Up until February 2011 it was known as the Union of Communist Youth of the Russian Federation (Russian: Союз коммунистической молодёжи Российской Федерации, СКМ РФ; Sojuz kommunističeskoj molodjoži Rossijskoj Federacii, SKM RF).

The Leninist Young Communist League traces its origins to the founding of the Soviet Komsomol in 1918.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Komsomol, having already lost much of its original identity, was disorganized and de facto dissolved.

[1] The organization, later renamed "Communists of Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast", gained its main popularity thanks to various outrageous statements and provocative actions.

[2] In 2004, there was an internal conflict within the ranks of the Union of Communist Youth, resulting in a split of two factions, one headed by Yuri Afonin, and the other by Konstantin Zhukov.