Soviet Young Pioneers: Summer Camp Uniforms--Specialized Camps


Figure 1.--This formal photograph was taken at the Artek camp in 1980. Notice how smartly uniformed the children were. Note the little card identifying them as group 12. Also note the pennant the boy at the left holds. I note the kids look like thy are bout 12. I wonder if the card refers to age grouping. Notice thevboy in long pants at right. He looks to be a councelor or councelor assistant.

The Soviet Union where eveyone was theoretically equal had in fact a few prestigious cmps located at very nice sites and with particularly good facilities. I am not sure what children went to these camps, but I believe that they were mostly the children of ranking Party and state officials. The two most prestigious camps were Artek and the Orlyonok. The camps did in fact have special uniforms. The uniform was given out to all children. It was: white shirt, dark blue short pants, brown belt, and red scarfe. At Artek white socks were worn, kneesocks (1970-1985) or white ankle socks (1985-1990). At Orlyonok ankle socks were more popular than kneesocks. Note that footwear was not given out and as a result the children wear many different types of shoes, sneakers, and sandals.The activities at these camps were extensively photographed and used in Soviet publications. This gives the impression that the uniforms worn at these camps were generally worn throughout the Soviet summer camp system.

Soviet System

The Soviet Union where eveyone was theoretically equal had in fact a few prestigious cmps located at very nice sites and with particularly good facilities. I am not sure what children went to these camps, but I believe that they were mostly the children of ranking Party and state officials. This was a common characteristic of the Soviet systems. Important officials and thir families were accorded access to special schools, stores, hospitals, and other facilities. Interestingly, we know of no other uniformed youth group (Boys' Brigade, Hitler Youth, Scouts, ect.) that had special camps for the children of important officials.

Individual Camps

The two most prestigious camps were Artek and the Orlyonok. The biggest Young Pioneer Camp in former USSR, "Artek" in Crimea (now Ukraine) was divided into several smaller or sub-camps: "Coastal", "Naval", "Azure" etc.

Uniform Items

The camps did in fact have special uniforms. The uniform was given out to all children. One Russian reader tells us that the standard uniform was: white shirt, dark blue short pants, brown belt, and red scarfe. At Artek white socks were worn, kneesocks (1970-1985) or white ankle socks (1985-1990). At Orlyonok ankle socks were more popular than kneesocks. Note that footwear was not given out and as a result the children wear many different types of shoes, sneakers, and sandals. Another Russian reader tells us that at Artek there were different uniforms for the different sub-camps. Every sub-camp had its own colour of shorts/skirts for the uniform. The colors included white, green, blue, tan, and others.

Chronology

We note some differences over time at these special camps. We do not have complete detasils as our information is limited. we have few accounts and only a limited archive of photographs. We note that immeditely after Workd War II in the 1940s that the children wore different caps. We note loppy sun hats being worn in 1949 rather than nthe more militay field caps that were so common in the 1970s and 80s.

Publicity Photographs

The activities at these camps were extensively photographed and used in Soviet publications. If for some reason a photograph was needed from a summer camp for a Soviet publication, almost always, a photograph taken at one of these speciaslized camps was used. Over time, this gives the impression that the uniforms worn at these camps were generally worn throughout the Soviet summer camp system.






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Created: November 9, 2003
Last updated: 3:08 PM 3/14/2005