Proletarian Tourism 57Activists emphasized the knowledge-building function of tourism, its role
in raising the cultural level of urban and rural populations, and its potential
to produce useful knowledge. “Tourism is a path to knowledge,” the Kom-
somol’s fi rst directive had declared. Tourism piqued the traveler’s curiosity,
setting in motion a lifelong thirst for knowledge. Having learned how to look
and how to see, tourists could apply these methodologies in all their intellec-
tual endeavors. Tourism complemented formal schooling and book learning
by providing concrete lessons in natural science, geography, economy, and
history.^8
Knowledge of country led to a heightened sense of patriotism. By di-
rectly encountering one’s country, tourists became conscious of its vast-
ness, its natural riches, and the variety of its peoples. “This diverse
gigantic country offers the traveler continual and inexhaustible novelty ,
as compared with the celebrated land of Switzerland, which has only
mountains, lakes, and a fi ne dairy industry, where one could count its
attractions on the fi ngers of one hand,” wrote Komsomol'skaia pravda.^9
From the beginning, this nation-building project emphasized the impor-
tance of relations among the “hundreds of peoples and tribes” of the So-
viet Union. The urban tourist must learn to respect local customs and
indigenous culture. Tourism also possessed critical military signifi cance,
a theme that would be emphasized throughout the 1930s. Learning to read
maps and to navigate through unfamiliar space developed military skills;
tourists gained familiarity with the mountainous border regions of the
Soviet Union through travel, and they would be better prepared to de-
fend those borders if war should come. Fostering the love of one’s country
would encourage the tourist to defend it if the need arose.^10
In strengthening the body of the Soviet citizen, a tourist vacation paral-
leled the purposeful Soviet spa vacation: it restored health, toned the organ-
ism, and ensured that the traveler would return to work healthy, invigorated,
and ready to apply new energy to the job. In this respect, tourism could be
considered a part of the physical culture movement getting under way in the
1920s. In its healthful attributes, tourism would appeal particularly to young
men and women, but it was also an appropriate vacation choice for any
adult whose natural energy would suffocate in a rest home or sanatorium.
Fresh air, clean water, sun, and physical exercise stimulated the appetite and
- KP , 16 December 1926; 15 June 1927; Fizkul'tura i sport , 5 May 1928, 3; RGASPI,
f. M-1, op. 4, d. 29, l. 113 (directive 20 May 1927); Bergman, Otdykh letom , 53–56; L. Bark-
hash, Sputnik turista (Moscow, 1927), 8; NSNM , no. 1 (1930): 1. - KP , 16 December 1926 (emphasis in original). Also Bergman, Pervaia kniga , 24–25.
That was then. On my 2011 visit to the Swiss capital Bern, the old city was awash in Rus-
sian-speaking tour groups. - KP, 15 June 1927; NSNM , no. 3 (1929); NSNM , no. 1 (1930): 1–2; Bergman, Pervaia
kniga , 22–24, 26; I. Egorov, “Zadachi ‘Sovetskogo turista.’ ” Ekskursant i turist. Sbornik po
ekskursionnomu delu i turizmu (Moscow, 1929), 3–4; Fizkul'tura i sport , 5 May 1928, 4;
RGASPI, f. M-1, op. 4, d. 29, l. 113; NSNM, no. 15 (1930): 2; NSNM , no. 3 (1930): 2–5.