The nature of travel and tourism in Stalin's Russia presents modern historians with a unique and entirely ambiguous concept. Travel and tourism under the Soviet Union emerged as a tightly regulated activity that, like the rest of Stalin's Russia, was subject to close surveillance and strict control, although it was heavily encouraged beginning in the 1920s and became officially considered a type of sport worldwide. 1949. The seemingly simple practices of leisure and travel under the Stalinist model present readers with a paradox; As a system based on the labor theory of value, the USSR emphasized production as the foundation of wealth, personal worth, and the path to a society of abundance for all. However, the state began to encourage the practice of travel and tourism especially for its workers, which was complemented by the new advances leading to an eight-hour working day, a weekly day off and an annual vacation which “constituted the triad of restorative and healthy rest possibilities in the emerging Soviet system of the 1920s and 1930s.” Many sources make it clear that travel and tourism had become institutionalized under Soviet planning methods and was heavily controlled to the extent that tourists and travelers were sharply limited to the very minimal aspects of their travel itineraries. within the Soviet itself and with ever-increasing hostility toward all things foreign, travel and tourism under Stalin reflected a ritual practice that encouraged both physical and mental effort in groups; imbue Soviet travelers with greater experiences and reinforce the Soviet "patriotic identity" as opposed to the type of individualism that would float...... middle of paper ......e Soviet Union: the conflict between the public and Private Decision Making in a Planned Economy (London, 1984).14. Rappaport, Helen, Joseph Stalin: A Biographical Companion (California, 2000).15. Shaw, Denis JB, 'Achievements and problems of Soviet leisure planning', in J. Brine, M. Perrie and A. Sutton (eds.), Home, School and Leisure in the Soviet Union (London, 1980), pp .195 -214.16. Tucker, Robert C., Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above 1928-1941 (New York, 1992).17. Urry, John, The tourist's gaze: leisure and travel in contemporary societies 2nd edition (London, 2002).18. Yanowitch, Murray, “Soviet Patterns of Time Use and Concepts of Leisure,” Soviet Studies 15:1 (1963), pp.17-37.19. Zavisca, Jane, “Contesting capitalism in the post-Soviet dacha: the meaning of food culture for urban Russians”, Slavic Review 62: 4 (2003), pp..786-810.