The "Zarnitsa" Game as a Phenomenon of Soviet Culture of the 1960-80s

This study is devoted to elucidating the role of the military-sports game culture of Soviet young people in the youth education system in the USSR using the example of “Zarnitsa” - one of the most ambitious and culturally significant game phenomena in Soviet pedagogy. The subject of the research is military sports games organized in the manner of “Zarnitsa” as a cultural phenomenon of Soviet society. The object of the study is a set of sources that reflects the origin and functioning of the “Zarnitsa” in the USSR in the 60-80s of the twentieth century. Among them are paperwork, periodicals, feature films and documentaries and literature on the subject of scientific research of contemporaries. The work consists of three chapters examining the “Zarnitsa” in three different aspects: the cultural context of the appearance, the features of organization and conduct, public perception and the ways of its formation. The first chapter is dedicated to identifying the elements of culture that preceded the appearance of the “Zarnitsa” and were sources of game and pedagogical techniques for its creation, as well as the ideological basis. In the second chapter, the system of three different types of “Zarnits” is recreated: in schools, pioneer camps and at the level of all-Union competitions. The goals and techniques for achieving them are being refined. The third chapter examines the cultural influence of Zarnits on Soviet society and changes in the perception of the game by the latter.