Figure 1.--Here we see some young Yugoslav Pioneers, probavly in the 1980s. The Pioneers were a school-based group which is why they are with their teacher. Notice the little red books, presumably Tito's sayings.

HBU has only limited information on the Pioneer movement in the former Yugoslavia, before the breakup began in 1992? A Croatian reader reports that he still had to wear a Pioneer uniform in the mid-1980s. He didn't like the Pioneers. He asks, "What was the whole point of being a Pioneer anyway? I hated going to that place. Never understood why they made me do it." Pioneers in former Yugoslavia did wear blue caps as a symbol of sea which borders their country. HBU believes that the Pioneers in each of the different republics all wore the same uniform.

HBC has asked a Croatian boy what the Pioneers were liked. He replied, "I was hoping you could tell ME what the whole point of being a Pioneer was. I was clueless as a kid and i'm clueless now. Maybe has something to do with nationalism. Uniforms were like you described them. The blue cap had a Yugoslavian star (before the war). We only dressed like that on certain days of the year. I remember we had to memorize a few sections from a small booklet and recite it to the parents and teachers that came. Once a year maybe or after a number of months, we went to some stupid place by bus where we joined with pioneers from other schools. I don't remember what we did there. I know the food sucked, and it was extremely boring for a 1st grader to be there. I don't have much memories of being a pioneer because its not something we did very often I think. Don't remember any summer camps either. I never realized that it was a communist country. It's one of those "I live here in US now, so forget about the past" kind of deals."