Sports movement and implemention of work and defence complex in the USSR

About the author:

Anna A. Stryapikhina,

Abstract:

In this article the author examines the objectives and policies of the Soviet government in the field of physical culture and sports with a major focus upon the development of the sports complex GTO (Ready for Labour and Defence). The author analyzes the evolution of the GTO from 1931 to 1991 and concludes that the original purpose of the GTO was to prepare a Soviet citizen to higher workload in order to increase productivity in a five-year period. Subsequently the GTO was rich in patriotic content, it has become a tool of educational work, imparted skills of basic military training. From the 1970s priority of GTO was to preserve and promote the health, as well as to prevent different diseases. The article provides information about the steps, rules, requirements of the GTO. The author compares the original version of the GTO, approved in 1931, with the changes that were made to the complex in 1932, 1934, 1939 and 1972.

References:

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