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Newspaper Discussions about the Need of Competition as a Part of Power Struggle in Soviet Physical Culture in the Mid‒1920s

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For citation: Alekseev K.A. (2020) Gazetnaja diskussija o neobhodimosti sorevnovanij kak jepizod bor'by za vlast' v sovetskoj fizkul'ture v seredine 1920-h godov [Newspaper Discussions about the Need of Competition as a Part of Power Struggle in Soviet Physical Culture in the Mid‒1920s]. Mediaskop 1. Available at: http://www.mediascope.ru/2612
DOI: 10.30547/mediascope.1.2020.6

 

@ Konstantin A. Alekseev

PhD in Philology, Associate Professor at the Chair of History of Journalism at School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Saint Petersburg State University (Saint Petersburg, Russia), cheslav83@gmail.com; st001410@spbu.ru

 

 

Abstract

The article based on a comparative analysis of newspaper and magazine publications, examines the controversy of 1924‒1925. It reflects the opposition of two groups of the Soviet physical culture movement. The subject of the dispute was the permissibility of using sports competition in Soviet proletarian physical culture. This discussion was of key importance for the Soviet physical culture and sports movement, as it determined the main vector of its development in the coming years. The polemical situation showed that the newspaper pages could have been used to suppress opposition ideas in the Soviet sport, it was not only a democratic platform for discussing sports problems in the 1920s. The technique of polemics was borrowed from the practical work of the internal party struggle of the 1920s, when controversial issues were brought to open discussion. However, the press copied the opinion of just one of the parties. The opposite party was suspended from the discussion and did not have the opportunity to state this. The article shows that the general direction of Soviet physical culture was dependent on the analyzed struggle for influence. In these conditions, publications played an important role not only as a tool of control, but also as a weapon in the fight against ideological opponents.

Keywords: sport, physical culture, sports press, Supreme Council of Physical Culture (SCPC), Red Sport Internаtional (RSI).

 

Notes

Bazhanov B.G. (1925) Dopustimy li nashi sostjazanija s burzhuaznymi sportsmenami [Should We Compete with Bourgeois Athletes]. Izvestija fizicheskoj kul'tury 18: 2−4.

Bazhanov B.G. (1924) O sisteme sovetskoj fizkul'tury i tak nazyvaemyh «pravyh i levyh» uklonah [On the Soviet Physical Culture System and the So Called ‘Right and Left’ Deviations]. Krasnyj sport,no. 22, p. 2.

Bazhanov B.G. (1992) Vospominanija byvshego sekretarja Stalina [Memories of Stalin`s Ex-Secretary]. St. PetersburgVsemirnoe slovo Publ., pp. 226‒227.

Belov E.N. (1925) Sorevnovanija dolzhny byt' [Competitions Must Take Place]. Krasnyj sport,no. 1, p. 2.   

Gosudarstvennyj arhiv Rossijskoj Federacii [The State Archive of the Russian Federation]. F. 7576. Op. 1. D. 14. L. 95.

Kruze (1925) Eshhe odin iz uklonov cherez kraj v sovetskoj fizkul'ture [One More Deviation Over the Top in Soviet Physical Culture]. Krasnyj sport,no. 2, p. 2.

Lemberg G. (1924) O meste sorevnovanij v sovfizkul'ture. «Kozyrnoj tuz» v ruki staryh sportsmenov [On the Role of Competition in Soviet Physical Culture. Old Sportsmen Play Their ‘Trump Card’]. Krasnyj sport,no.21, p. 2.

Mehonoshin K. (1924) O sorevnovanijah v fizkul'ture [On Competitions in Physical Culture]. Krasnyj sport,no. 21, p. 3.

Postanovlenie CK RKP(b) «O zadachah partii v oblasti fizicheskoj kul'tury» (13 ijulja 1925 g.) [Resolution of the CC RCPb ‘On tasks of the Party in the field of Physical culture’].In: Chudinov I.G. (ed.)  Osnovnye postanovlenija, prikazy i instrukcii po voprosam sovetskoj fizicheskoj kul'tury i sporta 1917−1957 gg. [General Resolutions, Orders and Instructions Regarding the Soviet Physical Culture and Sports in 1917‒1957]. Moscow: Fizkul'tura i sport Publ., 1959.

Prut I. (1925) Kak oni rabotajut (druzheskie zarisovki) [How They Work (friendly sketches)]. Krasnyj sport, no. 29, p. 3.

Rejsner F. (1925) Kuda lezhit nash put' [Where Is Our Path]. Izvestija fizicheskoj kul'tury 10: 2−3.

Rezoljucija prezidiuma VSFK po voprosu o fizkul'turnoj diskussii [Resolution of the SCPC Presidium on the Issue of Physical Culture Discussions]. Krasnyj sport, 1925, no. 4, p. 2.

RKP(b) i fizkul'tura [PCPb and Physical Culture]. Krasnyj sport, 1925, no. 31, p. 1.

Semashko N. (1925) «Fizkul'tura dybom» ['Physical Culture on End']. Krasnyj sport, no. 6, pp. 1−2.

Semashko N. (1924) Kritika i pridirki [Criticism and Cavil]. Krasnyj sport, no. 21, p. 2.

Seredkin (1925) Bez lishnih slov – blizhe k delu [Without Many Words – Keep to the Point]. Krasnyj sport,no2, p. 2.

Sportkor 73 sovshkoly V.K. Slovo iz massy [Sports Correspondent of the 73rd Soviet School V.K. A Word from the Mass]. Krasnyj sport,1925, no. 1, p. 2.

Ziskind A. (1925) O dopustimosti vstrech s burzhuaznymi sportsmenami [On the Permissibility of Meetings with Bourgeois Sportsmen]. Izvestija fizicheskoj kul'tury, no. 4, p. 4.

 

                                      

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