800.00B Communist International of Youth/22
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Shantz) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 31.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that the Embassy has been following the Sixth Congress of the Communist International of Youth with as close attention as is permitted by the Komsomolshaya Pravda, only Soviet publication that has so far reported in any detail on the Congress. With the exception of the opening announcement and an extremely brief résumé of the speech of Kuusinen in the Pravda and Izvestiya of September 29 (see telegrams Nos. 439 and 442 of Sept. 26 and Sept. 3068), Soviet press, exclusive of the Komsomolshaya [Page 263] Pravda, has failed to mention the Congress in any way whatsoever.
This latter publication has carried brief daily accounts of the sessions and condensed resumes of the speeches of the various delegates. In general, the speeches dealt with the struggle for a united front in the ranks of the youth of the countries represented at the Congress, the growth of the communist organizations of youth, the need to fight for the political, economic and cultural rights of the younger generation, and the battle against fascism and war. Vitriolic attacks on fascism, the enemy of humanity and civilization, and the extolling of the virtues of communism with the USSR held as a shining example were usually the order of the day. Many of the speeches related to the rapprochement and consolidation of socialist and communist youth organizations, especially in France and Spain. The most prominent parts in the Congress were played by Comrades Raymond Guyot (Secretary of the French Communist Union of Youth), Chemodanov (member of the Russian Communist Union of Youth) and Mikhal (member of the Executive Committee of the Communist International of Youth). No mention whatsoever was made of the speeches of Green, Porter or Lightfoot, American delegates elected to the Presidium.
James, the only delegate from the United States to be mentioned in the press as having spoken, declared at the morning session of October 8 that “the accomplishments and successes of the Soviet Union and the conditions under which the youth live cannot but help to arouse the admiration of the young toilers in America”. This is obviously not his whole speech but is all that was reported in the press and as far as the Embassy is aware, is the only time the United States was mentioned. The Congress closed on October 869 after several days’ discussion on the closing speech of Comrade Mikhal and Chemodanov’s report. Mikhal stated that the presence at the Congress of five Spanish socialists was exceedingly important as it witnessed the tendency of the Comintern of Youth towards unification. In general, his speech was but a review of the work of the Congress and a repetition of appeals for unity. Chemodanov, the reporter of the Congress, spoke on the education of youth in the Soviet Union, racial equality and economic advances of the U.S.S.R.
Inasmuch as the proceedings of the Congress received little publicity and caused little, if any, interest in Moscow circles (foreign press correspondents were in the beginning unaware of the existence of the Congress), the Embassy is at a loss to draw many conclusions [Page 264] thereon. In general it may be stated that the Congress followed closely the dictums and tenets of its elder brother, the Seventh Congress of the Comintern, but was relegated to darkness by the Soviet press, either because of the international annoyance caused by the Comintern Congress, or because of the reported decreasing popularity in the U. S. S. R. of the Communist Union of Youth, probably occasioned by its insistence on clinging too closely to the old theoretical line of communism in contrast to the more liberal interpretations of the Soviet Government. The only difference between this child of the Seventh Congress and the latter appears to be that a certain amount of unity with socialism was realized by the presence of an official delegation of young Spanish socialists at the Sixth Congress of the Communist International of Youth.
Respectfully yours,
- Telegram No. 442, September 30, 1935, not printed.↩
- The Ambassador corrected the closing date of this Congress to October 11, in his despatch No. 987, October 26, 1935. He also reported that a “leading editorial” in the Komsomolskaya Pravda of October 14 had claimed that “the Communist International of Youth had grown from 46 sections (2,064,207 members) in 1928 to 56 sections (3,855,404 members) in 1935.” (800.00 B Communist International of Youth/23)↩