La fabrication des héros dans l'U.R.S.S. des années 1920-1930

Abstract

This article will focus on the "external ingredients" that informed the creation of Soviet heroes in the 1920s and 30s. This will challenge the tendency to see these individuals comprised of a single, Russian-made, feature. Our study will concern the case of Pavlik Morozov - the "pioneer number one". Among the external components within the make-up of this figure we shall consider the impact of Nietzsche whose presence is thanks to the mediation of Maxim Gorki. Gorki was one of the founders of the pioneer organisation within which the worship of the young Pavlik was based. We shall then have a look at the TYPE of the classical hero before moving on to the "children martyrs" of the French Revolution. This will paradoxically take us to assessing the impact of the Scout Movement on Soviet pioneers, at least at the beginning of the 1920s. Depending on who and when assesses them throughout various historical periods, heroes attract or repel. Their conduct and the values they embody signify the very cultural markers to whose creation they contributed.