861.00 Congress, Communist International, VII/40: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 9—11:30 a.m.]
342. Pravda today reports the following speech by Green, a delegate from the United States, at the August 4th session of the Congress of the Communist International.
“The Struggle for Youth (Comrade Green’s speech). The report of Comrade Dimitrov, whose name enjoys deep love and respect within the ranks of working youth, is of great significance for our work.
[Page 238]An energetic struggle is going on for the younger generation in the United States. Never has the bourgeoisie manifested such activity in its attempts to conquer youth. Never has the bourgeoisie been so worried by the growth of political consciousness and activity among youth.
Nobody can tell our youth, as in Germany: ‘We are poor because we have suffered defeat.’ American youth understands that it lives in the richest country of the world and the youth of America can draw lessons from the experience of Germany and Italy.
The initiative has passed over to the hands of anti-Fascist youth which has united its forces, has put forward a wide program and has appealed to the younger generation: it has correctly made use of the wealthy revolutionary traditions of the American people; it has understood the natural love of youth for its fatherland and has tied this with the necessity of tearing the country and its wealth from the hands of the plutocrats. As a result of all this it has succeeded in causing great enthusiasm and activity among youth.
A year ago a fascisizing group organized the convocation of a Congress of Youth for the support of a reactionary program; together with the remaining anti-Fascist youth we defeated the fascisizing elements and turned the Congress of Youth into a demonstration of a wide united front of defense of the immediate needs of youth.
In this connection of great significance to the Komsomol is the proper approach to the wide mass organizations of youth which are under the control or influence of the bourgeoisie.
Another question which has great significance is our attitude toward the leadership of Socialist youth. The resolution which was proposed to the Congress pointed out the necessity for a differentiated approach to the various groups and individual persons from the leadership of Socialist youth. This is perfectly correct.
In the United States the working youth during the past 3 years has played an active role in the strike battles and in the battles of the unemployed. It is becoming more active also in the labor unions. Youth which is engaged in production must become the backbone of the united front and by its activity must insure the hegemony of proletarian youth. In this movement we have realized this important truth and as a result 140 labor unions and 6 large central labor union councils participated in the Second American Congress of Youth.52
At the Second American Congress of Youth many complicated questions were posed before the Komsomol delegation and had we not approached them with the necessary flexibility it would have resulted in a rupture of the united front. Thus, for example, many religious young men regarded sceptically the possibility of unity with the Communists fearing that unity was a trap to force on them our atheistic opinions. However, the question was decided very simply: all religious participants in the Congress were allowed to hold a church service on Sunday morning. This did not in any way obligate Communist youth and at the same time show[ed] the masses of religious youth that the united front was directed not against their convictions but against reaction.”
Pravda of today reports the following remark in the speech delivered on August 8 by Chemodanov, Soviet subject, member of the Executive Committee of the Communist International of Youth: “Great successes have also been achieved by the Komsomol of the United States which has found the right approach to the masses of youth.”
- Held in Detroit, Michigan, in July 1935.↩