Home/ Search/ 2026/ Issue 1 (90)

Issue 1 (90)

THE 1932 ALL-UNION SPARTAKIAD OF TRADE UNIONS: CREATING THE SOVIET DESIGN OF SPORTS COMPETITIONS
Year	2026	Number	1 (90)
Pages	105-113	Type	scientific article
UDC	94(47)“1932“	BBK	63.3(2)61
Authors	Ulyanova Svetlana B. Sidorchuk Ilya V. Fisheva Anastasia A.	Topic	SPORT IN THE USSR
Summary	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 The source base of the work was mainly made up of unpublished materials from the Central Bureau of Physical Culture of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, the central and regional trade union committees that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.
Keywords	Spartakiad, trade union, design of sports competitions, sports, sports infrastructure, physical culture, economics of sports
References	Barysheva E. V. [“Sportization” of the Country in the 1920s–1930s]. Istoriya i arkhivy [History and Archives], 2024, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 60–75. DOI: 10.28995/2658-6541-2024-6-4-60-75 (in Russ.). Csató L. Optimal Tournament Design: Lessons from the Men’s Handball Champions League. Journal of Sports Economics, 2020, vol. 21, no. 8, pp. 848–868. DOI: 10.1177/1527002520944442 (in English). Fel’dman M. A. [Implementation of an Industrial Project during the First Five-Year Plan: Questions of Historiography]. Rossiya i sovremennyj mir [Russia and the Contemporary World], 2022, no. 2, pp. 158–180. (in Russ.). Filippov A. N. [The International Contacts of Soviet Sports in 1920-ies–1930-ies: Confrontation between the Red and Lucerne Sportive Internationals] Vestnik Kostromskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta imeni N. A. Nekrasova [Vestnik of Nekrasov Kostroma State University], 2012, no. 1, pp. 338–341. (in Russ.). Glushin A. M. [Formation of Soviet Sports Diplomacy: Structures and Practices]. Rossiiskaia istoriia [Russian History], 2023, no. 5, pp. 139–153. DOI: 10.28995/2658-6541-2024-6-4-60-75 (in Russ.). Kadymov A. A. [History of the Development of Physical Culture and Sports in the 1920s–1940s in Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]. Vestnik Kostromskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta imeni N. A. Nekrasova [Vestnik of Nekrasov Kostroma State University], 2016, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 82–85. (in Russ.). Khorosheva A. [The “Proletarian” Spartakiada 1928 and the “Bourgeois” Olympic Movement]. Svobodnaya mysl’ [Free Thought], 2018, no. 2 (1668), pp. 5–22. (in Russ.). Khorosheva A. V. [Activities of Red Sport International in Late 1920s — Early 1930s]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Ser. 8: Istoriya [Moscow State University Bulletin. Series 8: History], 2018, no. 5, pp. 86–105. (in Russ.). Kopysov N. B. [Soviet Policy on “High-Performance Sports” in the 1920s and 1930s]. Vestnik RGGU. Politologiya. Istoriya. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya [RSUH/RGGU Bulletin. Political Science. History. International Relations Series], 2024, no. 1, pp. 102–116. DOI: 10.28995/2073-6339-2024-1-102-116 (in Russ.). Miroshnichenko M. I., Telyuk K. R. [Ural Sportswomen in Ural-Kuzbas Sports Contest of 1932]. Istoricheskie, filosofskie, politicheskie i yuridicheskie nauki, kul’turologiya i iskusstvovedenie. Voprosy teorii i praktiki [Historical, Philosophical, Political and Law Sciences, Culturology and Stady of Art. Issues of Theory and Practice], 2014, no. 3–1 (41), pp. 101–104. (in Russ.). Rostovskiy V. Yu. [“If Tomorrow the War...”. To the Question about the Paramilitary Nature of Physical Education in the USSR (20–30s)]. Gumanitarnye nauki v XXI veke: nauchnyy internet-zhurnal [Humanities in the 21st Century: Scientific Online Journal], 2016, no. 7, pp. 160–171. (in Russ.). Scarf P. The Optimal Design of Sporting Contests. Salford Business School Working Paper Series. Paper, 2006, no. 320/06, pp. 1–17. (in English). Solodovnik E. M. [Formation and Development of the Physical Culture and Sports Movement in Karelia in the 1930s]. Perspektivy nauki [Science Prospects], 2024, no.1(172), pp. 229–232. (in Russ.). Szymanski S. The Economic Design of Sporting Contests. Journal of Economic Literature, 2003, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 1137–1187. (in English).
Download in PDF