Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T09:21:15.984Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Chinese Communist Youth Movement, 1949–1966*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Victor Funnell
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the Cultural Revolution, the task of dismantling and reorganizing the Communist Party has not spared the various youth organizations that operated under the Party's aegis. Mao's injunction to “bombard” the bourgeois central headquarters within the Party has involved a similar bombardment of lesser headquarters in dependent establishments. Just as the Party organization was by-passed in the formation of rebel committees, so Communist youth organizations have been subsumed or swamped in the Red Guard movement. The Youth League in particular, as the Party's “main assistant,” has shared its fate.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 42 , June 1970 , pp. 105 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1970

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 See chapter on youth in Communist China, 1966 (Hong Kong: Union Research Institute, 1968), Vol. 2.Google Scholar

2 Reuter, Moscow, 17 September 1966.Google Scholar

3 See China News Analysis (Hong Kong), No. 634 (28 10 1966), p. 3.Google Scholar

4 Peking Review, 4 07 1969, p. 9.Google Scholar

5 Talk at the reception for the Praesidium of the Second National Congress of the Youth League, 30 June 1953, in Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Peking, 1966).Google Scholar

6 Ibid.

7 “The All-China Youth Federation is a joint organization of various youth associations, with the Young Communist League as the nucleus, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party” (Article 1, All-China Youth Federation Constitution, adopted 27 January 1965, in New China News Agency (NCNA), 30 January 1965).Google Scholar

8 The use of the past tense in describing the work of the League should not be taken as implying its complete dismemberment, or even that its past contribution and experience will be considered invalid in the future. The idea conveyed is, rather, the end of a phase in the life of the League as we have known it.Google Scholar

9 China's Youth March Forward (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1950), p. 63.Google Scholar

10 See Hu Yao-pang's speech at the Party's Eighth Congress in 1956, Eighth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (Peking, 1956), Vol. II.Google Scholar

11 NCNA, 7 July 1964. The constitution was adopted at the Ninth Congress of the League, on 29 06 1964.Google Scholar

12 In the General Principles of the 1964 Constitution.Google Scholar

13 Hu K'o-shih (member of the League's Central Secretariat), “Report on the Revision of the Constitution,” in NCNA, 6 06 1964.Google Scholar

14 Art. 29, 1964 Constitution.Google Scholar

15 Hu K'o-shih, in NCNA, 6 06 1964.Google Scholar

16 Ibid.

17 Art. 1, 1964 Constitution.Google Scholar

18 The Third League Congress, in 05 1957, changed the name of the organization from New Democratic Youth League, which it had had since its foundation in 1949, to Young Communist League, in recognition of the transition to a one-class society and the progressive socialization of national life. The saving clause regarding leading cadres also appeared in the 1957 Constitution, and in the earlier (1953) Constitution. The Party membership requirement, however, was not repeated in 1964.Google Scholar

19 See Barnett, A. D., Cadres, Bureaucracy and Political Power in Communist China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1967), pp. 83–84, for the composition of one county League Committee. The three Party members among the 14 members of the Committee included the Secretary, the Deputy-Secretary (also head of the Committee's organization department) and the head of the school's department.Google Scholar

20 Arts. 17–32, 1964 Constitution.Google Scholar

21 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 28 12 1955.Google Scholar

22 Ibid. 16 October 1956.

23 Ibid. 26 April 1957.

24 NCNA, 16 03 1964.Google Scholar

25 11 December 1965, in Survey of the China Mainland Press (SCMP) (Hong Kong: U.S. Consulate General), No. 3607, on which the following discussion is based.Google Scholar

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

28 Hu K'o-shih, in NCNA, 6 06 1964.Google Scholar

29 NCNA, 16 03 1964.Google Scholar

30 China's Youth March Forward, p. 63. For a study in depth of pre-1949 youth work, see K., Pringsheim, “The Functions of the Chinese Communist Youth Leagues (1920–1949),” The China Quarterly, No. 12 (10–12 1962), p. 75.Google Scholar

31 China's Youth March Forward, p. 63.Google Scholar

32 Derived from the figures given by Hu Yao-pang in 1956 (Eighth National Congress of the CCP, Vol. II), when he said 80 per cent. of the then 80,000 cadres were new since 1949.Google Scholar

33 China's Youth March Forward, p. 69.Google Scholar

34 Hu Yao-pang, NCNA, 6 07 1953.Google Scholar

35 Chung, Shan-fan, Chung-kung sheng-ch'uan, ti-wu-nien (Chinese Communist Party Statements, 5th year) (Hong Kong, 1955), p. 192. The report may well be an exaggeration. Training at this rate would involve each school in training some 1,500 cadres a week!Google Scholar

36 NCNA, 6 07 1953.Google Scholar

37 Chung, Shan-fan, Chung-kung sheng-ch'uan.Google Scholar

38 NCNA, 6 07 1953.Google Scholar

39 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 28 12 1955.Google Scholar

40 Hu, Yao-pang, Eighth National Congress of the CCP, Vol. II.Google Scholar

41 Ibid.

42 Derived from Hu's figures, where he claimed that League membership was 17 per cent. of total youth.Google Scholar

43 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 1 02 1962. How many more than 20 million it is not possible to say, though one would expect some increase over 1956. On the other hand, there may have been an absolute decline in membership during the crisis years 1959–61.Google Scholar

44 Jen-min jih-pao (People's Daily) (Peking), 16 05 1957. This brought the respective totals to 920,000 branches and 23 million members.Google Scholar

45 NCNA, 3 05 1959.Google Scholar

46 Hu K'o-shih, in NCNA, 6 06 1964.Google Scholar

47 In 1957, 1,493 delegates represented 920,000 branches and 23 million members. In 1964, 2,396 delegates represented 1·3 million branches, according to Hu K'o-shih, in NCNA, 6 06 1964.Google Scholar

48 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 9 10 1965Google Scholar, in SCMP, No. 3564.Google Scholar

49 Ibid.

50 NCNA, 19 02 1966.Google Scholar

51 See D., Bonavia, “Heirs and Successors,” Far Eastern Economic Review, Vol. 52, No. 13 (30 06 1966), for a good summary of League development in the years 1964–66.Google Scholar

52 Increased recruitment in 1965 was directly related to the start of the Five Year Plan in 1966, according to NCNA, 19 February 1966. In the “three great revolutionary movements”, class education and League recruitment and consolidation went hand in hand. Cf. “Place Membership Expansion in the First Position,” Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 9 10 1965Google Scholar, in SCMP, No. 3564.Google Scholar

53 NCNA, 16 03 1964.Google Scholar

54 This discussion is based on the issue of Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao cited in note 52.Google Scholar

55 Shaotung hsien, Hunan.Google Scholar

56 Antzu hsien, Hopei. Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 2 04 1964Google Scholar, in SCMP, No. 3208.Google Scholar

57 The average in 1964 was 13 per cent.Google Scholar

58 Arts. 2 and 30, 1964 Constitution.Google Scholar

59 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 20 09 1961.Google Scholar

60 Ibid. 21 September 1961.

61 In NCNA, 6 07 1964.Google Scholar

62 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 20 09 1961. These methods, practised in Shantung, may be considered fairly typical of League practice as a whole.Google Scholar

63 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien, No. 19 (1 10 1963), stated that mass campaigns among youth for the study of Mao's works had been going on since 1958.Google Scholar

64 Ibid.

65 This claim was made in an article by the Propaganda Department of the League's municipal Committee in Harbin (Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 10 10 1963Google Scholar, in SCMP, No. 3096).Google Scholar

66 Readers should refer to the excellent work by Townsend, James R., The Revolutionisation of Chinese Youth: A Study of Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien (Berkeley, Calif.: Chinese Research Monographs, 1967).Google Scholar

67 Resolution of the Central Committee of the Party on the establishment of the New Democratic Youth League, as quoted in Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 19 10 1963Google Scholar, in SCMP, No. 3100.Google Scholar

68 China's Youth March Forward, p. 69.Google Scholar

69 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 19 10 1963Google Scholar, in SCMP, No. 3100.Google Scholar

70 Ibid.

71 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 21 09 1961.Google Scholar

72 This allegiance was symbolized by Art. 39 of the League's 1964 Constitution, which exempted Party members in the League from paying membership fees.Google Scholar

73 See, for example, accounts of meetings called by the Organization Department, in Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 18 08 and 22 09 1960, Union Research Service, Vol. 22, No. 20.Google Scholar

74 Hu Yao-pang, in NCNA, 6 07 1953. This calculation assumes a rough figure of 3 million in China's armed forces.Google Scholar

75 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 22 09 1960.Google Scholar

76 See references in note 73. The “3–8 style,” formulated by Mao, refers to 3 phrases and 8 characters. The phrases are: firm and correct politics, hard and simple work, flexible strategy and tactics. The characters are: t'uan chieh (unity), shin chang (vigilance), yen su (seriousness) and huo p'o (activity). The “5-good” movement refers to soldiers who are good in political thinking, military training, the 3–8 style, and in physical training and performance.Google Scholar

77 A circular issued by the League Central Committee exhorted all League members and the nation's youth to emulate Wang Chieh (NCNA, 7 11 1965).Google Scholar

78 This was a decision of the Second Plenum of the Ninth Central Committee of the League, meeting in 03–04 1965.Google Scholar

79 Art. 36, 1964 League Constitution.Google Scholar

80 Editorial, Fu-tao-yuan (Instructor), No. 10 (20 10 1965)Google Scholar, in Survey of China Mainland Magazines (Hong Kong: U.S. Consulate General), Supplement No. 2 (7 12 1965).Google Scholar

81 Chung-kung shih-nien (Communist China's Ten Years) (Hong Kong, 1960), p. 516.Google Scholar

82 Jen-min jih-pao, 1 06 1966.Google Scholar

83 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 15 03 1962Google Scholar, in Current Background (Hong Kong: U.S. Consulate General), No. 680.Google Scholar

84 Ibid.

85 Art. 37.Google Scholar

86 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao, 30 01 1964.Google Scholar

87 In 1965, the League Central Committee called for a stepping-up of these activities. See D., Bonavia, in Far Eastern Economic Review, Vol. 52, No. 13 (30 06 1966).Google Scholar

88 The closest equivalent in Christian countries might be All-Souls.Google Scholar

89 Chengchow Radio, 25 May 1965 (BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, The Far East/1876).Google Scholar

90 Ibid.

91 See reference in note 83.Google Scholar

92 Jen-min jih-pao, 16 06 1966.Google Scholar

93 See China News Analysis, No. 634 (28 10 1966), p. 3Google Scholar and Townsend, J. R., The Revolutionisation of Chinese Youth.Google Scholar

94 This is amply illustrated in, for example, Barnett, A. D., Cadres, Bureaucracy and Political Power.Google Scholar