Figure 1.--

The question of Young Pioneer international exchanges is an interesting one. And one we do not yet fully understand, but we have begun to collect some information. Communism is in theory an international movement. One might expect that the Soviet Young Pioneer movement would organize international exchanges or even events such as Scout Jamborees bring children or at least Young Pioneer from different counties together. This may have occurred, but we have no information to substantiate that it did. There were no excanges with Scouting groups that we know of. There were, however, after World War II, Young Pioneer organizations in many European and Asian nations. The international vision of Communism was often tempered with a Soviet fear of contaminating its youth with foreign influences. Thus we are unsure to what extent the Soviet Young Pioneers promoted international excahanges. We do know there were foreign children hosted at Soviet Young Pioneer camps, but I have no information about Soviet children going to other countries. One observer notes that there were quotas at Pioneer camps for children from Soviet satellite states. [Kondorsky] I'm not sure if these children just went to the most prestigious camps or if all Young Pioneer camps had foreign children, but as far as I can tell it was just the prestigious camps. A Russian reader tells us that there were plenty of foreign children at Pioneer camps, especially children from Eastern European satellite countries and developing countries. One informal estimate suggests that in the prestious camps such as Artek that about 50 percent of the foreign children were from Eastern European satellites and 50 percent from Asia (Vietnam, North Korea, Mongolia, Afghanistan, India, China) and from Africa and Cuba. These children commonly appear in publicity photographs. We note an African boy in a photograph when General Secretary Brezhnev visited Artek in 19779. Sometimes there were a few children from Italy, France, Latin America, Spain (typically the children or relatives of leaders of communist parties in those countries). I believe, very rarely, from other countries of Western Europe and the United States. Foreign children were espically prevalent at "Artek" several other of the most prestigious camps and less common at ordinary Pioneer camps. [Prokiof] This presumably was to show the best image to the foreign children. Other reasons may have been involved such as to limit possible "contamination" of Russian children with foreign ideas.

Priority

Thus we are unsure to what extent the Soviet Young Pioneers promoted international excahanges.Communism is in theory an international movement. Communist propaganda made a great issue out of Socialist internationalism. This was of course fine in theory, but the Soviets also had a great fear of ideological contamination. This is not just a Soviet Cimmunist concern, fear of foreigners is a string trend in Russian history long before the Communist Revolution. The international vision of Communism was thus often tempered with a Soviet fear of contaminating its youth with foreign influences. This is one reason why in the Soviet Union, few individuals were allowed to travel abroad. Also foreignwers in the Soviet Union such as diplomats were very closely followed and during the Stalinist era it was dangerous for Soviets citizens to associate with them. Stalin even had Soviet POWs liberated from German camps, interned in the Gulag because of all things they may have been "contamonated" with there stay in the West. The whole idea of the Iron Curtain was of course to keep foreign ideas out and the population in. Thus the Soviets were torn when it came to international exchanges.

Special Events

One might expect that the Soviet Young Pioneer movement would organize international exchanges or even events such as Scout Jamborees bring children or at least Young Pioneer from different counties together. This may have occurred, but we have no information to substantiate that it did. Here we are talking about special events, not visits to established camps.

Groups

There were no excanges with Scouting groups that we know of. This is actually not sueprising. Scout events also did not attract boys from other groups. What we are unaware of is the extent to which any of these groups attempted to arrange exchanges with each other. We note that with Scouting many European countries had associtions with separated boys of different religious faiths. The Catholics in particular often wanted separate associations.

European Pioneer Groups

After World War II, Young Pioneer organizations were formed in many European and subsequently Asian nations. This was only done, however, in Communist countries. We do not know of any Pioneer organizations in non-Communist countries. (There are a number of reasons for this. One of which is the Pioneer Movement was a state ptomoted youth group financed by the state.) We do not know to what extent there were contacts and exchanges between the Soviet and other Young Pioneer groups. We do know that there were foreign children at Soviet Pioneer summer camp.

One Way Exchanges

e do know there were foreign children hosted at Soviet Young Pioneer camps, but we have no information about Soviet children going to other countries. Substantial numbers of foreign children attended Soviet Young Pioneer camps. As far as we know, no substantial number of Soviet children were sent to foreign summer camps, even Pioneer camps in Eastern Europe. Our information here, however, is limited. Perhapd HBU readers will know more.

Foreign Children

One observer notes that there were quotas at Pioneer camps for children from Soviet satellite states. [Kondorsky] I'm not sure if these children just went to the most prestigious camps or if all Young Pioneer camps had foreign children, but as far as I can tell it was just the prestigious camps. A Russian reader tells us that there were plenty of foreign children at Pioneer camps, especially children from Eastern European satellite countries and developing countries. One informal estimate suggests that in the prestious camps such as Artek that about 50 percent of the foreign children were from Eastern European satellites and 50 percent from Asia (Vietnam, North Korea, Mongolia, Afghanistan, India, China) and from Africa and Cuba. These children commonly appear in publicity photographs. We note an African boy in a photograph when General Secretary Brezhnev visited Artek in 19779. Sometimes there were a few children from Italy, France, Latin America, Spain (typically the children or relatives of leaders of communist parties in those countries). I believe, very rarely, from other countries of Western Europe and the United States. A former camper reports that there were also children from Western Europe, Canada, and America. [Koza] I'm not sure about Japan. Nor am I sure about the number of children from non-Socialist countries. Foreign children were espically prevalent at "Artek" several other of the most prestigious camps and less common at ordinary Pioneer camps. [Prokiof] This presumably was to show the best image to the foreign children. Other reasons may have been involved such as to limit possible "contamination" of Russian children with foreign ideas.

Interaction

There seems to have been relatively limited interaction between foreign and Soviet children. The foreign children were kept together in separate dormitory groups. Also activities were organized on a laregely group basis meand the groups of foreign children were usually together. At the prestigius camps there were special activity groups individuaols could join on an individual basis. Here the foteign children would be mixed with the Soviet children. Most of the time, however, the foreign children were together in their national groups. Language was a barrier to casual conversation, especially between groups that are kept separate. I am not entirely sure why the Soviets organized and ran the camps with the foreign groups kept separate. It may have been easier to keep track of the different groups that way with the leaders of each national group together with their campers. We suspect that Soviet concerns about foreign influences may have been another factor. One former camper described the strained attemps at exchanges. Her Canadian group was sat facing a Soviery group. The Canadian leader cautioned the children not to embarass their hosts by asking questions which brought out Canadian affluence. She also noted that the official translations of the answers the Soviet kids gave were much longer than the actual responses, leading her to believe that a good deal of editorualizing was added on to the responses. [Koza]

Sources

Kondorsky, Alexander. "Sending kids to summer camp," The Russia Journal, June 21, 2002.

Koza, Kirsten. Lost in Moscow (2005).

Prokiof, Ivan. E-mail message, October 2, 2002.