Real USSR » Anton Markin

The Patriotic Education in USSR. Part 2 — Pioneers, Soviet Boy Scouts

Anton Markin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:27:03 +0000

We are the pioneers, sons of working class (a popular song)

As you remember from the previous post, at the age of 9 the Soviet Kids grew out of their October Kids affiliation. The next ideological rite of passage was pioneering which the Soviet country placed a huge importance on. Loosely based on the American Boy Scout’s movement, pioneering covered all kids till the age of fourteen and worked in close relation with schools. Just like anything else Soviet style, it had its idiosyncrasies.

The pioneer tie knot under a school jacket.

Almost all October Kids made it to the next level – not to be accepted, one had to really misbehave and do something wrong on several occasions. However, the process of initiation was organised in a smart ideological way: usually it was scheduled close to some Soviet days of importance: November 7^th (The Great October Socialist Revolution), 22^nd April (Vladimir Lenin’s Birthday), 19^th May – the Pioneering day. As the initiation ceremony was broken down into several parts, everybody had the impression that only the most “worthy” of the lot were accepted. In reality, a class of school kids would make it to pioneers in full over a period of time of less than two years.

The initiation were MC’d by school teachers. Stalin himself would witness off the wall.

The initiation process involved a vow:

I am (full name, eg Anton Markin) entering the team of the Soviet Union Pioneer Organisation, in front of all my comrade mates, I solemnly declare: to love and to protect my country, live as the great Lenin advised, as the Communist party guides, as the Pioneer Laws require.

Then the neophyte would receive a tie, which was just like any other scout’s type of a tie. There were rules on how to tie a knot, and the colour was, of course, bloody red. A badge with the burning fire of Pioneering and Lenin’s profile was also presented. The badge bore the slogan of all pioneers – Always ready! – which was meant to be a reply to “Pioneer, be ready for the mutual action of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union!”

Always ready!

Usually each school class would contain up to three pioneer teams. Each team had a designated captain, a discipline watcher, a note taker and other positions ensuring the smooth organisational process of the every day life of pioneers.

The initiation.

It was pioneers’ job to curate the October Kids by providing guidance and mentoring, organising their leisure time. The “older brothers” were responsible for taking the October Kids not only to the movies or museums: as they had to be the “right” influence, they often organised meetings for kids of all ages with remarkable citizens or excellent production line workers to keep the young ones keen on learning and working.

Pioneers with astronaut Leonov, the first man in the outer space.

A popular activity, which any modern ex-pioneer would find nostalgic now, was the collection of paper from the neighbourhood for the recycling purposes. This was organised as a competition between the pioneer teams: kids had to go knock on doors and ask for old newspapers, books, unused boxes etc. The winners – whoever collected most – were entitled to a “thank you” letter from school or the Komsomol organisation.

A usual school class round up

So in fact, no matter how hard they denied it, the pioneer organisation took a lot after the American Boy Scout movement. Starting with the uniform and right through to the organisational structure, it was a copy and paste scheme of work. Needless to say, the propaganda lines went as “American kids living the dangerous life of crass consumerism, whereas us, Soviets, bring up our younger generations in accordance with the rules of good behaviour, wellbeing, respecting the elderly and so on”. Well, as the Iron Curtain was hanging up strongly, nobody had the means of comparing– even though it could have been a great way to learn off the American counterparts. But a typical for the Soviets “Ours is best, is Western is rotten” attitude was adopted.

Boy Scout

The mass media catered well for the pioneer market segment. The teen magazines, such as “Friendly Kids”, “A Soviet Schooler”, “Pioneer”, “Burning Fire”, “Young modeller – constructor” etc., were extremely popular. Well, providing this was almost it – there was nothing in print, which would cover music, or interpersonal relations, or sex, or anything of the interest of those approaching puberty as it was considered inappropriate. The propaganda had its sprout tentacles reached out to even to the teen Russians.

“Burning Fire”. May 1988. The cover topic is 285 years of city of St Petersburg.

Summers – June to August – was the time to take off the tie and enjoy the well-earned school break. Many kids would be sent to the pioneer summer camps – the places to stay for a few weeks, play, rest, do sports, meet new friends.

Altogether the pressure was constantly on: being a pioneer was not only an honour, it was also a responsibility, and the adults, knowing it was an easy subject to manipulate, would demand good behaviour, good marks, household help etc. Nothing unreasonable, certainly, but still – the possibility of being expelled from the pioneer organisation was a constant threat, and so in order to do well in the Soviet Union, one had to belong.

Pioneer! Learn to fight for the actions of the working people. Unfortunately, wordy slogans, which made very little sense, were idiosyncratic to the USSR.

That was what kids were doing until the age of 14, when it was a new rite of ideological passage – the Komsomol.

To Be Continued.

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The Patriotic Education in the USSR. Part One: the October Kids.

Anton Markin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:09:55 +0000

Only those who like to work get successful in this world.

The young Soviet country could not grow and flourish without the support and patriotism of its people. From the early days of the Soviet Union, the ideology organisations aimed to target citizens of all ages, obliging them to belong in order to do well in life. So the pestering had to start early: when kids start school (the school age 7 years old in the USSR), the school ideology organisation would take them under the wing, with the prospect of nurturing the future members of the Communist Party.

The very first movement every child would belong to was called the October kids, after the Great October Revolution of 1917, after which the new government came into power.

Despite the absolute totality — for every single child it was compulsory to become an October kid — it was still a long awaited honour.

A proud Octobrist.

Usually the inauguration was an all-school celebration where each kid got a formal insignia pin to wear and the rules to life and living were announced. The pin features a ruby-red star with the portrait of young Lenin in the centre.

The inauguration ceremony was of great glory

A usual class was divided into the groups of five people in each, like little stars, which was a symbol of the Soviet regime. An older student - generally well-performing and a responsible one — would curate such a star, by giving them songs to sing, stories to listen to and doing other things to nurture the sense of patriotism. The main goal, however, was the creation of a“Pioneer Cult” and its maintenance: the next step after the Octobrists, which kids joined at the age of 9. They had their own set of rules, all rhymed, like a good proclamation to live by. The rules went as following:

There are five of our rules, let them be our only tools!

We are active kids — we are Octobrists! You, October, don’t forget - communism is there yet.
We are courageous kids — we are Octobrists! We are living our life like our heroes — full of light!
We are diligent kids — we are Octobrists! Only those who like to work get successful in this world.
We are thruthful kids — we are Octobrists! Never shall betray a friend — that’s the point we defend.
We are happy kids — we are Octobrists! Our songs, our laughs and dances are to share in equal stances.

We are diligent kids — we are Octobrists!

Kids of all ages enjoyed their own ideologically correct mass media — there were two popular magazines, Mourzilka and Merry Pictures. The magazines still exist, albeit they are now ideology and propaganda-free kids mags.

Mourzilka cover. 1984.

The Mourzilka character was a yellow furry creature of unknown origin, who had a camera and a very inquisitive mind. It was born in 1937 and became an instant success.

Mourzilka cover. 1966.

Merry Pictures had a humour focus and offered a variety of quizzes, puzzles, jokes, as well as many suggestions on how to create toys or give an old toy a make over. It was a fine magazine made by talented writers and artists, and it was very, very popular!

Merry Pictures.1981. Who do you want to be when you grow up?

Whatever happened to the October kids when they grew up? At the age of nine the best October kids — the ones with the best marks, good behaviour and positive feedback were to proceed to the following level of Soviet pioneering. But this is a totally different story.

From now onwards: the pioneers. Stay tuned!

To be continued.

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