Age as a Factor in the Recruitment of Communist Leadership

One of the keys to an understanding of the Communist movement is a knowledge of the nature of its leadership. The idea of the professional conspiratorial elite is one of the unique Russian contributions to Communist dogma and practice. After the professional revolutionaries in Russia had successfully engineered the Bolshevik Revolution, they became models for the leaders of the new Communist parties that were established in the West. Scholars and statesmen alike have had cause to mention some of their unique qualities—their uncompromising discipline, their complete and intransigent dedication to their cause, their ruthlessness and capacity for self-sacrifice. In this paper an attempt will be made to develop and investigate hypotheses about some of the characteristics of those who have attained positions of high leadership in the Communist parties in Italy and France. Some information on the leaders of the party in the United States has been included for purposes of comparison. It is impossible in this study, of course, to attack the problem from the point of view of the motivations and personality structures that differentiate the Communist leaders from those lower in the hierarchy.