Leagues by the Second Congress were either wholly or partly new to all of them, and a considerable length of time was required for an internal orientation and understanding of them. To this must be added that the organisational apparatus of a number of Leagues was greatly weakened soon after the congress owing to the general economic crisis and the decreasing capacity of a majority of the young workers to give financial support to their organisations.
III
All the decisions of the Second Congress have been proved correct by practice. There has been no need to alter fundamentally any of its directives. Their application to the work and to the organisational methods of the Leagues have thus far shown the following results:—
The application of the congressional decisions caused an ideological change in the attitude of the Leagues. In the course of prolonged discussions, dealing partly with the interpretation of the decisions and partly with their adaption to concrete national conditions, the decisions of the congress were adopted as the ideological basis of the further activities of the Leagues. However, the endorsement of the new methods of work by decisions of national conventions or conferences, as well as the alteration of the basis of the programmes of the Leagues were accomplished in many of the more important countries only in the first half of 1922. (As for instance in Checho-Slovakia, Italy, Great Britain, America, Bulgaria, and France.)
The adoption of the decisions as a working basis brought new life into the inner activity of the Leagues and consolidated their structures. The efforts to coordinate the forces of the organised section of the working class youth against the capitalist offensive (united front efforts in Germany, Checho-Slovakia, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland); the acceptance of the propaganda for the general economic demands of the young workers (in Germany, Checho-Slovakia, Austria, Sweden, France, Italy, Rumania, America, Poland); the initiation and carrying out of special activities of the young workers to obtain their demands (Germany, Checho-Slovakia, Austria, Jugo-Slavia, Rumania); the intervention in school questions by the working class youth (Austria, Germany, and Italy); the first attempts at popular communist educational work (in Austria and Germany); the attention paid to the youth in the labour sports organisations (in France, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Checho-Slovakia, and Italy); the initiation of systematic educational work among the League members (in Norway, Sweden, Germany, Bulgaria, France, America, and Russia)—all these prove that important prerequisites for mass activities have been achieved.
In connection with separate question, the following practical results can be placed on record:—
The adoption in principle of the new regulation of the relations between the Young Communist Leagues and the Communist Parties was accomplished rapidly and without great difficulty. In Austria, Finland, Bulgaria, Great Britain and America, the Parties arrived at special decisions as to the support of the Young Communist Leagues. However, the practical application of these decisions was, in some cases, far from satisfactory. The participation in the political life and the political activity of the Parties, which is essential for communist education and successful mass activities, was in some instances carried out in full accord with the newly begun young communist activity while elsewhere (in Checho-Slovakia and Germany, for instance) it was not always satisfactory. In a number of countries where the Communist Party went through a crisis, the Leagues had to develop (with the consent of the International) a stronger political activity within the Parties.
Some Leagues have made a beginning in cataloguing material concerning the economic conditions of the working class youth of their respective countries, in preparation for systematic economic-trade union activity. The Young Communist Leagues of Germany, Austria, Sweden, and Norway are in possession of such material. More practical achievements can be recorded in the field of enlightenment on the basic questions of the young workers and the propaganda for their demands. The most important achievement is the fact that the attention of the trade unions and of the other proletarian organisations has been drawn to the questions affecting the young workers. This is due to the activity of the Young Communist Leagues in Germany, Austria, France, Poland, Finland, Rumania, Checho-Slovakia, and partly, also in Italy. A number of trade unions and other proletarian youth organisations were themselves compelled to formulate young workers demands. The Leagues in Germany, Austria, Checho-Slovakia, Rumania, Jugo-Slavia, and Italy have carried out some prolonged and some short campaigns and efforts to obtain the fundamental or partial demands of the young workers. In Austria, Germany, Rumania, Jugo-Slavia, Bulgaria, Poland, Belgium and America, the Young Communist Leagues were able to intervene in the strikes and other struggles of the young workers or even to assume the leadership in those actions.
Educational work was limited mostly to the members. Their enlightenment on the principles laid down by the Second Congress, especially on communist education, constituted a great part of the educational work of the Leagues. Measures were taken for the training of officials in the shape of regular classes, study circles, etc., in Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Bulgaria. The national executive committees of the Leagues in France, Great Britain, Austria, America, and Checho-Slovakia undertook to influence the educational work of their branches by regularly supplying directions and material (bulletins, instructions, etc.). In Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Rumania, and Checho-Slovakia the life of the branches has undergone a certain improvement by the introduction of popular methods. Very little educational literature has as yet been published, although a small quantity of it appeared in Bulgaria, Sweden, Norway, and Germany.
Anti-militarist work has practically remained stationary. This is explained by the slackening of the militarist spirit since the war, noticeable in some countries; and partly by the growing reaction which savagely suppresses all anti-militarist propaganda. More or less regular activities among the soldiers and recruits of their countries are carried on by the Young Communist Leagues of France, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Checho-Slovakia, Spain, and Greece. Propaganda campaigns were carried on only in France, Italy, Checho-Slovakia, and Spain; while the Swedish and Norwegian Leagues launched an action for the partial demands of the soldiers. An important step forward in the anti-militarist work is the collaboration of the German and the French Leagues for which an organisational beginning has already been made.
Only the Young Communist League of Germany has carried on extensive and systematic activities in connection with the movement for the Communist Children's Sections, achieving very good results in spreading communist influence among new parts of the working class. The other sections of the Y.C.I. were unable to give sufficient attention and energy to this work. Hence the children's groups in those countries are lacking in centralisation and uniformity.
The experiments made in countries allowing only of illegal work, with the utilisation of legal possibilities, have brought valuable experiences and gratifying results.
IV
The Young Communist Leagues have not yet become mass organisations in the sense of having a close contact with the masses of young workers; of the participation of their branches and individual members in the daily struggle of the young workers for the betterment of their conditions; and in the sense of the improved revolutionary enligthenment of the masses by means of an interesting communist educational work conducted on a mass scale.
Previous experiences go to show that, to attain this aim, the Young Communist Leagues must devote their attention to the following principal tasks:—
In no League has the reorganisation of work so far been completed. Therefore the chief task will be to make up for lost time; (active participation in the life of the Party, collection of material on the economic conditions of the youth; agitational activity in connection with our basic economic demands, campaigns and actions for full and partial demands, organisation of trade union work, training of officials and members, publication of material for communist educational work, development of branch life, organisation of contact with the young communists in the army, work among the soldiers and recruits, anti-militarist agitation and campaigns, centralisation of the League organisations and the application of discipline).
As far as the economic-trade union work is concerned, it is not only necessary to organise the general activities and manifestations within the countries, but also to concentrate on the every-day work in industries and schools. It is only by paying strict attention to the industrial and school life of the working class youth and by continually stirring up the indifferent ones to the defense of the demands of the working class youth, that our branches and nuclei will be able to gain the confidence of young workers and to create the prerequisites for their communist educational influence over these masses. The intensification of the work within the trade unions by means of the establishment of young communist fractions (which must see to it that in all labour conflicts, wage-negotiations, etc. the interests of the young workers are represented) must go hand in hand with the work whithin the workshops.
Since there is a lack of capable officials in the entire communist movement, it is of vital importance, both for the Leagues and the Parties, that all educational work be carried on with a view to fitting the members for such tasks. In addition to the training of the members for official posts, one of the chief tasks of the Young Communist Leagues must be to provide the members with the knowledge and training which will enable them to take an active and leading role among the masses of the unorganised young workers and imbue the latter with Marxian conceptions. Educational efforts of a mass character, reaching a larger percentage of the unorganised workers, must be carried out without any further delay, and with the active collaboration of the entire membership of the Leagues. Only practical work can raise the level of the working capacity of our own organisations and produce effective methods for this educational work. More attention must be paid to the press, to the organs of the Leagues as well as to the youth supplements and articles in the Party papers; the press must become a means of influencing and educating not only the members of the Leagues, but also the masses of the working class youth in a communist spirit.
The fulfilment of the organisational tasks laid down by the Second Congress must be considered as one of the most important means for the establishment of a truly close contact with the working class youth. Systematic organisational work is impossible without conscientious work in research and registration, dealing with the fluctuation of membership, the composition of membership with regard to social position, age, and branch activity.
It is only by concentrating on regular and well-organised activity in factories and workshops that the Young Communist Leagues will become mass organisations of the working class youth in the true sense of the word.
The practical task of the Young Communist Leagues consists in gradually reconstructing their organisations in accord with the following principles:—
The basic unit of the League is the shop nucleus. The shop nuclei in the cities are combined into branches which thus include those comrades working in the industrial concerns of the said territory. Direct affiliation with these branches is permissible only to those League members who, residing in the district of the branch, are not working in large or medium sized industries where a factory nucleus is possible.
The chief tasks of the nuclei are: political agitation, economic struggle, recruiting of new members, collection of membership dues, distribution of literature, discussion of the work of the League within the factories and workshops, educational activities, as far as they are possible, and the convocation of shop meetings of young workers. After its reorganisation on the basis of a combination of nuclei, the local branch must continue to carry on a considerable part of the League's work. Above all it must control the entire activities of the factory nuclei, centralise the management of the latter, carry on propaganda in the rural districts, work in the children's groups, and organise the advanced educational activities.
Only such a formation of the Young Communist Leagues will guarantee us a close and permanent contact with the masses, a systematic influence over the latter, the possibility of an increase in membership, and the coordination of the internal and mass activity of the Leagues. The branches of all Young Communist Leagues must therefore proceed at once to establish and to develop shop nuclei by concentrating their attention upon the most important shops in their localities.
The tempo of the transition from the system of the old territorial groups, based on the residential principle, to that of local groups organised on the basis of factory nuclei, depends on the concrete local conditions. In order to obtain practical experiences and facilitate a rapid development in the above mentioned direction, the transformation must first of all be carried through in the strongest and most appropriate branches of the Leagues.
Resolution on the Organisation of Shop Nuclei
(1) The Organisation and Activity of the Nuclei
IN all localities with large and medium sized industrial concerns, the branches of the Young Communist Leagues must immediately begin the organisation of nuclei. At the outset of this activity, the branches must enlighten their members as to the nature and functions of the nuclei; they must ascertain where their members are working, collect information regarding the general conditions within the shops and on the qualities of our branch members. There must be at least five branch members in the factory or workshop for the organisation of the nucleus. Nuclei must first be established in the most important shops and in those where the least difficulties are encountered (for instance, in industries with workers' colonies, with strong communist tendencies among the workers, and in the shop council, etc.). In those shops where only a few of our comrades are working, they must carry on a systematic activity to increase their membership within the factory and to organise a nucleus as soon as possible.
At the first meetings of the nucleus, a secretary, or (if the numerical strength warrants) a bureau consisting of three or five comrades, should be elected. As soon as the nucleus has been organised it must get into touch with the party nucleus or fraction, or (if no party organisations are in existence within the shop) with the individual members of the party, as well as with the communists or sympathisers in the shop council and with the representatives of the trade unions.
Immediately on its inception, the nucleus must elaborate a plan of work for the immediate future. The nucleus must begin its mass activity by concentrating on the questions which are of greatest interest to the young workers in the respective factory.
The permanent work of an average nucleus consists of:—
(1) The economic struggle of the working class youth which is the chief task of the nucleus. The nucleus must be well-informed on all wage-agreements, payment of wages, working hours, strikes, holidays, treatment of the young workers, the hygienic conditions in the factory and in the workers' dwellings (if such are in existence), on sick benefits, and all school matters. Only thus will the nucleus be able to discuss all these questions with the young workers, with the shop council, the trade union representatives, as well as within the trade unions through the fractions of the League. All this work must be conducted on the basis of the decisions of the Y.C.I. on the economic struggle. Moreover, the shop nucleus must carry on all the economic campaigns of the League within the factory.
(2) Political agitation, individual, as well as at meetings, and by the distribution of literature.
(3) Recruiting of new members, whose admission must be endorsed by the local branch which is in charge of the registration of members.
(4) Educational work in its simplest forms, as for instance, short political reports, discussion of problems of the labour and the youth movement, distribution of books from the branch library, arrangement of revolutionary evening gatherings, hikes, singing of revolutionary songs, publication of a branch or nucleus paper. The educational work of the nucleus must not push into the background the economic and political work which is the most important task of the Young Communist Leagues. It must correspond with the tasks of communist education, and must be very carefully adapted to the psychology of the industrial young workers.
(5) Descriptions of the life of the young workers and of the work of the nuclei within the various factories must be given regularly in the Party and League press.
(6) Convocation of shop meetings of young workers.
(7) Collection of membership dues, a definite percentage of which must be handed over to the branch which has charge of all financial matters.
The nuclei must work legally, semi-legally or illegally according to the prevailing conditions in their particular country, town, or shop, all of which will have a bearing on the possibility or the methods of fulfilment of the above-mentioned tasks.
The nucleus must meet at least once a week. According to circumstances, the time of meeting can be fixed either for the dinner hour, immediately after working hours, or later in the evening. The meetings may be held on the shop premises (room of the shop council, dining hall, school), or in the dwelling place of some League, Party, or trade union member in the neighbourhood of the factory, in the nearest local headquarters of the Young Communist League, the Party, the trade union or the cooperative society, in a nearby hall, etc., or (during the summer months) in the open air. The agenda of the meeting must be carefully prepared. It must be interesting and not tiresome, so that it will attract the attention of the audience.
It is very essential that every member of the nucleus should be drawn immediately into some kind of practical work, no matter how simple it may be.
In the event of a member becoming unemployed, he is transferred to the local branch of his residential district. The Young Communist League must organise branches of the unemployed comrades at the Labour Exchanges, etc.
(2) Guidance and Support of the Work of the Nuclei
The shop nuclei cannot carry on systematic and successful work without the careful and continuous supervision of the branches. This must be based on an exact knowledge of the local industrial conditions. The leaders of the branches must inform themselves several times a week on the work of the nuclei, and must give directions to the latter either by visiting the secretaries or bureaus or by inviting them to the headquarters of the branch. The branch committee may instruct its members to carry on special activities in the shop or shops in their respective locality. If possible, all the nucleus meetings should be attended by members of the branch committee. In capitals and country or provincial towns it is essential that the members of the national executive committee and the district committees should on certain days do regular work in the most important shops. From time to time meetings of nuclei representatives must be organised according to the territorial and the trade union principles. The leading bodies of the League and all their departments must continuously be informed on the experiences gained in nucleus work and must utilise them to the best advantage; they must define and elaborate their tasks, publish the necessary material for their activities, give publicity to the latter in the League's press, etc. Comrades especially fitted for teaching must be used for the educational work of the nuclei and of the branches. Through the medium of the corresponding Party and trade union bodies, the leading bodies of the League must enlist for the nuclei the help and the support of the Party and the trade union organisations and their members in the various shops.
(3) Reorganisation of the Branches
Transition from the present territorial branch to branches organised on the basis of shop and school nuclei (constituting as it does one of the immediate tasks of the international young communist movement) is a lengthy process during which numerous difficulties will be encountered. A beginning should be made wherever it is easiest (for instance, in towns with only one branch) transferring the work gradually to those localities where difficulties are greater (for instance, large cities). Transition of the territorial branches is only possible, however, once the nuclei have been carefully and systematically organised and placed on a working basis. As long as the old branch is not yet reorganised, it continues its present functions. However, this old branch must take the following steps preparing for its complete reorganisation:—
(1) Subordination of the nuclei to the present territorial branch.
(2) Joint meetings of the nuclei representatives with the local branch committee.
(3) Joint meetings of nuclei and local branch members.
(4) Organisation of branches in industrial centers on the new basis.
(5) Election to the local committee of several comrades who work in the industries of this territory, but who live elsewhere.
All the measures taken for the present can naturally be only of a provisional character. The branch committee shall be elected on the new basis and the members shall participate in the educational work of the branches where they are domiciled.
All the above examples are suggestions for practical measures, to be carried out on the basis of actual conditions, situations, and experiences.
The organisation of the branches being completed in certain cases, (but not generally) individual members may simultaneously belong to the branch where they are domiciled and to the branch of which their nucleus is a part.
(4) Report to the Executive Committee of the Y.C.I.
The Leagues are requested to send to the international Executive Committee every other month a special and detailed report on their activities in connection with the organisation of the Leagues on the new basis.
Thesis on the Economic Situation and the Struggle of the Working Class Youth
TODAY four years after the war, the situation of the working class youth has deteriorated to such a degree, that the danger of mass pauperisation and of physical and moral degradation becomes ever more threatening. Under these circumstances the struggle for the economic demands of the working class youth has become now a fight for a bare existence and for the maintenance of life and the physical well-being of the young workers.
The world war had already struck a severe blow at the young workers. Exhaustive exploitation in war industries, the abolition of protective legislation, starvation and tuberculosis impaired to a serious extent the health of the working class youth. To these young workers we must add the children who grew up during the war in the poverty-stricken working class families, and who were physically too weak to resist desease. Under such conditions the working class youth had to suffer from the consequences of the collapse of capitalist economy and the capitalist attempts to re-establish it by exploiting the working class youth.
(2) The desperate attempts of capitalism to reconstruct its economic system at the expense of the working class have taken the form of a capitalist offensive, which has been going on for the last two years all over the world, and which strives not only to deprive the working class of its small acquisitions of the post-war period, but endeavours to force it down to a standard of living similar to that of the pre-union period. Lock-outs and unemployment on a mass scale, short-time work, big wage-cuts, lengthening of working hours and attacks on the rights and organisations of the trade unions are the economic features of the capitalist offensive which combined these economic means of struggle with powerful political and military methods, ultimately arriving at Fascism and white terror.
In the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, with low currency, the progressive depreciation of money and the growing burden of taxes play the role of wage-cuts; in this way the capitalist campaign, although apparently cloaked by these factors, is in reality intensified by them. In various countries the capitalist offensive has already robbed the working class of its most important acquisitions and is continuing its attacks, while in other countries (especially in Central Europe) the offensive only recently assumed more acute forms.
The working class youth is suffering today more than any other section of the working class. It is not only that the weakened power of resistence of the young workers makes them feel doubly the blows against the working class, but their wages and working hours are more often subject to capitalist attacks than those of the adult working class. The young workers are especially hard hit by unemployment, as in most cases they get no unemployment doles at all, or only such inadequate financial support that they are exposed to great physical suffering. Exploitation of the apprentices is also on the increase.
The situation of the working class youth is rendered still more acute by the fact that the young workers are exploited to the detriment of the adult workers and are utilised as a weapon against the latter. Frequently, and especially in handicraft, young workers are employed to displace adult workers. Thus they increase unemployment, force down the wages of the adult workers and are being used by the capitalists to bring down the general wage level. Their working hours are lengthened in order to have the adult workers do short-time work. To a great extent young workers are utilised as blacklegs (scabs) against the adult working class.
(3) If the young workers are to protect themselves against pauperisation, they must not inactively and helplessly submit to these miserable conditions. They must enter into a bitter struggle against the offensive of capital, — against pauperisation.
Under the pressure of the increasing misery, and as a consequence of the propaganda of the Young Communist International, the movement of the working class youth is growing everywhere; spontaneous demonstrations and strikes of the young workers and apprentices are taking place. The Y.C.I. considers these movements as the expression of the increasing determination of the masses of young workers to resist the capitalist offensive. It is thoroughly convinced that the struggle for the economic demands in the face of the growing misery is one of the most important tasks of the Young Communist Leagues in the present period. For an effective defense, the Young Communist Leagues must draw into the struggle the largest possible masses of the working class youth.
(4) From their previous economic trade union work the Young Communist Leagues must draw the important conclusion that general propaganda in the press and in meetings is by no means sufficient to penetrate the masses and induce them to fight for the necessary demands. Above all, the Young Communist Leagues must, more than hitherto, carry their propaganda into the very heart of the masses, i. e. the number of public meetings must be limited and the main weight must be laid on shop and trade union meetings. The formation of shop and school nuclei by the Young Communist Leagues is an indispensable prerequisite for an effective practical work on the economic field. The Young Communist Leagues can win the confidence of the young workers and become their leader only by participating daily and persistently in all problems of the life of the working class youth. In order to accomplish this purpose, our organisations and their members must immediately take a concrete stand and make definite proposals with regard to all economic problems of the working class; to every wage conflict in shop, locality, and country, concerning the young workers; to all questions arising within the trade unions; to every case of excessive exploitation; to all important matters in the trade schools, etc. No wage dispute or strike movement of the working class must be allowed to take place without the Young Communist League coming forward with concrete demands for the young workers concerned. However, they must not confine themselves to the press, but carry on a determined activity in the trade unions so that these will advocate the youth's interests; furthermore they must propagate their demands as slogans among the masses of the young workers affected. In the event of spontaneous strike movements of young workers and apprentices, the Young Communist Leagues must support the latter (by formulating and advocating their demands, by establishing connections with the adult workers, by setting up strike funds, etc.) and strive to assume their leadership. In such cases, it is the first and foremost duty of the Leagues to obtain the assistance and cooperation of the adult workers and to induce the trade unions to take up the struggle for the demands of the young workers. Such persistent work in the trade unions and shops which is closely related to the daily life of the working class youth, will prepare the ground for the powerful actions into which the Leagues must lead the masses of young workers in the coming period in order to resist the offensive of capital. Since the battle against capitalism can be fought only by the entire working class, the Leagues must now, as before, pay particular attention to their activities in the trade unions so as to induce them to fight for the demands of the working class youth. Every member of the League must join his trade union. The members of the Leagues in the trade unions must be led and combined more systematically than hitherto. It is therefore an urgent necessity in the coming period, to organise conferences of the League members organised in trade unions and to unite them into fractions, as already provided for in previous decisions.
(5) The offensive of capital is not merely an economic measure, but it is the concentrated and intensified mobilisation of all coercive measures of the bourgeoisie to force the working class into submission and to make it pay for the reconstruction of the political and economic power of capitalism.
Therefore, this offensive can be resisted only by bringing into action all the political and economic forces of the working class. The working class youth must be conscious of this and must, furthermore, realise that this struggle will inevitably lead to the struggle for economic and social power if the intended capitalist exploitation is to be prevented. Only by a determined class struggle can the working class youth be saved from its present miserable situation.
The preliminary condition for a struggle of the working class youth against the offensive of capital is the united front of young and adult workers. An isolated fight of the youth is impossible. At present the young workers must insist, more energetically than ever, upon being enrolled in the battle front of the adult workers and they must continue to urge the adult working class to advocate the demands of the youth. It is not only the necessity of protecting its younger generation which makes it incumbent on the working class to defend the interests of the latter, but it is in the interest of the adult workers themselves to put a stop to a further deterioration of their situation by the competition of their own sons and daughters.
(6) The reformist trade unions which are affiliated with the Amsterdam Trade Union International have so far remained inactive towards the ever increasing misery of the working class youth. Even worse — they have maintained or intensified the organisational barriers which make it difficult or even impossible for the young workers and apprentices to enter the trade unions. Thus, they still share, to a large extent, in the responsibility for the intensified exploitation of the working class youth and for their employment as blacklegs. In many cases they have sacrificed the interests of the young workers in order to avoid complications.
The Social-Democratic Young Workers' International has taken a similar attitude towards the difficult situation of the working class youth.
The centrist International Union of Socialist Youth Organisations has, internationally and nationally, supported the Young Workers' International in order to prevent any serious struggles for economic demands and has avoided every effective fight for even the most elementary demands.
(7) Upon order from the Amsterdam Trade Union International, both Social-Democratic Internationals of Youth rejected, at their Salzburg Conference the proposal of the Y.C.I. for the convocation of a world congress of young workers, thus preventing an international struggle. Instead, they set up a programme of economic "demands" which must be emphatically rejected by the working class youth. The utter uselessness and deceptive nature of this "present day programme" is sufficiently proved by the fact that it does not concern itself at all with the wages and the unemployment of the young workers. This programme does not demand a maximum six hour day, but a minimum of six working hours. The demand for a four weeks' holiday is omitted. Nothing definite is said about holidays. And instead of urgent demands for severe measures against the exploitation of apprentices, it contains but general phrases on "reforms" and "new regulations". By this programme of demands the international leaders of the social-democratic youth organisations and the Amsterdam Trade Union International have proved once more that they are unwilling to fight against the pauperisation of the working class youth, — that they do not even consider it seriously.
(8) The Red International of Labour Unions has, since its inception, proclaimed the inclusion of the young workers and their demands in the trade union struggle. Its affiliated organisations and trade union minorities have proved to be a bulwark against the offensive of capital and have advocated the demands of the working class youth. The Third Congress of the Y.C.I. welcomes the Red International of Labour Unions, which decided upon the struggle against the pauperisation of the working class youth and for its demands. It is convinced that in the future the Red International of Labour Unions and its affiliated organisations will pay even more attention to this struggle.
(9) After a thorough consideration of the present situation of the working class youth, the Third Congress states that the struggle for the following urgent demands is the immediate task of the entire working class youth:—
A) General Demands for all Young Workers up to 18 Years
(1) Unconditional abolition of, and relentless opposition to, all child labour.
(2) Minimum wages ranging from the subsistence minimum upwards. Equal wages for equal work for young and adult workers of both sexes. Progressive grading of apprentices' wages in the course of apprenticeship.
(3) Struggle against the extension of the eight hour day by including continuation school hours in the working hours; establishment of the six hour day.
(4) Equal unemployment doles for young and adult workers; unemployment doles ranging from the subsistence minimum upwards.
(5) Compulsory employment of young unemployed in either shops or training schools, guaranteeing continuation of training for young workers who have been compelled to interrupt their apprenticeship.
(6) Forty four hours week-end rest.
(7) Fully paid four weeks annual vacation. Free accomodation of young workers in recreation homes, sanatariums, etc.
(8) Prohibition of night and Sunday work for all young workers up to 20 years.
(9) Prohibition of employment of young workers up to 20 years in industries injurious to their health.
(10) Compulsory free trade education for young workers up to 18 years (establishment of continuation schools, apprentices departments, etc.).
(11) Classes to be held during the day-time and to be paid and considered as working hours. Abolition of evening, Sunday and Saturday afternoon classes. All means for study and all school material to be furnished free of charge. Establishment of pupils' councils with the right of voting on the curriculum and of participation in school management.
B) Protection of Apprentices
(12) Abolition of apprentice's sweating by strict regulations regarding the right to employ apprentices.
(13) Abolition of individual indentures and the inclusion of the apprentices in the collective agreements.
(14) Trade unions and shop stewards to control the employment of apprentices.
(15) Two years' apprenticeship.
The Third Congress raises its exhorting voice to the entire working class youth to enter upon the struggle for the realisation of these demands if they want to escape from a fate which is becoming ever more threatening. It decides to fight for these demands in all countries, and on an international scale, and, together with the Communist International and the Red International of Labour Unions, to intensify the campaign carried on hitherto.
Resolution on the Condition of the Young Agricultural Workers and Peasants
The congress instructs the Executive Committee to conduct an international inquiry as to the conditions of the young agricultural workers and peasants and to submit concrete proposals for the international economic demands of these sections of the working class youth to the next Bureau Session. The Leagues are requested to pay particular attention to this question.
Resolution on our Immediate Tasks in the Struggle against Militarism
I
The imperialist war of 1914-18 and the subsequent peace treaties have completely altered the economic and political relations among the capitalist states.
In the effort to restore their disrupted economic system, the victorious powers plunder the defeated nations; the victors' threats of coercive measures following each other in quick succession, constitute a perpetual danger of new wars. The Versailles and the other imperialist peace treaties, which form the legal basis for this state of plundering and imperialist menace, have not only failed to remove the already existing imperialist antagonism, but have even given rise to new conflicts.
The new so-called "national states", Poland, Checho-Slovakia, Jugo-Slavia, etc., are based upon the subjection of new large national minorities. This state of affairs is a constant source of new conflicts; it has again exploded the myth of "nations" and "national wars".
The peace treaties have not abolished war. The European war was followed by a series of colonial conflicts and attacks on Soviet Russia. The French imperialists conquered Syria and Silicia; the Spanish imperialists took possession of Morocco; the British imperialists instigated the Greeco-Turkish war in order to safeguard their route to India, and thus engendered a long drawn out war on Europe's frontiers. These new struggles for the partition of the world are another cause for dissension amongst the imperialist victors.
II
As the communists predicted, capitalism, notwithstanding its solemn promises of general disarmament, has done nothing and is unable to do anything toward this end. The economic situation and the necessity for exploiting other countries, the internal disturbances, the ever increasing strikes, the revolutionary struggle between the capitalist class and the working class, the colonial domination which insures capitalism's rule, the war against revolutionary governments — these are the causes which compel capitalism to maintain large standing armies. During this period, militarism has been considerably strengthened. Despite the reduction of military forces in Germany and Austria, the armies of the world have increased from six millions in 1913, to eleven millions. Due to its activities, to the ideology developed in the military caste and to its dependence upon greedy large industry, militarism is a powerful factor making for war.
Conditions within bourgeois armies reduce the young workers and peasants to automatons in the service of the enemies of their class. Capitalism makes use of the miserable situation of the working class youth, and especially of unemployment, to fill up the ranks of its so-called volunteer armies (Great Britain). In countries with mixed nationalities, capitalism pits one nationality against the other.
Capitalism is filled with dismay at the growing class consciousness of the workers, who are becoming less and less willing to be the instruments of its militarism. Partly with a view to meeting this contingency, capitalism is constructing modern weapons, which it can operate with the aid of highly paid specialists. It hopes thereby to reduce somewhat the size of its armies. This perfection of the technique of war will also enhance its destructive power, investing war with horrors compared to which those of the last slaugther must pale.
Capitalism seeing that it is gradually losing its hold over the national armies, in its clashes with the working class, is falling back more and more upon the use of colonial troops. Everywhere the capitalist states are busily improving the technical facilities for the mobilisation of large native contingents.
III
The reformist slogans which were adopted by the two Social-Democratic Internationals of Youth have miserably failed: general disarmament, arbitration, international court of justice, League of Nations, international control of the manufacture of munitions, — experience has proved these slogans to be base and illusory. The reformists have used catchwords to mislead the proletariat. However, they have not once shown any inclination to fight for their own slogans.
Under the pressure of the masses, the Amsterdam International, at its congress in Rome, gave out the slogan of the general strike in the event of war. This step, however, is wholly inadequate to prevent imperialist wars, since the Amsterdam International is doing nothing whatever to prepare the masses for action or to win over the armies by means of revolutionary propaganda. A general strike against war can be effective only if the proletariat is ideologically and technically prepared to resist the aggressions of the bourgeoisie, and that on the very day when war is declared.
The general strike will either assume the character of a real armed struggle, ending in the triumph of the working class and its accession to power, or else it will lead to the crushing defeat of the proletariat. To provide against the possibility of such a defeat, the armies must be induced to side with and fight for the proletariat. This can be accomplished only by systematic propaganda among the troops and by the establishment of a network of nuclei among them. The Amsterdam International has refused to accept the slogan and the plan of arming the proletariat. It refuses to make preparations for a revolutionary struggle to support the general strike against the war. It refuses to win over the bourgeois armies to the cause of the working class by forming a system of nuclei within the armies, and by these refusals it again betrays the working class and assures its severe defeat.
The Amsterdam International summoned a "pacifist world congress" at which reformists of all shades united in a manifesto against war and militarism. The proletariat has nothing to expect from such conferences in which the usual misleading reformist platitudes are reiterated and the "bloc" with the pacifist left bourgeoisie is cemented. On the contrary, such conferences only undermine the militant spirit of the masses and blind them to the machinations of the imperialists. The two Social Democratic Internationals of Youth, at their Salzburg Conference made no decision regarding the struggle against militarism and reaction. By referring the young workers to the pacifist conference in Amsterdam, they have connived in the crime of, and the betrayal by the Amsterdam Trade Union International and the Social-Democratic Internationals of the working class of the world.
The Young Communist International, which upholds the principles of uncompromising opposition to petty bourgeois democratic pacifism, the necessity for disarming the bourgeoisie, the disintegration of the bourgeois army in order to prevent its use by and for the bourgeois class and to lead it into the proletarian camp; today, in view of the growing, daily more savage militarism, and the increasing danger of war, emphasises the following demands:
(1) Cancellation of the treaties of Versailles, St. Germain, Trianon, Sevres and the other imperialist pacts and agreements signed after the war.
(2) War against armaments:
(a) continuous efforts to awaken the proletarian class consciousness and to rouse the workers' opposition to armaments;
(b) struggle for the effective legal and illegal control of the manufacture of all war material and its distribution and transport by workers' organisations;
(c) an international struggle against the manufacture and transport of war material, which struggle must go as the prevention of such manufacture and transport.
(3) Systematic propaganda within the army:
(a) for the improvement of the material condition of the soldiers;
(b) recognition of the soldiers' civic rights of assembly and suffrage and their right to read proletarian newspapers and to frequent proletarian circles (trade unions, labour exchanges, and Party quarters).
(4) Support of the demands of the colonial soldiers for political equality, and the improvement of their material conditions. Systematic propaganda within their ranks to rouse them against the imperialism which is keeping them in subjection.
(5) Intensification of the determination of the broad masses to oppose war by every means, from street demonstrations to general strikes, rebellion, and the transformation of capitalist war into a revolutionary class struggle.
IV
The struggle being waged by the bourgeoisie throughout the world for the re-establishment of its toppling political domination and against the growing militant movement of the working class, finds expression in the economic offensive of capital as well as in the savage political reaction which is growing apace and which has already culminated, in many countries, in the open rule of White Terror. The working class of the Baltic border States and Poland, Finland, Jugo-Slavia, Rumania, Hungary, Italy, Spain and the United States is suffering untold tortures under the sway of this white terror. The bourgeoisie is endeavouring to deprive the working class of all its political rights, to destroy, or at least to throttle, its organisations; to confiscate all its property, such as trade union premises, labour halls, educational institutions, or to destroy them by fire and sword. In those countries only the treacherous leaders of the Social-Democracy, henchmen of the bourgeoisie, are allowed to work openly. All revolutionary movements are crushed with the greatest brutality, by legal and illegal means. The reactionaries are daily assassinating communist fighters or throwing them into prison. Class justice is wielded quite frankly and brazenly as a practical war-time measure.
However, the reaction is assuming more power in other countries also. In Germany the reactionary organisations commit murder after murder and prepare, daily more openly, for a monarchist coup d'état; while the class justice of the official democratic government and the reactionary volunteer armies throttling the working class and is permitting reaction full sway. The ruling nationalist bloc in France and the ultra reactionary monarchist bloc brutally suppress the working class movement by force of arms and encourage the formation of armed bourgeois organisations. Checho-Slovakia, always famed for its brutal persecutions of the labour movement, is preparing anti-communist legislation on the Jugo-Slavian model. "Liberal" England is using every means to throttle the revolutionary movement and to rob the trade unions of their political rights. Following the example of Italy, Jugo-Slavia and such countries, reaction is arming itself everywhere.
The mainstay of reaction and white terror are the armed class organisations of the bourgeoisie which either conduct activities quite openly, as do the Fascists in Italy and Jugo-Slavia, the remnants of the Wrangel army in the Balkans, the American Legion and the Ku Klux Klan in the United States, the officiers' gangs in Hungary and Spain, or are organising and arming themselves for that purpose, as in France, Austria, and Germany. The Bourgeoisie is recruiting its own organisations for the time when, in a great social crisis, it will be unable to use its regular standing armies, either because of the limitations imposed by the peace treaties, or because of the disruption of the troops by propaganda from within. The organisations thus created show an increasing tendency to replace the permanent armies in the maintenance of the bourgeois social order. These organisations have the support of the military-nationalist youth organisations, boy scouts, sport associations, church lads brigades, state military preparatory institutions for the youth, etc., and frequently draw from them their best recruits.
V
Under the reign of white terror and reaction, the working class youth suffers incredible hardships. Not only do the young workers share in every respect the fate of their older comrades—thousands of young militants are languishing in prisons and many of them have laid down their lives for the revolution,—but the persecutions of reaction are directed with especial ferocity and in the first line against the young workers (organisations which have always fought in the forefront against reaction and militarism). The young workers are frequently deprived of their right of organisation, while the reactionary bourgeois youth enjoys every privilege to organise politically and militarily, and carries on its criminal activities under the protection of the government. It has been a frequent experience of the young workers that even their purely economic manifestations have been put down by brute force; the bourgeoisie has not hesitated to use armed force against peaceful demonstrations of young workers. This has been proved again by the new wave of persecutions against the Leagues in Germany, France, and Checho-Slovakia, following in the wake of the International Day of Youth. The Y.C.L. of Checho-Slovakia has been disbanded several times by the autorities; the French League has for years been the object of the bitter persecutions of a reactionary government. In the House of Commons, a bill has been introduced forbidding the young English workers to organise and carry on revolutionary propaganda. The whole N.E.C. of the Spanish League has been incarcerated for its propaganda against the Riff war, and was brought before a martial court. The German comrades have to mourn again this year the death of several comrades struck down by reaction. Terror rages against the Leagues in America, the Balkans, etc.
VI
The Third Congress of the Young Communist International, which set itself the task of intensifying the struggle against militarism and reaction, must carefully analyse the past experiences of the working class in its resistance against reaction and white terror.
The communist theory alone has been borne out by the events which have shown the fact that force is the only defence against reactionary aggression and white terror. However, a small isolated communist militant organisation cannot conduct such a struggle. It requires the united front of the whole working class under the leadership of the Communist Parties.
But very seldom are the armed bourgeois organisations recruited entirely from the ranks of the big bourgeoisie, the landed interests and the military caste; rather, these form the nuclei of such organisations. The majority consists of petty-bourgeois, declared anti-social and degraded elements which are driven into these organisations by force or by misery. We must carry our political propaganda into these organisations to make these proletarian elements realise the shame of their situation, and to awaken their class consciousness. This will make them useless as tools of the bourgeoisie, and will disrupt these reactionary organisations. The proletarian organisations must combat mercilessly all manifestations of armed bourgeois violence. The disruptive process within these organisations will be hastend by the constant, determined struggle carried on against them by the organisations of the working class.
The Young Communist Leagues must carry on systematic propaganda and educational work among the young workers, to rouse their opposition to political reaction and white terror and to prepare them for active resistance.
Their own members must be prepared physically, technically, and organisationally for the final struggle against reaction, in order to form the nuclei for the militant masses of the working class.
At this juncture, the Young Communist International brings forward the following demands:—
(1) Abolition of military courts, and amnesty for the political prisoners of capitalism.
(2) Right of organisation and assembly for the working class and its youth organisations.
(3) Disarmament and disbandment of the reactionary organisations and their youthful counterparts. Abolition of compulsory capitalist military training for the youth.
(4) Arming of the working class for self-protection.
(5) Political and economic boycott of those countries where white terror is in power.
(6) Political and economic boycott of those countries where white tries.
VII
The peculiar position of the working class youth in relation to militarism, for which it supplies the chief contingents from its own ranks, assigns to the Leagues an especially active role in the struggle against militarism. However, the principles of the Y.C.I. make it incumbent upon the Leagues that the struggle against militarism and reaction should not be left to the isolated efforts of the Young Communist Leagues, but should be carried on in close collaboration with the Communist Parties and under their guidance. Unlike the Social-Democratic Parties, the Communist Parties do not shrink from this work; on the contrary, it is one of the chief items of their programme. It is only thus that the anti-militarist and anti-reactionary struggle can grow to its full strength and significance.
Resolution on the Program
THE Third Congress of the Y.C.I. resolves:
(1) To adopt as a basis the new draft of the program proposed by the E.C. of the Y.C.I.
(2) To instruct the next Bureau Session to decide upon the program in its definite and final form.
(3) To carry on a thorough discussion regarding the program in the Leagues.
(4) To instruct the E.C. to publish the Berlin Program and the draft for the new program in the more important languages.
Tentative Draft of the New Program of the Young Communist International
(as adopted by the Third Congress of the Y.C.I. Moscow, December 1922)
THE time when the working class youth suffered without protest under the yoke of exploitation is forever gone. A tremendous development has taken place in the minds of the masses of young workers in the city and in the country; of apprentices, of the children of the proletariat who have been thrown ruthlessly into the process of production by growing capitalism. The unbearable servitude of the young workers in capitalist industry and capitalist society has awakened in them also the consciousness of class and has united them in the struggle against their miserable conditions of existence. The young workers have gathered in hundreds of thousands around the banner of the Young Communist International. Millions of young workers and poor peasants, the oppressed and martyred youth of the colonies, aroused by imperialist wars and gigantic social conflicts have joined the army of the militant proletariat. Closely united with the adult workers in this struggle, the working class youth gradually approaches the goal to which the Communist International points—the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of a communist society.
The World Revolution
Capitalism holds sway over the largest part of the earth. Its most important characteristics are: ownership of the means of production; exploitation of the large masses of the working class by small groups of bankers, factory and land owners; and anarchy of production. The capitalist state in all its forms is the instrument of power of the capitalist class for the oppression of the workers and for their continued exploitation.
The constant concentration of capital and production has brought capitalism into a new phase of development—imperialism—whose characteristic features are the formation of trusts, syndicates, and cartels, and the domination of finance capital. To find new markets for its products and fresh sources of raw material, to open new investment possibilities for its capital, the imperialist bourgeoisie subjugated most of the industrially backward and undeveloped nations outside of Europe and took possession of those countries, at the same time bringing others under its disguised rule. Through their governments the various national capitalist cliques fight each other bitterly for the division and domination of the world, for colonies, for European markets, and for sources of raw materials and fuel. This economic war leads inevitably to armed conflicts, to imperialist wars.
The imperialist world war of 1914-1918 cost more than ten millions of dead and maimed; it disrupted finance, industry, and transportation everywhere; it brought hunger and misery to the workers. Capitalism cannot repair the fatal consequences of that war. Its various attempts at economic reconstruction have been in vain; the disruption of its economic basis proceeds without interruption and capitalism is faced with complete collapse. The political differences between the nations have not been removed but have been made more acute by the peace treaties. Due to a widespread, bitter, and constantly increasing class antagonism all the attempts to reconstruct capitalist economy and establish a social balance lead to nothing. Capitalism has brought humanity into a blind alley and the only way out is—the world revolution.
The emancipation of mankind from the yoke of capitalism has become the immediate task of the international proletariat. The proletariat must overthrow the bourgeoisie, erect the proletarian dictatorship and the Soviet system, take from the capitalists the land, the banks, the industries, and the means of transportation, and proceed in this manner until the complete abolition of private property and classes has been attained; until the final establishment of a communist economic system and a communist society.
The essential economic conditions for the world revolution are present. Its success depends upon the will, the strength, and the fighting power of the proletariat. The proletarian revolution can be successful only if the working class definitely frees itself from reformist illusions; breaks away from the Second International—the lackey of the bourgeoisie —and places itself under the leadership of the Communist Parties and the Third International, the revolutionary leaders and representatives of the working class of the world. The first prerequisite for the capture of power is the acceptance of communist principles and aims by the majority of the working class.
In its struggle for the proletarian dictatorship, the revolutionary proletariat, led by the Communist Parties, employs the methods of revolutionary mass action (demonstrations, shop council movements, strikes, general strikes, control of production, occupation of factories, armed revolt, etc.) and the institutions of bourgeois democracy (parliaments, etc.). It seeks to remove the capitalists from every position of advantage in the daily problems of the life of the working class, and to undermine the bourgeois democratic institutions from within until the time comes when it will finally destroy them.
The world revolution has begun. In a vast territory of Europe and Asia the laboring masses, led by the working class of Russia, have overthrown their bourgeoisie and established Soviet Republics. German and Austrian imperialism have received their death blows. The proletariat of those countries have begun the struggle for the capture of power; gigantic strikes and social conflicts have shaken all the capitalist countries to their foundations. Millions of oppressed colonial slaves have taken up arms for their emancipation from national and social enslavement.
But the world revolution is a long drawn out struggle which will fill a whole epoch in the history of humanity. During this epoch the revolutionary wave will rise and fall. Defeat will follow victory and victory will follow defeat. The working class will be finally victorious only if it is prepared for the greatest sacrifices, if it is filled with the greatest heroism, if it learns discipline, and if it fights its class enemies on every front.
The Working Class Youth under Capitalism
The class character of capitalist society becomes especially apparent in the present condition of the youth and in its social position. The youth is divided into two sections—one of the oppressed class, and one of the ruling class; and these two have as little in common as have the capitalist class and the working class. The offsprings of the ruling class enjoy every advantage of education and careful training, while the young workers of city and country share the fate of the adult working class and are the objects of a ruthless exploitation. The niggardly crumbs of education which are granted to the young workers under the capitalist regime serve only to make them more profitable objects for future exploitation. They are condemned to lives of wage slavery.
The economic situation of the adult worker under capitalism is exceedingly difficult; but that of the working class youth is quite unbearable.
From earliest childhood the sons and daughters of working class families become the objects of capitalist exploitation. Child labor under the most dreadful conditions continues to be widespread. The old type of apprentice who was received into the family of his master as a member of that family, and who had every opportunity later to become a master of his trade, has disappeared forever. Apprenticeship nowadays is merely a mask for the merciless exploitation of the youth, and even as such it is rapidly disappearing. The development of industrial technique has enabled the capitalists to place young children and adolescents as unskilled workers in the process of production. There remains only a very small aristocracy of skilled labor, maintained at the expense of the large majority.
The capitalists take advantage of the diminished power of resistance of the young workers to exploit them outrageously. The young workers are forced to work long hours (often longer than adult workers), and far beyond the capacity of their undeveloped bodies. No consideration is given to their need for further education. They must be satisfied with absurdly low wages, much below those of adult workers for the same work. Night work, work under unhealthy conditions, dangerous occupations, barbarous treatment by the employers, unemployment without benefits and its results, misery, prostitution, crime,—all these are the fate of the young workers under the capitalist regime.
Conditions are especially bad in small industries and in small shops. These seek to meet the competition of the big industries by the merciless exploitation of the apprentices, who are absolutely helpless in the hands of their employers and masters.
Girls, being the weakest element of the young workers, are the objects of an especially brutal and degrading exploitation, even worse than that of the young male workers.
Capitalism, which has proletarized the cities, also brought the mass-proletarization of the rural population with untold misery to the poor peasants, so that the situation of the young rural worker is even worse than that of his urban brother.
The pitting of the young workers against their older comrades—to whom they are related by bonds of class, of common misery, and of blood, is another especially crass sign of the miserable condition of the working class youth under capitalism. The capitalists make use of the young workers to cut wages, to break the strikes of the adult workers, and to rob the adult workers of their jobs.
The economic servitude of the young worker is closely connected with the spiritual oppression enforced by the bourgeoisie. The bourgeois schools teach only such things, and only as much, as will make the young workers willing and capable slaves of capitalism in the factories, in the army, and in politics. This is the purpose of the public and continuation schools. Only the youths of the bourgeoisie can attend the high schools, colleges, and universities. Bourgeois literature and the bourgeois press, religion and religious bodies, the church, bourgeois art, literary trash for the youth, moving pictures, music halls, variety shows—all serve the same purpose. Special bourgeois youth organisations, educational and social,— hiking clubs, sport clubs, nationalist unions, military organizations, religious, free thought, pacifist, political, boy scout organizations,—all exist for the special purpose of poisoning the minds of the young workers for the benefit of the bourgeoisie.
The militarism of the capitalist states, which serves to carry on imperialist wars and to suppress the working class at home, recruits its forces primarily from the young workers and peasants. For the military caste these young human beings are nothing but cannon fodder. The militaristic spirit is intended to make the young workers the willing victims of imperialist slaughters, and in many countries the infusion of a militaristic spirit begins in the preparatory military organizations of children of school age. The capitalist military service turns the young workers into automatons to be used against their class brothers at home and abroad. They waste the best years of their youth in military barracks. It is the blood of the working class youth which drenches the battle fields of imperialist wars.
But although capitalism demands from the young workers these incredible sacrifices of toil and of blood it refuses them the most elementary political rights.
Especially in the small artizans' shops, the apprentice lives in abject dependence upon his employer. The working class youth is not allowed the right to vote, even in the pitiful institutions of bourgeois democracy or in the shop councils. In many countries the young worker is deprived, legally and illegally, of his rights to organize politically, to attend political demonstrations, etc. Class justice and the organs of suppression controlled by the bourgeoisie pitilessly persecute the revolutionary young workers.
This situation became even worse during the war, and in the period following the war the misery of the working class grew beyond bounds. Enormous masses of half grown youths were sent to the front and children were drawn into the workshop to take their places and the places of the adult workers. In the shops they were mercilessly exploited without being trained, even the few existing protective laws being abolished. To repair the damages of the war and to emerge from the present crisis—at the expense of the proletariat, naturally—the capitalists intensify the exploitation of the proletariat and especially of the proletarian youth, and concentrate their attacks upon the standard of living of the working class, imposing upon the workers an unendurable misery. The process of the decay of capitalism brings with it increased suffering for the young workers; economic misery, political oppression, and disfranchisement.
The Necessity for and the Role of the Young Communist Movement
The general political and economic situation of the working class youth and its special position in capitalist society forces it to an actual participation in the class struggle, and imposes upon it, within the framework of the general class war, a special struggle for a change in its own conditions of work and education. To fulfill these tasks the working class youth has organized itself into Young Communist Leagues.
The necessity for such separate young communist organizations arises from the peculiar psychological needs of the young workers. These require the establishment of special independent organizations. Still another reason is that the youth must have a preparatory school for the Party.
The first young proletarian organizations which arose in the capitalist countries of Europe at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries were organized to fight militarism, to defend the interests of the working class youth, and to give a special socialist education to their members. As reformism increased in the labor movement it sought to bring the proletarian youth under its control. Where it attained a certain degree of success it devoted its efforts to withdrawing the young workers from the class struggle and to transforming their organizations into mere educational societies. But the reformists found it difficult to control the revolutionary elements of the youth so that even before the war the young socialist organizations—or at least their best elements—were a strong support of the revolutionary left wing of the labor movement. At the outbreak of and during the war a majority of the members of the young proletarian organizations of most of the capitalist countries remained true to the principle of the revolutionary class struggle and unlike the socialist parties who placed themselves beside the bourgeoisie, became constantly clearer in their aims.
As the working class had, at that time, no revolutionary parties, the young socialist organizations were forced to break with the policy of the socialist parties and to undertake an independent political struggle against the bourgeoisie, its social democratic accomplices, and the war. Thus they contributed much to the preparation of the ground for new revolutionary parties of the proletariat. With the formation of the Communist International and the Communist Parties and their growing strength, the Young Communist Leagues were able to define their particular role as youth organizations within the general revolutionary movement and to devote themselves to their special tasks among the proletarian youth.
Since the working class youth is a part of the working class it does not require any further organization than the Young Communist Leagues for the various activities of the working class, such as political, economic, athletic, and others, as the proletariat as a whole has already organizations for these purposes. The Young Communist League is the mass organization of the working class youth and that part of the labor movement which represents the interests of the young workers in all matters. It is the mass school for the communist education of the working class youth, where they can obtain practical education by their organized participation in the struggles of the proletariat. This practical education is supplemented by theoretical teaching. The Leagues are at present the most devoted assistants to the Communist Parties and the reserve force of these for the future.
Political Activity of the Young Communist Leagues and their Relation to the Parties
The Young Communist Leagues firmly reject the hypocritical slogan of the bourgeoisie and of the Social Democracy—that the youth must not participate in politics. The energetic participation of the working class youth, which is such a mighty factor in social production, is also an equally mighty force in the working class political struggle, and is the basis of the communist education of the young workers.
The Young Communist Leagues are subject to the political leadership of the Communist Parties, which they accept as the vanguard of the proletariat and the leader of all its organizations; that is, the Leagues accept the program, the tactics, and the political instructions of the Parties.
Thus, united with the Communist Parties, the Young Communist Leagues participate in all the Party activities and struggles against the bourgeois parties and organizations, and against those representatives of capital and its political organizations which strive to preserve the rule of capitalism and capitalist exploitation. The Young Communist Leagues also oppose the Social Democratic Parties of all shades, which are the direct and indirect allies of the bourgeoisie in the proletarian camp. These attempt to save capitalism from destruction and to divert the working class from the revolutionary struggle; and continually betray not only the final aims but also the immediate interests of the proletariat. The Young Communist Leagues also combat the “pure” syndicalists who deny the necessity of the proletarian dictatorship, a proletarian party, and proletarian centralization; and the anarchists who are the ideologists of the slum proletariat and the petty bourgeoisie and who reject the proletarian state and preach reactionary economic views.
The Young Communist Leagues firmly oppose those organizations of the youth which follow in the wake of and are supported by bourgeois parties and bourgeois groups, such as the numerous religious associations, nationalist sports leagues, militarist, pacifist, and chauvinist youth organizations. They fight against the social democratic, syndicalist, and anarchist influences among the youth. With those syndicalist elements who recognize the necessity of the revolutionary struggle for the proletarian dictatorship and who have rid themselves of their antiquated prejudices, the Young Communist Leagues fight as comrades sharing the same struggle. They strive to lead all the unorganized and misled elements of the proletarian youth along the road of the proletarian class struggle and they endeavor to unite the entire working class youth under the banner of Communism.
These are the concrete tasks of the Young Communist Leagues on the political field: untiring agitation for the militant aims of the Communist International; support of the Communist Parties in all their daily work and activities; participation in all the revolutionary actions of the proletariat; discussion and explanation of current political events and the immediate tasks of the proletariat; active participation in all Party debates within the scope of the Communist Parties.
Without questioning the political leadership of the Communist Parties, the Young Communist Leagues require organizational independence for the work of education. In the interest of successful cooperation in all militant activities the closest organizational contact between Parties and Young Communist Leagues is essential and is obtained by mutual representation in all bodies and by continual mutual support.
The Economic Struggle of the Young Communist Leagues
Any radical improvement in the conditions of the working class youth is impossible under capitalism. Moreover, during the period of the decay of capitalism the bourgeoisie strives to lower as far as possible the standard of living of the working class youth and ruthlessly opposes every slightest attempt of the young workers to better their conditions. Thus the young workers can expect radical changes in their situation with regard to labor and education only after the victory of the proletariat.
The establishment of socialist society not only demands a reorganization of the conditions of work, with regard to the education of the young workers, but it also brings about the conditions that make this reorganization possible. As the conspicuous example of the Russian revolution has proven, it creates socialist education which is a combination of productive work and of instruction and education. The working class youth becomes a social stratum which is educated to become useful, instead of being an object of exploitation. The special task of the Young Communist Leagues within the scope of the general struggle of the working class is the realization of socialist youth education on the basis of the transformation of the conditions of labor for youth.
But even before the conquest of power by the proletariat the Young Communist Leagues struggle energetically for the betterment of the young workers' situation. This struggle aims at the protection of the young workers against the growing misery and degeneration resulting from capitalist exploitation, and strives to increase the power of resistance of the working class by raising its standard of living; all this to the end of depriving the capitalists of some of their advantageous strongholds and of uniting the masses of young workers to fight for their most elementary and immediate demands.
The basis and the goal of our programme is the SOCIALIST REORGANISATION OF JUVENILE LABOR
This means the abolition of wage slavery for all young workers up to eighteen years of age. They must be cared for by the state and treated from the point of view of education, until they have attained this age.
Aside from our relentless opposition to all child labour, which naturally requires no further explanation, our partial demands for all young workers of both sexes up to eighteen years are the following:
Minimum wages ranging from the subsistence minimum upwards. Equal wages for equal work, for young and adult workers of both sexes. Progressive grading of apprentices' wages during the course of apprenticeship.
If the six hour day is established, wages are to be paid for eight hours.
Wages of all young workers to be determined by trade union agreements.
Six hour working day with the inclusion of, and full pay for, continuation school hours.
Forty four hour week end rest.
Strict prohibition of night work for all young workers up to twenty years.
Prohibition of piece work and of the speeding up system.
Fully paid four weeks' annual vacation. Free accomodation of young workers in recreation homes, sanatoriums, etc.
Prohibition of young workers up to twenty years being employed in shops and industries injurious to their health, such as glass works, underground work in the mines, certain branches of the chemical industry, and others.
Equal unemployment doles for young and adult workers; unemployment doles ranging from the subsistence minimum upwards.
Compulsory employment of the unemployed youth either in shops or training schools which guarantee continuation of training for the young workers who have been compelled to interrupt their apprenticeship.
Regarding Technical Training and the Apprenticeship System our demands are as follows:
Compulsory free and complete trade education for all young workers up to eighteen years.
Technical training to be based on practical work and regulated according to the principles of the workshop schools, factories, etc. The basis for this is the establishment of special apprentices' departments in the factories.
Establishment of common training shops for a number of home and petty industries, in which part of the working hours are to be spent.
Abolition of individual indentures, and the inclusion of the apprentices in all collective agreements.
Abolition of apprentices' sweating, by strict regulations regarding the right to employ apprentices—maximum number of apprentices in proportion to a definite number of workers, severe punishment for mistreatment and for offences against working hours and protective legislation.
Two years apprenticeship, including the probation period, which is quite sufficient in view of the present capitalist character of work.
Prohibition of employing apprentices with work not belonging to their trade.
Prohibition of the living-in system.
Strict supervision of apprenticeship by the organs of the working class—trade unions, shop councils, and others.
Labor organizations and their representatives to have a voice in the supervision of the training shops and trade schools. Apprentices or pupils to elect councils for the same purpose.
For the Establishment of a Militant Front with the Adult Working Class the Young Communist International has formulated the following demands:
Young workers to have full rights on all shop councils.
Young workers to be accepted on equal terms in the trade unions but to pay lower dues.
According to the peculiar conditions that may exist in different countries the Young Communist Leagues may enlarge or adapt these demands as the occasion requires.
The fate of the working class youth is inseparably connected with that of the whole working class. The economic struggle of the young workers can be successful only when it is carried on with the full support of, and in conjunction with, the adult working class. The adults must support the struggling young workers, since the interests of the working class youth are the interests of the proletariat as a whole, and since the economic problems of the working class are inseparable from those of the young workers. The Young Communist Leagues conduct their economic struggle through the organizations of the whole proletariat and, primarily, through the trade unions.
The trade unions are the mass organizations of the workers for the protection of their economic interests. The Young Communist Leagues advocate on principle the equality of young and adult workers in the trade unions and strive to induce the trade unions to defend the interests of the young workers. Each member of the Young Communist League must also be a member of his trade union. The Young Communist Leagues are, however, thoroughly conscious of the fact that only the revolutionary trade unions desire to, and can, represent the interests of the workers, young and old. They therefore oppose the reformist trade union bureaucracy, strive to revolutionize the trade unions, and support the Red International of Labour Unions.
The Anti-Militarist Struggle of the Young Communist Leagues
Militarism is an invariable and inevitable component of capitalism and is one of the most powerful instruments of its rule. The struggle against militarism is therefore the struggle against one of the mightiest tools of bourgeois class rule.
The young workers of the city and of the country are the first victims of militarism: they are the masses who are called upon to fill the ranks of its armies and to die on the battle fields. From their earliest youth militarism seeks to poison their minds and by ideological and organizational measures to bring them under its influence. It is therefore the primary task of the Young Communist Leagues to combat militarism relentlessly and to conduct an energetic anti-militarist propaganda among the masses of the young workers both inside and outside the army.
During the period of the world revolution bourgeois militarism fights more and more openly against the working class and becomes the instrument of white terror. Thus during this period the Young Communist Leagues and the Communist Parties should take even stronger and more radical action against militarism.
To the chauvinism of the imperialists, the petty bourgeois pacifists and the social democrats oppose their petty bourgeois pacifism. Pacifism, as such, is a hopeless Utopia. The bourgeoisie, fighting for the division of the world and trembling before the proletarian revolution, will never lay down their weapons until the workers have disarmed them. But what is worse, pacifism harms the proletariat. It does not alarm or disarm the bourgeoisie but it robs the proletariat of its weapons by illusions which surrender the fostering proletariat, psychologically and physically helpless, into the hands of its armed class enemy.
No less harmful to the working class are the methods of anti-militarist struggle advocated by the anarcho-syndicalist elements; individual refusals to serve, which, like every other independent individual action, keeps the revolutionary elements of the proletariat out of the army and thereby hinders the influencing by revolutionary propaganda of the workers in the army.
The communist understand that the armed rebellion of the proletariat against capitalism is necessary in the struggle for its emancipation. Only by the victory of its weapons will the proletariat be able to lead humanity to the creation of a society which being without classes no longer requires militarism; only by the creation of a red army and by the armed defence of the achievements of the revolution against the counter-revolutionary attempts of the bourgeoisie can this goal be attained. In its war against capitalism the proletariat must strive to enlighten the proletarian and semi-proletarian elements of the bourgeois army and win them to its side, to turn the weapons that were directed against the working class against the ruling class.
In this struggle the Young Communist Leagues and the Communist Parties are confronted with the special tasks of:—
Struggle against the psychological militarization of the young workers by the bourgeoisie;
Struggle against the military education of the working class youth as a preparation for army service;
Revolutionary work within the bourgeois armies, through nuclei in the regular standing armies, the colonial and occupation troops, in preparatory military institutions, and by propaganda against war, militarism, and the use of the army in the service of capitalism;
Struggle for the material interests and the right of organization of the soldiers;
Struggle for the annulment of the Treaty of Versailles and the other peace treaties which are the causes of new wars;
Struggle against imperialist wars by every means, including the general strike and armed uprisings, and the transformation of the imperialist war into a revolutionary civil war;
Struggle against and disarmament of the armed organizations of the bourgeoisie, which are especially created for the suppression of the proletariat, and against the military and nationalistic youth organizations which serve them as reserves;
Self-protection of the working class against reaction, and the arming of the workers for their struggle.
The Young Communist Leagues carry on a broad propaganda among the young workers, especially among those in the army, for the spread of these principles in opposition to bourgeois militarism.
The Educational Work of the Young Communist Leagues
The work of education and propaganda is an indispensable part of the whole activity of the Young Communist Leagues. By education, in this sense, is meant the communication to the young workers of the summed up experiences of the struggle, in order to make them conscious and determined fighters against capitalism and for the proletariat, for revolution and for the builders of a new society. It thus becomes a counter-balance to and a fighting weapon against the exclusive influence of the bourgeoisie upon the young workers.
The first task of the Young Communist Leagues is the political enlightenment of their members and of the broad masses of the young workers. It instructs them in the laws of economic and social evolution, in history, in the forms and methods of the class war and the labor movement, in the political and economic situation of the working class, and in the tasks and aims of the proletarian revolution. Marxism—the theory of the proletariat—is our most important weapon in the struggle against capital, and our most perfect tool for the construction of the new society. Thus the Young Comunist Leagues strive, primarily, to spread Marxian philosophy among their members and to accustom them to Marxian reasoning and ideas.
The Young Communist Leagues undertake, furthermore, the raising of the general cultural level of the young workers in the interest of the class war. The young workers must obtain from the bourgeoisie the knowledge which they need to organize the proletarian masses and to lead them to victory in the struggle against capitalism. In addition to political education and social science, upon which we concentrate our principal efforts, the Young Communist Leagues also do general educational work in the realms of natural science, literature, and art. In this work they not only bring to the young workers that education which the bourgeoisie now denies them, through their monopoly of the educational system, but they also oppose the Marxian view against the bourgeois ideology in all these fields. They occupy themselves with these things only to the extent to which they relate to the class struggle, and they use them to educate the proletariat in the spirit of the class struggle. This educational work is the preliminary basis for the creation of an intelligent vanguard of the working class, necessary for the struggle; an intelligent vanguard connected with the working class by ties of blood and of common interests; working for the establishment of socialism and destined to become the pioneers of a new proletarian culture.
The Young Communist Leagues do not disregard the physical education of the young workers, realizing the necessity of strong healthy bodies for the fulfilment of the tasks arising in the class struggle, as well as to counteract the dangerous effects of capitalist exploitation upon the physique of the youth and to combat the bourgeois athletic and sport monopoly.
The methods of the work of education and propaganda of the Young Communist Leagues are based upon the actual habits of the life of the young worker, his psychological peculiarities, and his independent initiative.
Nor is the educational work of the Leagues confined strictly to the youth; it comprises great educational tasks among the children. The influence of the bourgeoisie which is especially brought to bear upon the young children must be counteracted by a definitely communist education of the proletarian children. They must also be drawn into the class struggle, and in a manner that corresponds to their mental abilities. The Communist Children's Group is the form of organization which the Young Communist Leagues use in this work.
The Leagues also devote much attention to propaganda and agitation in the rural districts, having due regard to the importance of that work. The methods of this work are adapted to the special economic and cultural circumstances of the young rural workers. They are based upon the problems which lie nearest the hearts and lives of the young rural workers; they are adapted to the intellectual level of these young workers; and they give due consideration to their prejudices. The winning over of the rural proletariat can be achieved only by energetic and persistent work by the urban organizations of the Young Communist Leagues.
The Basis of the Organizational Structure
The organizational structure of the Young Communist Leagues corresponds to their role and their tasks. The shop nuclei are the organs through which the Leagues remain in close contact with the masses of the working class youth, for agitation among them and for drawing them into the communist ranks. The Leagues insist upon strict discipline in the organization, and upon independent initiative, that is, upon the energetic participation of its members in all the work and struggles of the League. Leadership is based upon democratic centralization. The Young Communist Leagues are essentially organizations of the working class youth, but they strive to win over the best elements of the intellectuals and of the small peasantry as well. Without creating any special organization for them, they give place in their ranks to their most active elements and to those who are most devoted to the proletarian cause.
The Young Communist Leagues understand thoroughly that they live in an enemy world and that white terror may at any time force them underground. They make continual preparations, technically and ideologically, for such an eventuality. Even if forced underground by the persecutions of reaction they strive to maintain at all times and by all means, their contact with, and their influence over, the masses.
The Working Class Youth of the Colonial Countries
More than one half of the entire human race suffers under the yoke of imperialism in the colonial and semi-colonial countries. The exploitation of the backward peoples of Asia and Africa is one of the foundation stones of modern capitalist world economy. The national struggle for liberation of the oppressed colonial and semi-colonial countries is, therefore, a most important factor in the revolution against capitalism. The union of the revolutionary proletariat of the capitalist countries with the colored slaves of imperialism is one of the most important conditions of the victorious struggle. The increasing capitalist development of the largest colonial and semi-colonial countries has created the first condition for the division of classes—the working class on one hand and the bourgeois and feudal class on the other; the native laboring population has been aroused and the national revolutionary struggle becomes a struggle against the native feudalism and the native bourgeoisie.
The condition of the young workers in these countries is even worse than the condition of the youth in the ruling countries. The young workers of the colonies suffer under the double oppression of native and of foreign exploitation which still retains, in many cases, the old feudalistic and patriarchal forms. The widely spread system of petty industries and petty trade, fighting desperately for existence, is the cause of a savage exploitation of the youth such as the young worker of Europe and America has not known for a long time. The misery of the peasantry and the feudal backwardness of agriculture make the situation of the young worker in the rural districts even worse than that of his urban brother. To these may be added the exraordinary cultural backwardness and social enslavement of the youth of those countries; the unbounded influence of the clergy, based upon the ignorance of the masses; the slavish conditions of women; and the patriarchal rights of the employer over his employees.
The young communists of the oppressed colonial countries face a double task:
(1) To organize a mass movement of the young workers under the banner of revolutionary liberation from the foreign imperialistic yoke; to establish an alliance with the proletariat of the capitalist countries; to fight for the economic, cultural, and political needs and demands of the youth.
(2) To create organizations of conscious young communist workers to lead the working class youth in the national revolutionary struggle and to prepare the class struggle for communism which is inevitable in those countries also, with the advent of the advancing world revolution. The organizational forms of the revolutionary youth movement in the colonial and semi-colonial countries are determined by the historical, economic, social and political conditions peculiar to each country.
The young communists of the capitalist countries, especially those countries which maintain a colonial policy of aggression, must fight for the liberation of the oppressed colonial peoples; against the racial prejudices of the workers in their own lands; and must support with energy the struggle of the young workers in the colonial countries.
The Working Class Youth and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat
The overthrow of the bourgeoisie and the establishment of the proletarian dictatorship changes radically the situation of the working class youth. The oppressed, enslaved, workers of capitalism become free citizens of the proletarian state. The proletarian dictatorship strives to improve, radically, the condition of the young workers, politically economically, and culturally, and gradually accomplishes this task. The revolutionary youth organizations which are persecuted and oppressed by capitalism, receive the material and moral support of the Soviet state: they become active participants in the work of reconstruction of the proletarian state, and especially in regard to youth labor and education. The Young Communist Leagues are given every opportunity to become mass organizations for the communist education of the working class youth, with due consideration to every sphere of the lives of the young workers. The purpose of this education during the period of the dictatorship is the training and equipping of the young proletariat to become workers and fighters in all the realms of struggle and of reconstruction.
The activity of the Young Communist Leagues changes with the altered class nature of the state. While they were a weapon for the overthrow of the bourgeois state under capitalism, they become a support of the Soviet power under the proletarian dictatorship. The Young Communist Leagues share actively in the establishment of the socialist state, the rebuilding of its industry, and the reformation of its agriculture. The struggle against bourgeois militarism is replaced by the joining of the red army or navy and by work to strengthen these organizations. The best forces of the Young Communist Leagues join the red army, after the conquest of power by the proletariat, and become soldiers, political workers, and red commanders. The Leagues realize their program of economic demands — the gradual socialist reorganization of juvenile labor — through the establishment of the proletarian state and with the aid of the trade unions, the class organizations of the proletariat. The Leagues assume the leadership in this work. The struggle against the bourgeois educational institutions and their mental chloroforming of the youth is replaced by active help given to the socialist state in the establishment of a uniform vocational school system; by the organization of schools for the young workers and apprentices; by the capture of the secondary and higher schools by the proletariat; and by the organization of popular education for the masses. The educational work of the Young Communist Leagues becomes wider and more profound: with the altered purpose of their communist educational work and their increased material and mental powers, new tasks arise on this field.
The Young Communist International
To be successful, the struggle of the proletariat for Communism must be internationally organized. The same thing is true of the working class youth. Therefore the Young Communist Leagues of all countries are united in the Young Communist International, the world organization of the revolutionary proletarian youth and their international leader and director.
The first International Union of Socialist Youth Organisations was formed in 1907, at the Stuttgart Congress. In spite of the attempts of the reformists and social patriots to break up this union, the overwhelming majority of its affiliated organizations proclaimed at the end of the war — the beginning of the revolutionary period — their adherence to the principles of the revolutionary class struggle and created the Young Communist International. This is in reality, then, the true successor of the International Union of Socialist Youth Organisations. The few socialist youth organizations which had never belonged to an international league, for reformist reasons, before the war; or which had broken away from the International Union during the war; or which were later created by the social democrats in opposition to the revolutionary youth organizations, formed the Young Workers' International and the International Working Union of Socialist Youth Organisations, in 1921. They thereby split the united front of the working class youth under the banner of revolution, and in 1923 they united into a single reformist organization, directed against the Young Communist International.
Unlike the social democratic internationals which are merely loose federations, the Young Communist International is built upon the principle of international centralization. Its decisions are the supreme laws for all national sections. The practical tasks of the Young Communist International are: International agitation, and the execution of international actions; leadership of the Young Communist Leagues in all their activities; support of the national sections in their work; organization of new Leagues; and the cultivation of the spirit of solidarity among the revolutionary youth of all countries.
The Young Communist International accepts the principles of the Communist International and forms one of its sections. The Executive Committee of the Young Communist International maintains close contact with the Executive Committee of the Communist International and is subjected to the latter's political leadership.
The Young Communist International has appointed the first Sunday in September as International Youth Day for the international celebration of the young workers, the day on which they manifest their will to fight for their demands until they have attained the final victory of their principles.
A new epoch in the history of the working class youth began with the foundation of the Young Communist International. National boundaries and national divisions do not exist for the Young Communist International. It opposes capitalism in one single united front and its iron ring encircles the whole world. The Young Communist International creates the prerequisites for the emancipation of the working class youth from the unendurable political, economic, and cultural impositions of capitalism. Called upon as a part of the militant Communist International to accomplish this task, the Young Communist International will not lay down its arms until this work is done.
Resolution on the Economic Demands of the Program of the Young Communist International
SINCE the Second World Congress issued its call to battle for the economic demands of the working class youth, the economic movement amongst the young workers has grown considerably. Increasing economic pressure is sowing the seeds of dissatisfaction in the ranks of the young workers and apprentices, and is giving them a great impetus in their economic struggle. Under the leadership and with the cooperation of the Young Communist Leagues a number of battles were fought. In these struggles the Leagues left the realm of theoretical propaganda and took up the struggle for practical demands. In spite of the different conditions in the various countries, the basic and fundamental facts of the situation of the working class youth are the same everywhere, and in all the struggles a need for definite common aims and for joint economic action of the Young Communist Leagues became evident. This was all the more necessary as, in the present stage of historical development, this fight must ever more and more assume an international character.
(2) The fundamental feature of the position of the working class youth in capitalist society (their inclusion in the process of production as fully developed workers and objects of exploitation under the system of wage slavery, and their deliberate exclusion from education) is the same in every country and demands the united application of the lever of our basic demands. The sweating methods prevailing today in the apprenticeship system, and the exclusion from vocational training of the overwhelming majority of the working class youth, due to the endeavors of capitalism to reduce the number of highly paid skilled workers and to compel still more workers to perform underpaid unskilled labor, are also international phenomena. In some countries there is an attempt to veil these facts by a system of compulsory continuation school training. The obsolete conditions prevailing in such schools, which in most cases only serve to intensify the exploitation (by the extension of working hours, by causing extra expenses, etc.) call for an energetic struggle for a number of measures towards their systematic and thorough revision. The fact, furthermore, that the young workers, performing the labor of adult workers, receive lower wages than the latter—wages which hardly suffice to sustain life,—and still more, the miserable wages of the apprentices and the discrimination in the treatment of young as against adult workers in the matter of unemployment benefits— all these facts necessitate the establishment of immediate and concrete demands on the wage system of juvenile labor. The long working hours which menace the physical and mental well-being of the young workers, the night work, the lack of recreation and holidays, lead the working class youth of all countries to set up definite demands. The present hygienic conditions under which the youth is working are horrible; child labor is still being employed. The agricultural young workers are subject to particular exploitation. In spite of the varying local conditions, the miserable situation of the working class youth is the same everywhere in the capitalist world. From this fact arises the necessity of setting up economic demands of an international character and of combining them into an international program of demands.
(3) The working class youth has previously had an international economic program, “Demands for the Economic Protection of the Youth”, adopted a the first congress of the Young International at Stuttgart, in 1907. Although the fundamental basis of this program is still the property of the working class youth, it can no more be considered as the basis of the economic struggle of the Y.C.I. and must be revised and amended. This program does not give attention to the all-important question of wages of the young workers, nor does it demand the radical transformation of the system of education and vocational training, but contents itself with reformist demands for the improvement of the present system of apprentice-ship. Furthermore, the age limit for shorter working hours must be extended, and the problem of holidays, which is omitted in the old program, must be dealt with. Above all, however, the Stuttgart minimum program is a program of demands for reforms to be carried into practice within the bounds of capitalist society by means of reformist methods. It lacks those elements which go beyond the limit of capitalist society and which serve to break it down, and which can be fully realized only after the overthrow of capitalism. Its avowed purpose is to "eliminate the worst instances of exploitation which prevent its victims even from participation in the struggle against the present economic system". The militant program of the Young Communist International, however, cannot respect the exigencies of the capitalist economic system nor be merely a means to eliminate the worst instances of the exploitation of the working class youth. It must become an instrument for the elimination of all exploitation and must proclaim the ultimate and fundamental aim of the economic struggle of the young workers: the complete transformation of the conditions of juvenile labor, and its socialist reorganization.
Therefore, the Young Communist International, the leader of the class conscious working class youth, has elaborated a new program of economic demands of the young workers which it herewith submits to the great mass of the oppressed and exploited young proletariat and to the entire working class.
The basis and aim of our program is the SOCIALIST REORGANIZATION OF JUVENILE LABOR
This means ABOLITION OF WAGE SLAVERY FOR ALL YOUNG WORKERS UP TO 18 YEARS, WHO MUST BE CARED FOR BY THE STATE AND TREATED FROM AN EDUCATIONAL POINT OF VIEW UNTIL THEY HAVE ATTAINED THIS AGE.
Our partial demands for all young workers of both sexes up to 18 years (relentless opposition to all child labor is a matter of course) are the following:
Minimum wages ranging from the subsistence minimum upwards. Equal wages for equal work for young and adult workers of both sexes. Progressive grading of apprentices' wages during the course of apprenticeship.
If the six hour day is established, wages are to be paid for eight hours.
Wages of all young workers to be determined by trade union agreements.
Six hour working day with the inclusion of, and full pay for, continuation school hours.
Forty-four hour week-end rest.
Strict prohibition of night work for all young workers up to 20 years.
Prohibition of piece work and the speeding up system.
Fully paid four weeks' annual vacation. Free accomodation of young workers in recreation homes, sanatoriums, etc.
Prohibition of young workers up to 20 years being employed in shops and industries injurious to their health (glass works, underground work in the mines, certain branches of the chemical industry, etc.).
Equal unemployment doles for young and adult workers; unemployment doles ranging from the subsistence minimum upwards.
Compulsory employment of the unemployed youth either in shops or training schools which guarantee continuation of training for the young workers who have been compelled to interrupt their apprenticeship.
Regarding technical training and the apprenticeship system our demands are as follows:
Compulsory free and complete trade education for all young workers up to 18 years.
Technical training to be based on practical work and regulated according to the principles of the work-shop schools (factories, etc.). The basis for this is the establishment of special apprentices' departments in the factories.
Establishment of common training shops for a number of home and petty industries, in which part of the working hours are to be spent.
Abolition of individual indentures, and the inclusion of the apprentices in all collective agreements.
Abolition of apprentices' sweating by strict regulations regarding the right to employ apprentices (maximum number of apprentices in proportion to a definite number of workers, severe punishment for mistreatment and for offences against working hours and protective legislation).
Two years apprenticeship, including the probation period, which is quite sufficient in consideration the present capitalist character of work.
Prohibition to occupy apprentices with work not belonging to their trade.
Prohibition of the "living in" system.
Strict supervision of apprenticeship by the organs of the working class (trade unions, shop councils).
Labor organizations and their representatives to have a voice in the supervision of the training shops and trade schools. Apprentices (pupils) to elect councils for the same purpose.
For the establishment of a militant front with the adult working class, the Y.C.I. has formulated the following demands:
Young workers to have full rights on all shop councils.
Young workers to be accepted on equal terms into the trade unions, but to pay lower dues.
(4) These demands of the Young Communist International require of the capitalist system a complete change of the present wage system for the young workers. The determination of the wages of the young workers, as well as of the apprentices, must not be left to the arbitrary decision of the rapacious employer, but must be done by collective contracts of the trade unions. Under no circumstances can we further tolerate that the wages of the young workers not even suffice for their bare necessities of life; the minimum of subsistence must constitute the basis for the minimum wage of the young workers. The disgraceful custom, fatal to the entire proletariat, of paying to young workers who do the work of adults, lower wages than to the latter, thus causing continuous competition between young and adult workers, must be abolished. Equal wages for equal work! The intensified exploitation of the proletarian girl must cease. The demand for equal wages for equal labor applies to her as well as to the young male workers. The six hour day, once established, must not be of disadvantage for the young workers; they must receive wages for an eight hour day. As long as capitalist apprenticeship continues to exist as a feature of juvenile wage-slavery, and as long as the socialist reorganization of youth labor and the care for the welfare of the young workers is not yet brought about, the apprentices must receive increases in wages corresponding to the skill acquired, i. e. graded increases in wages corresponding to the respective wages of the skilled workers. With regard to the present shameful wage system, the fact must be mentioned, that in most countries unemployed young workers and apprentices receive, at best, much lower unemployment doles than the adult workers, and in most cases none at all. The young workers, however, must not only sustain life just as the adult workers must, but they are exposed much more to the dangers of misery and often lose the possibility of learning a trade. From these facts results the imperative necessity for the demands of the Y.C.I. for equal unemployment doles for young and adult workers and for the establishment of training shops for the former.
The six hour day for young workers was also a demand of the Stuttgart program and, under the pressure of the young workers, even the antagonist Internationals of Youth had to include this demand in their programs. Considering the critical and early stage of development of the youth and their need for mental education and physical training, no one will today deny the imperative necessity of the six hour day. Furthermore, the prohibition of night work for all youths up to this age and of their employment in shops and industries injurious to their health, is a matter of course for the working class which does not want its youth to be destroyed in the bloom of its years. We strive for a physically and mentally younger generation; every young worker must receive sufficient holidays and good care during these holidays, as well as sufficient week-end rest.
The Y.C.I. furthermore, advocates a number of demands for the transformation of the present apprenticeship system and for trade education for all young workers, which capitalism has made the expensive privilege of a few. This compulsory trade education is not to have the character of the present bourgeois apprenticeship and continuation schools where the pupils are exploited and receive no real training in their trade but these schools must provide practical training based on the principles of the workshop school and excluding all exploitation. Although this demand can be realized only under the rule of the working class, it must, nevertheless, be raised even today. The basis of this education must be the apprentices' department in every industry, which is to be completed by the workshop schools. By the abolition of individual indentures and through strict control by the organizations of the working class, apprenticeship must be wrested from the control of capital and regulated by the collective agreements of the trade unions. The exploitation of juvenile labor in apprenticeship, the sweating of apprentices, the claim of the rights of the employer, must be ruthlessly fought, and the apprentice who performs the labor of a worker must have the status and the rights of a worker. If, for purposes of exploitation, the training of apprentices in industrial enterprises is entrusted to a worker in the general shop or takes place in piece work squads, this state of affairs must be radically changed. Special apprentices' departments equipped with all modern conveniences for training must be established in all factories and must provide the principal part of education. Under capitalism these apprentices' departments must be strictly controlled by the working class in order to prevent the numerous abuses by the capitalists.
The small medieval workshop, whose hour of doom has struck, cannot be the sole place of modern technical education, for today the chief object is to train useful workers for industry. The establishment of collective training shops for a number of home and petty industries in which apprentices devote part of their time to technical education is a necessity, as long as the apprenticeship system continues to exist in handicraft. The form of these depends upon the practical possibilities: either apprentices' departments in great industrial enterprises or practice in continuation schools. Under the slogan of socialist reorganization of juvenile labor the Young Communist International demands the education of all young workers up to 18 years. But this extensive education which can only be realized in a socialist society, has nothing whatsoever to do with the technical training under a specialized capitalist system. For every apprenticeship, lasting longer than two years, capitalist greed it the only motive. Hence, the Y.C.I., now as before, demands of the capitalist system the old Stuttgart demand: A two years maximum for all apprentices—which is today more justified than ever since the division and specialization of labor has advanced considerably in the course of the fifteen years since the Stuttgart congress.
(5) What is the essence of our partial demands and their relation to our revolutionary struggle? Above all they can be judged only as part of the whole, of our entire militant activities, and of which they constitute an inseparable part. Hence, if we formulate a program of partial demands, we do so with a view to our ultimate goal: the proletarian revolution and the establishment of a socialist society. All our propaganda and all our work is governed by the knowledge that capitalism is incapable of granting a decided improvement in the situation of the proletariat and in the organization of juvenile labor.
Our partial demands are those which the working class must formulate to keep intact the life and health of its youth, who must be strengthened both physically and mentally for the class struggle and must be made valuable assets of the proletarian state that is to be. When preparing such demands, the working class cannot follow the example of the Social-Democrats and consider whether or not such demands may be adjusted to the interests of capitalist economy. Only the degree of pauperization which the proletariat can endure and yet retain its fighting qualities, can determine our actions, not the needs and the exigencies of capitalist society. On the contrary—in the hands of the communists these partial demands become a lever of action with which to bring about revolutionary movements and to undermine the power capitalism. This can be accomplished all the sooner since the minimum demands for the workers' standard of living which were commonly acknowledged before the war, are today no longer being realized in the period of the decline of capitalism, and will lead to bitter struggles between the working class and capital. While the Y.C.I. is thus fighting for a decisive improvement in the economic situation of the working class youth, it subordinates this struggle to the interests of the general revolutionary struggle of the working class.
The realization of the most modest demands can today be achieved only by bringing into play the economic and political power of labor, i. e., by means of the revolutionary struggle. A clear recognition of this fact, which finds its expression in the communist policy in parliaments and municipal councils, distinguishes the economic struggle of the communist organizations from the reformist policy of the Social-Democrats who, driven by the fear of the necessity for a revolutionary struggle, have sacrificed the most elementary and vital demands of the working class to the capitalist dictatorship; who have carefully refrained from calling upon the masses and who discriminate between "economic" problems and political struggles. This is a very serious mistake which the social democrates share with the "pure" syndicalists.
The more determined the struggle becomes which the masses make for their demands, the greater will be the resistance of capital. The determination to struggle will increase in the masses and they will learn to look with confidence upon the communist organizations while, on the other hand, they will have the practical experience of the shallowness of the social democratic policy. The Communist Party or the Young Communist League will fight on the side of the masses, showing them by clear and cutting criticism, the connections between the various problems, the reasons for their successes and their defeats, and the significance of their struggle. To the degree in which struggles for partial demands mobilize ever greater masses of workers (and it is the task of the communist organizations to extend, intensify and combine such struggles under concrete slogans); to the degree in which, in this struggle, the needs of the proletarian masses are opposed to the needs of capitalist society—in that degree will the working class realize that if it wants to live, capitalist society must perish. This knowledge is the basis of the determination for the struggle for the proletarian dictatorship.
Thus the struggle for the economc partial demands becomes the training school for the broad masses of the working class youth which are still apathetic or muddled.
Resolution on the United Front
The Third Congress of the Young Communist International, after hearing the report on the united front, declares:—
The E.C. has done its utmost to establish a united front of the young workers in the struggle against the offensive of capital and reaction.
However, all its proposals and attempts in that direction have failed, owing to the resistance of the two Social-Democratic Internationals of Youth which refused to convoke a world congress of young workers having for its object the elaboration of a plan of action to meet the demands of the working class youth for an effective resistance against pauperisation, and against the growth of reaction and militarism. Thus the international leaders of the social-democratic youth organisations have sabotaged the possibility for an effective resistance to the offensive of capital. They not only refused to form a united front of the working class youth of the whole world, but they considered it their chief task to form a bloc, not against capital, but against the Young Communist Internaional.
The congress is of the opinion that the united front tactics are nevertheless the only possible measures for providing the working class youth with the necessary weapons for the struggle against the bourgeoisie. It therefore instructs the E.C. of the Y.C.I. to continue its efforts for the establishment of a united front of the working class youth as well as of that of the young and adult workers.
In view of the fact that the Hague Conference has brought no positive results and since the young workers more than any other section of the proletariat will have to serve as cannon fodder in the threatening wars, the Third Congress instructs the E.C. to approach the two other Internationals of Youth with the proposal to establish a united front for the struggle against war and reaction and to elaborate a plan for joint action with these two organisations.
The congress urges all Leagues, and each individual member of the Young Communist International, to do their and his utmost in this struggle against a new war and reaction, so that the working class youth, by its united front, can demonstrate to the bourgeoisie that it will not again allow itself to be slaughtered for the interests of capitalism.
Long live the united front of the working class youth!
Long live the joint struggle against war and reaction!
Resolution on the Problem of Sports
After hearing the report on the sports problem, the Third Congress states that it is necessary for the sections of the Y.C.I. to intensify their activity on this field.
Above all the Young Communist Leagues must carry on an energetic struggle against the bourgeois athletic and sport organisations which, under the treacherous mask of neutrality, are detracting large sections of the proletariat from the class struggle and are, in many countries, only a pretense for the illegal arming of the counter-revolutionary shock troops of the bourgeoisie. The Young Communist Leagues must endeavour to disintegrate these organisations and to induce their proletarian elements to join the labour sport and athletic organisations. Where such bodies are not yet in existence, it is the duty of the Young Communist Leagues to see to it that sections of the Red Sport International are immediately established.
The Young Communist Leagues must, furthermore, carry on a persistent fight against the so-called compulsory physical training or compulsory military training by the State, which in the capitalist states, are but disguised forms of militarism. In those capitalist states where this compulsory physical training or compulsory military training exist, the communists must employ the same tactics as in the struggle against militarism, i. e. they must participate in it with a view to carrying on propaganda amongst the proletarian elements and to win them for the class struggle.
In the labour athletic and sport organisations, the majority of which are still under social-democratic control, and which therefore, bring a reformist influence to bear upon the young workers, the Young Communist Leagues must carry on systematic educational work. They must counter-act the bourgeois sport activities which are hindering the development of that proletarian solidarity so necessary for the class struggle. They must expose the bourgeois claim of neutrality of the sports and athletic movement and must oppose every collaboration with the bourgeoisie. Only by such activity, carried on in close contact with the Communist Parties, can the Young Communist Leagues turn the labour athletic and sport clubs into active organisations and imbue them with a class character. This systematic work of the Young Communist Leagues does not, of course, aim at splitting the labour sports and athletic organisations. On the contrary, just as within the trade unions, the communists oppose the splitting policy of the social-democrats, and stand for the complete unity of the labour sport movement. For this purpose the members of the Young Communist Leagues within the labour sports and athletic organisations are combined into fractions in order to capture the majority of the clubs and have them affiliate to the Red Sport International.
The Young Communist Leagues must endeavour to establish close and friendly relations with the already existing communist sports and athletic organisations, as well as bring about efficient cooperation with the communist fractions in those organisations which are still under social-democratic control. Generally speaking, the Young Communist Leagues must attempt to put their relations with the labour athletic and sports organisations on a basis which will exclude any competition or rivalry between the members.
The Third Congress abstains from adopting definite theses on the problem of the labour sports and athletic organisations, but instructs the Fourth Bureau Session of the Y.C.I. to elaborate them and to come to a definite decision on the controversial questions which have arisen in the discussion. In order to enable the Fourth Bureau Session of the Y.C.I. to carry out this task and to enliven the activity of the Leagues on this field, it is necessary that the E.C. if the Y.C.I. should not only issue instructions for their practical work and supervise it, but it should pay special attention to being supplied with material on this question on the part of the Leagues. The E.C. must thoroughly analyse this material with a view to bringing about definiteness and clarity on the fundamental attitude of the Y.C.I. with regard to the sport problem.
Resolution on the Work in the Countries of the Near and Far East
The growth and development of the communist movement among the working class youth in the countries of the Near and Far East has made considerable progress during the last year. The resolutions of the Second Congress on the problem of the work amongst the Oriental peoples and the energetic action of the congress of the working class youth of the Far East have considerably advanced the organisations of the young workers of these countries under the banner of the Y.C.I.
During the past year organisations were established in China and Corea. The essential foundations for the definite formation of the Y.C.L. of Japan were laid down. The revolutionary youth organisation of Mongolia became affiliated with the Y.C.I.; and connections were established with the Y.C.L. of Turkey. These, however, were only the preliminary accomplishements. The Young Communist International is still confronted with the task of furthering and strengthening the development of the movement as a whole. Unfortunately it must be stated that, so far, the movement has affected only Asia and that Africa has scarcely as yet been touched.
(2) The growth and the consolidation of the movement enables the Y.C.I. to present to the Young Communist Leagues of the Oriental countries a number of new tasks for the extension of their practical work and for their organisational improvement.
China. The Young Socialist League of China was formed during the period of a most acute struggle against imperialism. This fight was especially supported by the revolutionary-nationalist students, who are the most vigorous social force in China. The Young Socialist League of China was formed of the most active left elements among the students. Within the League, however, there remained a few traces of the general students' movement in the form of conflicts between different tendencies (the right-nationalist-liberal elements on the one hand and the left-anarchistic on the other).
At the time of the first congress of the Young Socialist League of China this internal struggle had practically come to an end. At this congress the League was already a strong and ideologically uniform organisation. This was achieved by practical work in a number of mass campaigns, in the organisational strengthening of the League and in the intensification of its influence upon broad masses of the working class youth. The Young Socialist League of China has grown numerically and has advanced in political importance.
The tasks that now confront the Young Socialist League of China are to still further strengthen its organisation and to give particular attention to the work among the industrial and rural youth. This work demands special and persistent efforts, since up to this time the movement was supported principally by the students. The composition of the League is responsible for certain features which handicap its further development: Lack of strict discipline, a strong inclination to engage in academic discussions, insufficient contact with the actual every-day struggles, and above all—isolation from the masses of the working class youth.
While the Third Congress records with satisfaction the achievements of the Y.S.L. of China, it considers it necessary to point out the following:
(a) The Young Socialist League of China must concentrate its main forces on organisation and propaganda work among the working class youth. In order to win the young workers to the League and to defend them against exploitation, the League must take up an economic struggle based upon the elementary demands of the working class youth (increase of wages, shortening of working hours, etc.). On the other hand it must extend its political educational work (clubs, schools, etc.) in order to raise the cultural and class level of the working class youth and to make it possible, at the same time, for the League to exist legally.
(b) In order to strengthen its organisation, the League must use a number of measures and, above all, it must bring about a strict centralisation of the movement. In order to establish strict discipline within the League, the work must be carefully and thoroughly distributed among the members, utilising each member for organisational and propaganda work amongst the working class youth. The congress is of the opinion that members of the Y.S.L. of China should not simultaneously be members of non-communist political organisations.
(c) The Y.S.L. of China must transform its organ "The Pioneer" into a popular organ of the industrial and rural youth, to be devoted to their lives and struggles. In future it is particularly necessary to establish a close practical contact between the Y.S.L. of China and the E.C. of the Y.C.I.
Japan. (a) The communist movement in Japan has but recently crystallised into the formation of the Communist Party of Japan. The sympathetic youth were admitted into the ranks of the Party and did not form a special organisation. Only recently with the participation of the E.C. of the Y.C.I., were there formed special groups of younger party members for the work amongst the youth.
(b) It is necessary that the young communist movement of Japan should, from the beginning, endeavour to make the working class youth its main supporters. For this purpose it is essential to find and use every possibility of legal propaganda among the young workers. The League must carry on activities for the defence of the economic interests of the working class youth (equal wages for boys and girls, increase in wages in general, a shortening of working hours) for which work it must utilise the trade union movement. Fractions must be formed within the trade unions for the organisation of the propaganda amongst the young proletariat.
(c) After the consolidation of the organisation and the development of legal possibilities of work, the League will be able to transfer the centre of its organisational and economic work (by means of nuclei) into the factories and into the country. The already existing Young People's League of the State must be utilised. The Y.C.L. which is to be formed, must regulate its relations to the Communist Party of Japan on the basis of the decisions of the Second Congress of the Y.C.I. and the Third Congress of the Communist International.
Corea. The political terror used by Japan, has hitherto prevented the organisation of the revolutionary youth into a Young Communist League. Only very recently a Y.C.L. was formed. It is confronted, first and foremost, with the task of strengthening its organisation and extending its influence.
(a) The League must establish strict discipline within its ranks. In order to increase its influence it must take advantage of every possibility of legal work amongst the masses. To win new members, the League must work in two directions:—
(1) Directly among the masses of unorganised urban and rural workers and (2) within the existing youth organisations by winning their best revolutionary and proletarian elements over to the Y.C.L.
(b) This work can be successfully accomplished only if the Y.C.L. utilises every legal possibility of work; takes up the struggle for the improvement of the economic situation of the working class youth, and at the same time, trains and educates its members.
(c) The main task of the Y.C.L. of Corea is agitation against Japanese occupation. This agitation must possess a strictly class character without any nationalist tendencies. The Y.C.L. of Corea must form a close connection with the E.C. of the Y.C.I. The Third Congress instructs the E.C. of the Y.C.I. to undertake the political guidance of the League until a Communist Party has been formed in Corea that will be recognised by the Communist International.
Mongolia. The Mongolian revolutionary youth organisation is the only organisation which actually unites the proletarian elements of the Mongolian population and fights for their interests. Recently the Mongolian League recorded a considerable success in its numerical growth and in the strength of its influence. The exceptional role which the League plays in Mongolia and the particular conditions of its work, which result from the cultural and economic backwardness of the country, confront the League with the following special tasks:
(a) Support of the Revolutionary People's Party.
(b) Work among the masses in order to train them for the administration of the country, and the creation of a basis for a form of government that would express the interests of the workers.
(c) Political work within the League in order to raise the cultural level of the members and to provide them with practical knowledge on the structure of the country.
(d) Organisation of various forms of agitational work, and a struggle against illiteracy.
(e) Fight for the establishment of various kinds of schools and classes for the working class youth and the members of the League.
India. The development of the movement in India, the most important British possession, is of particular significance. The first attempts at organising branches of revolutionary youths in India have proved that there is fertile soil for such work among the students, in the schools, and among the young workers. The E.C. is confronted with the task of strengthening its connections with the existing groups of the revolutionary youth, to support them and to establish rallying points for the movement. In this work the Y.C.L. of Great Britain must take an active part. It must carry on propaganda among the Indian students in Great Britain and among the colonial sailors that come into British ports. To intensify the propaganda, special columns of the League organ should be devoted to the Indian movement. Furthermore, the Berlin Bureau should provide printed propaganda material.
While endorsing the decisions of the Second Congress on the problem of the work in the Oriental countries, the Third Congress instructs the future E.C. to pay more attention to the support of the youth movement in the Oriental countries.
Endorsing the decisions of the Second Congress on the work in the colonies, the Third Congress proposes to the E.C. to attract the special attention of the Young Communist Leagues of Europe to this work by assigning them concrete tasks and requesting them to report on their colonial activities.
Resolution on the Problem of Communist Children's Groups
The congress declares that the direction adopted by the Second Congress of the Y.C.I. for the work in the communist children's groups has proved to be correct. The centralisation and carrying through of the work in the communist children's groups is an important task of the Young Communist Leagues. Wherever the Young Communist Leagues began work on this new field of activity, based on the directives of the Second Congress, their efforts were crowned with success. The main results are the extension of communist influence on new sections of the working class (tens of thousands of proletarian childrens were organised who, in their turn, roused their indifferent parents and brothers and sisters, and are thus performing a revolutionary task) the education of a young communist generation for the Young Communist Leagues and the gaining of valuable experiences in the communist children's groups for the work in the Young Communist Leagues.
(2) On the other hand the congress states that a number of Leagues have failed to pay sufficient attention to the work amongst the children or else were rather late in beginning it. This resulted in a decentralisation of the children's groups which, in some cases, were influenced by untoward elements or wrong theories. In some countries the communist children's groups lacked strict centralisation and the necessary uniformity in their methods of organisation and work.
(3) The congress welcomes the First International Conference of Children's Groups Leaders of September 1922 as the first step towards the consolidation, unification and strengthening of the communist children's groups under the leadership of the Y.C.I. It endorses the decisions reached at this conference and trusts that the new E.C. will pay special attention to the work on an international scale in the children's groups on the basis of these decisions.
(4) The congress deems it necessary to emphasise the following decisions of this international conference:—
The scope of the work of the Communist Children's Groups must be enlarged by the winning of collective or individual cooperation of other proletarian organisations (Communist Parties, Women's Organisations, Red Trade Unions, Communist Trade Union fractions, labour athletic and sports organisations, etc.) while still maintaining the principle of the control and carrying through of the work in the children's groups by the Young Communist Leagues.
The methods of practical work in the Children's Groups must be extended by paying special attention to the encouragement of the independent activities of the children in the groups and by intensification of the mutual education of the children trough common work, training, and play instead of by merely instructive methods. Care should be taken that the methods employed in the Communist Children's Groups actually prepare the children for the Young Communist Leagues and that they do not bring about an alienation of the older children to the plans and activities of the Young Communist Leagues.
The children's papers must be very carefully edited, and transformed into communist working class children's papers of a mass character.
(5) The congress trusts that the educational department which has been created by the E.C. of the Communist International will pay due attention to the Communist Children's Groups movement and will induce the Communist Parties to support the Young Communist Leagues in this work, on the solid basis of the principles of work and organisation of the Young Communist International.