The 1932 All-Union Spartakiad of Trade Unions

Big-time sports necessarily implies the organization of large and expensive competitions, the issues of competent creative design of which are currently under the close attention of specialists studying the economics of sports. For the early Soviet era, the commercial component receded into the background, giving way to the demands of agitation and demonstration of the beauty and achievements of Soviet society, made possible thanks to the new government. Large-scale sports festivals began to be organized regularly from the late 1920s, and by the mid-1930s we can talk about developing their unique style. The present study is devoted to the identification and analysis of the components that made up the original design of Soviet sports competitions in the 1930s and, mainly, the economic aspects of their organization and holding. It focuses on the All-Union Spartakiad of Trade Unions, held in Leningrad in 1932. The Spartakiad was positioned as a dress rehearsal for a planned exemplary event, the 1933 Spartakiad in Moscow. The source base of the work was mainly made up of unpublished materials from the Central Bureau of Physical Culture of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, the central and regional trade union committees that participated in the Spartakiad, and the Leningrad Regional Council of Trade Unions, dedicated to its organization, conduct, and results. It is concluded that along with the overall positive assessment of the level of the games, there was a whole range of shortcomings that required prompt correction. In particular, problems arose with planning, lack of time for preparation, attracting spectators to most competitions, a suboptimal system of incentives for athletes, and insufficient media coverage. At the same time, the development of an ideal competition design forced to look for answers to questions that are still relevant today: the distribution of teams, promptness of financing provision, the optimal number of participants, possible quotas, for example, for national minorities. The situation was significantly corrected by the desire to militarize the sports movement, introduce a political and propaganda component, and focus on the development of those competitions that were recognized as useful, but were not necessarily popular among athletes and public

Beauty · Soviet union · Trade union · Doping in Sports · Physical education and sports games research · Sports, Gender, and Society