Authors

Discussion

The Third Program of the Communist Party adopted in 1961 declared communist upbringing of Soviet youth one of its key objectives. Communist upbringing of the young was the task not only for educational institution but also for the Soviet society as a whole. This presentation will focus on the role of one distinct group in late Soviet society – retirees. Nikita Khrushchev’s 1956 old age pension reform created the first mass generation of Soviet retirees. The members of the “older generation” were expected to take on a particular role in educating the youth and passing down the revolutionary traditions. While most retirees’ participation in communist upbringing of the youth was limited to their roles as grandparents, a small but vocal group of elderly activists took on volunteer work with children and teenagers. The presentation will explore how these elderly activists in the provincial city of Perm made sense of their new responsibilities within the broader context of the history of public (obschestvennye) organizations in the 1960s.