Figure 1.--Here we see a group of boys, we think in the late 1960s or early-70s. Notice the number of boys that have military headwear and binoculars--but no guns. This looks like a school group or perhaps some kind of sunmmer day camp. They are definitely an organized group.

One thing we do not see in the Soviet photographic record is toy guns. That does not mean the military was not emphasized. Until the creation of Communist China (1949), the Soviet Union had the largest militryin the world. After 1949, it had the scond largest--a huge military establishment and after defeating the NAZIs in Wotlkd ar II, the most prestigious institution in the Soviet Union. We see countless image of kindergarners and younger primary boys wearing military unifirms or military items like helmets and caps. The boys here are a good example (figure 1). And this was not just the boys, the girls had nurses play uniforms. The girls dressed up in nurses uniforms for special occassions at school, but unklike the boys did not wear nursung items for everyday play like the boys liked to do. And there were military-oriented items like binoculars, but only rarely guns. This changed for older children reaching their teens. They began to get military trainming in the schools. This of course was not play which we are talking about here. Soviet schools has stocks of military uniforms and uniform items to foster this play. And many Soviet boys had military items klike caps that they used for play, but we do not see toy guns.

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Created: 5:50 PM 6/27/2022
Last updated: 5:50 PM 6/27/2022