“Fiz! Kul´t! Ura!”. Moulding young Soviets through physical activity

Backed by the social reformers who supported them, the Bolsheviks promoted a new physical education project following the Russian Revolution and Civil War. Known as fizkul´tura [physical culture], this initiative was intended to transform both the bodies and souls of the citizens in the emerging Soviet regime, and adhered to the Marxist conceptions of total education. In other words, mind and body were interdependent and should therefore be improved simultaneously, the aim being to develop a...