Matchbox label made in Czechoslovakia 1950’s/1960’s. The text on the label reads:”All under the banner of physical education. For the success of the national spartakiade”.
The Spartakiads or Spartakiades in Czechoslovakia were mass gymnastics events, designed to celebrate the Red Army’s liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945.
The name refers to the 1921 Prague Spartakiad organised by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. They were organised by the Communist government as a replacement of the similar Sokol gatherings, which were disapproved by the regime and discontinued after World War II. The Spartakiads took place at the Strahov Stadium, the largest stadium ever built and the venue of the last pre-war Sokol gathering. Most of the organisers of the Spartakiads were former Sokol officials.