Communist Youth Association of Poland

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The Communist Youth Association of Poland (in Polish Komunistyczny Związek Młodzieży Polski , abbreviated KZMP ) was a communist youth organization in Poland during the interwar period . The association existed from 1922 to 1938 and was close to the Communist Party of Poland .

history

The KZMP was founded on March 17, 1922 as the Polish section of the Communist Youth International . Until 1930 the association was officially called Związek Młodzieży Komunistycznej w Polsce (ZMKwP; 'Communist Youth Association in Poland'), which was based on the name of the Soviet youth association ( Komsomol ) and expressed the aim of the Polish communists, even after 1918 to merge with to hold fast to Bolshevik Russia or the USSR . After the dissolution of the Communist Party of Poland in 1938, the youth association associated with it ceased its activities (also in 1938).

Positions

The Communist Youth Association of Poland published in 1936 the "Declaration of the Rights of the Young Generation of Poland" (Polish Deklaracja Praw Młodego Pokolenia Polski ), which u. a. demanded that the right to vote should be reduced to 21 years and that the common fight against fascism and racism of all progressive forces should be accelerated. The ultimate goal of this declaration culminated in the demand for the formation of a communist-oriented government in Poland.

organization structure

Despite the strong orientation of the Polish Communists to the close links between Poland and the Soviet Union since 1923, the Communist youth organizations of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus (both areas were from Poland after World War II occupied ) (subordinate to the Polish Youth Association in the range of autonomous Organizations within the association). Since 1925, the KZMP has maintained and directed its own pioneer organization in Poland.

Alliance work

The KZMP worked with various other organizations. For example with the Association of Independent People's Youth "Orka" (mainly composed of rural youth circles), the Independent Socialist Youth Association "Życie" (Eng. "Life") and, to a limited extent, with the youth organization "TUR" (one of the socialist Poland's affiliated youth association).

Press

From 1922 to 1936 the central organ of the KZMP was the comrade (Polish Towarzysz ) and 1937–1938 the young comrade (Polish Towarzysz Młodzieży ).

Membership structure

According to its own information, the association had around 7,000 members in 1931, while two years later it should have been around 15,000. The majority of the members in 1933 supposedly came from rural backgrounds.

Known members

  • Hilary Minc (economist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Poland from 1949 to 1956 )
  • Aleksander Zawadzki (military and politician, Chairman of the State Council of the People's Republic of Poland from 1952 to 1964)
  • Jakub Berman (politician, 1954 to 1956 Deputy Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Poland)
  • Bolesław Mołojec ( Spain fighter and first secretary of the Polish Workers' Party in 1942 )
  • Aleksander Kowalski (later co-founder of the Polish Workers' Party)
  • Antoni Lipski (longtime secretary of the Central Committee of the ZKMP and member of the Executive Committee of the Communist Youth International)
  • Alfred Lampe (longtime secretary of the Central Committee of the ZKMP)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Greiner, Piotr. Słownik organizacji młodzieżowych w województwie śląskim w latach 1922–1939 . Katowice: Muzeum Śląskie, 1993. s. 48.
  2. ↑ Kersten, Krystyna. The establishment of Communist rule in Poland, 1943-1948 . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. p. 172.
  3. ^ Bundist Counterculture in Interwar Poland . Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2009. p. 9-10.
  4. ↑ Kazimierski, Józef. Wielkie zakłady przemysłowe Warszawy . Warszawa: Państ. Wyd. Naukowe, 1978. s. 428
  5. ↑ Hillebrandt, Bogdan, i Genowefa Słabek. Postępowy ruch młodzieżowy w Polsce: przewodnik bibliograficzny . Warsaw: “Iskry,”. 1980. s. 2.
  6. ↑ Cimek, Henryk. Jews in the Polish Communist Movement (1918-1937) .