Komsomol Youth

Guests entered the conference-hall to the tune of the song “I won’t part with the Komsomol”. Posters of different years about the Komsomol were presented on the screen. First visitors of the exhibition – veterans of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League and representatives of modern youth – were greeted by I.A. Smirnov, deputy director of scientific work in the museum. Ex-leaders of the District Organization of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League V.P. Shachin, V.I. Nikolaev, E.N. Malkova, N.I. Antonova, secretaries of primary organizations N.I. Oshcherina and N.I. Protsenko, delegate of the 18^th Komsomol Congress T.V. Fedotova shared interesting recollections They noted in their speeches that the history of the Komsomol was inseparable from the history of our country, and that the new museum exhibition presented one of the pages of the history of the Kirillov district in the 20^th century.

The display included integral parts of the Komsomol life: a banner of the Kirillov District Organization of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, a banner of the Komsomol School Organization, various award pendants and ribbons. Among them – a ribbon with the inscription “To the best young ploughman of the region” presented to Vladimir Alexeevich Khudyakov, machine operator of the collective farm “Komintern”, winner of the regional contest, by the Vologda Regional Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League in 1971. Visitors could also see a pendant of the Central Committee of the Komsomol “For great success in a good reception of the 24^th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union”. It was given to the Komsomol organization of the Vologda Regional Cultural and Educational School headed by Svetlana Ivanovna Zavarina in 1971. Students of the school took an active part in many Komsomol affairs. A costume of the member of the construction brigade handed over to the museum by Nikolay Vasilievich Borovikov reminded of the activity of the student construction group “Iskremass”. Nikolay Borovikov also presented a considerable collection of posters. The ones displayed at the exhibition contained expressive inscriptions: “Plants, fields, new building projects wait for young, inquisitive and persistent!”, “We did well at school, now fields and farms wait for us!”, “You call us to feat, the Komsomol card!”.

The exhibition gave an opportunity to see the Komsomol cards of different years, including the cards of 1924, 1925 and 1965 which belonged to Alexander Timofeevich Kuznetsov, Evdokia Fyodorovna Podgornykh and Taisia Nikolaevna Karzunicheva respectively. The Komsomol badges were displayed in the same showcase. In all, over 30 badges about the Komsomol and youth were presented at the exhibition. Documents evidencing labour achievements of Young Communist Leaguers of Kirillov were the Komsomol assignments to jobs on new grounds and in the livestock sector. One of the displayed documents was given to Oleg Nikolaevich Ivanov in 1955 and another one – to Svetlana Pavlovna Lyamova in the early 1980s.

Photographs made up a considerable part of the exhibits. Members of the Komsomol of different years were depicted on them. Participants of district, regional plenums and conferences, delegates of the Komsomol Congresses could be seen on the black-and-white photographs. The Young Communist Leaguers of Kirillov sent their representatives to the congresses twice. Alexander Konstantinovich Fomichyov became a delegate of the 14^th Komsomol Congress in 1962 and Tatiana Vladimirovna Ponomaryova (married name Fedotova) was a delegate of the 18^th Congress in 1978. It was symbolic that T.V. Fedotova handed over her Komsomol card to the museum on the opening day of the exhibition.

The display “Komsomol Youth” was open till December 18, 2008. About 180 people visited it.