Who was Murzilka and why did Soviet kids love him so much? (PICS)

After the 1917 Revolution, the new Bolshevik authorities paid special attention to propaganda and set about quickly creating a great number of entertaining periodicals and newspapers for workers, soldiers, peasants, women, and of course, Soviet children. 

One of them – in fact, one of the first – was Murzilka, a monthly magazine for young children (4-7 years old). Here’s what the first ever issue, published May 16, 1924, looked like. 

The title ‘Murzilka’ was actually a pet name of a puppy from the short stories by children’s author Alexander Fyodorov-Davydov. And the first issue started with a story about the adventures of the cute little trouble-maker.

The magazine was actually a small children’s book with short stories on a variety of topics, including the new Soviet reality and its important moral lessons, such as the meaning of May Day, the figure of Lenin, and the Bolshevik Revolution.

The best Soviet writers of the day used to write for Murzilka: Sergei Mikhalkov (the author of the lyrics of the Soviet anthem), children’s writers Agnia Barto, Kornei Chukovsky and Samuil Marshak, and comedians Daniil Kharms and Mikhail Zoshchenko were among them.

At first, Murzilka was a supplement of Rabochaya Gazeta (Workers' Newspaper) which also included a bunch of other magazines that became iconic: Krokodil illustrated magazine, Rabotnitsa women’s magazine, and Soviet Ekran, a magazine about cinema. 

In July 1937, the magazine featured a brand new image of Murzilka, painted by artist Aminadav Kanevsky. Since then, it no longer resembled a puppy, but a yellow creature in a red beret and scarf, with a camera slung over its shoulder.

However, in 1941, Murzilka was also pictured as a boy in a puzzle game.

In 1941, Murzilka started being published by the Molodaya Gvardiya (Young Guard) publishing house, and began to be focused on a slightly older audience, from 6 to 12 years old. 

The magazine didn’t cease publication even during World War II. It published moralistic stories of heroism, pioneer tales and so on. 

And of course, the theme of war was featured heavily as well. Murzilka wrote about how Soviet children shared their clothes with those who lost their homes during war, as well as stories of children who lost their parents and were rescued by the Red Army.

In 1945, Murzilka celebrated the victory over the Nazis.

The magazine also published stories about Soviet sightseeing, such as pictures of cities etc.

It also emphasized the importance of education. 

A Soviet child should have known that he/she should act friendly and work together with other kids on a common mission.

And of course, in 1961, Murzilka featured the portrait of Yury Gagarin on the cover,depicting children around the world reading newspapers about his space flight.

An image of a yellow fluffy Murzilka appeared in the magazine again in 1959, and has since  been settled on, becoming an iconic symbol. 

In the 1960-80s the magazine had a circulation of over five million copies (in the 1920s it was only 20,000), so most Soviet kids had a chance to read it or borrow it from friends or a library. 

The magazine had a lot of colorful pictures and attachments, so that children could cut them out and glue them like stickers.

After the Soviet Union’s collapse, the magazine kept being published. Today, the magazine is still around – not a single issue has been missed.

In 2011, Murzilka entered the Guinness Book of Records as the “longest-running children’s magazine”. A pretty impressive feat! 

In 2015 a huge digital archive of all the Murzilka issues was uploaded online, so everyone can look through them for free now.

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