The Young Communist International ("YCI" in English, "KIM" in Russian) had its roots in an April 1915 Conference in Berne, Switzerland, that was attended by 16 delegates from 10 countries, including Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland. This conference took an anti-war position and established itself on an organizational basis with Willi Münzenberg as its Secretary.
By the fall of 1915, the International Federation had gained additional affilates through the socialist youth movements of Canada, Greech, Romania, Spain, and the United States.
An International Youth Conference was held in Vienna, Austria, on Aug. 26, 1919. This was attended by 16 delegates representing 6 countries, including Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Russia. The conference formed a provisional committee to act as an International Secretariat.
A founding congress of a Communist Youth International was originally planned for Weimar, to open Nov. 5, 1919, but fear of discovery by the police prompted organizer Leo Flieg and his associates to move the gathering to Berlin and the scheduled starting date to Nov. 20.
The Founding Congress of the Young Communist International met in Berlin under conditions of illegality. It was attended by 19 delegates representing 14 countries, including Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. As a precaution against discovery by the authorities, location of the session was moved each day.
The loose International Federation was replaced by a Centralized International, directed by a five member permanent Executive Committee. The EC of the YCI was based in Berlin. Elected by the Congress to the first Executive Committee of the YCI were: Leo Flieg (Germany), Willi Münzenberg (Germany), Luigi Polano (Italy), Oskar Samuelsen (Scandinavia), and Lazar Shatskin (Soviet Russia).
The primary force in the early YCI was the German youth movement, just as the Russian movement exercised primacy in the Communist International.
Immediately after the founding of the YCI, existing youth organizations in 6 countries affiliated with the new organization (Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuanian, Yugoslavia). New organizations were established in other countries, including Bokhara, China, East Galicia, Great Britain, Iceland, Khiva, Korea, Luxemburg, Persia, Slovakia, South Africa, Turkestan, andTurkey.
The YCI published two periodical organs: Youth International and International Youth Correspondence.
This was a meeting of representatives of Youth Sections from Southern and Eastern Europe.
This was a meeting of representatives of Youth Sections from Western Europe.
"Bureau Sessions" were akin to the "Enlarged Plenums" of ECCI, in which one representative of each of the larger national sections of the YCI were represented. The Bureau Sessions were given the task of reviewing the work of the various national sections and checking their implementation of the decisions of the most recent Congress of the organization.
An Interenational Conference of the YCI was held in Moscow in conjunction with the 2nd Congress of the Comintern. This Conference established the relationship between the youth organizations and the various Communist Parties affiliated with the Comintern.
This was a meeting of representatives of Youth Sections from Western Europe.
This was a meeting of representatives of Youth Sections from Southern and Eastern Europe.
In February 1921 a special delegation of the EC of the YCI was sent to Moscow to resolve a debate over the degree of independence of the youth organizations from the various Communist Parties of the Comintern.
This was a meeting of representatives of Youth Sections from Southern and Eastern Europe.
The Jena "2nd Congress of the YCI" was opened in Jena after a proposal of the Russian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Bulgarian sections of the YCI to move the gathering to Moscow was rejected. About 100 delgates were present, representing all European and American sections of the YCI except for those of Spain and Portugal. The American delegate to this gathering was Oliver Carlson ("Turner").
On April 1, 1921, a letter was sent by the Executive Committee of the Communist International to the secretariat of the YCI instructing it to treat the forthcoming Jena gathering as "not binding," and to move the 2nd Congress of the YCI to Moscow, to meet simultaneously with the 3th World Congress of the CI in June.
Proceedings were moved to Berlin on April 10. The gathering broke up on April 11 after it was learned that ECCI had determined to postpone the Congress until the 3rd Congress of the Comintern.
The April Jena Congress was continued in Moscow in June of 1921. The youth delegates to the YCI also participated as delegates to the 3rd Congress of the Comintern. The Moscow sessions were attended by 120 delegates, represetning 36 sections of the YCI, as well as 15 delegates from 6 youth leagues not formally affiliated with the international.
The American delegates to this gathering were Oliver Carlson ("Turner") and Gus Schulenberg ("Morton").
The 3rd Congress of the YCI was attended by 91 delegates, representing 38 organizations. Representing the Young Workers League of America was delegate Martin Abern, joined in an unofficial capacity by John Edwards, who attended proceedings as an observer with the sanction of the NEC of the YWL.
The 3rd Congress declared that the territorial form of group organization was the main reason for the failure of the Young Communist groups to establish themselves as mass organizations, and a restructuring on the basis of factory nuclei was decided.
The American delegate to the 4th Bureau Session of the YCI was Harry Gannes. he reported on his work in an article published in the Oct. 1923 issue of The Young Communist.
The 4th Congress was attended by 108 regular delegates and 36 fraternal delegates, representing 60 member leagues. Representatives of the United States included John Williamson, former Secretary and EC of the YCI member Oliver Carlson, Nat Kaplan, and Industrial Organizer John Edwards. Representing the Communist Party of Great Britain were William Rust and Robertson. From Canada was Hill.
The report on behalf of the EC of the Communist International was delivered by Dmitrii Manuilsky, who pointed out that the capitalist world was developing in such a way which gradually bolstered American and British hegemony. The world agricultural crisis, particularly the situation in the USA, was dealt with at length, as was the political situation in Germany.
The report of the EC of the YCI was delivered by Schüller, who spoke on the situation in the Ruhr and on the youth movement in various Europena countries. Schüller also detailed activity in the Children's and Sport movements.
A report on the Shop Nuclei was delivered by Gyptner.
There were 46 members of the Executive Committee of the Young Communist International elected by the 4th World Congress of 1924. In between congresses, decision-making authority was vested in plenary meetings of the Executive Committee or Enlarged Executive Committee of the YCI. These were scheduled approximately 6-8 months apart and a total of 5 were held between the 4th and 5th World Congresses: April 1925, March 1926, Nov.-Dec. 1926, June 1927, and Feb.-March 1927.
The April 1925 meeting of the Enlarged Executive Committee of the YCI concentrated on the organizational restructuring ("bolshevization") of the Young Communist Leagues of various countries.
In addition to members of the EC of the YCI, delegates were in attendance representing the YCLs of Austria, the Balkan Federation, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Poland, Scandanavia, Switzerland, and the USSR.
The March 1926 plenum of ECYCI condemned the opposition movements in various sections of the YCI. Legal defense work of illegal sections of the YCI was also discussed. The subjugation of the various YCL's to the discipline and leadership of their corresponding national parties was also reiterated.
The Congress of Young Friends of the Soviet Union was attended by 80 delegates, representing 20 countries.
The 5th Congress of the YCI was attended by 140 delegates with decisive and 121 delegates with consultative vote. At the time of the Congress, the YCI had 43 sections.
18. 6th World Congress of the Young Communist International --- Moscow --- Sept. 25-Oct. 10, 1935.
