"Always ready!": What role did pioneers play in the history of the USSR

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Pioneer Day, alas, ceased to be a holiday in our country a long time ago. Some remnants of the children's organization still exist, but this is just a pale shadow of the mass movement that embraced the entire younger generation …

The Day of Pioneers, which falls on May 19, alas, has ceased to be a holiday in our country a long time ago. Some remnants of the once most powerful children's organization still exist, but this, we admit in all honesty, is just a pale shadow of the mass movement that, from the mid-to-late 20s of the twentieth century and until the collapse of the Soviet Union, embraced its younger generation almost without exception.

In the hard times of "perestroika", the All-Union Pioneer Organization named after V. I. Lenin was generously spat upon and mocked by her organizers and possessed followers. Today we can say with complete confidence that the role and place of the Soviet pioneer in the history of our country are completely underestimated and unjustifiably silenced. Let's try to correct this injustice - as much as possible within the framework of one article.

Scouting Communist

It is impossible not to mention that the very mention of the pioneer organization evokes real paroxysms of hatred and anger in the domestic liberal public. She displeased these gentlemen, perhaps a little less than the NKVD and Comrade Beria … Having proclaimed the pioneer a "soviet machine for fooling and militarizing children", our liberals over the past time have woven so many nonsense and fables about her that raking them out is still work. Therefore, let's try to deal with at least some of the absurdities, and then - how it will turn out. First of all, the Soviet government is accused of allegedly "stolen" the idea of a "noble scout movement" from its creators, "repainting it red and filling it with completely inappropriate ideological content." To listen to such clever people, the pioneers "copied" literally everything from scouts - from attributes and motto to organizational structure, and then swore that they had invented it all themselves. Absolute nonsense, of course. First of all, no one ever concealed the fact that the first steps towards the creation of a pioneer organization, in fact, were made after several reports by Nadezhda Krupskaya, which had the title "On Boy Scoutism." At the origins of the creation of the Soviet pioneer was Innokenty Zhukov, not just a prominent figure in the Russian scout movement, but in the past the secretary of the Russian Scout society. The Bolsheviks simply did not "reinvent the wheel", but after looking closely, they adopted the most usable world experience, naturally, altering it in their own way, in accordance with the urgent requirements and plans for the future. Therefore, to persuade the pioneers because they had exactly the same tie and the motto "Be ready" - "Always ready!" in the form of a rectangular panel, and not some kind of octagon with squiggles …

Now - about ideology, and, by the way, about "militarism". If anyone does not know, then Colonel (and later Lieutenant General) of the British Royal Armed Forces Robert Stephenson Smith Baden-Powell, who stood at the origins of the scout movement on a world scale, so to speak, Boer War. As commandant of the Mafeking fortress besieged by the Boers, Sir Robert drove under arms all the males there, including the boys 12-14 years old, of whom he created a quite effective reconnaissance unit. From there it all started. As, in modern terms, a British imperialist, who did Baden-Powell intend to educate in the organization he created? That's right, future conquerors and "civilizers", "white masters" who had to keep and push the limits of the "empire in which the sun never sets." For the most part, he served in military intelligence - an organization distinguished by the utmost practicality, bordering on cynicism, according to which everything possible is used to accomplish the task … Children? Why not children? Therefore, when scouts, opposing them to “ideologized pioneers”, are trying to sculpt a kind of “white and fluffy” social movement, concerned exclusively with improving the health of children and adding variety to their leisure time, I personally find it simply ridiculous. And, by the way, in the Russian Empire, scouting long and persistently tried to make its way - only it ran into a complete lack of understanding of those in power. Tsar Nicholas II wanted to see in the country children's "schools of order and gymnastics" and teenage "amusing teams" at military units. A mass movement with some kind of detachments, oaths and rituals aroused in him a latent rejection and fear. It would be better if I paid attention to the Social Democrats, sick …

Soar up with bonfires

But the Bolsheviks, in contrast to the crowned slow-witted who was sent to the dustbin of history, immediately realized that there could be great benefits on a national scale. In the early 1920s, by and large, nothing had been decided yet. Yes, the main battles and battles of the Civil War died down, but the war between the old and the new was actually only in full swing. The future of the Land of Soviets and, as many of its leaders then saw, the world proletarian revolution beat in the tiny hearts of those who were just entering life and who, having made their choice, were destined to decide their fate. In the same village, the former "reds" and "whites" often coexisted, and most importantly, the poor and the "kulaks" who were starting to get on their feet more and more. The first were for the new power with all their soul, but the second, figuring out how to slaughter the land, believed that without a tsar and a master it was, of course, good, but about "equality and brotherhood" this very power, perhaps, is … I had enough and here it will have to be “corrected” over time - in accordance with my vision of life prospects. In the cities, periodically swelling with hunger and with difficulty rebuilding after the hard times of war, crowds of homeless children, generated by this same hard times, scurrying about nothing in their eternal striving to "get something to eat" scurried about. It was a whole army! Who could grow out of them - barefoot, lumpen, criminals, who by definition are enemies of any state? Or the future builders of communism - creators, citizens, defenders of the Motherland? The issues were resolved, without any exaggeration, the most global and, we must pay tribute to the Soviet government, she solved them brilliantly - and not least by creating a pioneer organization.

At first, the Soviet pioneer was named after the ancient fighter against the oppressors of Spartacus. It was only later, after the death of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, she was named after him, thus a high honor and no less high responsibility was assigned. By the way, in the first years after Stalin's death, there were naive comrades who sincerely suggested adding to the name of Ilyich in the name of the All-Union Pioneer Organization also the perpetuation of the memory of Joseph Vissarionovich. Aha … It's under Khrushchev! After 1956, with his vile speech on the "personality cult", such proposals instantly "faded." How the ideological component of the pioneer movement has changed can best be judged by the changes in the solemn promise brought upon joining its ranks. Until the end of the 1920s, they vowed to "stand firmly for the cause of the working class," whose goal, of course, was "the liberation of workers and peasants" no less than on a worldwide scale. After that, it is very much even believed that Comrade Trotsky had a serious hand in the creation and development of the pioneers - his dreams of a "world revolution" here blow a mile away. But then “the proletariat of all countries” disappeared somewhere, but the first place came to the obligation to “fervently love our Motherland”, as well as “to live, study and fight” according to the precepts of Lenin and the Communist Party. In the 30s, one of the main responsibilities of all members of the pioneer organization was preparation for the defense of the USSR in the inevitable coming war. The whole country was preparing for this, sparing no effort, and the boys and girls, proudly wearing red ties, were in the forefront. It will take quite a few years and it is they who will occupy the forefront of the Great Patriotic War …

They were ready

The colossal role of the All-Union Pioneer Organization in achieving the Great Victory, unfortunately, was never revealed even in the more than favorable Soviet historiography. On the banner of the pioneers there were two highest awards of the country - the Order of Lenin, but there were none in combat. But in vain. All Soviet children knew about the pioneer heroes, young soldiers of the Great Patriotic War. In fact, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to four members of the All-Union Pioneer Organization - Leonid Golikov, Marat Kazei, Valentin Kotik and Zinaida Portnova. All - posthumously … However, the number of children and adolescents, both deserving military orders and medals, and remaining unknown and selflessly devoted to their homeland by its defenders, is immeasurably greater. According to some reports, only the "sons of the regiment" in the Red Army and "young sailors" numbered up to half a million! However, no matter how much more pioneers stood up to fight the German fascist invaders in the occupied territories in the ranks of the underground and partisan detachments. All four Heroes of the Soviet Union are just from this glorious cohort. It so happened that it was children and adolescents who turned out to be one of the most implacable and fearless fighters against the invaders. And this is a reason to give the highest assessment to the educational work that was carried out in its ranks for almost two decades from the moment of the creation of the pioneer organization until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. The pioneers managed to raise millions of real young patriots, both who fought the enemy with weapons in their hands, and forged Victory in the rear, at the machine tools of factories, in collective farms and hospitals. It was this patriotism that turned out to be the very "strong military secret" of the Soviet country, about which the idol of all pioneers, Arkady Gaidar, wrote. It was about him that the Nazi blitzkrieg crashed, the enemy hordes broke their teeth.

However, to reduce everything only to personal participation in the battles of the Great Patriotic War of young fighters would also be fundamentally wrong. It was the pioneer organization that became the "starting point" of that general military education and training, which to a great extent subsequently conditioned the Red Army's ability to quickly make up for the tragic losses of the initial period of the war, and restore its combat capability. Some of our "historians" with liberoidal brain damage (or what do they have instead of it?) Love to talk about the topic of "completely untrained boys" who were "ruthlessly thrown against the hardened warriors of the Wehrmacht." But the fact of the matter is that by 1941 there were practically no "untrained" guys and girls of military age in the USSR! And thanks for this must be said, including the pioneer organization, a matter of honor for each member of which in the 30s was "to have three badges" - Voroshilov shooter, TRP (ready for work and defense) and "ready for sanitary defense." The level of initial military and physical training in the pre-war USSR was the highest. And no less high was the level of consciousness, thanks to which those who at present are considered to be foolish children, who cannot be trusted with anything, did shells, performed other incredibly responsible and difficult work. Do you think that during the war years pioneer assistance to the front was limited to concerts in hospitals, sending letters and parcels to the front to soldiers and collecting scrap metal? Yes, thirteen-year-olds worked hard at logging, building railways, plowing on their own! And no one, believe me, no one forced them to do it! It's just that, brought up by the Soviet pioneers, the Soviet Union, these girls and boys could not do otherwise, did not think of themselves outside of that war, outside of the common fate of the people. The motto "Always ready!" turned out to be not at all pretentious empty words - when trouble fell on their homeland, they really turned out to be ready for anything.

Little is remembered today of the pioneer. Alas, more than one generation has grown up, which they managed to drive into their heads with a lie that they were forced to wear a red tie almost "forcibly", that in October, pioneers and Komsomol members were almost "driven". The "intelligentsia", gentlemen and ladies who claim to have the right to judge and condemn whatever they want, talk mournfully about "suppressing the personalities of children", "imposing totalitarianism" and the like, which have absolutely nothing to do with reality. And few people dare to ask them the simplest question: "So what exactly was wrong with the pioneer?" Luxurious palaces and children's art houses? The complete absence in the Soviet Union not only of homeless children, but simply of idle children who do not know what to do with themselves? Zero child and teenage drug addiction and alcoholism, practically zero crime among teenagers and children ?! What was wrong with the pioneer camps, in which the children of all (note, all without exception) citizens could rest and recover for free, or for purely symbolic money? Creative circles and sports sections, available, again for everyone and for free?

Let me suggest that those who today hate our pioneer childhood hate the ideals of love for the Motherland, admiration for its victories and achievements, which were instilled in us precisely in these wonderful years. The pioneer organization is unacceptable to them, like everything else that really worked to strengthen and prosper our country. Moreover - to a large extent it works even to this day! The upbringing of discipline, decency, honesty, the principles of friendship and mutual assistance, and, above all, patriotism, this is what she gave to all those who once walked in her ranks. And no matter how many years have passed, we will never forget this.

The Soviet state for children. On the Day of Pioneers (1978) Pioneers in the USSR: the history of the most popular children's organization