SPORT 1913 - 2013

INTRODUCTION KALEVI OLIN / Finland

The title and the contents of the Festschrift book can be defined in several ways. Why does this book focus on sport as part of a peace movement and conflict solving? Would it not be more convenient just to penetrate the his- tory of a world sport organization celebrating its centennial development? The answer could be lying in the grand value of peace and its relevance in the international worker sport. Peace was regarded as very crucial among the founders of the movement. It is still the same today for the current members of the organi- zation. The reason for this is simply the fact that pioneers of the worker sport deeply want- ed and wished that all people involved in sports and physical activities as well as the na- tions of the world could live their ordinary life in peaceful circumstances. “No More War” was the slogan of the Worker Olympics in Germa- ny in 1925. The founders had faced and expe- rienced the horrors and consequences of the First World War. The Nazi regime and Fascism in Europe before and during the Second World War destroyed worker sport in many countries in Europe. Thus, based on this kind of reali- ties, the concept and the movement of peace have been chosen as a main consideration for the first part of the book. The second part de- scribes the centennial development of the in- ternational worker sport. It is known that the development of sport is related to the change of society and its so- cial and political structures. Sport plays an important role in modern society. This role depends on how sport is defined and how it is

considered as a social phenomenon. It is known, too, that the industrialization, urban- ization and globalization have influenced so- ciety in many ways. Among other things, in- dustrialization catalysed the establishment of the worker sport in Europe, Canada, the Unit- ed States, South America and Asia. In its early stage of development at the end of the 19 th century, industrialization created a new work- ing class. The daily working hours in factories varied from 10 up to 14 hours. Workers had neither much time nor possibilities to take part in sport and leisure activities. Most of their free-time was spent recovering from the burden of physical work as well as taking care of other family duties. It is astonishing to notice how little is written and even known about worker sport in different countries. Therefore, the contribu- tion of Arnold Kruger and James Riordan 1 as editors and writers is very significant to the field. In 1996, along with other authors, they published a book entitled The Story of Worker Sport. It is considered as the first concise his- tory of worker sport in the world. The origins of the International Workers and Amateurs in Sports Confederation (CSIT) stem from the year 1913, when its predecessor was established in Gent, Belgium. This process will be described later in further details while analysing the centennial history of the orga- nization. The worker sport movement was regard- ed as a revolutionary one at the beginning of

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1) Kruger, A. & Riordan, J. (eds.) (1996) The Story of Worker Sport. Human Kinetics. Champaign. Illinois.