x A Young Soviet Pioneers Badge. Such a badge would have been pinned on Sasha’s chest had he stayed at the rally to join the Pioneers. On the badge a banner across the red star reads Always Ready, and below a number 1 indicates a Pioneer of the first stage. Three stages are set for the Pioneers according to their age: 10 to 11, 12 to 13, and 14 to 15.

x The banner of the Young Pioneers. On the heavy cloth decked in gold fringe is comrade Stalin’s profile embroidered in gold thread against the color red to represent the blood shed for the cause of the Communist party. Below, the Pioneers motto, Be Ready. Sasha proudly carries this banner into the main hall of his school while imagining himself at the May Day Parade on the Moscow Red Square.

x This is the metal tip of the Young Pioneers’ banner. So sharp is the tip that it knocks the plaster nose clear off the face of the comrade Stalin’s bust.

x Sasha believes that the Young Soviet Pioneers are like American boy scouts only better. It is because the Pioneers are helping comrade Stalin and the Soviet government to build a radiant Communist future. Sasha can’t describe what that future will be like but he believes it is coming. To Sasha, believing is the most important part. If you really believe in something, it will come true.

x Comrade Stalin takes good care of the Young Pioneers. Thousands of Pioneer Palaces are built across the USSR. When the schools are out for summer, the Young Pioneers spend their vacations in Pioneer camps. The camps are free of charge. There the Young Pioneers make themselves strong with physical exercise. They learn to be vigilant because their capitalist enemies never sleep.

x This is the Young Pioneer scarf that Sasha receives from his dad. Sasha knows that the three tips of the scarf symbolize the union of three generations, mature Communists, the Communist Youth, and the Young Pioneers. He knows that the red color of the scarf is the color of the Communist banner and represents blood spilled for the cause of the Communist party. He knows that a Pioneer must wear his scarf every day and he knows how to tie it -- the right tip always extends lower than the left.

x To the sound of their bugles and drums, the Young Soviet Pioneers follow their great Leader and Teacher, the beloved Stalin, forward and ever forward to Communism. Sasha dreams of joining the march of the Young Soviet Pioneers. By the time he was one year old, his dad taught Sasha the Pioneer greeting. Sasha’s dad said, “Young Pioneer! Ready to fight for the cause of the Communist party and Comrade Stalin?” In response, Sasha raised his hand in the Pioneer salute, but he couldn’t reply “Always Ready!” like the real Pioneers do. Sasha couldn’t talk yet.

x This is a Pioneer bugle from Sasha’s school. The bugles, the drums and the banners are held in the basement under the watchful eye of the janitor Matveich. There are other things kept in that basement, things dark and unpleasant, that Sasha doesn’t learn about until the day after his dad’s arrest.

x Sasha believes that Young Soviet Pioneers are important to comrade Stalin because they are the future of Communism. That’s why the Pioneers always take part in May Day Parades and Communist Party celebrations. Sasha often imagines himself already a Pioneer on a big theatre stage reciting a poem about Communism to comrade Stalin.

x To the Young Soviet Pioneers the most important hero after comrade Stalin is a boy named Pavlik Morozov. Pavlik Morozov is legendary because he was murdered for informing to the secret police on his father and brothers. He claimed they were against Comrade Stalin. The statues of heroic Pavlik Morozov adorn every Pioneer park and palace, and the Young Pioneers are encouraged to follow in Pavlik’s footsteps. Informing on one’s family is particularly patriotic.