Young Communist League of Yugoslavia

Young Communist League of Yugoslavia, commonly known by its abbreviation SKOJ (from Serbo-Croatian: Savez komunističke omladine Jugoslavije) was the youth wing of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia from 1919 to 1948. Although it was banned just two years after its establishment and at times ruthlessly prosecuted, it continued to work clandestinely and was an influential organization among revolutionary youth in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and consequently became a major organizer of Partisan resistance to Axis occupation and local Quisling forces. After World War II, SKOJ became a part of a wider organization of Yugoslav youth, the People's Youth of Yugoslavia, which later became League of Socialist Youth of Yugoslavia.

History

SKOJ was founded in Zagreb on October 10, 1919 as a political organization of revolutionary youth the youth which followed the policy of the Socialist Workers' Party of Yugoslavia (communist)"Political parties, social-political organisations and trade unions" at the Croatian National Archive (Croatian).

Regional committees were originally established but they were abolished in 1920. In 1921, the organization was banned together with the party, which had in the meantime been renamed Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Two congresses were held clandestinely during 1920s, the Second Congress in June 1923, and the Third Congress in June 1926. SKOJ was affiliated to the Communist Youth International. Regional...
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