By and large, almost all schoolchildren of the USSR were Timurovites. The desire to help those in need was an absolute normal reaction to an event. Perhaps this is morality, perhaps this is upbringing. But thanks to this attitude to the world, these children, Timurovites, over time became real and helpful people. They have the traditions of the Timur movement forever preserved. And this is probably the most important thing ...
A book that might not have been
The Timurov movement arose in 1940. That is, when A. Gaidar just published his latest book about a certain children's organization that helps people. The work was called, of course, "Timur and his team."
A week later, one of the passages was already printed. In addition, the corresponding broadcasts began. The success of the book was simply colossal.
A year later, the work came out in a rather large circulation. Despite this, I had to reprint it several times.
Although this book might not even be on store shelves. The fact is that Gaidar’s idea of uniting children who care for elders looked very suspicious. Recall the last years of the 30s.
Fortunately, the secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee N. Mikhailov took responsibility for publishing the work. When the book was printed, a film of the same name appeared. The amazing popularity of the tape was explained by the vitality of the image of the protagonist. Timur became an example and ideal of the young generation of that era.
Timur Trilogy
Even before the publication of the work, Gaidar was interested in the problems of military education of schoolchildren. In any case, traces of such interests were reflected in his diary and all the works about Timur. We just talked about the first book . But a little later, the writer wrote a second work. It was called the “Commandant of the Snow Fortress.” The characters were already engaged in some kind of war game. Well, at the very beginning of the war, Gaidar managed to write the screenplay "Oath of Timur." From the pages he told about the need for a children's organization in military conditions. Members of this community will be on duty during blackouts and bombing. They will protect the territory from saboteurs and spies, and will help families of the Red Army and peasants in their agricultural work. Actually, this is what happened. Another question is whether the author really wanted to create a kind of alternative to the pioneer organization with his works on Timur ... Unfortunately, we no longer know for certain this.
Gaidar's Idea
It is said that in the books about Timur, Gaidar described the experience of the activities of scout organizations in the 10th of the twentieth century. In addition, at one time he led the yard team. And secretly, like his character Timur, he did good deeds, not asking for any reward for them. By and large, adolescents who help those in need are now called volunteers.
By the way, such eminent personalities wrote about such a children's organization in their time as Anton Makarenko and Konstantin Paustovsky. But only one Gaidar, voluntarily or involuntarily, managed to bring this plan to life.
Start
What event served as the beginning of the Timur movement? The answer to this question seems quite obvious. It was after the appearance of the book about Timur that the informal Timur movement began. Appropriate units also appeared.
The Timurites themselves, in fact, became part of the ideological system of the Soviet Union. At the same time, they managed to maintain a certain spirit of volunteering.
Timurovtsy were exemplary teenagers. They disinterestedly did good deeds, assisted the elderly, helped collective farms, kindergartens and much, much more. In a word, a real mass movement of schoolchildren has appeared.
Who was the founder of the Timurov movement? The very first detachment appeared in 1940 in Klin, in the Moscow region. By the way, it was here that Gaidar wrote his "imperishable" about Timur and his team. There were only six teenagers in this squad. They studied at one of the wedge schools. Following them, such detachments arose throughout the entire territory of the Soviet Union. Moreover, sometimes in one of the small villages there were 2-3 such teams. Because of this, funny things happened. Let's say teens repeatedly chopped wood for an elderly person and sweeping the yard three times ...
The era of the great war
During the war, the Timur movement in the USSR grew in arithmetic progression. In 1945, there were already about 3 million Timurovites in the Soviet Union . These teens actually turned out to be indispensable.
Such units functioned in orphanages, schools, palaces of pioneers and extracurricular institutions. Teenagers patronized the families of officers and soldiers, continued to help harvest.
Also, the troops carried out tremendous work in hospitals. So, the Timurites of the Gorky region managed to organize for the wounded almost 10 thousand performances of amateur performances. They were constantly on duty in hospitals, on behalf of the soldiers wrote letters, performed a number of various chores.
Another example of the Timurov movement occurred in the summer of 1943. The ship "Pushkin" sailed on the route "Kazan - Stalingrad." On the vessel, as a cargo, are gifts that were collected by the Timurovs of the republic.
And in the besieged Nazis of Leningrad, the Timurov movement acquired special significance. Twelve thousand teenagers acted in 753 Timurov units of the northern capital. They provided assistance to families of war veterans, people with disabilities and retirees. They had to procure fuel for them, clean apartments and receive food on cards.
By the way, in early 1942, the first rallies of the Timurovites were held throughout the USSR. At these events, they talked about the results of their successful activities.
Also, by this time, the first songs about the Timur movement appeared, among them “Four friendly guys”, “How high is our sky above us” and, of course, Blanter’s “Song of the Timurovs”. Later, such popular musical compositions as “Gaidar steps ahead”, “Song of the red rangers”, “Eagles learn to fly”, “Timurovtsy”, etc. were written.
Ural squad
Returning to the period of the war, one of the well-known Timurov teams was a detachment from the mining town of Plast, in the Chelyabinsk region. Two hundred teenagers participated in it. And it was headed by 73-year-old Alexandra Rychkova.
The detachment was created in August 1941. At the first training camp, Rychkova said that she would have to work literally for wear. There will be no discounts for age. She announced that if someone changes her mind, she can leave right away. But no one left. The teenagers were divided into groups and the main ones were appointed.
Every day Rychkova distributed a work plan. They helped those in need, told the townspeople about situations on the fronts, and held concerts for the wounded in the hospital. In addition, they collected medicinal plants, scrap metal, prepared firewood, worked in the fields, patronized families of war veterans. They also trusted them and a serious matter: the Timurovs crawled into the dumps of mines and took away rocks.
Note, despite the work, adolescents still continued to attend school lessons.
As a result, in six months the team from Plast was able to gain a truly impeccable reputation. Even the officials gave the guys a room for their headquarters. Timurites from this mining town were repeatedly written in periodicals. Incidentally, this unit is mentioned in the encyclopedia of the Great Patriotic War.
The process of merging pioneers and Timurovites
In 1942, the teachers were in some dismay. The fact is that the Timurov detachments, in fact, began to supplant the pioneer squads. Recall that a book about Timur narrated about a “self-disciplining” collective. In it, teenagers took on all the responsibilities and solved all problems themselves, without adult control.
As a result, the leaders of the Komsomol made a decision related to the union of pioneers and Timurovites. After some time, the Komsomol managed to take them under their control.
By and large, in this situation there were both obvious advantages and big disadvantages. The activities of the Timurovites began to be considered an additional form of pioneer work.
Post-war period
Immediately after the victory over the fascist invaders, the Timurites continued to help the front-line soldiers, the disabled, and the elderly. They also tried to look after the graves of the Red Army.
But at the same time, the movement began to fade. Perhaps the reason was that the Timurovites did not feel much desire to "join" the ranks of the pioneer organization. They were losing their freedom of choice.
The revival of the movement began only during the Khrushchev "thaw" ...
60-80s
The history of the Timur movement in Russia continued. During this period, adolescents continued to engage in socially useful activities. The best were awarded. For example, an eleven-year-old schoolgirl M. Nakhangova from Tajikistan managed to exceed the norm for an adult seven times over cotton picking. She was awarded the Order of Lenin.
Timurovites began to engage in search work. So, they began to study the life of A. Gaidar and, as a result, helped open the writer's museums in a number of cities. Also organized a library-museum named after the writer in Kanev.
And in the 70s under the editorship of the famous Soviet magazine Pioneer, the so-called Timur All-Union Headquarters was formed. With enviable regularity, meetings of Timurovites took place. Poems about the Timur movement were actively composed and read. In 1973, the first All-Union rally was held in the Artek camp. The event was attended by three and a half thousand delegates. Then they even managed to adopt the program of the Timur movement, aimed at its active development.
Note that such teams were created in Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the GDR.
Crash and rebirth of movement
In the very beginning of the 90s, the role of the Komsomol and pioneers was declared exhausted. These organizations officially ceased to exist. Accordingly, the Timur movement was waiting for such a fate.
But then, almost simultaneously, the Federation of Children's Organizations was created, independent of any political party. A few years later, the Russian president announced the creation of a schoolchildren movement in Russia. Note that this idea was also supported by teachers.
A little earlier, a new Timurov (voluntary) movement was officially formed, which is designed to help socially vulnerable groups of the population.
New time
Thus, in our time the traditions of the Timur movement have been preserved. Such units exist in several regions. Say, in Shuya, in the Ivanovo province, the youth movement of the Timurovs functions. As before, they not only help those in need, but also try to be useful to society.
I am glad that this movement is spreading everywhere again ...