The Kremlin is planning a new children’s and youth movement for the 100th anniversary of the Soviet pioneers. The youth army set up by the Minister of Defense could be involved in this. Membership must be voluntary.
A corresponding law could be submitted to the House of Representatives on Thursday, RBK news agency reported on Tuesday. The initiative came from the Kremlin, the Ministry of Education and the Federal Agency for Russian Youth. The idea of such a movement, which should unite all children and young people, was already supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin in April during a meeting with schoolchildren. The “Junarmiya” (“Youth Army”), founded by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, could also be part of it. This is a military patriotic youth organization.
The date on which the law is to be introduced is symbolic. May 19, 2022 is the founding date of the Soviet pioneers, called the Lenin pioneers after the death of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in 1924. In the 1970s, more than 25 million children and young people were members and took part in holiday camps, for example. A stay in Artek’s pioneer camps in Crimea or Orlyonok on the Black Sea coast was considered a special award.
Pioneers temporarily banned
As a state organization, the Pioneers were disbanded after the end of the Soviet Union. They were even banned for a short time. Later on, new organizations were established, which, however, could not reach the previous size. Kia Jarmysch, the confidant of imprisoned opposition politician Alexei Navalny, responded ironically to the plan: “Economic deficit, the Moskvich car and the pioneers. When I dreamed of a time machine as a kid, I probably meant something else.”
Source: Krone
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