Soviet Young Pioneers: Specialized Divisions - -Caravella / Carabela

Carabela
Figure 1.--This Russian boy in 1978 wears the uniform of Caravella group founded by Vladislav Krapivinin in 1965. The boy is at a Pioneer summer camp in the Crimea.

The “Caravella” group was formed in 1965 from domestic street boys and girls by celebrated journalist and author Vladislav Krapivin in Sverdlovsk. The group was a Pioneer unit, but had its own destinctive uniform. Vladislav Krapivin became the great children's writer. He now lives in Yekaterinburg (earlier Sverdlovsk). The “Caravella” group has survived the now defunct Pioneer organization and is now a youth marine and journalistic group.

Foundation

The “Caravella” group was formed in 1965 from domestic street boys and girls by celebrated journalist and author Vladislav Krapivin in Sverdlovsk. He was assisted by his colleague and noted illustrator Evgeniy Medvedev. All Soviet youth groups had to be part of the Young Pioneer organization. So as best we can tell it was organized as a specialized unit of the Young Pioneers. I am not entirely sure how that was accomplished becase the Pioneers were a largely school based organization. Chrronology

Most of the images we have seen during Soviet times seem to hve been taken just after the orgabization was formed in the late-1960s and early 70s. We do not know anything about the subsequent history of the orhanization in the 1980s and 1990s. We do note images of the organization from modern Russia, we think in 2008. It now has more of the look of a middle-class Scouting group than an organizatin serving street children. Hope fullu our Russian reades will be able to provide more information.

Spelling

For some reason we have noted different spellings used for the group. This sometimes occurs in Russian topics because of tranlations from the Cylriic alphabet. This does not seem to have occurred here as the group seems to have adopted its name in the Latin alphabet. Perhaps thisis because of the naval ethos implying an internatnal outlook. We are not quite sure about this. The first referencesxwhave found were spelled "Caravella". We are not sure, but this sounds like the name of a 17th century Spanish sail vessel. We are not sure why this name was cjosen. Since the disolution of the Soviet Union, this is an rgnization that has survived from the old Pioneer organization. We note it is now spelled "Carabela", the v replaced with a b and the double-l replaced with a single-l. Notably in Sanish, the v and b are pronounced very similarly. When I was teaching school in Ecuador, the children commonly confused the spelling.

Vladislav Krapivin

Vladislav Krapivin became the great children's writer. He now lives in Yekaterinburg (earlier Sverdlovsk). A HBC reader tells us that Vladislav Krapivin was the most famous modern Russian author of the books for children during the late Soviet period. Krapivin had a close association with Evgeniy Medvedev who illustrated many of his books. Some books were about realistic childhood experiences such a children away fom home in summer camps. One reader remembers Krapivin's book The Tales of the Old Arbat.

Evgeniy Medvedev

A Russian HBC reader tells that Evgeniy Medvedev was perhaps the most famous Russian illustrator of children's books during the late Soviet period, the 1970s and 80s. We have no biographical information at this time on his life or early career. We do know that he often illustrated the books of Vladislav Krapivin, the most famous modern Russian author of the books for children. Medvedev helped organize and lead the Caravella camp and drew many images of the children, especially at a summer camp in the Crimnea. His drawings looks very realistic.

Activities

We have very little information about Caravelle / Carabela activites. Given the naval ethos you would think that sailing an boating might be important. That might have been an important activitu when they were part of the Pioneer organization which had alarge summer camp program. We do not know if it is still important. We do know that fencing is very important at least with the modern organization. We are not sure hw important it was with the early group. . We note the children stageing fencing competitions. We are not sure what that has to do with the groups naval ethos. It does seem to relate to the historical period when caravelles were important ships. We note there are musical units at group meetings. We notice drummers adding a little musical accompnyment.

Membership

We are not sure how lage the group is.

Gender

Caravelle / Carabella was founded for street boys. All the early photographs sgow boys involved in the group. Modern images show both boys and gils participating. The group is clearly dominated by the boys, but girls are definyrly present.

Uniform

The group was a Pioneer unit, but had its own destinctive uniform. The “Caravella” uniform changed over time. The children wore red scarves (1965-90). A blue edging was added to the sacrves in 1990. They at first had campaign caps with a red star, but in 1970 they switched to black berets. The standard uniform from the beginning was short pants and continued to be so. I'm not sure what the color is, perhaps blue like the regular Pioneers. During the winter the boys may wear long pants to the meeting, but for actual meetings inside wear the official short pants uniform. There is a regulation belt. Shirts are seasonal. They wear black shirts during the winter and orange shirts in the summer. At first the socks were not standardized. Boys wore both ankle socks and knee socks in several color. Beginning in 1968 white knee socks became almost obligatory. After about 1978, ankle socks became more cimmon and were universally worn by 1980. We notice the children in 2008 wearing orange shirts.

Modern Group

The “Caravella” group has survived the now defunct Pioneer organization. A Russian reader tells us that some Pioneer units have survived in quite a number of schools where the children showed an interest and there were adult staff interested in working with them. Caravelle as a specialized Pioneeer unit is one of the units that has survived. We do not know what the size of the Caavelle group is in modern Russia, but we note that there are some active units. It was prmarily a Summer camp organization with a naval focus. It has evolved into a youth marine and journalistic group. We notice them involved in a range of activities like fencing.







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Created: September 23, 2003
Last updated: 5:37 AM 1/30/2009