Development of physical culture and sports in the soviet prewar village

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PhD, Associate Professor D.N. Khristenko1
PhD, Associate Professor A.B. Grachev1
PhD, Associate Professor M.V Sherstyuk1
1Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, Moscow

Objective of the study is to determine the beginning of the period of formation of universal physical education for the villagers of our country, to trace the forms and methods of their involvement in physical culture.
Methods and structure of the study. In the process of preparing the article, historical-genetic and historical-comparative methods were used. To write the article we used little-studied documents of the 1920s-1930s, specialized literature on physical education, memoirs of contemporaries and eyewitnesses.
Results and conclusions. Objective consideration of the process of formation of universal physical education in our country allows us to distinguish two different periods: pre-revolutionary and Soviet, which differ radically in the degree of involvement of the population, primarily peasants, in sports. In the pre-revolutionary period, systematic work with the population in the field of physical culture was not actually carried out. During the Soviet period, on the contrary, the state placed a strong emphasis on the development of mass sports, which, along with other measures, included the construction of various types and natures of physical education facilities in all villages and towns of the USSR. The aggression of Nazi Germany and then the Cold War period, which required the concentration of forces and funds in the sphere of military industry and defense, prevented these plans from being fully implemented. However, the plans developed in the pre-war period allowed the USSR to realize a real cultural and social revolution in the village, when physical culture and sports became part of the everyday life of the peasant population, and mass sports became firmly embedded in the life of Soviet society.

Keywords: physical culture, sports, sports facilities, pre-revolutionary period, village, USSR, peasants.

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