85 years ago, the complex "Ready for Labor and Defense of the USSR" was approved
Nobody will say, even after making a reservation that there was no sport in the USSR. He was our legendary and well-deserved sport, to which we were all happy witnesses. And for the stages that were not caught due to age, we have historical - stubborn things - facts: already in 1918, the Institute of Physical Education was created in Moscow. In 1919, a general education congress dedicated to physical culture was held. In 1922 and 1925, the publication of the journals "Physical culture" and "Theory and practice of physical culture" began, respectively. Further more…
The young Soviet state needed healthy people to strengthen its positions in the international arena and steadily move towards the victory of communism. Strong not only ideologically, but also in body; strong, hardy and well prepared for the upcoming trials, builders, warriors, enthusiasts in all areas of life. This was clearly understood by the leaders of the country, whose youth went into a revolutionary struggle that did not contribute to sports, but, on the contrary, considerably undermined health. Therefore, the Central Committee of the Komsomol in May 1930, through the mouth of the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, complaining about the inconsistency of the level of physical training of citizens with the requirements of the moment, proposed to introduce special standards that would become an indicator of the readiness of the population of the USSR for creation, defense and, possibly, attack. It was also proposed to mark everyone who passed these standards with an honorary award - a badge with the inscription "Ready for work and defense." The appeal, as expected, met with a wide response. Less than a year later, the All-Union Council of Physical Culture under the Central Executive Committee of the USSR approved the "Ready for Labor and Defense" complex on March 11, 1931. The author of the project, approved "at the top", was a young Muscovite, an inveterate sportsman Ivan Osipov.
Seven years later, the famous Soviet poet Samuil Marshak will write in a red line: "The TRP sign on his chest." The collision consisted in the fact that the hero of the poem needed to be urgently found, and the author's irony was understandable to anyone - such a "special omen" - the sign of the TRP - had by that time a fair part of the population. But for those who cannot read between the lines, Marshak clarified: “There are many of the same icons in the capital. Everyone is ready for labor-defense."
Initially, there were two badges: gold and silver, awarded based on the results of meeting the norms. And those who fulfilled the standards for several years were awarded the Honorary TRP Badge. Marshal Voroshilov christened the TRP badge the order of physical culture, it was prestigious to wear it. As well as other badges certifying physical perfection and possession of military skills of their owner. At that time, they were not showing off their jewelry (and there weren't any special ones) and underwear, but they were proud of their good tone and well-being, their labor achievements and the ability to defend the Motherland at the right time.
The winner of the number 1 badge was the multiple champion of Russia and the RSFSR, speed skater-record holder Yakov Melnikov. Many heroes of the 30s also became heroes of sports. Pilots Anatoly Lyapidevsky and Marina Chechneva, later Heroes of the Soviet Union, were among the first to pass the TRP standards; in his spare time from shock work - miner Alexei Stakhanov, blacksmith Alexander Busygin, tractor operator Pasha Angelina, writer Arkady Gaidar, composer Vasily Soloviev-Sedoy, ballerina Galina Ulanova, outstanding scientists - mathematician Andrei Kolmogorov and pediatrician Georgy Speransky. TRP starts were opened for the big sport of athletes Maria Shamanova and the Znamensky brothers. Ordinary workers of the Hammer and Sickle plant, Georgy and Seraphim, showed such speed in the kilometer race that the judges, disbelieving, demanded that they run again. On account of the Znamenskys - 24 records of the USSR.
In 1932, there were already 465 thousand TRP laureates, and by 1935 more than a million. The mint, stamping badges, could no longer cope with orders, transferring them to related enterprises … Looking far ahead: by 1976, more than 220 million Soviet citizens had fulfilled the TRP standards.
The TRP complex had predecessors. At the dawn of its existence, the world's first state of workers and peasants was in a perilous ring of enemies, and an endless civil war broke out inside. To survive in this environment, strong and skillful fighters were required, but they still had to be prepared. Such training was based on mass physical education with a significant bias in teaching military skills. One of the first decrees of the Soviet government was "On compulsory training in military affairs," according to which universal military training of workers (vsevobuch) was introduced. Since April 1918, all Soviet citizens from 18 to 40 years old began to study military affairs at their place of work. In 1920, they were embraced by the creation of a military scientific society, the chairman of which was the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs Mikhail Frunze. Further, like mushrooms after rain, corresponding societies appear: friends of the air fleet, friends of the chemical defense and chemical industry, "Red Sports International" … Later, the famous OSOAVIAKHIM, numbering more than two million people, grew out of them. It is noteworthy that Frunze, formulating the need for such organizations, at the first meeting of the UPO in May 1925 uttered prophetic words: will require the exertion of all the forces and means of the people, and that, therefore, comprehensive preparation is needed for it in peacetime. " Unfortunately, these words materialize in 1941.
The cultivation of the TRP complex in the Soviet Union was carried out not through force, as in the time the introduction of potatoes in Russia, but with genuine enthusiasm. Self-improvement through physical education and sports found a positive response among the masses and individuals. Writer Gorky and Academician Pavlov warmly supported the idea of general physical training. As for the "popular masses" - here is just one, but an unprecedented example: in February 1932, only in Leningrad, 140 thousand people got on skis and passed the TRP standards. Of course, the "fight for the TRP" was not without propaganda conversations, meetings, leaflets, slogans, victory reports, photographs in central newspapers, demonstration performances, rolling banners and boards of honor. But without this, state affairs cannot be done - such is the tradition born of the revolution in the Soviet and post-Soviet space.
It is interesting that the TRP movement was also seriously considered as an alternative to the Olympic one, since in the "early" USSR, tired of political struggle and wars, until 1952 the Olympic Games were considered a bourgeois relic.
Many of our contemporaries associate the delivery of the TRP norms with running 30 meters and throwing a tennis ball behind the school, and some, looking up from the TV, will say: “Why pathos. Passing the TRP is not a question! In fact, everything is not so simple, and it was not for nothing that those who received the “physical culture order” were so proud of it. The first TRP complex consisted of only one stage, but today, to put it mildly, it is breathtaking from the 15 standards included in it. In addition to the familiar running, jumping, throwing and pulling up, the standards included skiing and cycling, rowing one kilometer, shooting, riding, lifting a 32 kilogram cartridge box and carrying it 50 meters, running one kilometer in a gas mask, and control tractor, motorcycle and car.
In 1932, the second stage of the TRP appeared, more complex. To the main complex were added diving and skiing from a springboard, overcoming a military town … Only those who trained systematically could "swing" to the second stage. Here the first to pass all the standards of 10 students of the Academy. Frunze.
In 1934, the BGTO complex appeared, designed for schoolchildren.
Skeptics, and just some smart citizens, might have argued that such a concern of the Soviet government about the physical form of the people was caused only by the desire to have and use it as a kind of useful resource for war and even peacetime. However, no one disputes that health is better than ill health. Everyone who loves physical education will attest that there is really a healthy mind in a healthy body. Anyone who strives to improve physically, and the rest of the aspirations become smoother path. Another historical fact: Soviet people withstood the tests of the war period largely due to the fact that millions of yesterday's sports heroes rose to defend their Fatherland, not accidentally becoming heroes of the front and rear, endured a monstrous war on their shoulders and won.
When you look at old posters and photographs depicting Soviet athletes, strong, confident and optimistic, it seems that these are people from a completely different world, that they are almost demigods, free and beautiful …
Throughout its history, the TRP complex has undergone several changes in accordance with the requirements of the time. In 1939, the military-applied component was strengthened. The Cold War supplemented the complex with standards for protection against a nuclear strike. In 1972, the requirements changed for the last time - taking into account a significant decrease in the motor activity of "the entire Soviet people." Here it was not so much about sports achievements as about the fact that the population of the superpower is not so stunted. Sadly, in the relatively recent 2004, it was for these control meters, seconds, etc. our schoolchildren passed the TRP standards as an experiment. Only nine percent of six thousand boys and girls have obeyed the standards. Neither computer games, nor energy drinks, nor nightclubs helped.
In March 2014, Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the revival of the TRP. The delivery of standards will cover 11 age groups (from 6 to 70 years old). The prestigious USSR badges will also return, and as a tribute to traditions - the former name of the complex: "Ready for work and defense!" Then, in 1931, the English "Times" wrote: "The Russians have a new secret weapon called the TRP." Still, they did not have and do not have such a complex, they have complexes of a different order. But that's their problem. And our health is priceless.
