Concept of “new man” in Soviet social policy of the 1920s

Revolutionary changes in the life of society, as a rule, are accompanied by the propaganda of the new life ideals, built on fundamentally different social principles than before. After the revolution of 1917 the implementation of this task seemed to the Soviet government impossible without the formation of new culture bearers – “new people”. The Bolsheviks attempted to determine not only the spiritual and moral, but also the physical standards of a new type of person and to cultivate their formation among the broad masses of people by popularizing physical culture and sports. The article discusses mechanisms for determining the physical characteristics of a “new man” and their use in standardizing sizes of clothes, shoes, etc., as well as tools proposed for achieving ideal body parameters, propaganda techniques of the authorities and attitude to the imposed new ideals in cultural circles .