The New Adventures of the Young Pioneers
Want to be able to identify terrorists, help war veterans, be a good citizen, or just party with friends? A few hundred children who gathered on Red Square on Sunday morning say they know how -- become a pioneer.
The Pioneers, once a nationwide political machine that incorporated nearly every child from age 10 to 14, celebrated their 80th birthday Sunday. In honor of the occasion, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov met with a few hundred aspiring members in front of Lenin's Mausoleum and inducted them into the organization by tying red neckerchiefs around their necks.
"I dreamed all my life of becoming a pioneer," said
Misha Pavlov, 11, from Orekhovo-Zuyevo in the Moscow region. "I will now be helping war veterans and my own family," he said, beaming.
The Soviet system of well-organized childhood collapsed together with the Soviet regime in 1991. No real replacement has been found, even though various scout-like organizations have sprouted up. But the Pioneers movement, pedaled by veterans and school teachers, has managed to survive and, some members and Communist leaders claim, is on the path of recovery.
There are about 60,000 pioneers in Russia, according to Zyuganov, and party officials said this year's anniversary celebrations in Moscow and elsewhere were the largest in a decade. In addition to the Red Square ceremony, a congress of youth organizations, mostly pioneers from former Soviet republics, was held in the Kremlin Palace over the weekend.
The Pioneers, while still under the wing of the Communist Party, have become noticeably less politicized. Of a couple dozen children questioned, none could really say what communism is. Many of them said they believe in God.
"I believe in God," Pavlov said. "Why not?" The boy was obviously unaware that even as late as the 1980s, such a statement would have resulted in a strict reprimand for him and his parents. But he sounded confident in his knowledge of the life of pioneers in the past.
"They used to live in tents that they used to make themselves. They also had to find food for themselves," Pavlov said. It was unclear to which period of Soviet history he was referring.
As times have changed, the slogans have changed, too. Pioneers are no longer called on to build communism or fight for the cause of the working class but to stand up for the motherland, goodness and justice. The standard salute, however, with right hand raised, remains unchanged: "Always ready!"
The theme of fighting the enemy, it seems, has not been completely erased from the collective memory of Russian children. According to Pavlov, the young pioneer's main goal is to defend the motherland from the enemy, although he could not identify one.
Nastya Donnik, 11, and Biana Karasonova, 12, from the village Novoye near Orekhovo-Zuyevo, also said that protecting their country was among their priorities as pioneers. For them, the enemy is terrorists, and they planned to be on the lookout. But what does a terrorist look like?
"Anyone strange, or suspicious, or unknown could be a terrorist," Donnik said. When prodded, the girls said dark-haired people from the Caucasus, "like Armenians," were probable suspects, but then they quickly agreed that terrorists are just bad people regardless of nationality.
Even seasoned Communists seem to have eased up on the political education of the country's youth.
"I mostly talk to them about the history of the war. And there are many who wish to listen," said Zoya Khrabrova, a World War II veteran who organizes the activities of about 150 pioneers in the Moscow region town of Naro-Fominsk. "But I myself believe in communism, I think this is what we all need. I have been a party member for 40 years."
The Red Square ceremony drew a number of former pioneers, among them Sofia Ruzina, 88, who in 1929 was a delegate to the first Congress of Pioneers. "I was one of just four people representing Siberia," she said. Ruzina still has her ID card from the congress and also her red scarf and badge.
"Pioneers' organization will live," she said. "Now everyone thinks only about where to get money. Meanwhile we were fighting for good causes." Ruzina said she was taught "to fight for peace, bread, the revival of industry and liquidation of illiteracy."
Zyuganov seized the opportunity Sunday to talk about his pioneers past. His first assignment as a pioneer, he said, was to plant a garden in front of his school.
At the end of the relatively short ceremony, all the guests were invited to pay their respects to Lenin in the Mausoleum.
"It's pretty scary. It looked like he could open his eyes any second," said Katya, 11, from a village near Podolsk.
But apart from a little shock at seeing the embalmed body of the Soviet Union's founder, the children seemed not overly interested in who Lenin was.
Instead, Katya and her friends were looking forward to organizing parties, going on trip together and being able to learn more about life.
Why is it necessary to be a pioneer to do all these things?
"Because it is more interesting this way," the group of pioneers replied.
2002
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