The goals of “proletarian” tourism

This chapter traces the effort of the OPTE to lead and administer mass tourism from its unlikely beginnings in 1929 to its astounding growth through the 1930s. The OPTE leaders, intolerant of any divergent views on tourism, perceived the latter not as a hobby, but as a political activity and sought to harness it to state priorities. Tourists were to become communist missionaries: indoctrinated through pilgrimages to communist shrines, they would then serve as a “transmission belt” linking the Communist Party to communities in the hinterlands, which had heretofore remained largely beyond the regime’s reach. Tourists were expected to help weak local authorities mobilise inhabitants for rapid modernisation. They were also charged with conducting geological surveys during their expeditions helping the state to acquire raw materials for the industrial “Great Leap Forward” presumed by the series of Five-Year Plans. Another important mission of adventure tourism was to train a large pool of Red Army reservists able to operate effectively in unconventional battle environments: mountains, forests and snowfields. Although Soviet adventure tourism acquired a militaristic flavour, even a totalitarian regime had only limited leverage on people during their vacations. Accordingly, while some OPTE initiatives found an enthusiastic response, others failed completely.