“Oh How I Would Like to Fly and Become a Hero of the Stratosphere…” Paramilitarism as an Instrument of the Soviet Youth Heroization in 1930s

Abstract. The article describes the phenomenon of the Soviet youth heroization during the 1930s. Using archived documents, discovered in State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) and Russian State Archive of the Socio-Political History (RGASPI) and introduced to the scientific circulation for the first time, the author focuses on the creation of the military sport conditions which allowed youth heroization to occur on the massive scale. As a case example of “making of heroes,” the author used paramilitaristic organization Voluntary Society for Support of Defense, Aviation and Chemical Industries (OSOAVIAKHIM) which closely cooperated and functioned under the Central Committee of All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (CK VLKSM). Structurally the article consists of two parts. The first part contains the short review of the evolution of the paramilitaristic activity in the USSR during the 1920s–1930s and also statistical data allowing to estimate the main direction and scale of the military sport training of the Soviet youth. The second part of the article analyzes the main components of the paramilitarism as a “nutritional medium” for the emergence of the young heroes. Some of the main components of this specific medium are the formation of the military-minded youth as a direct result of the close contact with weapons and military equipment, lethal risks for life and health, “heroical” discus and semiotics, the formation of the Komsomol heroes archetype, firstly paratroopers. In conclusion: highly probable and quickest opportunity to join the host of the Soviet heroes by setting the military sport record was very appealing to the huge masses of young boys and girls.

Keywords: USSR, heroes, heroization, youth, OSOAVIAKHIM, Komsomol, paramilitarism, militancy, military sport.