Young Pioneers Day

19 May 2019

Today is Young Pioneers Day.  I don’t know if it is marked in present-day Russia, but it was no doubt an important celebration in Soviet times.  The Young Pioneers were in many ways the Soviet equivalent to Scouts and Guides in the West, but their ethos and activities were firmly based, of course, on Communist Party teachings.

‘The Young Pioneer loves his Motherland, the Communist Party and the Soviet Union. He prepares himself to join the VLKSM’.

(The VLKSM, more usually known as the Komsomol, was the organisation for Soviet youth, which Young Pioneers would move on to at the age of 15.)

Printed cotton textile designs based around Young Pioneers:

Pioneer! Learn to fight for the cause of the working class!