Trade Unions and Komsomol during the War Years
The most numerous organizations uniting the overwhelming majority of the working class and employees of Kyrgyzstan during the war years were trade unions. According to incomplete data, in 1943, the number of their members reached 72,694, united in 24 sectoral unions. They covered 2,409 industrial enterprises, construction sites, educational institutions, machine and tractor stations (MTS), and state farms of the republic.
Under the guidance of party organizations, trade unions also quickly reorganized their work in response to the military situation. Together with the administration of industrial enterprises, they launched a campaign for the rapid mastering and increase of defense production, assisted newcomers at enterprises, construction sites, and MTS in acquiring production skills by organizing courses, clubs, and apprenticeships, actively participated in the socialist competition to increase labor productivity, and created a coordinated military production, leading the movement of rationalizers and inventors.
Factory, plant, and local trade union committees actively participated in defense, mass, and sports work, collecting funds for the armament of the Red Army, warm clothing, and gifts for front-line soldiers, and establishing patronage over military units and hospitals.
One of the important tasks of the trade unions was to care for the material and domestic needs of workers and the families of front-line soldiers. They actively contributed to the development of subsidiary farms of enterprises, individual and collective gardening. Factory, plant, and local trade union committees waged an unrelenting struggle against the theft and squandering of public goods, and public inspectors checked the work of trade bases, shops, canteens, buffets, and subsidiary farms.
A combat assistant to the party in mobilizing all the country's forces and resources for selfless struggle against the enemy was the Leninist Komsomol. On the second day of the war — June 23, 1941, the Central Committee of the Komsomol adopted a resolution "On Measures for Military Work in the Komsomol," calling on Komsomol members and all Soviet youth to "tenfold increase vigilance and cohesion, discipline, organization, and be ready to fight for the honor and freedom of the Motherland with arms in hand."
The resolution of the Central Committee of the Komsomol and the decision of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Kyrgyzstan, adopted in accordance with it and based on the directive of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Kyrgyzstan "On the Tasks of Komsomol Organizations of the Republic in Connection with the Military Situation in the Country," formed the basis of their activities to mobilize all the youth's forces to provide maximum assistance to the front.
On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, there were 3,445 primary Komsomol organizations in the republic, uniting 96,704 members of the Komsomol. At the party's call, 85,000 Komsomol members went to the front — 87% of the composition of the Komsomol organization of Kyrgyzstan, of which more than 3,000 were in airborne units. Selfless devotion to the Motherland and the party inspired Komsomol members to military and labor feats.
To lead the Komsomol and youth in the most important sectors of the national economy, positions of sectoral secretaries were introduced in the Central Committee and the Regional Committee of the Komsomol of Kyrgyzstan, and the number of sectoral departments was increased. At the largest industrial enterprises (Kadamjai and Haidarken metallurgical plants, Frunze agricultural machinery plant, Kyzyl-Kiya and Sulukt mines), where youth held leading positions among workers, positions of Komsomol leaders from the Central Committee of the Komsomol were introduced. The institution of Komsomol leaders from the Central Committee of the Komsomol was established in agricultural and medical institutes, the Tokmak school of mechanization, and several educational institutions of the state labor reserves system.
Placing special importance on training youth in military affairs, and in order to provide practical assistance to military authorities in the deployment of universal military training, the position of secretary for military work was established in the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the union republics, regional committees, territorial committees, city committees, and district committees of the Komsomol.
Komsomol organizations of Kyrgyzstan, together with Osoaviakhim, provided all possible assistance to military training authorities in preparing combat reserves for the front. Komsomol members produced 143,249 various military visual aids, equipped 275 sports grounds, and 55 shooting ranges. A total of 32,128 Komsomol members were trained in military affairs during the war.
Many young men and women, the overwhelming majority of whom were students of secondary and incomplete secondary schools, replaced their fathers and brothers at factories, collective farms, construction sites, and in transportation who had gone to the front.
Military Mobilization Work of Local State Authorities in Kyrgyzstan