A Reddit post called the picture “red fash”. I admit that it is controversial, since one may read it as mocking peaceful people who are not muscular, but on the other hand I think it is worthwhile to promote physical strength equally with mental strength and class consciousness. I bet that Specnaz, the special forces of USSR, were not formed from physically weak people. Maybe the picture is seen as a struggle between ideas of the “new left” and AES. What are your thoughts?
Short answer, no. Long answer, it depends on the context and the implied message. Encouraging good physical health habits is beneficial for society, but associating physical weakness with inferiority while glorifying an idealized (and for most people unattainable) physique is harmful. This is just as true for men as it is for women. The problem is that those who make such memes are too young to really remember, and they have read too little history to understand the reality of socialist countries.
Yes past socialist states did consider physical education, sports and athletic competitions important, especially for the youth. But they also considered things like proficiency in mathematics, the sciences, the arts, etc. equally if not more important. They had mathematics and physics olympiads, they held national chess tournaments, they prized music and ballet (just think of how famous the Bolshoi is) and theatre, they had a deep appreciation for literature and countless famous writers. And the situation in today’s AES states is not that different.