Documents and Excerpts:
The All-Union Lenin Pioneer Organisation
Source: Nigel Grant, Soviet Education, Pelican, Middlesex, 1968.
The Pioneers are sometimes compared to the Scouts, an independent, somewhat militaristic youth organisation that operates in most western countries. As such, many would find it difficult to view the Pioneers as integrally connected to the totalitarian Soviet State apparatus. However, it must be taken into account that Pioneer membership was continuous with Komsomol and Communist Party membership in later life, rendering comparisons with the independent Scouts invalid. A child who failed to live up to expectations as a good (loyal) Pioneer could suffer lasting damage to his career prospects. Like all soviet institutions, although the Lenin Pioneers bears a conscious or unconscious resemblance to a western cultural institution, it constituted one cog in an omnipresent system of conformity and political control.


Pioneers' Promise

I, a young pioneer of the Soviet Union, in the presence of my comrades solemnly promise to love my Soviet Motherland passionately, and to live, learn and struggle as the great Lenin bade us and as the Communist Party teaches us.

Pioneers' Motto

Vsegda gotov
Always ready.

Pioneer Rules
  1. A Pioneer loves his motherland and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
  2. A Pioneer prepares himself to enter the Komsomol organisation.
  3. A Pioneer honours the memory of those who gave their lives in the struggle for freedom and for the prosperity of the Soviet Motherland.
  4. A Pioneer is friendly to the children of all countries.
  5. A Pioneer learns well.
  6. A Pioneer is polite and well disciplined.
  7. A Pioneer loves labour and is careful of public property.
  8. A Pioneer is a good comrade: he cares for the young and helps the old.
  9. A Pioneer is brave and unafraid of difficulties.
  10. A Pioneer is honourable and values the honour of his detachment.
  11. A Pioneer hardens himself, does physical exercises every day, and loves nature.

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