Transforming leisure sports into a civic duty was key to fulfilling the 1931 resolution. Sports became deeply ingrained in Soviet life. Massive "Physical Fitness Culture Parades," with  athletes from all Soviet republics often lasting for more than four hours, were a staple of May 1st (International Workers' Day) and November 7th (October Revolution Day) celebrations. These parades served as a powerful tool, promoting both physical education and a sense of national unity among the Soviet populace. Posters and large-scale public murals depicted idealised, muscular figures, emphasising the importance of the strong, fit Soviet citizen. Murals featuring athletes, workers, and soldiers side-by-side, reinforced the message that fitness was essential for labour, defence, and the survival of the USSR.

Schools embraced sport and physical education as significant parts of the curriculum. The state attempted to extend this fitness focus to the workplace, sending brigades of physical culturists to introduce "production gymnastics" programs on factory floors. These programs met with resistance and were swiftly abandoned once the brigades departed. Other sporting activities, such as playing soccer or tennis, were dismissed as irrelevant or even counterproductive, with potential injuries seen as a threat to productivity goals rather than a path to a stronger workforce.

Sports permeated public consciousness through its practice and representation in various cultural forms: literature, film, theatre, music, and visual arts. Several major artists made their careers out of vivid representations of sports. While official art, produced for the state, much of it doesn't conform to Socialist Realism. Neither photo-realistic nor dependent on traditional neoclassical depiction, many works draw more on the immediate avant-garde past. Far from simply pandering to state dictates and producing simplistic and uniform works, artists developed a rich visual style in order to express the glories of the new epoch. 

Spartakiad Games: A Spectacle of Strength and Unity

In their quest to create a united Soviet identity across a vast, multi-ethnic empire, the Bolsheviks turned to a figure from the distant past: Spartacus. The defiant slave who led a rebellion against the Roman Empire became a potent symbol of the proletarian struggle. His name and image were repurposed to legitimise the Soviet Union, positioning communism as the culmination of a long history of worker resistance.

This spirit gave birth to the Spartakiads, first held in 1928 as a rejection of the "aristocratic" Olympics. Unlike the Olympic Games, the Spartakiads emphasised mass participation. Workers, employees, and soldiers competed side-by-side in events steeped in revolutionary symbolism, like grenade tossing and swimming in full military dress. 

The Spartakiads weren't just sporting events; they were a powerful propaganda tool. Radio broadcasts and popular sports journals like Sovetskii Sport, Krasnyi Sport, and Fizkultura i Sport became platforms for promoting physical fitness. Images of Soviet athletes adorned everything from posters and stamps to medals and teapots, turning them into national heroes. Meanwhile, state media showcased the games themselves, projecting a carefully crafted image: a healthy, unified Soviet society on the cusp of leading the global communist revolution. This wasn't just empty rhetoric; over 3.5 million people participated in events leading up to the first All-Union Spartakiad in Moscow, a testament to the reach and ambition of the project.

The Moscow Olympics: A political and ideological battleground

The USSR's 1952 entry into the Olympic movement signalled a shift policy. Their victory over Nazism in 1945 fueled a newfound confidence, and the Olympics became the ultimate arena to showcase communist superiority. For the next quarter of a century the Soviet Union dominated the Olympics medals tally alongside the United States. The concept of fizkultura gave way to sports specialisation as the Soviet Union poured much of its time and energy into producing champions in a wide variety of sports. Fizkultura had become a crucial weapon of foreign policy, a means to gain victory on the international stage in an attempt to make explicit the superiority of communism over capitalism.

The 1980 Olympics were awarded to the USSR. The 1980 Moscow Olympics were a chance for the Soviet Union to outshine their Cold War rival. Just a few months earlier, the U.S had hosted the Winter Olympics. The Soviet Union ice hockey team which had won gold at five of the last six Winter Games, were heavily favoured to win gold again. Instead the U.S beat them in a stunning 4-3 upset. The USSR was humiliated by the U.S, in what became known as the . The stage was set for a rematch. 

Moscow was beautified in preparation for the Games. Streets were repaved, buildings repainted and stores were stocked with international newspapers and goods never seen before in the USSR. A major international poster design competition was held to promote the games. Artists from 45 countries submitted more than 5,000 designs. The winners had their designs printed and distributed by the Soviet publishing house Plakat, which was responsible for creating many of the propaganda posters at the time. 

The Games were as much an ideological contest as a beauty pageant. Tensions were rising between the two superpowers. A few months earlier, the Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan to support the failing Communist government in Kabul. But the West wasn’t having any of it. U.S President Jimmy Carter began pushing for the United States team to boycott the games. His official announcement came in the form of an ultimatum on Meet the Press. Carter demanded that “the Soviets withdraw their troops within a month from Afghanistan,” or he would insist that the Games “be moved from Moscow to an alternative site, or multiple sites, or postponed or cancelled.” The Soviets didn’t back down. The U.S wouldn’t be making an appearance at the Games.

The games went ahead anyway. The Soviets played the role of an aggrieved party before a somewhat sympathetic international audience. The world was split in a very public arena. 64 countries, including Communist China, joined the United States in boycotting the Moscow Games. It was the largest Olympic boycott in history. Almost half of the countries who boycotted took part in an alternative competition in the U.S. But the results weren’t recognised by the Olympic Committee. 

The UK, France, Italy and the Netherlands were among a number of Western countries that did not observe the boycott. Many went but protested at the games by refusing to attend the opening ceremony or sent their athletes under the neutral Olympic flag. The absence of the boycotting countries was noticed. The level of competition was significantly lower than previous years. Most events had disappointing winning times. The Soviet and East German team won 127 out of 203 available gold medals, in the most lopsided medal count since the U.S. domination of the 1904 Games. In an act of retaliation, The USSR boycotted the following 1984 Olympics which took place in Los Angeles. 

The Soviet obsession with sports, while deeply rooted in ideology, inadvertently yielded a remarkable artistic legacy. From fizkultura-themed posters celebrating the "Soviet New Person" to those glorifying the Moscow Olympics, artists captured the energy and symbolism of sporting competition with a distinct Soviet style. We’re lucky to have a few in our collection. You can find them here.