of the
Tajik SSR in 1983 After the
October Revolution of 1917, some
Scouts took the
Bolsheviks' side, which would later lead to the establishment of ideologically altered Scoutlike organizations, such as
ЮК (
Юные Коммунисты, or
young communists; pronounced as
yook) and others. During the
Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1921, most of the
Scoutmasters and many Scouts fought in the ranks of the
White Army and
interventionists against the
Red Army. Those
Scouts who did not wish to accept the new
Soviet system either left Russia (like
Oleg Pantyukhov and others) or went underground.
Foundation of the Young Pioneers However, clandestine
Scouting on both sides of the war did not last long. The Russian Union of the Communist Youth (RKSM, later known as
Komsomol) persistently fought with the remnants of the Scout movement. Between 1918 and 1920, the second, third, and fourth All-Russian Congresses of RKSM decided to eradicate the Scout movement and create an organization of the communist type, that would take Soviet children and young adults under its umbrella. This organization would properly educate young people with communist teachings. On behalf of the Soviet
Council of People's Commissars,
Nadezhda Krupskaya (
Vladimir Lenin's wife and the People's Commissar of State for Education) was one of the main contributors to the cause of the
Pioneer movement. In 1922, she wrote an essay called "Russian Union of the Communist Youth and boy-Scoutism." However, it was the remaining scoutmasters themselves who supported the Komsomol and the Red Army, like Innokentiy Zhukov and some others around Nikolaj Fatyanov's "Brothers of the fire", who introduced the name "pioneer" to it and convinced the
Komsomol to keep the scout motto "Be prepared!" and adapt it to "Always prepared!" as the organizational motto and slogan. Just some days before the Komsomol conference the Moscow scoutmasters adopted a "Declaration of the scoutmasters of Moscow concerning the question of the formation of a children's movement in the RSFSR" on May 13, 1922. Thereby they suggested to use the
scouting system as a foundation of the new communist organization for children, and give the "Young pioneers" name to it. The main contribution of the scoutmasters was the introduction of the new expression
system scouting into the discourse on communist children's and young adult organizations. By doing so they avoided the dissolution of the
scout organization as it would happen sooner or later to any organization opposed to the Komsomol. On May 19, 1922, the second All-Russian Komsomol Conference adopted the scoutmasters' suggestions and decided to "work on the question of a children's movement by using the re-organized system of scouting." During the following years many of the remaining former scoutmasters, who later became the first pioneer leaders in their respective areas, founded pioneer groups and educated future pioneer leaders in these. May 19, 1922 was later on considered the birthday of the All-Union Pioneer Organization (
Всесоюзная пионерская организация, or
Vsesoyuznaya pionerskaya organizatsiya) and is marked as the official Pioneer Day. By October 1922 pioneer units nationwide were united to form the Spartak Young Pioneers Organization (SYPO) (), which was officially granted the honorific title "
V. I. Lenin" by a decision of the Central Committee of Komsomol of January 21, 1924, becoming the Vladimir Lenin Spartak Young Pioneers Organization (VLSYPO). Since March 1926 it bore the name Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization (VLAUPO).
Growth By the middle of 1923, the young organization had 75,000 members with hundreds of mature adult and teen instructors. Among other activities, Young Pioneer units, helped by the
Komsomol members and leadership at all levels, played a great role in the eradication of illiteracy (
Likbez policy) since 1923. Membership was at 161,000 in the beginning of 1924, 2 million in 1926, 13.9 million in 1940, and 25 million in 1974. Many
Young Pioneer Palaces were built, which served as community centers for the children, with rooms dedicated to various clubs, such as crafts or sports. Thousands of
Young Pioneer camps were set up where young people went during summer vacation and winter holidays. All of them were free of charge, sponsored by the government and the
Trade Unions. By the 1930s, as
Stalin's cult of personality was taking shape and the nation becoming a growing economic and later on a military superpower via the Five Year Plans and the expansion and modernization of the armed forces, the Pioneers were promoted as models of a true socialist future generation of youth determined to help bring the Soviet Union towards the total victory of communism at home in all sectors of society. During the
Second World War the Pioneers worked hard to contribute to the war effort at all costs. Thousands of them died in battles as military personnel and in the resistance against Nazi Germany in its occupied territories as partisans and Pioneers under secrecy in enemy-occupied towns and cities, even in concentration camps. Four Pioneers would later receive the title
Hero of the Soviet Union, and countless others were awarded various state orders, decorations and medals for acts of bravery and courage in the battlefield, on enemy lines and occupied territories. Pioneers in areas away from military operations assisted in the home front efforts to support the men and women fighting in the front lines, as well as in preparing to meet the requirements for wartime conscription service.
Present Following the
Dissolution of the Soviet Union and
Boris Yeltsin's banning of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1991, the organization also disbanded. However, the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation had a successor organization which utilized the same uniforms and structure as the original pioneers. Following the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, as part of the
Big Change initiative, the
Russian Government held a parade through
Red Square on May 22, 2022, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Pioneers and the 104th anniversary of
Komsomol. During which, a new organization, the
Movement of the First was officially created with 5,000 children signing up. The state run organization maintains the uniforms of the Soviet pioneers, and the organization openly uses the
Hammer and sickle and the bust of Lenin on its flags.
Vladimir Putin said in a speech at the rally, "[the idea for the movement was] exclusively the presidential administration's.” Various Russian political commentators, from
Cosmonaut Aleksandr Volkov to radio personality
Sergey Dorenko came out in support of the new movement, saying that it will instill patriotic values in children, and prevent them from becoming subversive to the Russian state. ==Structure==