Young prospective members of the BKP come from the Dimitrov Communist Youth Union (Dimitrovski Komunisticheski Mladezhki Suyuz), also referred to as the Komsomol. Established as the youth's counterpart of the BKP, it is organized much as the parent structure, having a secretariat of nine members headed by a first secretary and a bureau of seventeen members and five candidate members that is comparable to the party Politburo. The Komsomol is under the leadership of party committees and is supported by the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Bulgarian Red Cross, and the Civil Defense Staff in interlocking roles of authority and supervision. Founded as a sociopolitical organization to train the youth in the ideological principles and goals of the BKP, the Komsomol also serves as a source of manpower reserve in government and as an instrument for the application of party policies and directives. In the early 1970s membership was about 1 million (see ch. 2; ch. 15). Despite all the attention given to youth affairs, alienation of young people manifests itself in many different ways. There were no tangible signs of protest such as outward demonstrations, mass rallies, or disruptions during congresses, plenums, annual meetings, or regional conferences to show this alienation. But the negative attitude and sagging interest in political indoctrination and economic activities increasingly worries party leaders. The ideological and political gap between generations prompted the administration to prepare and publish Zhivkov's "Youth Theses" in December 1967. This work is basically an inspirational treatise to counter what Zhivkov averred was national nihilism among the youth, characterized by apathy, absence of discipline, improper family upbringing, misdirected school discipline, and ill-prepared Komsomol programs, among other things. The theses also deplored the "degenerate influences" of capitalist society that were evident in conspicuous material consumption in food and beverages, dress, music and dance, and social mobility brought about by bourgeois affluence. In an effort to bring the youth back into line, the theses emphasized patriotic political education within a Marxist-Leninist frame of reference, defined the duties and privileges of the young people, and finally directed the reorganization of the Komsomol under closer party supervision. The initial reaction to the theses was one of increasing passivity.