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On Communist Education
Kalinin

DEVELOP YOURSELVES IN EVERY WAY
FROM A SPEECH AT A CONFERENCE
OF LEADING MEMBERS OF THE YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE ORGANIZATION IN DNIEPROPETROVSK
MAY 1934

WE VALUE members of the Komsomol not only because, as Young Pioneers say, they are the "heirs" of the· old Bolsheviks, but also because these "heirs" play an active part in building up our country, being one of its active creative forces. This, of course, places great obligations on the Leninist Komsomol. And the prime duty of each organization of the Komsomol, as of all organizations in general, should be to know how to direct and utilize their forces expediently, in a way that yields the best results.

The commander who throws all his forces into action at once is not always a ,good officer. It is not always expedient to do so in battle. A good command­ing officer is he who is able to preserve to a maximum degree the energies of his men for the decisive battle. Comrade Budyonny once correctly referred to an error made by a certain White guard commander during the Civil War: both were leading their forces parallel to one another across the Azov steppes. Budyonny led his command through inhabited areas, where the Red Army men could sleep at night and get fodder for the horses. The enemy, on the other hand, moved along the hare, sun-scorched steppe. In this way they covered over two hundred kilometres. Budyonny's troops arrived at their destination in the best of spirits, ready for action. The enemy, on the contrary, was worn out, and was routed by Comrade Budyonny. What I want to say is that every organizer should arrange his work properly, calculate and weigh all circumstances in good time, and throw all his material forces, the whole strength of his organization into action only when the need arises. Comrade Lenin possessed this Bolshevik quality to perfection and so too does Com­rade Stalin. Komsomol members must also learn to master it by reorganizing their work so as to know each Komsomol member and what he can do, how he can and should be helped, and what task he should be given in the best interests of the work at hand.

Take the following example: Among Komsomol members there are a great many students of technical colleges, universities and technical secondary schools. Frequently these people are overloaded with work. And if the students do not properly organize their timetable of study, social work, and rest, some of them will find  their  health  undermined by the time they graduate. One may discover he has a liver complaint, another kidney may be out of order, and a third may have trouble with hi digestion.  Now, who should see to it that the life of our students is properly organized, who is responsible first and foremost to the Party for these cadres? The Komsomol! It is its business. It should attend to this, carry on day-to-day work in the schools, from the elementary schoo! to the university. The Komsomol should help to secure the unswerving fulfillment of the appropri­ate directives of the government and better organization of the studies and everyday life of students.

Our proletarian State engaged in Socialist constructive work is surrounded by capitalist countries. That is to say, we are constantly exposed to the possibility of being attacked by enemies. We must not forget that for a single moment in our daily, peaceful work. We must, all of us, always be on guard, always be  at our action stations. Who will  make up the bulk of our army in the event of war? It will consist of tremendous measure of Komsomol members. That is why Komsomol members in particular must be on their guard. They must always remember that under the guidance of and shoulder to shoulder with members of the Communist Party they will have to bear the impact of the very first blow in the event of enemy attack. And, as is well known, the enemy's first blows are the most violent. This makes it the duty of Komsomol members and the young workers who follow their lead to make a thorough study of military technique. Comrade Voroshilov has set the Komsomol quite concrete, clear-cut tasks as regards defence activity. They are well known, have to be fulfilled, and there 1s no need to repeat them.

Here, however, attention - should be drawn to that very important sphere of Komsomol activity, physical culture. Sport is a good thing, it builds you up. But for all that it is a subsidiary matter, and it will not do to turn it into an end in itself, into a matter of mere record-breaking. We want people to be developed in every way, we want them to run and swim well, lo walk fast and gracefully, and to be sound in every limb-in a word, we want hem to be normal and healthy, prepared for labour and defence, we want to see the proper development of all their physical qualities accompanied by a parallel devel­opment of their mental qualities. dhiated to the general problems of Communist educa­tion. For what we are doing is developing and training not mere sportsmen, but citizens engaged in building
up the Soviet State, people who must have not only attong arms and a good digestion, but primarily a broad political outlook and organizational abilities. Hence, while drawing new millions of the working youth. into the physical culture movement, and while raising sport in our country to the highest level, the Kowomol must ensure that our sportsmen possess ciear-cut views on political issues and public affairs. I would like Komsomol members to understand me correctly. I do not want them to imagine that I am amious to curb their enthusiasm. I would like them to understand how important it is in all spheres of om life and work to organize things correctly and in Bolahevik fashion.

Particularly do I want to say a few words about the' feeling of comradeship among the youth. It is when people are young that they are most inclined lo friendship, to giving collective aid to comrades. Rarely-maybe in two or three cases out of a hundred will a young person desert a comrade in need. This feeling of comradeship is of exceptional importance on the battlefield. An army column in which every man has complete confidence in the steadfastness of his neighbour possesses a fighting capacity of an exceptionally high order. Enemy fire will cause no panic at all; at any rate, if there is any, it will be reduced to a minimum. Feelings such as these unite soldiers and heighten their sense of discipline. The feeling of comradeship, of class friendship should be developed among the youth in every way. It is one of the most socialistic of qualities and is needed everywhere particularly in the class struggle.

Many people are accustomed to regard the feeling of comradeship as so many words, yet 1f this feeling is properly developed, if the effort is made to ensure that Komsomol members and young people, not be­longing to the Komsomol, comrades and friends, join in sharing the joy they derive from their work, in overcoming difficulties, in really lending one anoth­er a helping hand to master the technique of their jobs, and in spending their leisure hours together, participating in physical culture and sport, and so on, their comradeship will be a splendid complement to Socialist emulation, and will yield great results.

Our Komsomol members live in an exceptionally good, very interesting period. No other young generation in the whole of human history has experienced the like.

As a matter of fact  in times undisturbed by gigantic historical upheavals, you can live until

11eventy without making the least advance; when

there are no g_reat changes in life a person may

be born and die of old age in one and the same

house.

All of us, however, live, ahd our young people

are living, in a period of colossal historical upheavals.

Before our very eyes there still exist states with

considerable survivals of feudalism, yet at the same

time in Russia, once the most barbaric country in

Europe, the onetime prison of the peoples, the building

u.p of Socialism is in full swing.

When has there ever been a more interesting period

in history? When has there been more heroism

and drama than in our days?

Even the days of the French Revolution, rich

though they were in events and perturbations, were not

so heroic and dramatic as ours. And, of course, there

can be no comparison between that revolution and

ours. Progressive though that revolution was in its

day, it was a bourgeois revolution. Our, Socialist,

revolution is, for the first time in history, fighting

for the interests of the proletariat, the vanguard class,

the ·most progressive class in history, and thereby is

fighting for the interests of the whole of working mankind.

I very much advise Komsomol membrrs, our young people, to read Gorky's Stormy Petrel which splendidly portrays the revolutionary strivings of the advanced people of old Russia.

Now this cannot but inspire our young people as well to perform new feats in the struggle for Socialism. And we see that every day those who have been brought up by the Party-sons of the Leninist Komsomol-show how great is their devotion to the Socialist cause, how, at the Party's first call, they are mastering culture and technique, extraxting minerals down in the mines, building an underground railway, storming the heights of the stratosphere, waging a courageous struggle against the grim Arctic, · thus taking their places in the front ranks of the heroes of the Soviet Union.

The Central Committee of our Party, f.omrade Stalin and the other members of the C.C., know how the Komsomol responds to all the tasks set by the Party. The Party and the Government find an abso- lutely inexhaustible well of love, devotion and support in the young generation of our country-in the Kom­somoL We, old Bolsheviks, are confident that we are not mistaken. The members of the Komsomol are the new builders of our Soviet Union.

If you are a real Communist, you will remain young to· the end of your days.

Why did I say a real Communist? Why does Com· munism inspire people so? A real Communist's per• sonal troubles occupy a subordinate place in his mind: if something unpleasant happens in the family, it is painful, of course, but I do not think SociaHsm would
suffer as_ a result, and hence the job on hand should not
suffer either. It goes without saying that if you are
co􂥐cerned solely with domestic affairs, if you always
thmk only of y?urself and your Fekla, you will not be
a real Commumst. But when you really engage in active
work: pla􂥑 an active part in all the constructive work
that is gomg on, there will be times when you will
not ev_en notice what sort of dress she is wearing,
and will forget the petty things in life and your private
troubles.
To be a staunch Communist, you need, first and
foremost, to have a firm Communist world outlook
The Communist world outlook enables us to approach
each problem skilfully, to approach each phe
􂥒omenon correctly. The Communist world outlook
is to fighters o;f the proletarian revolution what a
powerfu! telescope, let us say, is to the astronomer,
or a m1?roscope to the laboratory researcher. The
Commumst world outlook enables the political worker,
the person active in public affairs, to understand
cor􂥓ectly a􂥒d comprehensively the situation in which
􂥔e is workmg, to organize the masses and lead them
mto battle, correctly to see, understand and outline
future prospects. All this taken together gives one
strength,
.
m􂥕k􂥖s one practically immune not only
to petty, md1v1dual misfortunes, hut also to bi􂥗 ones,

If your life is guided by the idea of the common,
collective good, if the cause of the community is your
.:;: supreme concern, if your interests and hopes are
'/JV
f·' the same as those of the people around you-these
!Ji common interests of the working people make us,
Communist old-timers, feel young.

Take the period of the Civil War and the period
of our Socialist construction. In these times all working
people, the ol d folks not excluded, displayed wonders
of heroism and enthusiasm, performed outstanding
exploits, and are continuing to do so now. This
must he realized by those who are to take our place,
the Komsomol members and young workers and kolkhozniks
in general. From the ol d Bolsheviks, the old,
battle-steeled proletarians they must learn habits of
collectivity, the way to put heart and soul into one's work, and to understand and get a theoretical graspof current events.
To keep in step with our eventful life, it is not
enough merely to put all your heart into your work.
The strength of the Bolshevik Party lies in the factthat it is armed with the teachings of Marx, Engels,Lenin, Stalin, and wields this weapon to perfection.In conditions of illegality, hounded constantly by the ' gendarmes, waging a bitter struggle against tsarism and the bourgeoisie and condemned to penal servitude
and exile, the Bolsheviks mastered revolutionary theory,

giving a theoretical generalization to the experience
of the struggle of the proletariat. True, there
were times when we were "free" to study. When they
put us into prison we would read, but, of course,
that was not always possible. This "advantage," of
course, is one that our young people of today do not
possess.
Komsomol members, particularly those most active
in its work, occasionally complain of having no time
to read and improve their knowledge. I too am a
busy man, and yet I devote time every day to reading.
I read daily at least eight to ten pages not of documents,
but of Marxist literature, and in addition, I
read the latest novels.
Comrade Stalin once said that the worst thing of
all is when people think in terms of ready-made
formulations, ready-made slogans. That, of course,
is the easiest way. To be able to express some theoretical
proposition in your own words, you must first
think it over well and understand it, otherwise you
may make a mistake. But when you use formulations
that you have memorized your mind is not working
as it ought. It is asleep. That is why the first requirement
in theoretical study is to make a deep study of
the problem, to understand it, and not to learn the
various propositions by rote.
Komsomol members, and particularly the most active among them, work hard. They have much work
to do ; nonetheless it is their duty to he developed in
every way.
To build Socialism educated people are needed.
However, it is not those who merely read a lot
who can he considered educated, but those who
make a thorough study of materialist philosophy, master
the treasures of science, grasp what they have read
and understand how to combine revolutionary theory
with revolutionary practice.
And there can be no doubt that if Komsomol members
organize their time properly, they will find opportunity
enough for theoretical study, too.
Komsomolskaya Pravda,
May 24, 1934