The organization was established in December 1957 as a successor of
Union of Polish Youth. the ZMS was ideologically, politically and organizationally subordinate to the PZPR. The main goal of the ZMS activity was to prepare members to join the
Polish United Workers' Party. Like the previous organization, the
Union of Polish Youth, the ZMS aimed to increase the organization's numbers, using mass forms of recruitment of new members bordering on coercion. In 1976, the ZMS initiated the creation of the ZSMP, the creation of which ended the ZMS's activity. In 1957, the ZMS had 70 thousand members, in 1960 - 370 thousand, in 1964 - 800 thousand, in 1975 - 1.2 million. ==References==