Stalin’s Domestic Policies Young People

How did Stalin’s policies impact young people? Stalin realised in order to fulfil his promises of a better Russia he needed an educated workforce. He made education a priority. This would give him the educated workforce he needed to create the modern socialistic industry that he promised to build.

Educating the Country Stalin’s first aim was to overcome the high illiteracy rates. He did this by making sure everyone went through primary education. He encouraged the people to be individual and creative. This became very successful. By 1939 it was estimated that at least 80% of the population could read and write!

The Youth Organisation From the beginning, (before Stalin came to power) the early communists wanted to influence and recruit young people. So in 1918, they formed a communist youth organisation. Originally the organisation was radical and independent of the adult party. In 1926 it became known as Komsomol. Age of entry was 15 and would continue until the age of 21. In 1939, it was affiliated to the party, membership rose from 4 to 9 million and by the time Stalin had died in 1953 membership was at 16 million.

The Komsomol The Komsomol was the Communist Union of Youth. It provided volunteers for various party programmes and policies. They assisted the police and the Red Army. Many of them went on to join the Communist Party as full members. Komsomol activist interviewed in Munich I saw that the older generation, worn out after years of the war and the postwar chaos, were no longer in a position to withstand the difficulties involved in the construction of socialism. I thus came to the conclusion that the success in transforming the country depended entirely on the physical exertions and the will of people like myself.