Badge "Ready For Labour And Defence Of The U.S.S.R.".

[ericlida]

Yes, these are my badges.
Soviet Union was a military country. Preperation of civilians to war (brainwash) with Capitalizm was very important.
Soviet people always lived with fear of war (also memories of WW2).
It was very convenient for Communist Government. The first, they had somebody to blame for their failure (US and other Capitalist countries). The second, to turn away soviet people from their daily problems of their hard life.
GTO was more a political program, than sport program.
Of course, the idea of involvement of more people in sports was also to improve soviet people health.
Here is few more GTO badges (there are many more, they where changed often)
1. The first GTO badge from 1935
2. GTO badges for children 60s.
Eric