Danilovich V.V. The young population in the economic life of Soviet Belarus in 1921–1939

Abstract: This article is focused on the study of the young population’s participation in the economic life of Soviet Belarus in 1921–1939, as well as on the analysis of the role of the republican Komsomol organisation in mobilising young people to actively integrate into the socialist system of economy. The author examines in detail the documents of the central and local Komsomol authorities of Belarus that shed light on this subject. For this study the author systematised the information stored in the relevant funds of the National Archive of the Republic of Belarus. The author presents his conclusions pertaining to the particularities of the young workers’ participation in the processes taking place in the Republic’s economy and in the country in general during the pre-War period, and of their attitudes towards campaigns undertaken by the republican Komsomol in this sphere. The methodological base of the conducted research is the principles of historicism and objectivity, a systematic examination of facts and phenomena, and a comparative analysis. The article underlines that the republican Komsomol had played a significant role in organising the young population for its participation in the economic reforms within the BSSR and the USSR. However, the question of mobilising new young workers by the authorities of the Belarus Komsomol was not formulated immediately, but only starting from the middle of the 1920s. But towards the beginning of the 1930s the Republic’s scope of the Komsomol and of the young working population increased due to the socialist competition. The young population actively participated in developing the industry, agriculture, and transportation of the Soviet Belarus, worked on building industrial facilities in the BSSR and in pan-Union constructions. Additionally, the author also notes the limitations of the Belarus Komsomol’s work in this direction during the pre-War period.

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