The Tasks of the Youth Leagues

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of The Tasks of the Youth Leagues has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the edition published in the Collected Works of Lenin, Fourth English Edition, Vol. 31, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1964.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is a speech delivered by Comrade Nikolaj Lenin at the Third National Congress of the Communist Youth League of Russia in Moscow, Russia on the 2nd of October, 1920. It was first published in the Pravda, Vol. 9, Nos. 221, 222, and 223 (5th, 6th, and 7th of October, 1920).

The Third National Congress of the Communist Youth League of Russia took place in Moscow between the 2nd and 10th of October, and was attended by some 600 delegates. Lenin addressed the Congress at the First Session in the evening of the 2nd of October.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#THE TASKS OF THE YOUTH LEAGUES

#SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE THIRD NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE COMMUNIST YOUTH LEAGUE OF RUSSIA

#Nikolaj Lenin

#2nd of October, 1920

#★

[The Congress greets Lenin with a tremendous ovation.]

Comrades, today I would like to talk on the fundamental tasks of the Communist Youth League and, in this connection, on what the youth organizations in a socialist republic should be like in general.

It is all the more necessary to dwell on this question, because, in a certain sense, it may be said that it is the youth that will be faced with the actual task of creating a communist society. For it is clear that the generation of working people brought up in capitalist society can, at best, accomplish the task of destroying the foundations of the old, the capitalist way of life, which was built on exploitation. At best, it will be able to accomplish the tasks of creating a social system that will help the proletariat and the working classes retain power and lay a firm foundation, which can be built on only by a generation that is starting to work under the new conditions, in a situation in which relations based on the exploitation of some by others no longer exist.

And so, in dealing from this angle with the tasks confronting the youth, I must say that the tasks of the youth in general, and of the Communist Youth Leagues and all other organizations in particular, might be summed up in a single word: Learn.

Of course, this is only a «single word». It does not reply to the principal and most essential questions: what to learn, and how to learn? And the whole point here is that, with the transformation of the old, capitalist society, the upbringing, training, and education of the new generations that will create the communist society cannot be conducted on the old lines. The teaching, training, and education of the youth must proceed from the material that has been left to us by the old society. We can build communism only on the basis of the totality of knowledge, organizations, and institutions, only by using the stock of human forces and means that have been left to us by the old society. Only by radically remoulding the teaching, organization, and training of the youth shall we be able to ensure that the efforts of the younger generation will result in the creation of a society that will be unlike the old society, that is, in the creation of a communist society. That is why we must deal in detail with the question of what we should teach the youth and how the youth should learn if it really wants to justify the name of Communist youth, and how it should be trained so as to be able to complete and consummate what we have started.

I must say that the first and most natural reply would seem to be that the Youth League, and the youth in general, who want to advance to communism, should learn Communism.

But this reply — «Learn Communism» — is too general. What do we need in order to learn Communism? What must be singled out from the sum of general knowledge, so as to acquire a knowledge of Communism? Here, a number of dangers arise, which very often manifest themselves whenever the task of learning Communism is presented incorrectly, or when it is interpreted in too one-sided a manner.

Naturally, the first thought that enters one's mind is that learning Communism means assimilating the sum of knowledge that is contained in Communist manuals, pamphlets, and books. But such a definition of the study of Communism would be too crude and inadequate. If the study of Communism consisted solely in assimilating what is contained in Communist books and pamphlets, we might all too easily obtain Communist text-jugglers or braggarts, and this would very often do us harm, because such people, after learning by rote what is put forward in Communist books and pamphlets, would prove incapable of combining the various branches of knowledge, and would be unable to act in the way Communism really demands.

One of the greatest evils and misfortunes left to us by the old, capitalist society is the complete rift between books and practical life; we have had books explaining everything in the best possible manner, yet, in most cases, these books contained the most pernicious and hypocritical lies, a false description of capitalist society.

That is why it would be most mistaken merely to assimilate book knowledge about Communism. No longer do our speeches and articles merely reiterate what used to be said about Communism, because our speeches and articles are connected with our daily work in all fields. Without work and without struggle, book knowledge of Communism obtained from Communist pamphlets and works is absolutely worthless, for it would continue the old separation of theory and practice, the old rift which was the most pernicious feature of the old, bourgeois society.

It would be still more dangerous to set about assimilating only Communist slogans. Had we not realized this danger in time, and had we not directed all our efforts to averting this danger, the 500'000 or 1'000'000 young people who would have called themselves Communists after studying Communism in this way would only greatly prejudice the cause of Communism.

The question arises: How is all this to be blended for the study of Communism? What must we take from the old schools, from the old kind of science? It was the declared aim of the old type of school to produce people with an all-round education, to teach the sciences in general. We know that this was utterly false, since the whole of society was based and maintained on the division of people into classes, into exploiters and oppressed. Since they were thoroughly imbued with the class spirit, the old schools naturally gave knowledge only to the children of the bourgeoisie. Every word was falsified in the interests of the bourgeoisie. In these schools, the younger generation of workers and peasants were not so much educated as drilled in the interests of that bourgeoisie. They were trained in such a way as to be useful servants of the bourgeoisie, able to create profits for it without disturbing its peace and leisure. That is why, while rejecting the old type of schools, we have made it our task to take from it only what we require for genuine Communist education.

This brings me to the reproaches and accusations which we constantly hear leveled at the old schools, and which often lead to wholly wrong conclusions. It is said that the old school was a school of purely book knowledge, of ceaseless drilling and grinding. That is true, but we must distinguish between what was bad in the old schools and what is useful to us, and we must be able to select from it what is necessary for Communism.

The old schools provided purely book knowledge; they compelled their pupils to assimilate a mass of useless, superfluous, and barren knowledge, which cluttered up the brain and turned the younger generation into bureaucrats regimented according to a single pattern. But it would mean falling into a grave error for you to try to draw the conclusion that one can become a Communist without assimilating the wealth of knowledge amassed by humanity. It would be mistaken to think it sufficient to learn Communist slogans and the conclusions of Communist science, without acquiring that sum of knowledge of which Communism itself is a result. Marxism is an example which shows how Communism arose out of the sum of human knowledge.

You have read and heard that Communist theory — the science of Communism created in the main by Marx, this doctrine of Marxism — has ceased to be the work of a single Socialist of the 19th century, even though he was a genius, and that it has become the doctrine of millions and tens of millions of proletarians all over the world, who are applying it in their struggle against capitalism. If you were to ask why the teachings of Marx have been able to win the hearts and minds of millions and tens of millions of the most revolutionary class, you would receive only one answer: It was because Marx based his work on the firm foundation of the human knowledge acquired under capitalism. After making a study of the laws governing the development of human society, Marx realized the inevitability of capitalism developing towards communism. What is most important is that he proved this on the sole basis of a most precise, detailed, and profound study of this capitalist society, by fully assimilating all that earlier science had produced. He critically reshaped everything that had been created by human society, without ignoring a single detail. He reconsidered, subjected to criticism, and verified on the working-class movement everything that human thinking had created, and therefrom formulated conclusions which people hemmed in by bourgeois limitations or bound by bourgeois prejudices could not draw.

We must bear this in mind when, for example, we talk about proletarian culture.¹ We shall be unable to solve this problem unless we clearly realize that only a precise knowledge and transformation of the culture created by the entire development of humanity will enable us to create a proletarian culture. The latter is not clutched out of thin air; it is not an invention of those who call themselves experts in proletarian culture. That is all nonsense. Proletarian culture must be the logical development of the store of knowledge humanity has accumulated under the yoke of capitalist, feudal, and bureaucratic society. All these roads have been leading, and will continue to lead up to proletarian culture, in the same way as political economy, as reshaped by Marx, has shown us what human society must arrive at, shown us the passage to the class struggle, to the beginning of the proletarian revolution.

When we so often hear representatives of the youth, as well as certain advocates of a new system of education, attacking the old schools, claiming that they used the system of cramming, we say to them that we must take what was good in the old schools. We must not borrow the system of encumbering young people's minds with an immense amount of knowledge, 9/10 of which was useless and 1/10 distorted. This, however, does not mean that we can restrict ourselves to Communist conclusions and learn only Communist slogans. You will not create communism that way. You can become a Communist only when you enrich your mind with a knowledge of all the treasures created by humanity.

We have no need of cramming, but we do need to develop and perfect the mind of every student with a knowledge of fundamental facts. Communism will become an empty word, a mere signboard, and Communists mere boasters, if all the knowledge they have acquired is not digested in their minds. You should not merely assimilate this knowledge, but assimilate it critically, so as not to cram your mind with useless lumber, but enrich it with all those facts that are indispensable to the well-educated people of today. If Communists took it into their heads to boast about their Communism, because of the cut-and-dried conclusions they had acquired, without putting in a great deal of serious and hard work and without understanding facts they should examine critically, they would be deplorable Communists indeed. Such superficiality would be decidedly fatal. If I know that I know little, I shall strive to learn more, but if someone says that they are a Communist and that they need not know anything thoroughly, they will never become anything like a Communist.

The old schools produced servants needed by the capitalists; the old schools turned scientists into people who had to write and say whatever pleased the capitalists. We must therefore abolish them. But does the fact that we must abolish them, destroy them, mean that we should not take from them everything humanity has accumulated that is essential to people? Does it mean that we do not have to distinguish between what was necessary to capitalism and what is necessary to communism?

We are replacing the old drill-sergeant methods practised in bourgeois society, against the will of the majority, with the class-conscious discipline of the workers and peasants, who combine hatred of the old society with a determination, ability, and readiness to unite and organize their forces for this struggle, so as to temper the wills of millions and hundreds of millions of people — disunited, and scattered over the territory of a huge country — into a single will, without which defeat is inevitable. Without this solidarity, without this conscious discipline of the workers and peasants, our cause is hopeless. Without this, we shall be unable to vanquish the capitalists and feudal lords of the whole world. We shall not even consolidate the foundation, let alone build a new, communist society on that foundation. Likewise, while condemning the old schools, while harbouring an absolutely justified and necessary hatred for the old schools, and appreciating the readiness to destroy them, we must realize that we must replace the old system of instruction, the old cramming and the old drill, with an ability to acquire the sum total of human knowledge, and to acquire it in such a way that Communism shall not be something to be learned by rote, but something that you yourselves have thought over, something that will embody conclusions inevitable from the standpoint of present-day education.

That is the way the main tasks should be presented when we speak of the aim: Learn Communism.

I shall take a practical example to make this clear to you, and to demonstrate the approach to the problem of how you must learn. You all know that, following the military problems, those of defending the Republic, we are now confronted with economic tasks. Communist society, as we know, cannot be built unless we restore industry and agriculture, and that, not in the old way. They must be reestablished on a modern basis, in accordance with the last word in science. You know that electricity is that basis, and that, only after electrification of the entire country, of all branches of industry and agriculture, only when you have achieved that aim, will you be able to build for yourselves the communist society which the older generation will not be able to build. Confronting you is the task of economically reviving the whole country, of reorganizing and restoring both agriculture and industry on modern technical lines, based on modern science and technology, on electricity. You realize perfectly well that illiterate people cannot tackle electrification, and that elementary literacy is not enough either. It is insufficient to understand what electricity is; what is needed is the knowledge of how to apply it technically in industry and agriculture, and in the individual branches of industry and agriculture. This has to be learnt for oneself, and it must be taught to the entire rising generation of working people. That is the task confronting all class-conscious Communists, all young people who regard themselves Communists and who clearly understand that, by joining the Communist Youth League, they have pledged themselves to help the Party build communism and to help the whole younger generation create a communist society. They must realize that they can create it only on the basis of modern education, and if they do not acquire this education, communism will remain merely a pious wish.

It was the task of the older generation to overthrow the bourgeoisie. The main task then was to criticize the bourgeoisie, awaken hatred of the bourgeoisie among the masses, and foster class-consciousness and the ability to unite their forces. The new generation is confronted with a far more complex task. Your duty does not lie only in assembling your forces so as to uphold the Workers' and Peasants' Government against an invasion instigated by the capitalists. Of course, you must do that; that is something you clearly realize, and is distinctly seen by the Communists. However, that is not enough. You have to build up a communist society. In many respects, half of the work has been done. The old order has been destroyed, just as it deserved, it has been turned into a heap of ruins, just as it deserved. The ground has been cleared, and, on this ground, the younger Communist generation must build a communist society. You are faced with the task of construction, and you can accomplish that task only by assimilating all modern knowledge, only if you are able to transform communism from cut-and-dried and memorized formulas, counsels, recipes, prescriptions, and programmes into that living reality which gives unity to your immediate work, and only if you are able to make Communism a guide in all your practical work.

That is the task you should pursue in educating, training, and mobilizing the entire younger generation. You must be foremost among the millions of builders of a communist society in whose ranks all young people should be. You will not build a communist society unless you enlist the masses of young workers and peasants in the work of building communism.

This naturally brings me to the question of how we should teach Communism and what the specific features of our methods should be.

I first of all shall deal here with the question of Communist ethics.

You must train yourselves to be Communists. It is the task of the Youth League to organize its practical activities in such a way that, by learning, organizing, uniting, and fighting, its members shall train both themselves and all those who look to it for leadership; it should train Communists. The entire purpose of training, educating, and teaching the youth of today should be to imbue them with Communist ethics.

But is there such a thing as Communist ethics? Is there such a thing as Communist morality? Of course, there is. It is often suggested that we have no ethics of our own; very often the bourgeoisie accuse us Communists of rejecting all morality. This is a method of confusing the issue, of throwing dust in the eyes of the workers and peasants.

In what sense do we reject ethics, reject morality?

In the sense given to it by the bourgeoisie, who based ethics on God's commandments. On this point we, of course, say that we do not believe in God, and that we know perfectly well that the clergy, the feudal lords, and the bourgeoisie invoked the name of God, so as to further their own interests as exploiters. Or, instead of basing ethics on the commandments of morality, on the commandments of God, they based it on idealist or semi-idealist phrases, which always amounted to something very similar to God's commandments.

We reject any morality based on extra-human and extra-class concepts. We say that this is deception, dupery, stultification of the workers and peasants in the interests of the feudal lords and capitalists.

We say that our morality is entirely subordinated to the interests of the class struggle of the proletariat. Our morality stems from the interests of the class struggle of the proletariat.

The old society was based on the oppression of all the workers and peasants by the feudal lords and capitalists. We had to destroy all that, and overthrow them, but, to do that, we had to create unity. That is something that God cannot create.

This unity could be provided only by the factories, only by a proletariat trained and awakened from its long slumber. Only when that class was formed did a mass movement arise, which has led to what we have now — the victory of the proletarian revolution in one of the weakest of countries, which for three years has been repelling the onslaught of the bourgeoisie of the whole world. We can see how the proletarian revolution is developing all over the world. On the basis of experience, we now say that only the proletariat could have created the solid force which the disunited and scattered peasantry are following and which has withstood all onslaughts by the exploiters. Only this class can help the working masses unite, rally their ranks, and conclusively defend, conclusively consolidate, and conclusively build up a communist society.

That is why we say that to us there is no such thing as a morality that stands outside human society; that is a fraud. To us, morality is subordinated to the interests of the class struggle of the proletariat.

What does that class struggle consist in? It consists in overthrowing the Tsar, overthrowing the capitalists, and abolishing the capitalist class.

What are classes in general? Classes are that which permits one section of society to appropriate the labour of another section. If one section of society appropriates all the land, we have a feudal class and a serf class. If one section of society owns the factories, shares, and capital, while another section works in these factories, we have a capitalist class and a proletarian class.

It was not difficult to drive out the Tsar — that required only a few days. It was not very difficult to drive out the feudal lords — that was done in a few months. Nor was it very difficult to drive out the capitalists. But it is incomparably more difficult to abolish classes; we still have the division into workers and peasants. If the peasants are installed on their plots of land and appropriate their surplus grain, that is, grain that they does not need for themselves or for their cattle, while the rest of the people have to go without bread, then the peasants become exploiters. The more grain they cling to, the more profitable they find it; as for the rest, let them starve: «The more they starve, the more expensively I can sell this grain.» All should work according to a single common plan, on common land, in common factories, and in accordance with a common system. Is that easy to attain? You see that it is not as easy as driving out the Tsar, the feudal lords, and the capitalists. What is required is that the proletariat reeducate a section of the peasantry; it must win over the working peasants in order to crush the resistance of those peasants who are rich and are profiting from the poverty and want of the rest. Hence, the task of the proletarian struggle is not quite completed after we have overthrown the Tsar and driven out the feudal lords and capitalists; to accomplish that is the task of the system we call the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The class struggle is continuing; it has merely changed its forms. It is the class struggle of the proletariat to prevent the return of the old exploiters, to unite in a single union the scattered masses of unenlightened peasants. The class struggle is continuing, and it is our task to subordinate all interests to that struggle. Our Communist morality is also subordinated to that task. We say: morality is what serves to destroy the old exploiting society and to unite all the working people around the proletariat, which is building up a new, a communist society.

Communist morality is that which serves this struggle and unites the working people against all exploitation, against all small-scale private property; for small-scale property puts into the hands of one person that which has been created by the labour of the whole of society. In our country, the land is common property.

But, suppose I take a piece of this common property and grow on it twice as much grain as I need, and profiteer on the surplus? Suppose I argue that the more starving people there are, the more they will pay? Would I then be behaving like a Communist? No, I would be behaving like an exploiter, like a proprietor. That must be combated. If that is allowed to go on, things will revert to the rule of the capitalists, to the rule of the bourgeoisie, as has more than once happened in previous revolutions. To prevent the restoration of the rule of the capitalists and the bourgeoisie, we must not allow profiteering; we must not allow individuals to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest; the working people must unite with the proletariat and form a communist society. This is the principal feature of the fundamental task of the League and the organization of the Communist youth.

The old society was based on the principle: rob or be robbed; work for others or make others work for you; be a slave-owner or a slave. Naturally, people brought up in such a society assimilate with their mother's milk, one might say, the psychology, the habit, the concept which says: you are either a slave-owner or a slave, or else, a small owner, a small employee, a low official, or an intellectual — in short, someone who is concerned only with themself, and does not care a rap for anybody else.

If I work this plot of land, I do not care a rap for anybody else; if others starve, all the better, I shall get the more for my grain. If I have a job as a doctor, engineer, teacher, or clerk, I do not care a rap for anybody else. If I toady to and please the powers that be, I may be able to keep my job, and even get on in life and become bourgeois. A Communist cannot harbour such a psychology and such sentiments. When the workers and peasants proved that they were able, by their own efforts, to defend themselves and create a new society — that was the beginning of the new and Communist education, education in the struggle against the exploiters, education in alliance with the proletariat against the self-seekers and small-scale proprietors, against the psychology and habits which say: I seek my own profit and don't care a rap for anything else.

That is the reply to the question of how the young and rising generation should learn Communism.

It can learn Communism only by linking up every step in its studies, training, and education with the continuous struggle the proletarians and the working people are waging against the old society of exploiters. When people tell us about morality, we say: to a Communist, all morality lies in this united discipline and conscious mass struggle against the exploiters. We do not believe in an eternal morality, and we expose the falseness of all the fables about morality. Morality serves the purpose of helping human society rise to a higher level and rid itself of the exploitation of labour.

To achieve this, we need that generation of young people who began to reach political maturity in the midst of a disciplined and desperate struggle against the bourgeoisie. In this struggle, that generation is training genuine Communists; it must subordinate to this struggle, and link up with it, each step in its studies, education, and training. The education of the Communist youth must consist, not in giving them suave talks and moral precepts. This is not what education consists in. When people have seen the way in which their parents lived under the yoke of the feudal lords and capitalists; when they have themselves experienced the sufferings of those who began the struggle against the exploiters; when they have seen the sacrifices made to keep what has been won, and seen what deadly enemies the feudal lords and capitalists are — they are taught by these conditions to become Communists. Communist morality is based on the struggle for the consolidation and completion of communism. That is also the basis of Communist training, education, and teaching. That is the reply to the question of how Communism should be learnt.

We could not believe in teaching, training, and education if they were restricted only to the classroom and divorced from the ferment of life. As long as the workers and peasants are oppressed by the feudal lords and capitalists, and as long as the schools are controlled by the feudal lords and capitalists, the young generation will remain blind and ignorant. Our schools must provide the youth with the fundamentals of knowledge, the ability to evolve Communist views independently; they must make educated people of the youth. While they are attending school, they must learn to become participants in the struggle for emancipation from the exploiters. The Communist Youth League will justify its name as the League of the young Communist generation only when every step in its teaching, training, and education is linked up with participation in the common struggle of all working people against the exploiters. You are well aware that, as long as Russia remains the only workers' republic and the old, bourgeois system exists in the rest of the world, we shall be weaker than they are, and be constantly threatened with a new attack; and that only if we learn to be solidly united shall we win in the further struggle and — having gained strength — become really invincible. Thus, to be a Communist means that you must organize and unite the entire young generation and set an example of training and discipline in this struggle. Then, you will be able to start building the edifice of communist society and bring it to completion.

To make this clearer to you, I shall quote an example. We call ourselves Communists. What is a Communist? Communist is a Latin word. Communis is the Latin for «common». Communist society is a society in which all things — the land, the factories — are owned in common and the people work in common. That is communism.

Is it possible to work in common if each one works separately on their own plot of land? Work in common cannot be brought about all at once. That is impossible. It does not drop from the skies. It comes through toil and suffering; it is created in the course of struggle. The old books are of no use here; no one will believe them. One's own experience of life is needed. When Kolcak and Denikin were advancing from Siberia and the South, the peasants were on their side. They did not like Majoritarianism, because the Majoritarians took their grain at a fixed price. But, when the peasants in Siberia and Ukraine experienced the rule of Kolcak and Denikin, they realized that they had only one alternative: either to go to the capitalists, who would at once hand them over into slavery under the feudal lords; or to follow the workers, who, it is true, did not promise a land flowing with milk and honey, and demanded iron discipline and firmness in an arduous struggle, but would lead them out of enslavement by the capitalists and feudal lords. When even the ignorant peasants saw and realized this from their own experience, they became conscious adherents of Communism, who had gone through a severe school. It is such experience that must form the basis of all the activities of the Communist Youth League.

I have replied to the questions of what we must learn, what we must take from the old schools and from the old science. I shall now try to answer the question of how this must be learnt. The answer is: Only by inseparably linking each step in the activities of the schools, each step in training, education, and teaching, with the struggle of all the working people against the exploiters.

I shall quote a few examples from the experience of the work of some of the youth organizations, so as to illustrate how this training in Communism should proceed. Everybody is talking about abolishing illiteracy. You know that a communist society cannot be built in an illiterate country. It is not enough for the Council Government to issue an order, or for the Party to issue a particular slogan, or to assign a certain number of the best workers to this task. The young generation itself must take up this work. Communism means that the youth, the young people, who belong to the Youth League, should say: this is our job; we shall unite and go into the rural districts to abolish illiteracy, so that there shall be no illiterates among our young people. We are trying to get the rising generation to devote their activities to this work. You know that we cannot rapidly transform an ignorant and illiterate Russia into a literate country. But, if the Youth League sets to work on the job, and if all young people work for the benefit of all, the League, with a membership of 400'000 young people, will be entitled to call itself a Communist Youth League. It is also a task of the League, not only to acquire knowledge itself, but to help those young people who are unable to extricate themselves by their own efforts from the toils of illiteracy. Being a member of the Youth League means devoting one's labour and efforts to the common cause. That is what a Communist education means. Only in the course of such work do young people become real Communists. Only if they achieve practical results in this work will they become Communists.

Take, for example, work in the suburban vegetable gardens. Is that not a real job of work? It is one of the tasks of the Communist Youth League. People are starving; there is hunger in the factories. To save ourselves from starvation, vegetable gardens must be developed. But farming is being carried on in the old way. Therefore, more class-conscious elements should engage in this work, and then you will find that the number of vegetable gardens will increase, their acreage will grow, and the results will improve. The Communist Youth League must take an active part in this work. Every League and League branch should regard this as its duty.

The Communist Youth League must be a shock force, helping in every job and displaying initiative and enterprise. The League should be an organization enabling all workers to see that it consists of people whose teachings they perhaps do not understand, and whose teachings they may not immediately believe, but from whose practical work and activity they can see that they are really people who are showing them the right road.

If the Communist Youth League fails to organize its work in this way in all fields, it will mean that it is reverting to the old bourgeois path. We must combine our education with the struggle of the working people against the exploiters, so as to help the former accomplish the tasks set by the teachings of Communism.

The members of the League should use every spare hour to improve the vegetable gardens, or to organize the education of young people at some factory, and so on. We want to transform Russia from a poverty-stricken and wretched country into one that is wealthy. The Communist Youth League must combine its education, learning, and training with the labour of the workers and peasants, so as not to confine itself to schools or to reading Communist books and pamphlets. Only by working side by side with the workers and peasants can one become a genuine Communist. It has to be generally realized that all members of the Youth League are literate people and at the same time are keen at their jobs. When everyone sees that we have ousted the old drill-ground methods from the old schools and have replaced them with conscious discipline, that all young people take part in subbotniks, and utilize every suburban farm to help the population — people will cease to regard labour in the old way.

It is the task of the Communist Youth League to organize assistance everywhere, in village or city block, in such matters as — and I shall take a small example — public hygiene or the distribution of food. How was this done in the old, capitalist society? Everybody worked only for themself and nobody cared a straw for the aged and the sick, or whether housework was the concern only of the women, who, in consequence, were in a condition of oppression and servitude. Whose business is it to combat this? It is the business of the Youth Leagues, which must say: We shall change all this; we shall organize detachments of young people who will help to assure public hygiene or distribute food, who will conduct systematic house-to-house inspections, and work in an organized way for the benefit of the whole of society, distributing their forces properly and demonstrating that labour must be organized.

The generation of people who are now at the age of 50 cannot expect to see a communist society. This generation will be gone before then. But the generation of those who are now 15 years old will see a communist society, and will itself build this society. This generation should know that the entire purpose of their lives is to build a communist society. In the old society, each family worked separately and labour was not organized by anybody except the feudal lords and capitalists, who oppressed the masses of the people. We must organize all labour, no matter how toilsome or messy it may be, in such a way that every worker and peasant will be able to say: I am part of the great army of free labour, and shall be able to build up my life without the feudal lords and capitalists, able to help establish a communist system. The Communist Youth League should teach all young people to engage in conscious and disciplined labour from an early age. In this way, we can be confident that the problems now confronting us will be solved. We must assume that no less than ten years will be required for the electrification of the country, so that our impoverished land may profit from the latest achievements of technology. And so, the generation of those who are now 15 years old, and will be living in a communist society in 10 or 20 years' time, should tackle all its educational tasks in such a way that every day, in every village and city, the young people shall engage in the practical solution of some problem of labour in common, even though the smallest or the simplest. The success of communist construction will be assured when this is done in every village, as Communist competition develops, and the youth prove that they can unite their labour. Only by regarding your every step from the standpoint of the success of that construction, and only by asking ourselves whether we have done all we can to be united and politically conscious working people will the Communist Youth League succeed in uniting its 500'000 members into a single army of labour and win universal respect.

[Stormy applause.]