Spartakiad initially was the name of an international sports event which ceased to take place after 1937. Later Spartakiads were organized as national sport events of the Eastern bloc countries.

Background[link]

The Soviet Union attempted to use to both oppose and supplement the Olympics.^[1] (In Russian, there is a certain parallelism in the names: "Spartakiada" and "Olimpiada".) The name, derived from the name of the slave rebel leader, Spartacus,^[2] was supposed to symbolize proletarian internationalism because Spartacus' revolt united slaves from diverse ethnic backgrounds within the Roman Empire. As a Classical figure, Spartacus also stood directly in contrast to the aristocratic nature of the Ancient Olympic Games on which the modern "capitalist" Olympics were, according to the Soviet hierarchy, supposedly based. The first Winter Spartakiad was held in February 1928 in Oslo, and the first Summer Spartakiad was held in August 1928 in Moscow.

List of Spartakiads[link]

Summer

• 1928 - Moscow
• 1931 - Berlin
• 1935 - Moscow (cancelled)
• 1937 - Antwerp

Winter

• 1928 - Oslo

National events[link]

Soviet Union[link]

5th Winter Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR on the 1982 USSR postage stamp block

In 1952 the Soviet Union decided to join the Olympic movement, and international Spartakiads ceased. However the term persisted for internal sports events in the Soviet Union of different levels, from local up to the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR (Спартакиада народов СССР, Spartakiada narodov SSSR^[3]). The latter event was held twice in four years: Winter Spartakiad and Summer Spartakiad, with international participation.

The first Soviet Spartakiad was held in 1956. These events were of huge importance for the Soviet sports. Everyone could participate in them - from ordinary people to top-level athletes. The number of participants, for example, in the 6th Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, was 90 million people (twice the number of athletes in the USSR in that time), including 8,300 Masters of Sports of the USSR. And in the 3rd Winter Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR took part 20 million people, including some 1,000 Masters of Sports of the USSR.^[2] An importance of Winter and Summer Spartakiads of the Peoples of the USSR may also be seen from the fact, that each of them was commemorated on a series of postage stamps, released in millions of copies (an example of such a stamp is pictured).^[4] Until 1975 all summer finals were held in Moscow, later in other cities through out the Union. The winter editions final were often held in Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk).

List of Spartakiades of Peoples of USSR[link]

• Summer (1956, 1959, 1963, 1967, 1971, 1975, 1979, 1983, 1986, 1991)
• Winter (1962, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990)

There was also a "Youth Spartakiad". Still another Soviet sports event with this name, Spartakiad of Trade Unions (Спартакиада профсоюзов), survived in a number of post Soviet republics, such as Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.

Czechoslovakia[link]

The name Spartakiáda was also used for a mass gymnastics display [1], [2], which was held every five years at the Strahov Stadium in Prague, Czechoslovakia, when the country was under Communist rule. The first event of this name was held, however, already in 1921, and its initiator Jiří Chaloupecký is credited as the inventor of the name.^[5]

Albania[link]

Six similar events were held in Albania during communist rule as well (in 1959, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, and 1989).^[6][7]

Other[link]

In 1984, the Soviet Union organised the Friendship Games, aimed at countries which boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics.

See also[link]

• Sportintern
• People's Olympiad (1936), a planned sport event in Barcelona organized by Republican Spain and the Soviet Union for their boycott of the 1936 Summer Olympics being held in Nazi Germany.
• Olympic Games

References[link]

1. ^ Serious Fun: A History of Spectator Sports in the USSR. Robert Edelman, pg 149
2. ^ ^{a b} Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd edition, volume 24 (part 1), p. 286, Moscow, Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya publisher, 1976
3. ^ Ukrainian: Спартакіада народів СРСР; Lithuanian: TSRS tautų spartakiada; Latvian: PSRS tautu spartakiāda
4. ^ Catalogue of Postage Stamps of the USSR 1918-1974, Soyuzpechat' Central Philatelic Agency of the Ministry of Communication of the USSR publisher, Moscow, 1976. See also subsequent yearly catalogues.
5. ^ Rozhlas.cz - Jak vzniklo slovo „spartakiáda“
6. ^ http://www.iliriadaportal.com/opinion-f34/lindja-zhdukja-dhe-rilindja-e-olimpizmit-shqiptar-t1669.htm
7. ^ http://www.giovanniarmillotta.it/albania/calcio/cup.html

External links[link]

• KÙPELE CENTRAL, Avantgardfilm by Sabine Maier (MACHFELD) dealing with the phenomenon of the spartakiad.