KVN in school and the pioneer camp
(Novokuznetsk: Pedagogicheskoe obshetsvo RSFSR, 1975)
I have a backlog of jokes-of-the-week to post! And they will go up. Still dealing with this summer’s archival treasures.
In 1972 Soviet authorities ended KVN television broadcasts. According to my interviewees and a few spare written sources, KVN continued on the city, university, and school levels between 1972 and 1986, when KVN returned to television. But a series of educational manuals I found over the summer spell out exactly how to run KVN in schools and pioneer camps during the time that KVN was banned, which is enormously helpful for my dissertation.
Quote from the 1975 manual: “One of the most widespread forms of extracurricular activity among schoolchildren is KVN, which is becoming increasingly popular among students of all classes. KVN takes place not only in schools, but in city and suburban pioneer camps. Fascinating in form and focused on content, KVN games can contribute to the development not only of cognitive skills but of professional interests.”
Jokes that criticized the government were, in principle, not allowed, and KVN was, in some spheres, banned as well. But students continued playing KVN, using Aesopian language in a game that was, as Russians say of many activities, “forbidden, but possible” (“nel’zia no mozhno”).