Bolsheviks, Revolution and Physical Culture

Physical Culture

“…Possibly the most powerful example of this latter point was the Soviet vision of physical culture. As Grant [4] (p. 725) points out, "Lenin saw physical culture as a core component and methodology for developing the communist idea of vospitanie". Grant clarifies that, Vospitanie does not translate directly into English, but rather, "it means more than just education (which is 'obrazovanie') and refers to upbringing, habits, mores" (p. 732).…”

“…In particular, it exposes the belief that political and moral character of an individual could be shaped through particular physical practices. As Grant expands: "physical culture, even during the very early years of Bolshevik power, was on its way to becoming a vast ideological machine that would produce physically ideal and robust Soviet citizens" [4] (p. 726). A similar focus emerged in socialist Yugoslavia following the Second World War, with Mills [5] (p. 731) reporting that "after liberation, the new physical culture-heavily inspired by Soviet practice-became a cornerstone of efforts to educate the population and achieve the objectives of the revolution".…”

“…This combination of conceptual imprecision and lived intuitiveness is partly what gives rise to ambiguity around the very notion of culture-we all know it is there and somehow important, but we also often struggle to articulate precisely what the term means. Such ambiguity is also at least as prevalent when dealing with the idea of physical culture, which is an often-used term to describe a phenomenon of sociological, anthropological, historical, and philosophical interest [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Across these diverse bodies of literature, ambiguity is sustained in part because of dual usage of the term physical culture in both academic and popular literature.…”

‘War and Peace’ at the 1980 Moscow and 2014 Sochi Olympics: The Role of Hard and Soft Power in Russian Identity

“…119 Such an image of Putin bears close resemblance to a perfect Soviet hero, the New Soviet Person -'clean and smart, healthy and politically astute… [ready for] self-sacrifice and [in] control over one's emotions'. 120 In fact, Putin is an incarnation of a hypothetical Soviet hero in the context of contemporary Russia. That is, his early canonical biography neatly fits the prototype formulated by Mertin of a 'well-educated, physically healthy citizen from a simple working family, leading normal life, experiencing the unique conditions of Communist society to fulfil [his] most sincere goals to serve [his] country and contribute to building a communist society'.…”

Urbanismo esportivo na América do Sul: ordem, espetáculo e operações imobiliárias (1920-1955)

“…Com efeito, o projeto, um dos mais peculiares do programa de bem-estar da época, estava ligado a outras propostas desenvolvidas em diferentes regimes de Ocidente, orientadas especialmente às crianças e jovens. Podemos tomar como exemplos os casos da Opera Nazionale Balilla e a Gioventù Italiana del Littorio do fascismo italiano (Gentile, 2007;Ponzio, 2008;Rosa, 2009), os Parques de Cultura e Repouso da União Soviética (Siegelbaum, 1999;Grant, 2014), os Parques Infantis e as colônias de férias de São Paulo (Niemeyer, 2002;Dalben e Soares, 2011;Dalben, 2014) e outras experiências desenvolvidas anteriormente no Chile, como as colônias escolares da Junta de Beneficência Escolar. A instituição, fortemente dependente da figura do Presidente da República, foi um compêndio de contradições e tensões tanto na sua concepção quanto no seu programa.…”