Pioneer Movement

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Image:Buildings of the Young Pioneer camp Artek.jpg A pioneer movement is an organization for children operated by a communist party. Typically children enter into the organization in elementary school and continue until adolescence. The adolescents then typically joined Komsomol or a similar organization. Prior to the 1990s there was a wide cooperation between pioneer and similar movements of about 30 countries, coordinated by the international organization, International Committee of Children's and Adolescents' Movements (French: Comité international des mouvements d'enfants et d'adolescents, CIMEA), founded in 1958, with headquarters in Budapest.

In most communist countries, membership of the pioneer movement is officially optional. Many features of the pioneer movement are reminiscent of the Scout movement. For example, the two movements share some principles like preparedness and promotion of sports and outdoor skills. It also includes teaching of communist principles. Opponents of Communist states claim that this is a form of indoctrination. This may be accurate, but it is not dissimilar to the patriotism encouraged by the Scouts.

A member of the movement is known as a pioneer and a scarf, typically red but sometimes light blue, is the traditional item of clothing worn by a pioneer. The pioneer organization is often named after a famous party member that is considered a suitable role model for young communists. In the USSR it was Lenin, in East Germany, it was Ernst Thälmann. The Thälmann pioneers were taught the slogan "We are Ernst Thälmann pioneers. We wear our red scarf with pride."

1 Countries with Pioneer Movements
- 1.1 Yugoslavia
2 See also
3 External links

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Countries with Pioneer Movements

The Pioneer Movement currently exists in:

It used to exist in the Soviet Union (as the Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union) and Eastern Europe, Older children may continue in other communist organizations, but that would typically be done only by a limited number of people who might also be destined for elite position in the communist society.

The communist parties in Russia and other countries continue to run a pioneer organization, but membership tends to be quite limited.

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Yugoslavia

In Yugoslavia, Pioneers, or Pioniri, wore red scarves as well as navy blue hats called Titovka. These hats were sometimes white, and bore a red star on the front. A white shirt was often worn with the Pionir scarf (marama) and the Titovka, although this varied depending on which part of Yugoslavia the particular Pionir was from. Boys often wore navy blue shorts or pants, and girls wore skirts in the same colour, along with white stockings and black shoes. On special occasions, such as a visit from Tito himself, Pioniri sometimes wore traditional costumes from their native region of Yugoslavia.

The Yugoslav Pionir pledge, in Serbo-Croatian:

Danas, kada postajem Pionir,

dajem casnu Pionirsku rec -

da cu marljivo uciti i raditi,

i biti dobar drug.

Da cu voleti nasu samoupravnu domovinu SFRJ,

da cu razvijati bratstvo i jedinstvo

i ideje za koje se borio drug Tito.

Da cu ceniti sve ljude sveta koji zele slobodu i mir!

In English:

Today, as I become a Pioneer,

I give my [honourable Pioneer's] word -

That I will study and work tirelessly,

and be a good friend [the word "comrade" is used].

That I will love our independent homeland SFRY.

That I will spread brotherhood and unity

and the principles for which comrade Tito fought.

And that I will value all peoples of the world who respect freedom and peace!

Across the former-Yugoslav territory (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia), "Yu-Nostalgia" continues to spread among people young and old. Many associate the prosperity and peace which they enjoyed as citizens of Yugoslavia with their days as Pioniri, and as a result, it is not uncommon to hear people refer to themselves as "Titov(a) Pionir(ka)", meaning "Tito's Pioneer". These types of self-proclamations are rather common on online communities frequented by Yugoslavs both in the ex-Yugoslav republics and abroad.

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