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[MILITARIZED CHILDHOOD: PROPAGANDA FOR SOVIET CHILDREN] Pesni oktyabryat i doshkol’nikov: Dlya golosa s f.-p [i.e. Songs of Little Octobrists and Preschoolers: For Singing and Piano]

Item #2757

Moscow: Gos. muz. izd-vo, 1932. 10 pp. In original publisher’s illustrated wrappers by R. Usov. Tear of the spine, pages detached, but otherwise in good condition.

Scarce. First edition. Text in Russian and Ukrainian.
Ukrainian translation by I. YAlovts. Edited by I. Galkin.
An interesting piece of Bolshevik propaganda and an early Soviet songbook for children issued by the State Music Publishing House in Moscow in 1932. The edition perfectly exemplifies the early Stalinist era’s ambition to utilize music and education as tools for instilling state ideology in the youngest citizens, the “Little Octobrists” and preschoolers.
The cover features a classic Socialist Realist illustration rendered in a palette of blue, yellow, and brown. It depicts children engaged in winter sports (skiing, skating, and sledding) outside a building labeled Detsad [i.e. Kindergarten]. The bold typography reflects the lingering influence of the avant-garde on Soviet graphic design just before the mandatory shift toward more traditional realism.
The volume contains lyrics for four songs in Russian, accompanied by Ukrainian translations, as well as musical scores. All texts were written by the prominent Soviet poet and translator Tatyana Sikorskaya (1901–1984). The composers represented in the edition include Georgiy Kamaldinov, Vera Krasnoglyadova, Evgeniy Messner, and Mikhail Starokadomsky. Interestingly, some of the lyrics starkly illustrate the militarization of childhood characteristic of Soviet pedagogy in the 1930s. In the song “Snezhki” (“Snowballs,” p. 5), for example, a verse directly connects children’s snowball games with military preparation: “We must learn to hit the target skillfully - it is necessary in the Red Army.”
Among the featured songs are: “Snezhki” [i.e. Snowballs] with music by G. Kamaldinov; Snezhki” [i.e. Snowballs] with music by V. Krasnoglyadova; “Fizkulturnaya” [i.e. Physical Education Song] with music by E. Messner; and “Zimniy Den’” [i.e. Winter Day] with music by M. Starokadomsky.
Overall, a compelling example of early Soviet children’s propaganda.

No copies found in Worldcat.

Price: $350.00

Status: On Hold