The monolithic nature of the communist movement during the
Stalinist period overlay pluralist tendencies. These were suppressed in the 1920s,
though they were to re-emerge after Stalin's death.
The history of the
Communist Youth International is revealed in this volume as an important example of
the 'autonomist' tendencies in the communist movement after the First World
War. The experience of the CYI also demonstrates that differences between Leninist
and Stalinist eras were of degree, rather than of kind. Under Lenin, organizational
principles and practices were introduced that gave to the new communist movement a
distinct, authoritarian cast.
Cornell considers the relevance, in the
development of radical movements among the young, of such qualities as untempered
idealism, a predisposition to embrace the most radical alternatives for social
change, and a self-assertiveness or rebelliousness directed against traditional
adult teachings. He shows how these qualities were to lead, after the First World
War (and more recently), to conflicts between radical, ideologically orthodox youth
and more pragmatic adult party leaders.
In introducing their new kind of
radicalism, the young communists of Europe in 1919 considered themselves to be the
most revolutionary element among revolutionaries – the highest form of
'revolutionary vanguard.' Moscow did not agree.