Christian Caryl notes that, while young people are often the drivers of modern revolutionary movements, “that doesn’t automatically make them ‘progressive,’ and it certainly doesn’t mean that they’re democrats”:
The radical political movements of the twentieth century understood this very well. Both the Fascists and the Bolsheviks placed young people squarely at the center of their deeply illiberal programs. These totalitarians, knowing that the young were their natural allies in the fight against the old order, offered them quick access to power and careers — and the young were generally happy to accept. (And yes, both the Soviet Communists and the Nazis were “tech-savvy,” avidly embracing new technologies like radio and the movies, and capable of ferocious innovation in the realms of social policy and warfare.)
If we were to pick the most influential youth movement of the twentieth century, measured by sheer numbers and actual political effect on the lives of others, the title surely belongs to the Red Guards of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. When the Great Helmsman gave them official sanction to take bloody revenge on teachers, bureaucrats, and in some cases their own parents, millions of young Chinese responded with enthusiasm, unleashing a mass paroxysm of violence that remains without equal.
The Dish 