From openDemocracy:
In the previous column in this series I talked briefly about the so-called “princelings” of the Chinese Communist Party in the context of its seventeenth congress on 15-19 October 2007 (see “China’s communist princelings“, 17 October 2007). This time I’m going to take a look at the party’s Youth League faction.
The Chinese Communist Youth League and the Chinese Communist Party are the twin brothers of the Chinese revolution, both being born at around the same time. The Socialist Youth League, as it was called then, was established in Shanghai in 1920. Although it had few members, it was a nationwide organisation, and held its first national conference in Guangzhou in 1922. Chen Duxiu, at the time the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, spoke at the conference. It was agreed there that the league should join and become a branch of Young Communist International – this meant that, like the party, which was a separate organisation, the league was under the control of the Comintern. [Full Text]
