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September 10, 2025

Improving the Structure of the “Ready for Labour and Defense” Complex During the Great Patriotic War

Key Points

The study concludes that the GTO complex was restructured to meet wartime requirements and enhance military readiness.
Key changes included alterations to test conditions and normative criteria implemented by the order of July 28, 1942.
Analysis was based on unpublished documents from state archives in Russia, highlighting a thorough examination of historical records.
The transformation of the GTO program reflects a broader need for compulsory military training during the war.

Abstract

The article deals with the structure and regulatory framework of the All-Union physical culture complex “Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR” (GTO) on the eve and during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945. The study is based on the documents and materials (including previously unpublished) of the State Archives of the Russian Federation and the State Archives of the Krasnoyarsk region (Krai). The authors focus on the transformation of the GTO complex during the Great Patriotic War on the basis of the order of the All-Union Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the USSR Council of People’s Commissars, No. 80-M of July 28, 1942. That order introduced serious changes in the content of the GTO complex as compared to the pre-war period. The article considers in detail the conditions of the tests that participants had to perform according to the GTO complex program, with the substitutions and additions introduced in 1942; the paper also discusses the normative criteria for those tests. The study concludes that the improvement of the structure of the GTO complex was prompted by the necessity to bring it into conformity with the wartime requirements, as well as with the system of compulsory military training (Vsevobuch).

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