Back to Youth

In the chaotic days of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, millions of youthful Red Guards were unleashed by Mao Tse-tung to scrub China clean of prerevolutionary ideas. Instead, the Red Guards nearly wrecked the country, and had to be suppressed by the army. Now Mao is turning to youth again. Apparently the Chairman feels that its energy—if carefully controlled by party cadres—can spur the dragging campaign to rid China of revisionist "poison" spread by Lin Piao, Mao's former heir apparent.

The new shock troops will be drawn from the Communist Youth League, which was virtually destroyed during the Cultural Revolution but is now being carefully reconstructed. Last November Mao issued "important instructions" to rectify and rebuild the league. Since then, preparatory conferences have been held in hundreds of cities and counties. Party workers are calling for the enlistment of young people who "have studied Marxism-Leninism and Mao's thought hard, actively taken part in great revolutionary campaigns, and integrated closely with the masses." Youths who are being recruited to join the league receive promises of such social luxuries as libraries, sports leagues and even glee clubs, where they will sing revolutionary songs.

Despite such inducements, the task of finding "reliable" recruits has been slow and painful. Ever mindful of the Red Guard excesses, party leaders charged with the rebuilding program are wary of youths who display too much fanaticism. On the other side, many former ex-Red Guards are so embittered over their exile to the countryside for re-education that they have resisted enlistment efforts.