The aim of this study is to present the operation of the Hungarian Communist Youth League (Magyar Kommunista Ifjúsági Szövetség ‒ KISZ) of the Hungarian University of Arts and Design) (Magyar Iparművészeti Főiskola) and its impact on student life. The paper is based ont he author’s basic research in the MOME Archives, and the archival source material is based partly on the documents of the central offices of the university and partly on the documents of the KISZ. Consequently, it is primarily a matter of examining organisational documents; in the absence of ego documents, there was little opportunity to hear the narratives of the participants in student life dominated by the KISZ. The study primarily seeks to answer the question of how and within what framework the Communist Party organisation functioned at the College. On the other hand, it also asks to what extent the ideological framework, which was loosened during the Kádár era, influenced the art students in their everyday lives and how this affected the life of the youth.