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Back in the USSR: The Young Pioneers, the Soviet Union’s version of the Boy Scouts

On May 19, 1922 All-Union Young Pioneer Organization was founded

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Ceremony of admission to pioneers, 1969

© V. Panov/TASS

Young naturalists in Tbilisi, 1974

© Givi Kikvadze/TASS

Pioneers in Artek summer camp, 1987

© Nikolai Malyshev, Alexander Chumichev/TASS

Pioneers of the Amur region collecting books for the buliders of the Baikal-Amur mainline, 1974

© Vladimir Marikovky/TASS

Pioneers on vacation, 1975

© Boris Kapnin/TASS

A bugler in Soviet pioneer camp, 1976

© Valentin Mastyukov/TASS

Pioneers standing on Moscow's Red Square during the celebration of Pioneer Day, 1975

© Sergei Zaletov/TASS

Schoolchildren of Ulyanovsk on the Central city square, 1973

© Yuri Belozerov/TASS

Children getting their models ready for the exposition in pioneer camps, 1974

© Boris Kapnin/TASS

Waste paper collection in the Kondrashevska school, 1973

© Roman Azriel/TASS

On May 19, 1922, the Vladimir Lenin All-Union Young Pioneer Organization was founded. The USSR’s Young Pioneer Organization was modeled on the Scout movement but formally paid much more attention to ideology. Practically all schoolchildren aged 9-14 wore red ties, a symbol of belonging to the multimillion army of Soviet pioneers - formerly known as the Little Octobrists, a Communist organization for children aged under 9, and future members of the Youth Communist League. Apart from doing well at school, the Young Pioneers did a lot of socially useful work, such as collecting scrap metal and waste paper. They took part in a military sport game called “Sheet Lighting” and went to various hobby groups. That was what the life of a young pioneer was like.

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