Ideological, educational and propaganda aspects of the 4th National Youth Spartakiad in 1975 in Bialystok

Abstract

During the communist Polish People’s Republic period, National Youth Spartakiads ranked among the biggest sporting events in the country. The competitions, in which young people participated, provided an ideal environment for exerting ideological and educational influence on them. This influence should be understood as actions taken by the state authorities aimed at shaping the awareness of the indicated social group and adopting by the members of this group the attitudes desired from the perspective of the party and state authorities of the People’s Republic of Poland. The communist authorities engaged co-operating socialist youth organisations to fulfil that task. The aim of this paper is to discuss the activities of youth organisations in terms of their ideological and educational impact during a major sporting event such as the 4th National Youth Spartakiad in 1975, using the example of the activities of youth organizations in the Białostockie, Łomżyńskie and Suwalskie Voivodships. The sources were archival materials found in the resources of the Archive of New Files in Warsaw and the State Archive in Białystok, as well as press materials published in the local newspaper “Gazeta Współczesna”. The article discusses the participation of youth organisations in the promotion of physical culture in the Polish People’s Republic, their propaganda activities and the methods of ideological and educational agitation adopted by these organisations during the 4th National Youth Spartakiad. The area of interest also included the use of the ideals of the Olympic movement to shape the attitudes of young people desired by the communist authorities.