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[YOUNG PIONEERS PERFORM] Sto igr iunykh pionerov [i.e. One Hundred Games of Young Pioneers]

Smoliarov, Ia.

Moscow: Molodaia gvardiia, 1925. Item #1536

76, [2] pp.: ill.+ [2] pp. of ads. 25x17,5 cm. In original illustrated wrappers with letterpress design. Almost no spine, with some fragments of paper along spine lost, soiling of covers, front wrapper and t.p. partly detached from block, pale stamps of a Soviet institution on t.p., p.17 and ads., pencil marks in table of contents, otherwise good and clean copy.

First edition. Very rare.
Early Soviet manual on how to organize mass and noisy but educational and socializing activities for children of 9-14 years. Alongside the sack race and target shooting that remained the same, some old games were included with names changed. For example, there is a game “Dobrolet”: children have to squat every time when a host mentions a flying animal. If not, a child who failed performs a funny penalty. Also, the book contains a game “The Time League” in which a host commits children to walk around for a certain period of time. The early Soviet airline ‘Dobrolet’ had provided service since 1923
and ‘The Time League’ existed during the NEP period.
Among summer outdoor games the author added one named ‘Glavryba’ [i.e. The main directorate of fishery and state fishing industry]. Some children are “fishes”, some are appointed fishermen. When a “fish” gets caught, that child goes to “warehouse” and turns into another fisherman. If all the fishes are harvested (excluding the last one), children may start “The Celebration of Fishing Industry” i.e. a carnival procession headed by the last “fish”.

The author offered games with the most fascinating titles for the organization in pioneer camps. Among them are “Find out plans of enemies”, “Spoil telegraph of fascists”, “Transfer revolutionary literature across a border”. The book ends with five games-performances which may last for one or three days. This section includes a performance “A Woman Is Not a Slave”. Here is its description: “The staging shows the hard work of women in the West. For example, at a cast-iron factory, workers are suffering from soot and cinder, a sick worker-mother is fired for absenteeism for several days. Working women are organizing an underground meeting, working youth are indignant, letters on the situation in other cities are being read out, the participants called for a rally. After that, part 2 is staged about the burdensome daily life of women. Family violence, illiteracy, religiosity are played for the old bourgeois world that contrasts against work of socialist women’s departments, workers’ clubs, nurseries, canteens, libraries built in the newly formed Soviet state”.

Worldcat doesn’t track this edition.

Status: On Hold