A Political History of the International Union of Socialist Youth 1907–1917

“Patrizia Dogliani’s new history of the International Union of Socialist Youth draws fresh air into the often claustrophobic spaces of the history of socialism.”

—Glenda Sluga, Professor of International History,European University Institute, Florence, Italy

“With this new book, Patrizia Dogliani once again demonstrates why she is one of the preeminent scholars of modern international and transnational history…It is an impressive achievement.”

—Talbot Charles Imlay, Professor, University of Laval, Quebec, Canada

“Long recognized as a pioneering historian of youth, Patrizia Dogliani offers a rich transnational panorama of socialist youth. With an impressive command of sources, Dogliani provides an essential guide to political activism among youth across class, gender, and nationality.”

—Mary Gibson, Professor of History, City University of New York, USA

This book represents a valuable contribution to the history of European socialism between the Great Depression of the 1880s and WWI. It comes to fill a gap in the scholarship, insofar as it investigates the history of the Socialist Youth International. Capitalizing on an approach based on social, quantitative and political history, and on an analysis of mentalities and languages, the book reconstructs the many-sidedness of the “school of recruits” of the social-democratic parties and revolutionary movements. The working conditions of youth in Europe, its unionization and economic struggles, the fight against militarism, the pedagogical work, the internationalism and the commitment to maintain peace, and the attitude of young militants towards revolution are some of the themes investigated in the book. It also clarifies the role and the engagement with the issue of the new generation shown by prominent figures of Marxism such as Karl Liebknecht, Jean Jaurès, Henri De Man, Willi Münzenberg, Henriette Roland Holst, and Robert Danneberg. Finally, the book constitutes also a page of European social and political history, reconstructed through the relationship of youth working class movement with the Marxist tradition.

Patrizia Dogliani is Full Professor of Contemporary History at Bologna University, Italy, and Visiting Professor in Academic institutions in France and in USA.