SPORT 1913 - 2013

on the basis of tactical changes of the Comin- tern to the so called people’s front policy, the RSI began to cooperate with the LSI/SASI. An important facet of their common activities was the criticism of the 1936 Berlin Olympics for their unscrupulous use of sports in the service of Nazi propaganda (Gounot 2002, 213–220). On the basis of the cooperation, a strong Soviet teamparticipated to the thirdWorkers Olympic Games in Antwerp 1937. Towards the end of the 1930’s nation-wide sports unions were indeed formed in a number of those countries in which fascism did not come to power (in Switzerland, Denmark, Nor- way and Sweden). With a goal of ensuring par- liamentary democracy, Social Democrats and Communists gave their input together to the national sports front. The Norwegian AIF, one of the strongest member unions of the LSI/ SASI before the war, decided to fuse with the national central union for sport (Norges lands- forbund for Idrett NLFI) and to abandon its own organisation (Larsen 1981, 294). In the international solutions taken by worker sport in the 1930’s Finland’s TUL be- came an important exception; it flatly refused to join the nation-wide union that had been proposed by the SVUL (Finnish National Sports Federation) in 1936. The first step to- ward the reconciliation of Finnish sports was taken in the spring of 1939 when arrange- ments began for the Helsinki Olympic Games next year. It was not until after the Finnish- Russian Winter War (1939–1940) in August 1940 that a joint agreement between the TUL

the International Committee for Workers Sport (CSIT). Eleven countries were fully represent- ed: Belgium, England, France, Holland, Swit- zerland, Yugoslavia, Poland, Hungary, Ruma- nia, Finland and Palestine. The United States had sent an observer. Jules Devlieger, who had been in the foreground of the international worker sport movement since 1913, was elected as the head of the secretariat of the CSIT (SASI– CSIT 1963, 23). Great expectations were uphold towards the membership of the Soviet Union, but it was conspicuous by its absence as were the other key names of worker sports fromGer- many, Austria and Czechoslovakia. Although the leaders of the international worker sport movement wished for a unifica- tion of all national unions, Social Democratic as well as Communist, the Soviet Union no lon- ger felt it wise to confine itself to the workers sporting arena. Its participation would in prac- tice have been absolutely necessary for the forming of a united International. The absence of the Soviet Union was politically a hard piece especially to the Communist members of the TUL Finland and the FSGT of France. The war being over, the USSR success- fully sought acceptance by the Olympic move- ment and the international special federations of different sport disciplines. The Soviet Union wanted to challenge the West also in the top level of competitive sport and to dem- onstrate the vitality of the Socialist society. For the first time, the Soviet team participated to the IOC Olympic Games in Helsinki 1952. In a world ideologically divided into two

and the SVUL was reached concerning co-op- eration in organising competitions from local to national level. (Hentilä 1982, 471–484)

A New Beginning – Establishment of the CSIT

The Second World War for the worker sports movement meant the beginning of a new ep- och: a shift was made from uncompromising isolation to joint activity: a policy which has been carried out in different countries either in nation-wide unions or by separate agree- ments. This turning point was ultimately sealed and approved when worker sports were virtually driven to the brink of destruction un- der the heel of Fascism. On the other hand, the struggle against Fascism and the result of the SecondWorldWar promoted the international integration of the sports movement. In the years 1945–1948 the worker sport organisations in Western Europe eagerly sought to re-establish the Socialist Workers Sports International as a continuation of the LSI/SASI. The war was hardly over when three veterans of the international worker sport, George Elvin, Robert Mensions and Jules Devlieger, began to prepare the re-establish- ment of the LSI/SASI in London. Delegates from five countries, Belgium, Finland, France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom met in October 1945 for preparatory talks. The Soviet Union had sent an observer (Workers’ Sports International. Provisional Committee, 2-5). On May 30 th , 1946 a conference was held in Brussels which resulted in the formation of

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