{"id":5658,"date":"2023-11-27T15:52:18","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T13:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/almenda.org\/?p=5658"},"modified":"2024-02-19T21:01:59","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T19:01:59","slug":"movement-of-the-first-the-new-pioneers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/almenda.org\/en\/movement-of-the-first-the-new-pioneers\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMovement of the First\u201d \u2013 the new pioneers? The All-Russian movement of children and youth, which is personally managed by Vladimir Putin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into the territory of Ukraine, the actions of Russia regarding the formation of its mobilization resources became obvious and even more active. At the same time, Russia uses all possible methods of influence, disregarding the norms of international law. The main goal in this process is the formation of children\u2019s positive attitude towards the aggressive policy if the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the formation of youth\u2019s consciousness in accordance with the main narratives of Russian propaganda. In addition to Russian youth, the aggressor state involves children from the temporarily occupied territories to the mentioned processes, trying to integrate them into the Russian educational and cultural space. The implementation mechanism is hidden in the youth policy of the state, to which, as well as to other spheres of activity, totalitarian methods of management are applied. All this is a manifestation of the Vladimir Putin\u2019s fanatical idea of restoring the Soviet Union, which is manifested not only in desire to occupy the territories of independent countries, but also in the construction of a model of country management. Calling itself the legal successor of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Russian Federation does not hesitate to use the Soviet experience of youth organizations subordinate to the government. Thus, taking the pioneering and Komsomol movements as a basis, adding modern trends, and wrapping it in a bright wrapper, the Russian Federation created an instrument for educating convenient youth \u2013 the All-Russian public state movement of children and youth \u201cMovements of the First\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cMovement of the First\u201d was created in accordance with the Federal Law \u201cOn Russian movement of children and youth\u201d<\/a>, which was signed by Vladimir Putin on July 14, 2022. It is noteworthy, that the introduction of this draft law in the State Duma was timed to the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of the Soviet Pioneer movement, and the Leader of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov noted that \u201cthe movement has a future only if it inherits the traditions of pioneers and Komsomol\u201d (note. \u2013 author\u2019s translation)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The explanatory note<\/a> to the draft law states that the Law was developed for the state\u2019s participation in the education of children, their professional orientation, the organization of leisure time, as well as for the formation of the younger generation\u2019s worldview based on the traditional Russian spiritual and moral values (note. \u2013 author\u2019s translation)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movement received its current name<\/a> in December 2022, and in April 2023 Vladimir Putin proposed to return the term \u201cPioneers\u201d to the name (ed. \u2013 the name \u201cPioneers\u201d was among the options from which the name of the movement was chosen)<\/em>, noting that unlike the Komsomol (the Communist Union of Youth), the name \u201cMovement of the First\u201d is devoid of any ideological coloring.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Russian Federation pays special attention to the activities of the \u201cMovement of the First\u201d in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine (hereinafter – TOT)<\/em> \u2013 they call Diana<\/a> Krasovska the initiator of the movement \u2013 a seventh-grader from Luhansk (currently lives in the city of Sevastopol), who, during the meeting with Putin, offered to create the \u201cnew pioneers movement\u201d. The first primary branches of the movement were opened in the TOT: in  the International Children\u2019s Center \u201cArtek\u201d<\/a> in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and also in the School No. 1 and in Medical College of the city of Henichesk, Kherson region, the opening of which was personally attended by the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Sergey<\/a> Kravtsov. At the present time, regional branches of the movement have been opened in all TOT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The non-accidental comparisons of Soviet youth organizations that operated in the totalitarian regime are explained by the presence of similar features of totalitarianism in the \u201cMovement of the First\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Etatization and unification of all organizations of children and youth<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The list of founders of the \u201cMovement of the First\u201d includes 26 of the largest organizations of children and youth, in particular such as the Russian Movement of Schoolchildren, which has more than 3 million members; the militarized organization \u201cYoung Army\u201d created by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (All-Russian military-patriotic public movement of children and youth \u201cYUNARMIYA\u201d) \u2013 1,406 million<\/a> members; the \u201cBig Change\u201d, the number of which reaches 5 million members; military-patriotic center \u201cVympel\u201d<\/a> (\u201cPennant\u201d)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actual coercion of entry<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As of July 2023, the \u201cMovement of the First\u201d includes 1,087,250 children, including 22,810 children from the TOT of Ukraine (not including Crimea and the city of Sevastopol). It is planned to enroll 21 796 313<\/a> children in the age of 6-18, which is 96% of children on the Russian Federation in the age of 6-18 (according to the population statistics as of January 1, 2023). And the chairman of the board of the \u201cMovement of the First\u201d Grigory Gurov notes that \u201cThe ideal situation is when, within 3-5 years, all<\/a> children aged from 6 to 18 will become members of the movement\u201d (note \u2013 author\u2019s translation)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total control by the state<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All management is actually carried<\/a> out personally by the president of the Russian Federation – Vladimir Putin, since he is the one who heads the permanent Supervisory Board of the \u201cMovement of the First\u201d, personally approves and changes its composition. The Supervisory board includes, in particular, a number of officials \u2013 the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation \u2013 Sergey Kravtsov, the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation \u2013 Valery Falkov, the Children’s Rights Commissioner for the President of Russia \u2013 Marina Lvova-Belova, the assistants of the President of the Russian Federation \u2013 Maksim Oreshkin and Andrey Fursenko, the Head of the of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs \u2013 Ksenia Razuvayeva, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Policy \u2013 Tatyana Golikova, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation \u2013 Andrey Turchak, the Governor of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug \u2013 Dmitry Artyukhov, the First Deputy Chairman of the Federal Council of the Russian Federation on Education \u2013 Olga Kazakova, the First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia \u2013 Sergey Kiriyenko.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supervisory Board, in turn, forms the Coordination Council, which has the right to make decisions on the creation and liquidation of the regional branches of the Movement, determines the composition of the councils of regional branches of the Movement and appoints their heads, as well as determines the personal composition of the Management Board of the Movement. The Chairman of the Board, who is the individual type of executive body of the Movement and manages the current activities of the movement, is again appointed personally<\/a> by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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State funding<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cMovement of the First\u201d is financed from the budgets of the budget system of the Russian Federation at the expense of subsidies, it has the right to provide subsidies to the regional branches of the Movement, as well as grants in the form of subsidies to legal entities, sole proprietors, natural persons. The budget of the \u201cMovement of the First\u201d is more than 19<\/a> billion Russian Rubles, which is equal to more than 206 million US dollars, and is approximately equal to the defense<\/a> budgets of such countries as Latvia, Georgia, Luxembourg (note – \u00a0military expenses of the countries as of 2015 were taken in account).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Militaristic orientation<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of directions of the \u201cMovement of the First\u201d activities is \u201cpatriotism and historical memory\u00a0 \u201cServe the Fatherland\u201d<\/a>, the idea of which is: \u201cParticipants of the Movement are united with the Fatherland (in given context \u2013 the Russian Federation)<\/em> by one destiny. Each of them is in one\u2019s own place, preparing oneself for serving the Russian Federation and for responsibility for its future\u201d (note \u2013 author\u2019s translation)<\/em>. As a part of this direction, support is provided to servicemen of the Russian Federation who are fighting in the territory of Ukraine, children get involved in crafting trench candles, weaving camouflage nets, they are taught to construct and operate drones, military-patriotic games are held for them. As a part of mentoring programs, meetings of children with participants of the so-called Special Military Operation are systematically held, during which participation of servicemen in the war against Ukraine is glorified and heroized, which itself de-facto is propaganda work on creating a mobilization reserve. By spreading such practice on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the Russian Federation violates the IV Geneva Convention, which prohibits propaganda or pressure, aimed at the voluntary entry into the armed forces of the occupier state, and also includes the forced service in such armed forces in the list of serious violations (grave breaches) of Geneva Convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Influence on the consciousness of the young generation<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The<\/a> program of educational work of the \u201cMovement of the First\u201d was developed to organize the educational work in primary, local and regional branches of the Movement, and in the activities of collective members of the Movement. Among the results of its implementation, the following ones are planned:<\/p>\n\n\n\n