Between Conformity, Subjugation and Obstinacy

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to show the origins and development of the “Great Terror” in the Young Communist League and to analyse the role played in this context by Aleksandr Kosarev, a well-known Soviet official of the 1930s and Secretary General of the Komsomol. Despite the rich scholarly literature on Stalin’s Terror, many questions remain about the course it took and the impact of the purges on individual Soviet institutions. The Komsomol has received little interest among scholars until recently and the same applies to its chief, Aleksandr Kosarev. Given that 2018 marked the centenary of the founding of the Komsomol, which falls shortly after the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the “Great Purge,” it is necessary to focus researchers’ attention on such forgotten topics. This paper seeks neither to describe the eventful life and political career of Aleksandr Kosarev nor to recount the history of the Komsomol. The main focus is on how Kosarev exercised his power and took decisions during these extraordinary two-and-a-half years. Did he interact with other political players and how are his relations with Stalin during this time to be characterized? Did Kosarev discern a difference between “key decisions” and “routine decisions”? And if so, how did it affect the actions he took? Finally, why was he removed from office and sentenced to death, despite seeming so eager to unmask his enemies?