Origin and Development of the State All-Union Publishing House “Fizkultura i Sport” in the 1930s

Download paper
Konstantin A. Alexeev

Associate Professor at the Chair of the History of Journalism, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, St.-Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia; ORCID 0000-0001-8895-5992

e-mail: cheslav83@gmail.com

Section: History of Journalism

The article discusses one of the key stages in the formation of the all-Union state publishing house Physical Culture and Sport (or Physical Culture and Tourism, as it was called for most of the 1930s), which played a crucial role in creating the original system of Soviet physical education. The reasons and circumstances of the publishing house under study joining the Association of State Book and Magazine Publishing Houses of RSFSR (OGIZ) in 1931, as well as leaving it in 1938, are investigated. All transformations were carried out with the aim of systematic development and improvement of the publishing house, which had to meet the growing needs of actively developing Soviet physical culture. Based on a comparative analysis of data from archival documents contained in the State Archives of the Russian Federation and publications of central periodicals on physical culture and sports, the author of the article proposes that, despite the steady demand for printed materials on physical culture and sports, the structural transformations that the publishing house experienced were not able to solve its chronic problems throughout the decade. Among these constant problems were, first of all, dependence on the supply of paper, a lack of their own printing house and a shortage of qualified editorial personnel. Despite the reforms undertaken by the governing agencies, activities under centralized planning did not bring the required results: the volume and circulation of the sports press remained at the level of 1930 and lagged noticeably behind the growth of sports and sports movement in the USSR.

Keywords: physical culture, sports, sports periodicals, publishing, Physical Culture and Sport publishing house
DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.2.2023.91124

References:

Alekseev K. A. (2021) Deyatel’nost’ izdatel’stva “Fizkul’tura i sport” v gody Velikoy Otechestvennoy voyny [Activities of the Physical Culture and Sport publishing house during the Great Patriotic War]. Istoriya otechestvennykh SMI. Nauchnyi zhurnal 1 (6): 63–76. (In Russian)

Asaulov V. F. (1989) Pechat’ kak effektivnoye sredstvo formirovaniya sovetskoy sistemy fizicheskogo vospitaniya naroda: 1917–1925: dis. ... kand. ist. nauk. [The Press as an Effective Tool for Shaping the Soviet System of People’s Physical Education: 1917–1925. PhD hist. sci. diss.] Kiev. (In Russian)

Bagaev M. V. (2015) Dinamika kolichestva sportivnykh zhurnalov v Sovetskoy Rossii – SSSR do nachala Velikoy Otechestvennoy voyny (1918–1941) [Quantitative Dynamics of Sports Magazines in Soviet Russia – the USSR before the Great Patriotic War (1918–1941)]. Uchenyie zapiski universiteta imeni P. F. Lesgafta 12 (130): 33–36. (In Russian)

Dinnershtein E. A., Gol’tseva E. A. (1978) Izdatel’skoe delo v SSSR (1923– 1931). Sb. dokumentov i materialov [The Publishing Business in the USSR (1923–1931). A collection of documents and materials]. Moscow. (In Russian)

Khorosheva A. V. (2013) Fizicheskaya kul’tura i sport v RSFSR i SSSR v 1918–1928 gg. i mezhdunarodnoye sportivnoye dvizheniye [Physical Culture and Sport in RSFSR and the USSR in 1918-1928 and the International Sports Movement]. Klio 8 (80): 45–51. (In Russian)

Khorosheva A. V. (2014) Sovetskaya sportivnaya periodika (1917–1929) [Soviet Sports Periodicals (1917–1929)]. Istoriya otechestvennykh SMI 1 (1): 156– 167. (In Russian)

Khorosheva A. V. (2018) Vysshiy sovet fizicheskoy kul’tury (1920–1936): ot koordinatsii k zhestkomu kontrolyu [Supreme Soviet of Physical Culture (1920– 1936): from Coordination to Strict Control]. In Uroki Oktyabrya i praktiki sovetskoy sistemy (19201950-e gody). Materialy X mezhdunarodnoy nauchnoy koferentsii [October Lessons and the Soviet System’s Practices (the 1920s – the 1950s)]. Moscow. Pp. 848–857. (In Russian)

Kukushkin G. I. (ed.) (1961) Entsiklopedicheskiy slovar’ po fizicheskoy kul’ture i sportu. T. 2. [Encyclopedic Dictionary on Physical Culture and Sports. Vol. 2]. Moscow: Fizkul’tura i sport Publ. (In Russian)

Nurdygin E. A., Koroleva L. A., Kinal’ A. V. (2014) Sportivnaya politika v SSSR: iz istorii sportivnykh zhurnalov [Sports Policies in the USSR: from the History of Sports Magazines]. Politika, gosudarstvo i parvo 11 (35): 92–97. (In Russian)

Orlov S. I. (1974) Zarozhdenie i stanovlenie sovetskoy sportivnoy zhurnalistiki (k voprosu o tipologii izdaniy): dis. ... kand. ist. nauk. [Origin and Rise of Soviet Sports Journalism (towards the typology of publications): PhD hist. sci. diss.] Moscow. (In Russian)

Pronin S. A. (2015 a) Vtoroe rozhdenie zhurnala “Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul’tury” (1937–1941 gg.) [The Second Birth of the Teoriya i Praktika Fizicheskoy Kultury magazine (1937–1941)]. Teoriya i Praktika Fizicheskoy Kul’tury 2: 6–7. (In Russian)

Pronin S. A. (2015 b) Zarozhdenie zhurnala “Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul’tury” (1925–1931 gg.) [Origin of the Teoriya i Praktika Fizicheskoy Kultury magazine (1925–1931)]. Teoriya i Praktika Fizicheskoy Kul’tury 1: 12–13. (In Russian)

Sazonova Yu. A. (2014) Sportivnaya pressa USSR 1920–1930-kh gg.: tipologiya, periodizatsiya, osobennosti razvitiya, istoriko-funktsional’nyi aspect [The Sports Press of the Ukrainian SSR of the 1920s-1930s: Typology, Periodization, Development Characteristics and the Historical-Functional Aspect]. Vestn. Mosk. un-ta. Ser. 10: Zhurnalistika 3: 119–134. (In Russian)

Semibratskiy B. A. (1975) Sportivnaya pressa Ukrainy v bor’be za vypolnenie partiynykh resheniy o dal’neyshem razvitii fizicheskoy kul’tury i sporta (19661972 gg.): dis. ... kand. ist. nauk. [The Ukrainian Sports Press Fighting for the Implementation of Party Decisions on Further Development of Physical Culture and Sports (1966–1972): PhD hist. sci. diss.] Minsk. (In Russian)

Sikorskiy N. M. (1981) Knigovedenie: Entsiklopedicheskiy slovar’ [Bibliology: Encyclopedic Dictionary]. Moscow: Sovetskaya entsiklopediya. (In Russian)

Sunik A. B. (2005) “Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul’tury”: pervoe desyatiletie [Theory and Practice of Physical Culture: the First Decade]. Teoriya i Praktika Fizicheskoy Kul’tury 5: 4–10. (In Russian)

Sunik A. B. (2010) Ocherki otechestvennoy istoriografii istorii fizicheskoy kul’tury i sporta [Essays in Domestic Historiography of History of Physical Culture and Sport]. Moscow. (In Russian)

Tulenkov D. A. (2005) Lev Kassil’ i sovetskaya sportivnaya publitsistika 1920–1930-h gg.: dis. ... kand. filol. nauk. [Leo Kassil and Soviet Sports Journalism of the 1920s–1930s: PhD philol. sci. diss.] Saratov. (In Russian)

Tulupov V. V. (2018) “Krasnyi sport” kak proobraz massovogo sportivnogo izdaniya [Krasny Sport as a Prototype of a Mass Sports Publication]. In Donetskie chteniya 2018: obrazovanie, nauka, innovatsii, kul’tura i vyzovy sovremennosti. Materialy III Mezhdunarodnoy nauchnoy konferentsii [Donetsk Readings 2018: Education, Science, Innovations, Culture and Challenges of Modernity. Proceedings of the 3d International Scientific Conference]. Donetsk. Pp. 233–235. (In Russian)

Tulupov V. V. (2020) “Izvestiya fizicheskoy kul’tury” kak proobraz sportivnogo zhurnala [Izvestiya Fizicheskoy Kultury as a Prototype of a Sports Magazine]. Vestn. Voronezh. gos. un-ta. Ser.: Filologiya. Zhurnalistika 1: 138–140. (In Russian)


To cite this article: Alekseev K.A. (2023) Vozniknovenie i razvitie gosudarstvennogo vsesoyuznogo izdatel'stva «Fizkul'tura i sport» v 1930-e gg. [Origin and Development of the State All-Union Publishing House “Fizkultura i Sport” in the 1930s]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika 2: 91–124. DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.2.2023.91124