In this article, we analyse how participation and agency in the youth
movements of the late 60s and early 70s are remembered and
reconstructed in autobiographical interviews and life writings conducted
in the 2010s. Our research focus is on the memories and experiences of
student associations in upper secondary schools and radical left-wing
youth movement (“taistolaisuus”) in Finnish schools and universities.
The 1960s is renowned as a decade of revolutions, one of them the rapid
rise of youth radicalism around the Western countries. In Finland, the
youth movement swiped over young people and young adults from different
social classes and on several educational levels. “The spirit of the
age” touched and activated young people in secondary schools and
universities, and furthermore, steered their activity towards the New
Left and even communist ideas and actions.

Moreover, shared ideas and ideals created a strong sense of belonging
and community within the young people. In this article, we study how
this sense of belonging and community are remembered and reconstructed
in autobiographical narratives told by young people. These memories are
full of participation: rallies, mass demonstrations, and different kinds
of happenings, singing groups, parties, and such. We ask how this
communal activity of the youth is remembered and depicted in the
present, almost 50 years later.