Sportintern

  

The International Association of Red Sports, commonly known as the Red Sport International (RSI) or Sportintern, is an international sports organization sponsored by the Landonist International. The organization has its roots in the Socialist Workers' Sport International, founded in 1913, which merged with the United Commonwealth-created Continental Sport International in 1924 to form Sportintern. Initially conceived as a unified effort against the already existing "bourgeois" international sporting groups, and therefore a rival to the International Olympic Committee, the Sportintern has since reconciled with the Olympic Games. Sportintern is responsible for organizing the Workers' Olympiads, held every four years.

History

Background and establishment

In 1890s Germany the notion of a separate working class national athletic federation was born, leading to a series of organizations being established by socialist activists in opposition to their more nationalist counterparts, such as the Workers Gymnastics Association, founded in 1894 in opposition to the German Gymnastics Society. Other organizations soon followed in Germany, including the Solidarity Worker Cycling Club, the Friends of Nature Rambling Association, the Worker Swimming Association, the Free Sailing Association, and the Worker Track and Field Athletics Association, among others, which boasted membership of 300,000 people by 1910. Similar developments spread across Europe, and in 1913 an international meeting of workers sports associations was held in Ghent, Netherlands. This committee elected to create the Socialist Workers' Sport International, which would be tasked with regulating the various socialist leagues, and with organizing the International Workers' Olympiad, portrayed as the socialist alternative to the 'bourgeois' Olympics. This organization was envisioned as neutral and non-partisan, and national flags were omitted from the games in favor of red flags only.

In 1917 the first Workers' Summer Olympiad was held in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, with a motto of "Nie wieder Krieg!" – No More War! Competitions in athletics, boxing, cycling, football, gymnastics, swimming, water polo, and wrestling were held, with 3,000 athletes from 12 different countries taking part, mostly from Central Europe. The opening ceremony featured a choir of 1,2000 singers, as well as 60,000 actors taking part in a dramatic presentation of "Worker Struggle for the Earth", followed by parades through the streets. An estimated 450,000 spectators would attend the games, with about 100,000 of them joining the athletes in mass gymnastics, as part of the games' ideals of worker sports.

These games were deemed a great success, however, in preparation for the second summer Olympiad divisions began to emerge between socialists and communists, the latter claiming that the workers' sport movement could not abstain from taking part in revolutionary struggle. This came to a head with the creation of the Continental United Commonwealth, and its sponsoring of the Landonist International in 1919. At the 1920 Second World Congress of the Landintern held in New York City, a proposal was put forward to sponsor the creation of a rival sports organization to promote the physical training of youth and spread Landonism abroad. What emerged was the Continental Sports International, which was not directly founded by Landintern, but rather was founded independently by likeminded attendants of the Congress. The group was formally declared on 1 August 1920, and elected an executive committee consisting of representatives from the United Commonwealth, Germany, France, Sweden, and Italy.

With the United Commonwealth preoccupied with the Continental Revolutionary War, and with the workers' sports movement having been born in Central Europe, the new organization came to be led primarily by Germans, who attracted several leagues to join the group over the course of the next couple years. Recognizing the utility of such an organization, in 1922 Landintern issued a representative to the organization. The Continental Sports International also made their own initiatives to create satellite bureaus of the organization in major European cities, triggering splits in the workers' sports movement as federations defected from the Socialist Workers' Sport International. With the popularity of the rival organization rising, and with increased pressure from the United Commonwealth, in 1924 a meeting between the two groups was held in Lucerne, with the delegates electing to formally merge the groups into the International Association of Red Sports.

Callahan era

In October 1924 Sportintern enlarged their executive committee, and also allowed entry to the Landonist International of Youth. Initially membership into Sportintern was "open to all proletarian elements which recognize the class struggle", and therefore was not explicitly a communist organization, although as the Cold War set into effect this would gradually change. By the time of the 1925 Summer Olympiad approximately 2 million members from the United Commonwealth were affiliated with the organization, joined by many more from Europe and elsewhere. With the organization steadily growing and recognizing its potential influence, newly ascended head of the United Commonwealth Seamus Callahan pressured Sportintern to fall more closely inline with Landonist ideology and to accept centralized Continentalist Party control. During the mid 1920s, a study conducted by the organization found its members were primarily male, hailed from a variety of communist, socialist, syndicalist, and anarchist tendencies, and were mostly working class, although some white collar employees, government workers, and students were members. In most European member countries, approximately 20-30% of members were also members of a communist party. During the early years of the organization participation included many who sought fun and excitement from training and competition, rather than involvement on ideological grounds.

Sportintern would continue to hold its own international competitions, the first taking place in 1925. Although the organization didn't object to the nobler goals of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Sportintern expressed disagreements with the running of the modern Olympics, accusing the games of promoting national chauvinism rather than athletic effort and unity. The Workers' Olympiads had less rigid entrance standards, and fields for artistic, cultural, and political presentations, attempting to promote mass participation rather than dominance only by a small athletics class—Sportintern argued the early Olympics were dominated by the wealthy and aristocratic, and were inherently unfair due to social inequality and discrimination, both direct and indirect, such as through funding. Sportintern would make initiatives at their games to promote women's sports, as well as participation from those of other races. During the early games, no national flags or anthems would be seen at ceremonies, rather all participants would use the red flag and sing "The Internationale".

Despite these noble goals, after Great War I Seamus Callahan would gradually pressure the games to become nationalistic as well, only geared around Landonist nations instead of non-Landonist ones. He gradually centralized control of the organization, seeking to make it a puppet of Continental control rather than a true international organization, and pushed for privileges for Landonist countries, such as in hosting rights. Concerns were raised by the IOC when the Sportintern's games beat the participation and attendance numbers for the 1928 Olympic Games (as they were held in western North America). This led to staunchly anti-Landonist nations such as Sierra beginning efforts to prohibit participation in Sportintern events from those within their nation. The Sportintern would beat the Olympics in hosting the first winter games in 1923, a year before the first Winter Olympic Games.

List of games

City		Country	Year	Continent	Summer	Winter	Opening ceremony	Closing ceremony
	Frankfurt	Germany	1917	Europe	S005I		24 July 1917	28 July 1917
	Vienna	Austria	1921		S005II		19 July 1921	26 July 1921
	Helsinki	Finland	1923			W001I	25 January 1923	5 February 1923
	Antwerp	Netherlands	1925		S005III		5 July 1925	27 July 1925
	Janské Lázně	Czech Republic	1927			W001II	31 January 1927	9 February 1927
	Chicago	United Commonwealth	1929	North America	S005IV		27 July 1917	15 August 1917
	Mürzzuschlag	Austria	1931	Europe		W001III	4 February 1931	19 February 1923
	Rome	Italy	1933		S005V		Canceled due to Great War I
	Lake Placid	United Commonwealth	1935	North America		W001IV
	Berlin	Germany	1937	Europe	S005VI
	Oslo	Denmark	1939			W001V	6 February 1939	28 February 1939
	New York	United Commonwealth	1941	North America	S005VII		29 July 1941	20 August 1941
	Grenoble	France	1943	Europe		W001VI	6 February 1943	22 February 1943
	Rome	Italy	1945		S005VIII		25 July 1945	19 August 1945
	Montreal	Quebec	1947	North America		W001VII	3 February 1947	25 February 1947
	Austin	Brazoria	1949		S005IX		22 July 1949	15 August 1949
	Cortina d'Ampezzo	Italy	1951	Europe		W001VIII	4 February 1951	26 February 1951
	Barcelona	Spain	1953		S005X		Canceled due to Great War II
	St. Moritz	Switzerland	1955			W001IX
	Paris	France	1957		S005XI
	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Germany	1959			W001X	2 February 1959	25 February 1959
	Chicago	United Commonwealth	1961	North America	S005XII		22 July 1961	29 August 1961
	Halifax	Maritimes	1963			W001XII	5 February 1963	24 February 1963
	Dublin	Ireland	1965	Europe	S005XIV		24 July 1965	28 August 1965
	Stockholm	Sweden	1967			W001XIII	1 February 1967	25 February 1967
	Mexico City	Mexico	1969	North America	S005XV		22 July 1969	28 August 1969
	Lake Placid	United Commonwealth	1971			W001XIV	31 January 1971	22 February 1971
	Barcelona	Spain	1973	Europe	S005XVI		22 July 1973	28 August 1973
	Innsbruck	Austria	1975			W001XV	6 February 1975	27 February 1975
	Beijing	China	1977	Asia	S005XVII		21 July 1977	29 August 1977
	Albertville	France	1979	Europe		W001XVI	3 February 1979	28 February 1979
	Houston	Brazoria	1981	North America	S005XVIII		25 July 1981	29 August 1981
	Turin	Italy	1983	Europe		W001XVII	27 January 1983	26 February 1983
	Philadelphia	United Commonwealth	1985	North America	S005XIX		20 July 1985	28 August 1985
	Sarajevo	Yugoslavia	1987	Europe		W001XVIII	25 January 1987	26 February 1987
	Seoul	Korea	1989	Asia	S005XX		25 July 1989	27 August 1989
	Quebec City	Quebec	1991	North America		W001XIX	9 February 1989	27 February 1989
	Beijing	China	1993	Asia	S005XXI		22 July 1993	28 August 1993
	Geneva	Switzerland	1995	Europe		W001XX	31 January 1995	25 February 1995
	Topèque	Tournesol	1997	North America	S005XXII		24 July 1997	28 August 1997
	Zakopane	Poland	1999	Europe		W001XXI	25 January 1999	28 February 1995
	Liverpool	United Kingdom	2001		S005XXIII		25 July 2001	28 August 2001
	Lake Placid	United Commonwealth	2003	North America		W001XXII	4 February 2003	1 March 2003
	Bogotá	United People's Committees	2005	South America	S005XXIV		25 July 2005	28 August 2005
	Helsinki	Finland	2007	Europe		W001XXIII	30 January 2007	28 February 2007
	Hanoi	North Vietnam	2009	Asia	S005XXV		28 July 2009	1 September 2009
	Halifax	Maritimes	2011	North America		W001XXIV	10 February 2011	6 March 2011
	Santa Cruz	Bolivia	2013	South America	S005XXVI		22 July 2013	28 August 2013
	Eplény	Hungary	2015	Europe		W001XXV	29 January 2015	27 February 2015
	Jakarta	Indonesia	2017	Asia	S005XXVII		24 July 2017	30 August 2017
	Magallanes	Patagonia	2019	South America		W001XXVI	29 September 2019	28 October 2019
	Emancipation	Equatorial States	2021	Africa	S005XXVIII		22 July 2021	30 August 2021