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Overview of Community Organizing, Youth-Led Field, and Youth-Led Organizing

Melvin Delgado and Lee Staples

in Youth-Led Community Organizing: Theory and Action

This chapter discusses the growth of youth-led organizing since the mid-1990s. Topics covered include historical overviews of community organization and youth-led community organizing, hip-hop ... More

This chapter discusses the growth of youth-led organizing since the mid-1990s. Topics covered include historical overviews of community organization and youth-led community organizing, hip-hop activism, the scope and range of the organizational settings in which youth-led organizing is carried out, and models of youth-led community organizing.Less

The FDJ and the Building of the Berlin Wall

ALAN McDOUGALL

in Youth Politics in East Germany: The Free German Youth Movement 1946-1968

The FDJ's transformation into a ‘socialist youth organization’ in April 1957 finally resolved the identity crisis that had clouded its existence during the previous eighteen months. Freed from the ... More

The FDJ's transformation into a ‘socialist youth organization’ in April 1957 finally resolved the identity crisis that had clouded its existence during the previous eighteen months. Freed from the experimentation of the mid-fifties, the FDJ's work returned to firm Marxist-Leninist principles. This chapter shows that during the construction of the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961, the FDJ faced a host of problems — ranging from the collectivization of agriculture to the escalating struggle against Western ‘anti-culture’ (Unkultur) — that put its limited progress during the post-1957 period firmly into perspective. Following the construction of the Berlin Wall, it was confronted with the biggest wave of youth unrest in the GDR since June 1953. Though relatively large numbers of FDJler were mobilized to defend the ‘socialist fatherland’ during the autumn, the bitter legacy of the Wall among the GDR's youth population ensured that the youth organization's hard-line policies after 13 August received only limited support.Less

The FDJ and the Prague Spring

ALAN McDOUGALL

in Youth Politics in East Germany: The Free German Youth Movement 1946-1968

In the GDR, two events provided a real test of the ‘68ers’ — part of the young generation that had been ‘born into socialism’ — loyalty to the East German state. These two events dominated the FDJ's ... More

In the GDR, two events provided a real test of the ‘68ers’ — part of the young generation that had been ‘born into socialism’ — loyalty to the East German state. These two events dominated the FDJ's agenda in 1968. The youth organization first played a prominent role in the campaign for a new socialist constitution in the GDR, which came into effect on 9 April after extensive public debate and a subsequent plebiscite. Attention then turned to the radical reform programme being undertaken under the leadership of Alexander Dubček in the neighbouring Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia (ČSSR). The FDJ's zeal in supporting SED policy against this communist-inspired flowering of reform (widely known as the Prague Spring) was unequivocal, both before and after Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia on 21 August. This chapter shows that the extent of ideological ‘uncertainty’ about both the new constitution and, in particular, the Prague Spring highlighted the fact that for all its organizational improvements since the near collapse of June 1953, the FDJ was still a long way from instilling the desired sense of ‘socialist consciousness’ in all young East Germans in 1968.Less

Conclusion

ALAN McDOUGALL

in Youth Politics in East Germany: The Free German Youth Movement 1946-1968

This chapter discusses the collapse of the FDJ. The end of the GDR was welcomed most vociferously by the part of the population aged between 20 and 40 in 1989 — people who had by and large joined the ... More

This chapter discusses the collapse of the FDJ. The end of the GDR was welcomed most vociferously by the part of the population aged between 20 and 40 in 1989 — people who had by and large joined the FDJ at some stage between approximately 1965 and 1984. In many ways, the GDR's collapse can be seen as a damning indictment of the failings of the ‘socialist education’ methods of the FDJ, particularly during the Honecker era. Successive generations of young East Germans who grew up with the youth organization turned decisively against it in 1989. The chapter addresses the question of whether the roots of this failure can be discerned in the events that shaped the FDJ's history between 1952 and 1968.Less

Improving Youth-Serving Social Settings: Intervention Goals and Strategies for Schools, Youth Programs, and Communities

Hirokazu Yoshikawa and Marybeth Shinn

in Toward Positive Youth Development: Transforming Schools and Community Programs

This chapter summarizes three kinds of intervention goals and strategies that can improve youth-serving social settings. First, organizations and communities can come together in participatory ways ... More

This chapter summarizes three kinds of intervention goals and strategies that can improve youth-serving social settings. First, organizations and communities can come together in participatory ways to plan and implement setting-level change. Processes of buy-in, collaboration, and capacity-building are considered from both organizational and community perspectives. Second, organizations and communities can better use setting-level data to monitor progress, rather than relying on the typical bean-counting approaches to measure youth participation, or single youth indicators like high-stakes testing. Third, organizations and communities can increase both the representation of diverse groups of youth in social settings and the quality of their experience. Examples are drawn from the other chapters in the volume.Less

The March of Southern Youth!

Robin D. G. Kelley

in Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Great Depression

This chapter considers the efforts of Southern youths to reestablish the radical movement in Birmingham. Youth-oriented organizations and those they influenced built a movement focusing on civil ... More

This chapter considers the efforts of Southern youths to reestablish the radical movement in Birmingham. Youth-oriented organizations and those they influenced built a movement focusing on civil rights, full citizenship for African-Americans and poor whites, domestic and international peace, industrial unionism, and the preservation and improvement of American democracy. The people who made up this movement also developed a culture and social world that sought to reproduce, in microcosm, the kind of interracial democracy that they advocated in speeches and handbills. The situation in Birmingham was far from idyllic, with police repression and red-scare politics dominating the local scene. Nonetheless, radicals began the process of rebuilding the bridges that were singed—not burnt—during the Popular Front.Less

The Making of a Movement

Kenneth Robert Janken

in The Wilmington Ten: Violence, Injustice, and the Rise of Black Politics in the 1970s

The growth of the movement in Wilmington was stimulated by the presence of organizations dedicated to breaking through the suffocating restrictions of paternalism that the white elite of North ... More

The growth of the movement in Wilmington was stimulated by the presence of organizations dedicated to breaking through the suffocating restrictions of paternalism that the white elite of North Carolina and elsewhere deployed to manage the change in the racial order that they were knew they would not be able to stop. The chapter follows three organizations in North Carolina as they promoted their variants of black nationalism and Black Power and struggled to break the gradualist consensus on race liberation: the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice, the Wilmington Movement organized by the North Carolina chapter of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student (later Youth) Organization for Black Unity. Bombastic Black Power rhetoric was part of the three organization’s plans, and the idea that emboldening blacks and scaring whites could shake things up and alter the balance of power. But they tested their theories of social change in practice, and it was through that process that the organizations made gains.Less

Community- and National-Level Processes

in Between Movement and Establishment: Organizations Advocating for Youth

This chapter, which looks at the field level, examining how these organizations and their populations look through this lens, and what some early signs of field development are, begins by reviewing ... More

This chapter, which looks at the field level, examining how these organizations and their populations look through this lens, and what some early signs of field development are, begins by reviewing the activities of organizations advocating for youth in San Francisco and Oakland, with attention to their implications for field building. Then, it turns to the national level for a brief consideration of indicators of, and evidence for, field formation at this level.Less

Concerns of the Communal Leaderships

Daniel Renshaw

in Socialism and the Diasporic 'Other': A Comparative Study of Irish Catholic and Jewish Radical and Communal Politics in East London, 1889-1912

The fourth chapter examines the common concerns of the Jewish and Catholic hierarchies regarding the Irish and Eastern European migrant proletariats. It begins by looking at the generally cordial ... More

The fourth chapter examines the common concerns of the Jewish and Catholic hierarchies regarding the Irish and Eastern European migrant proletariats. It begins by looking at the generally cordial relationships formed between the Anglo-Jewish and Catholic leaderships, and the difficulties that Catholic antisemitism caused for these interactions. It then considers a number of contexts in which the communal hierarchies attempted to maintain control over and influence the immigrant working class, especially in respect to anglicisation and language and the creation of Jewish and Catholic youth organisations. It looks at Church and United Synagogue campaigns against alcoholism and gambling in the East End. The common cause made by Catholic and Jewish leaderships over Liberal Party attempts to overturn the Education Act of 1902 in an East End political context is discussed. Finally responses to Protestant evangelism, both by communal hierarchies and the migrant communities in East London are considered.Less

Cultural Revolution from Above

Seth Bernstein

in Raised under Stalin: Young Communists and the Defense of Socialism

In 1934 Stalin declared that the USSR had achieved socialism and Soviet leaders sought stability in the new socialist state. A key aspect of creating stability was communist upbringing, the ... More

In 1934 Stalin declared that the USSR had achieved socialism and Soviet leaders sought stability in the new socialist state. A key aspect of creating stability was communist upbringing, the Komsomol’s new program for raising youth that shifted the main goal of youth activism from workplace norm fulfilment to character building in schools and sports. A rough proletarian ethos had before dominated in official youth culture but now youth leaders promoted traditional education and refined behavior. Increasingly, the league sought to militarize young men in paramilitary programs. Among young women, it now advocated conservative conceptions of female activists as young mothers.Less

A Mass Youth Organization

Seth Bernstein

in Raised under Stalin: Young Communists and the Defense of Socialism

In the late 1930s, the Komsomol nearly tripled in size. Its emergence as a mass youth organization demanded that the requirements for members become more lax. The expansion of the league was tied to ... More

In the late 1930s, the Komsomol nearly tripled in size. Its emergence as a mass youth organization demanded that the requirements for members become more lax. The expansion of the league was tied to the start of World War II in Europe, which contributed to the stratification of the league between professional organizers and younger members. A consensus emerged among Komsomol leaders and members that material benefits and social promotion were key aspects of membership in political society and in the construction of socialism. By involving large numbers of youth in official culture, youth organizers hoped to cultivate them as defenders of socialism and to prevent them from becoming irredeemable enemies.Less

Class Dismissed?

Seth Bernstein

in Raised under Stalin: Young Communists and the Defense of Socialism

The Komsomol’s introduction of meritocratic, supposedly class-blind membership policies in 1935–36 created significant tensions in Soviet political culture. Instead of a league of proletarians, youth ... More

The Komsomol’s introduction of meritocratic, supposedly class-blind membership policies in 1935–36 created significant tensions in Soviet political culture. Instead of a league of proletarians, youth leaders claimed the Komsomol would become an organization of the “best” Soviet youth of all classes. However, uncertainties about who could join reflected and facilitated the creation of a new social hierarchy in the Soviet Union, helping young professionals and students displace proletarians as the ideal young subject. At the same time, the children of supposed enemies presented a challenge to youth leaders who struggled to determine whether the offspring of so-called anti-Soviet elements could overcome their parents’ sins.Less

Consumerism Meets Jim Crow’s Children:: White Children and the Culture of Segregation

Kristina DuRocher

in Raising Racists: The Socialization of White Children in the Jim Crow South

White southerners took advantage of the emergence of mass culture in the early twentieth century to reiterate their justifications for white dominance over African Americans and impart to their ... More

White southerners took advantage of the emergence of mass culture in the early twentieth century to reiterate their justifications for white dominance over African Americans and impart to their children a distorted version of southern history. National advertisement campaigns made use of evocative images of the South to reinforce the idealized racial roles of southern antebellum society that were also portrayed in public-school instructional materials. Much like southern history books, many toys portrayed African Americans as entertainment, reinforcing the idea that blacks enjoyed subserviently performing for whites. Mechanical toys encouraged male dominance and rewarded aggression, placing white boys in control of stereotypical figurines of black bodies. Even in the chants and rhymes that children recited during games and playground amusements, African Americans are often referred to in a derogatory manner or as deserving of some form of violence. Parents also encouraged their children to participate in school plays and become members of youth organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Children of the Confederacy, to prepare them for their future racial and gender roles.Less

Mobilized Childhood Responds to the Threat

Margaret Peacock

in Innocent Weapons: The Soviet and American Politics of Childhood in the Cold War

This chapter discusses the shift in image of the Cold War child into an activist for the promotion of government-led peace around the world and a symbol of international legitimacy for the Soviet ... More

This chapter discusses the shift in image of the Cold War child into an activist for the promotion of government-led peace around the world and a symbol of international legitimacy for the Soviet Union and United States. This new child would be able to face the multifarious threats that menaced the young, the family, and the nation at home and abroad. He or she would be willing and able to slough off the comforts of domestic insularism in exchange for the challenges and rewards posed by the outside world. Youth organizations assumed responsibility for promoting this new image of the young. The two biggest youth organizations in the Soviet Union and the United States, the Pioneers and the Boy Scouts of America, helped to create this new image and the consensus around it. They promoted an image of peaceful mobilization that would unite a population and hopefully quell the rising uncertainty around them.Less

The First Socialist Generation

Seth Bernstein

in Raised under Stalin: Young Communists and the Defense of Socialism

The introduction presents the main arguments in the work. It places Stalinist youth culture in the context of the Soviet revolutionary youth movements and youth organizations in the modern world. It ... More

The introduction presents the main arguments in the work. It places Stalinist youth culture in the context of the Soviet revolutionary youth movements and youth organizations in the modern world. It argues that the pre-war context of the 1930s and the wartime situation in the 1940s was a foundational influence on Stalinist youth culture and socialism more broadly. Soviet youth organizations founded during the Russian Revolution of 1917 enjoyed relative autonomy and youth in the USSR played a crucial role in establishing the Soviet regime. The introduction asserts that the threat of war and its reality militarized Stalinist conceptions of youth culture.Less

The Aftermath of War

Seth Bernstein

in Raised under Stalin: Young Communists and the Defense of Socialism

The conclusion follows Soviet youth into the postwar period. It argues that the victory in World War II cemented communist upbringing as the core of official youth culture in the USSR. Soviet ... More

The conclusion follows Soviet youth into the postwar period. It argues that the victory in World War II cemented communist upbringing as the core of official youth culture in the USSR. Soviet practices of moral socialization for youth were exported to the socialist bloc countries of Eastern Europe. In the USSR, aspects of official youth culture that emerged in the 1930s such as social promotion and discipline would dominate the Komsomol into the 1980s. Although the Komsomol would encompass a large majority of eligible youth, it also lost its dynamism in the late Soviet period.Less

Political Opinions and Participation Among Young Muslims in Sweden: A Case Study1

Jonatan Bäckelie and Göran Larsson

in Muslim Political Participation in Europe

The chapter analyses young Swedish Muslims’ attitudes towards democratic processes in relation to Swedish political parties. Based on a survey among approximately 250 young Muslims that are ... More

The chapter analyses young Swedish Muslims’ attitudes towards democratic processes in relation to Swedish political parties. Based on a survey among approximately 250 young Muslims that are affiliated to the Swedish youth organisation SUM (Sweden’s Young Muslims), the chapter outlines how young Muslims position themselves in relation to the political left-right spectrum. The survey’s findings lead us to conclude that the political left-right spectrum is hardly relevant to this group of young Muslims. The majority of the respondents self-identify as either somewhat or clearly to the left. However, in seven out of 25 specific political proposals, the group show a clear sentiment towards what could be called conservative values (usually considered to be located to the right of the political spectrum). The chapter shows that no party seems to fully correspond to the full range of sentiments held by the majority of respondents, effectively leaving them without a fully representative political alternative. If anything is a problem for this group of respondents, it is not a lack of interest or knowledge about politics, but rather one of representation.Less