S.A. Pronin, Ph.D.
National State University named after P.F. Lesgaft, St. Petersburg

Keywords: origin of Soviet physical culture movement, journal "Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul’tury", scientific research tradition formation.

The twenties of the twentieth century were a very difficult period for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics established in 1922. The civil war ended (1917-1923). The country started changing to peaceful life and a new socialist society began its establishment. Activities in the field of physical culture and sport were an organic part in this process.

In August 1920 the Supreme Council of Physical Culture of the USSR (VSFK) was established affiliated with the Administration for Universal Military Training (Vsevobuch). However, the Administration for Universal Military Training, which had been organizing the activities on physical education in the country since 1918, was closed in 1923. Therefore, in 1923 the responsibility for the Supreme Council of Physical Culture of the USSR passed to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), and it was renamed the Supreme Council of Physical Culture affiliated with VTsIK.

Physical culture and sports editions were reorganized too. The central press organ of Vsevobuch – the popular science journal “Fizicheskaya kul’tura” – was disbanded in 1923. In 1924 in Moscow VSFK affiliated with VTsIK started issuing a fortnightly illustrated journal “Izvestia fizicheskoy kul’tury”.

At the time they understood in the Soviet Union that physical education and sport require serious systematic scientific substantiation. We cannot say that nothing was done in this sphere. For example, in 1925 “Theory of physical culture” in three parts by G.A. Duperron was published [2]. The book, being far ahead of time, was reprinted twice before the start of the 30-s. However, it was obviously not enough.

To maintain a more or less significant degree of scientific activity in the field of physical education and sport in the country, a press organ was needed that would publish articles of the sphere in question. This was the reason for the supplement to the journal “Izvestia fizicheskoy kul’tury” called “Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul’tury: a collection of scientific works and articles on physical culture”, first published in 1925. In two years six collections were issued in total (four in 1925 and two in 1926). Despite a relatively small circulation at that time (7,000 – 8,000 copies), the collection was a success.

Therefore, since 1927 a periodic press organ “Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul’tury: journal dedicated to scientific development of issues of physical education, physical culture and medical monitoring of physical development” was published in Moscow. In 1927–1929 it was issued 6 times per year and had a circulation of 1,000 copies, and in 1930–1931 there were already 12 issues per year, and the circulation increased to 5,000 copies of 4 publication base sheets each.

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Semashko, the legendary personality, was the first editor-in-chief of the journal. Revolutionary, comrade of V.I. Lenin, he was also a top professional in the field of medicine. At that time N.A. Semashko served as People’s Commissar of Health of the RSFSR, but his management of the journal was not formal. From 1927 till 1930 more than ten of his articles were published in the journal.  

General management of the journal was carried out by the editorial board that consisted of eighteen people, most of whom were heads of various physical culture, sports and health organizations [3]. Only V.V. Gorinevsky and A.N. Krestovnikov had direct relation to scientific activity.

Initially the journal had only three sections: “Original articles”; “Reviews and essays”; “Scientific life”. In 1930 “Official section” was added.

In total from 1925 till 1931 286 works were published in the “Original articles” section, the vast majority of them being of biomedical orientation. Of course, this was largely predetermined by the fact that both N.A. Semashko and M.F. Vladimirsky who replaced him as editor-in-chief in 1930 (he was People’s Commissar of Health of the RSFSR 1930–1934) were health professionals. However, it should be noted that such state of affairs was not a manifestation of their voluntarism as methodology and techniques of scientific research in the field of physical education and sports training was just beginning to emerge. So, figuratively speaking, there was practically no scientific papers relevant to this sphere in the “editor’s portfolio”.

In fact, only three articles published in these years can be directly attributed to the subject of the theory and methodology of physical education: “Discus Throw” [4] – a very detailed description of the technique of the athletic exercise; “Gymnastics of track and field athlete” [5] – a thorough substantiation of the use of various exercises in training athletes of different specialties; “On classification of game material” [1] – one of the first attempts at classification of means of physical education.

But, despite the overwhelming majority of papers related to the problems of medical control, this fact positively influenced the domestic practice of scientific research in the field of physical education and sports training. Later it became a tradition to correlate the results of pedagogical research in the field of physical education with those of medical and biological observations.

In 1932 as a result of the merger of the journals “Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul’tury” and “Fizkul’taktivist” a socio-political and scientific-methodological journal “Fizkul’tura and sotsialisticheskoye stroitel’stvo” was formed. It was the organ of the press of the Supreme Council of Physical Culture of USSR, RSFSR and People’s Commissariat of Health. In 1932 there were 12 issues (№№ 10 and 11 were published as one issue). The magazine was renamed and became known as “Sovetskaya fizkul’tura”. Only one issue was published under this name.

In fact, from 1932 to 1936 there was no organ of the press in the USSR that would contain scientific articles on physical education and sport issues.

References

1. Duperron, G.A. Teoriya fizicheskoy kul’tury: [monografiya]. V 3 t. (Theory of physical culture: [monograph]. In 3 Parts.) / G.A. Duperron. - Leningrad: Vremya, 1925. (In Russian)
2. Ot redaktsii (From the Editor) // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul’tury. – 1930. – № 1. – P. 3–4. (In Russian)
3.  Sergeev, I.P. Metanie diska (Discus Throw) / I.P. Sergeev // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul‘tury. – 1928. – № 1. – P. 67–74; 1928. – № 2. – P. 64–73. (In Russian)
4. Sergeev, I.P. Sportivnaya gimnastika legkoatleta (Gymnastics of track and field athlete) / I.P. Sergeev // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul’tury. – 1928. – № 6. – P. 60–68. (In Russian)
5. Vishnevsky, A.I. K voprosu klassifikatsii igrovogo materiala: (V poryadke obsuzhdeniya) (On classification of game material: (in order of discussion) / A.I. Vishnevskiy // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul’tury. —1931. — № 11/12. — P. 49—53. (In Russian)

Corresponding author: pro-555@mail.ru