Alexandra
Alexandrovna Nesterova
Anatoly Anatolevich Slezin
Tambov
State Technical University, Tambov
Abstract: In the article the
author has tried to statistically measure the state of school Komsomol
organizations in the USSR in late 1950s – beginning of 1960s: based on the materials of the Russian State Archive of Social and
Political History, which were first implemented in scientific usage. The author
also showed dynamics of changes in quantity of school Komsomol organizations,
number of pupils and teachers in the overall composition of All-Union Leninist Young Communist
League (AULYCL). Increase of
school Komsomol organizations is considered as factor of “youthification” of
the organization.
Key
words and phrases: Russian educational system, school
Komsomol organizations; reforms; statistical measure; intellectual level.
Current condition of Russian educational system
requires a substantial update of the content, strengthening of practical focus,
closeness with the real requirements of life, reorganization of current
educational management and getting rid of bureaucracy in it. In this respect
experience of public education reforms of late 1950s – beginning of 1960s
becomes more valuable, as in this period in the educational system similar
problems were being solved as we currently have. There is also more interest in research of
the role of “thaw period” in reforms of different organizations including All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (AULYCL). Although in recent years we
have seen substantial attention to the problems of school Komsomol history [1-2, 5-8], many of them are still not well-known. It is
important to review school social organizations not only as subjects, but also
as objects of the reforms.
In this article we set the aim to show the
dynamics in quantity of school Komsomol organizations in the USSR in late
1950s – beginning of 1960s with the help of data, extracted from materials of
Russian state archive of social and political history, verify percent of pupils and teachers in the overall composition of All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (AULYCL), review the growth of school Komsomol organizations as a factor of
“youthification” of the organization.
Changes
in functions of school Komsomol organizations to a large extent were connected
with strengthening of attention of the Soviet State to developing general education
schools after the Great Patriotic War. Decisions taken during XI congress of AULYCL
(March-April 1949) contributed to their growth. During the congress it was
confirmed that acceptance to Komsomol from 14 years of age, permitted by
Central Committee of AULYCL in 1942, justified itself. After cancelation of
probationary period when accepting people to Komsomol, the organization became more “youthificated”. Number of school Komsomol
organizations and their members rapidly increased.
In
general in the country in May 1956 there were approximately 80 000 school
Komsomol organizations, which were uniting 4600 members of AULYCL [4, p.
277]. However, during ÕIII Congress of AULYCL (April 1958) it was decided that pupils should spend a
longer period of time in the Pioneer organization in order to better prepare
for joining Komsomol. Age of acceptance to Komsomol was increased to 15 years
which caused decrease in numbers of all All-Union Communist youth organization,
as well as school Komsomol in particular. But in 1962 XIV Congress of Komsomol
again defined the age of acceptance to Komsomol as 14. [3. F.
1847. S. 100-101.]. As a
consequence, the number of people joining Komsomol increased again, mostly
because of pupils.
Research of data from the archive showed
that the number of pupils from all educational establishments among those who
were accepted to AULYCL was: in 1958 – 873 441 people (out of 1902172
accepted to the League), in 1959 — 887 644 people (out of
2 130 777), in 1960 — 1 086 899 people (out of
2 287 100), in 1961 — 1 582 685 people (out of
2 818 926), in 1962 —
2 733 672 people (out of 3 741 274) [3 . F. 1847. S. 100-101]. In 1963 pupils made 74.13% out of all who were accepted to AULYCL
(2 838 228 out of 3 828 662 people) [ 3 . Ä. 1844. Ë. 6.], in 1964 — 78.87 % (2 987 134 out of
3 982 599 people) [3 . Ä. 1859. Ë. 1].
Table 1
The
percentage of school primary Komsomol
organizations among primary organizations of
AULYCL [3 . F. 1844. S. 6 îá. F. 1847. S.10-11,
20-23, 41-42. F. 1859. S. 1 îá.]
|
Date |
Number primary organizations |
Including ones in 7-year and
secondary schools |
|
1.01.1950 |
435 063 |
56 005 |
|
1.01.1951 |
369 058 |
64 398 |
|
1.01.1952 |
374 099 |
72 484 |
|
1.01.1953 |
387 939 |
77 349 |
|
1.01.1954 |
393 561 |
79 661 |
|
1.01.1955 |
389 665 |
79 476 |
|
1.01.1956 |
383 987 |
76 590 |
|
1.01.1957 |
363 290 |
85 484 |
|
1.01.1958 |
336 654 |
74 327 |
|
1.01.1959 |
308 649 |
57 431 |
|
1.01.1960 |
286 543 |
50 951 |
|
1.01.1961 |
274 904 |
50 545 |
|
1.01.1962 |
273 198 |
53621 |
|
1.01.1963 |
287 440 |
72 207 |
|
1.01.1964 |
335 369 |
80 848 |
|
1.01.1965 |
340 612 |
85 292 |
As it is shown in Table 1, among primary
Komsomol organizations in the country in 1950s - beginning of 1960s the high
percent of organizations was traditionally spread among 7-year and secondary schools. At the beginning of
1956 school Komsomol organizations made 19.95% of primary Komsomol
organizations of the country, at the beginning of 1957 — 23.5%, at the beginning of 1958 —
22.08%, at the beginning of 1959
— 18.6%, at the beginning of
1960 — 18 %, at the beginning of 1961 — 17.78%, at the beginning of 1962 —
19.63%, at the beginning of 1963 — 25.12%, at the beginning of 1964 — 24.1%.
At the end of the considered period every fourth primary Komsomol
organization of the country functioned in school (by 1.01.1965 — 25,04%) [3 . F. 1844. S. 6 îá. F. 1847. S.10-11, 20-23, 41-42. F. 1859.
S. 1 îá.].
Number
of pupils within AULYCL in mid-1950s exceeded 30%,
but after schools reforms in late 1950s and after growth of age requirement in
AULYCL to 14 years, the number of pupils went back down again. An absolute minimum was registered in 1961 — 9.8%. But after
15-year-olds were accepted to AULYCL it started to
grow. (see Table 2).
Table 2
Pupils
and teachers within AULYCL [3
.F. 1844. S. 6. F.1847. S.47,52-59. F. 1859. S.1.]
|
Date |
Numbers of AULYCL |
including |
|
|
Pupils of 7-year
and secondary schools |
Teachers |
||
|
1.01.1950 |
10 512 385 |
695 945 (19.8%) |
247 760
(2.9%) |
|
1.01.1951 |
12
335 292 |
2 349
530 (23.1%) |
291
157 (2.9%) |
|
1.01.1952 |
14 397
077 |
3 186 117
(27.0%) |
348
754 (3.0%) |
|
1.01.1953 |
16 581
786 |
4 036 504
(30.1%) |
399 853 (2.9%) |
|
1.01.1954 |
18 333
600 |
4 675 881
(30.8%) |
455 402
(3.0%) |
|
1.01.1955 |
18 617 532 |
4 622 448
(29.6%) |
453
639 (2.9%) |
|
1.01.1956 |
18 512
449 |
4 024 253
(26.0%) |
424 849
(2.7%) |
|
1.01.1957 |
17 999
832 |
3 637 029
(23.8%) |
410 651
(2.3%) |
|
1.01.1958 |
17 711
767 |
3 028 319
(19.9%) |
421
021 (2.8%) |
|
1.01.1959 |
17 790
079 |
2 248 810
(14.7%) |
412
904 (2.7%) |
|
1.01.1960 |
18 230
458 |
1 677 877
(10.7%) |
409 701
(2.6%) |
|
1.01.1961 |
18 354
016 |
1 581 366 (9.8%) |
424 137
(2.6%) |
|
1.01.1962 |
19 095
064 |
1
985 874 (12.0%) |
429
058 (2.5%) |
|
1.01.1963 |
20 031
674 |
3 455 463
(19.6%) |
430 655
(2.4%) |
|
1.01.1964 |
21 103
534 |
4 828 705
(22.9%) |
412 351 (2%) |
|
1.01.1965 |
22 061
668 |
5 708 724 (29.1%) |
418
513(2.1%) |
By January, 1 1965 pupils made 29.06% of
AULYCL members (5 708 724 people). In total members of AULYCL– pupils made
45.06% of the League (university students – 5.82%, students of technical
schools – 5.8%, students of professional schools – 3.86%, other – 0.51%).
Besides, quite a notable part of AULYCL were school teachers — 418 513
people (2.13% of the organization). School Komsomol organizations totaled
29.38% of primary Komsomol organizations of the country.– (85 292 out of
340 612). In them there were 129 784 Komsomol groups [3. F. 1859. S. 1-1îá.].
It is interesting to note how school
Komsomol organizations were spread according to number of Komsomol members if
them (see Table 3). By the end of the period most school Komsomol organizations
consisted of some tens of people, there were also bigger school Komsomol
organizations. Thus at least as far as quantity is concerned Komsomol
organizations had a remarkable representation in school collectives.
Table 3
Distribution
of school primary Komsomol organizations according to number of Komsomol
members in them. (by 1.01.1965) [ 3 . F. 1859. S. 1îá.]
|
Total of Komsomol
Organizations |
Èç íèõ ñ ÷èñëîì êîìñîìîëüöåâ |
||||||||
|
Up to 9 people |
10-19 people |
20-50 people |
51-100 people |
101-300 people |
301-500 people |
501-1000 people |
over 1000 people |
|
|
|
85 292 |
8501 |
16 721 |
26 468 |
15 353 |
16 302 |
1724 |
221 |
2 |
|
|
100% |
9.97% |
19.6% |
31.03% |
18% |
19.1% |
2% |
0.26% |
0.002% |
|
Table 4
Komsomol members aged 14-17
within AULYCL [3. F. 1844. S. 6 îá. F. 1847. S. 60-61. F. 1859. S. 1 îá.]
|
Date |
Number of AULYCL members |
including |
|
|
14-year-olds |
15-17-year-olds |
||
|
1.01.1950 |
10 512 385 |
454 985 (5.3%) |
1 853 853 (21.6%) |
|
1.01.1951 |
12 335 292 |
615 910 (6.1%) |
2 271 433 (22.4%) |
|
1.01.1952 |
14 397 077 |
830 361 (7%) |
2 911 371 (24.7%) |
|
1.01.1953 |
16 581 786 |
961 138 (7.2%) |
3 700 448 (27.6%) |
|
1.01.1954 |
18 333 600 |
992 753 (6.5%) |
4 222 195 (27.8%) |
|
1.01.1955 |
18 617 532 |
846 565(5.4%) |
4 565 008 (29.3%) |
|
1.01.1956 |
18 512 449 |
759 202(4.9%) |
4 364 995 (28.2%) |
|
1.01.1957 |
17 999 832 |
|
4 447 771 (29.1%) |
|
1.01.1958 |
17 711 767 |
|
3 842 621 (25.3%) |
|
1.01.1959 |
17 790 079 |
|
3 119 450 (20.4%) |
|
1.01.1960 |
18 230 458 |
|
2 550 734 (16.3%) |
|
1.01.1961 |
18 354 016 |
0 |
2 410 493 (15.0%) |
|
1.01.1962 |
19 095 064 |
0 |
2 939 345 (17.8%) |
|
1.01.1963 |
20 031 674 |
980 823 (5.6%) |
3 753 918 (21.3%) |
|
1.01.1964 |
21 103 534 |
1 193 591(5.7%) |
4817 354 (22.8%) |
|
1.01.1965 |
22 061 668 |
1 322 501 (6.73%) |
6 546 296 (33.33%) |
Growth of school Komsomol organizations is
the main factor of organization “youthification”. (see Table 4; statistics for 1957-1960
are united according to age 14-17). In
1958 people under 18 made more than a quarter of AULYCL members, at the end of
1964 — more than 40% [3. F.1847. S. 60-61. F. 1859. S.1].
Considering the riot growth and innovational forms of
work in many school Komsomol organizations of late 1950s-early 1960s, one can
say that school Komsomol became the most powerful organization in the social
life of schools. Moreover, in the countryside school Komsomol organizations played the
role of important origin of culture. Fulfilling of
pedagogical tasks of youth union was supported by creating primary Komsomol
organizations practically in every school. Growth of senior pupils and
secondary school graduates in AULYCL increased growth
of intellectual level of the union members, thus, a bigger orientation to
creative activities, development of independent action and initiative.
References
1.
Belyaev À. À. Provincial Komsomol organizations in
post-war years: peculiarities of activity in spiritual sphere (based on material of
Tambovskaya region of 1945-1954): Thesis ... PhD candidate in History. Tambov, 2010. p. 293
2. Belyaev A.A., Slezin A.A. Inner Union life of post-war
Komsomol: peculiarities of provincial style. // Magazine of Tambov State Technical Uni. 2010.
V. 16. ¹ 1. P. 210-220.
3. ÐÃÀÑÏÈ. Ô. Ì - 1. Îï. 33 .
4.
Collection of
resolutions CC AULYCL (adopted after XII
AULYCL Congress). Ì., 1958. 448 p.
5. Slezin À. À., Belyaev À. À. School Komsomol organizations in the conditions of post-war
development: 1945-1954 // Bereginya.
777. Owl:
society, economics, politics. 2010. ¹ 3. P. 19-29.
6.
Slezin À. À., Belyaev À. À. Communist
«Ministry of Youth» in the cultural sphere of life in the post-war Soviet
society. // Politics and Society. ¹ 12. P.
30-35.
7.
Slezin À. À., Belyaev À. À., Bredikhin V. Å. Development of the secondary
evening education: role of Komsomol // Historical, philosophical, political,
juristical sciences, culturology and art history: questions of theory and praxis 2009. ¹ 3. P. 23-28.
8. Tambov Komsomol: 1946-1991 / À.À. Slezin, D.Ì. Oleynikov, À.À. Belyaev, etc.
Tambov: Yulis, 2010. 384 p.
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