Physical Culture and the Process of Human Improvement in Post-Revolutionary Russia

Abstract

Gymnastics and sport began to develop in Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but physical culture as a concept and movement emerged only after the 1917 Revolution. Initially, physical culture developed as part of the school curriculum for creating healthy students. However, after 1918, physical culture occupied an important place in the process of building a socialist state as part of the project of creating a new Soviet person who would be perfect spiritually and physically. Meanwhile, a clear definition of ‘physical culture’ did not exist. During the 1920s and 1930s, the tasks of physical culture were redefined according to the needs of the country: beginning as a means of educating a harmonious personality, then a tool for filling the ranks of the Soviet state defenders and training defenders in processes and the concept of physical culture ‘hygiene’, and, finally, its militarization. A multifunctional system of physical culture, capable of adapting to the changing needs of the state, defined the qualities that an ideal Soviet individual should possess. As an important part of the political discourse of the Soviet state, physical culture was basic to the education of individuals capable of reproducing Soviet values.