Youth and Revolution: The Social Image of Young Communist Party Members in Yekaterinburg Province (1922‒1924)

Authors

  • Lyudmila Mazur

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2017.4.264

Abstract

This article considers the implementation of the “social bulldozer” by young Communist Party members of the early 1920s. The period was characterised by intensive social changes in many spheres of society, and the youth was supposed to play a special role as a strike force in the process. The Party and the government of the country aimed at the indoctrination of young people’s consciousness, their political education, militarisation, and organising various sports and cultural activities. As a result of this complex youth policy, there appeared a new system of values whose main objective was for youth to serve their state and the ideals of communism. As more and more young people became members of the Party, the latter grew in power and control. Referring to the primary materials of the All-Russian census of the members of the RCP(B), the article describes the social image of the Party youth and their career strategies. The youth of the period in question accounted for the majority of the members of the Party, thus defining the social portrait of communists. The young members of the Party did not have a high level of education. As for their career aspirations, they were meant to perform leading functions at the lower (volost’) and uyezd levels, where they became a labour pool to later be promoted to higher positions.

Author Biography

Lyudmila Mazur

Dr. Hab. (History), Associate Professor, Ural Federal University.

19, Mira Str., 620002, Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Lmaz@mail.ru

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Published

2017-12-23

How to Cite

Mazur, L. (2017). Youth and Revolution: The Social Image of Young Communist Party Members in Yekaterinburg Province (1922‒1924). Quaestio Rossica, 5(4), 1009–1026. https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2017.4.264

Issue

Section

Problema voluminis