Children’s independent activity of the Soviet Union in 1920-1930-ies: through the pages of the magazine "Zateinik” ("Inventor")

The magazine Zateinik (“Inventor”) came out in 1929-1941 years. Its direct purpose was to promote the organization of children’s leisure and the development of children’s creative performances. The kids loved this magazine, teachers and leaders appreciated it. The journal content was very diverse. There were games, scenarios of holidays, carnivals, demonstrations and debates, songs with music, dance lessons and lessons of magic tricks, plays, short stories, poems for recitation, riddles, charades, crossword puzzles, fun pictures, descriptions of handicrafts and much more. The development of all spheres of Soviet culture of childhood can be traced through the journal issues.

The independent activity was a good way out of a difficult situation with the organization of children’s leisure. The school and the family have loosened control over out-of-school life of students, and professional institutions of culture for children (children’s theatres, book printing, radio and cinema) were in need of significant resources and appropriate employees. Zateinik offered many interesting activities for boys and girls, to satisfy any interests and inclinations, it supported literature, theatre, radio and cinema. Some materials have published before the October revolution. Most materials were created by contemporary authors, who actively created the world of Soviet childhood – cheerful-upbeat, energetic-active, creative-inventive and, of course, Patriotic. The magazine was published under the auspices of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, what was the key to the unity of the childhood and youth cultures. Zateinik has attracted such authors as V. Mayakovsky, L. Kassil, S. Marshak, A. Barto, A. Zharov and others. Creative way for young artists, future classics of Soviet children’s literature started here. For example, Nikolay Nosov published his first short story “Zateiniki” (“The Entertainer”, 1938), and he recalled the magazine in the story “Victor Maleev in school and at home” (1951). Zateinik did a lot of propaganda: it told the children about the five-year plan, claimed a new school – Polytechnic, denounced the Nazis and the bourgeois world.