YOUTH MOVEMENTS AS POLITICAL VANGUARDS: FROM WANDERVOGEL TO ISLAMI JAMIAT TULABAH

Abstract

European nationalists and, later, socialists were fully aware of the need to attract idealist youths to their banners. They often did so through hiking, sports and/or romantically (or politically) inspired and “folk”-oriented study groups (e.g., German Wandervogel, Czech Sokol movement, etc.). With the rise of industrial societies and mass political parties a wide variety of such movements appeared. Apart from the celebrated “non-partisan” Boy Scouts, these ranged from cadet corps to those organized to promote religious values (Tuxis Boys, Church Boys’ Brigade, etc.) and political parties (especially various leftist social-democratic groups). In the wake of World War I, these ended by spawning new movements supporting the “radical left” (e.g., the Young Communist League or Komsomol) and “radical right” (e.g. , Italy’s Balilla, the Hitler Youth). These usually were highly structured and ideologically dedicated and subsequently provided models for politically sectarian similar organizations around the globe, Pakistan’s Islami Jamiat Tulabah included. The paper centers on understanding the role of youth political movements as political vanguards. These youth movements provide youth with organizational structures as well as political and ideological vanguards. Besides following secondary data, this article draws on qualitative research methods such as key informants and in-depth interviews for data collection.