International student brigades: Soviet-Mongolian experience

Relying upon archival materials, the article studies the emergence and development of international students’ construction brigades as a brand new trend in a student movement, being part of international cooperation initiated by the state and supported by a local Komsomol committee. In the referred period, a firm ground was being laid for a lasting labour cooperation between students of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, including Mongolia. The author analyses general prerequisites for the creation of inter-brigades, selection criteria and requirements to brigades’ leaders and students. The author suggests that the idea to establish contacts between students in the field of labour cooperation and to form first international students brigades of the two countries was naturally prompted by existing cross-border cooperation and youth exchange programs between the Soviet and Mongolian Komsomol Committees.