Pioneer
started as an illustrated magazine on literature, art and politics
for the youth. It was the organ to the the Central Bureau of the
Komsomol, the
Communist
Organization of Lenin's Pioneers. Although the magazine had some
great Soviet writers as Lev Kassil, its outlook and design was
rather conservative and not very exciting. The first issue: March
1924 was edited by Leon Trotsky. Therefore this copy was removed and
destroyed by Stalin so that only few copies of this issue exist. The
magazine was published in 10 issues in 1924 and in 24 issues per
annum from 1925-1929. From 1932 to 1935 it was published in 36
issues per annum and in 1936 again in 24 issues. After 1936 it was
published as a monthly magazine The magazine is still published to
date but with a print run of 1,500 copies. The maximum circulation
of 1,860,000 copies was reached in 1987.
Reference:
Moscow
2000, p. 122
