Modèle et contre-modèles olympiques dans l’entre-deux-guerres.

Abstract

This article deals with the history of the international workers’ games ("International Workers’ Olympiads" and "Spartakiads"), set up during the Interwar period by the Socialist Workers’ Sport International and the Red Sport International in order to counter the growing hegemony of the Olympic Games. These workers’ sporting events were an undeniable success, despite the hostility of the authorities and the reluctance of the main newspapers (specialized in sport or not) to inform their readers about them. The international workers’ sport federations firstly used these games to promote an alternative sport culture, focused on mass practice and international fraternity. Then, these workers’ organizations became defenders of an Olympic ideal since they considered that it had gone astray. Both evolutions in the Olympic Games criticism and in the workers’ events celebration in the socialist and communist press is linked to this shift.

Keywords

• press
• Workers’ sport
• Interwar period
• Spartakiades
• Workers’ Olympiads
• Olympic Games