The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-04-05


cation. The concentration of political
power and economic control in the
hands of the working class has
brought about o complete change in
the aims and methods and contel,t II
education.
Russian education has advanced
with one bound from a pre-feudal
condition to the very forefront Of
modern civilization. The new society
of workers and peasants has devcI.
opcd system and theory of educa-
ton which uses the latest results Of
scientific research in every field AMI
applies them without the trsmnels
of commercialism and individualism
which have held back bourgeois 90
ciety. Tho spiritual revolution in
Russia is no less remarkable than the
economic and political revolution.
The first task Of the young Soy:~t
government when it came to power IN
October, 1917, was to remodel Gle
mentary education according to So
cialist ideals and to attack the uniysr-
cal illiteracy which had becn left Isl
a legacy by the obscuratist Czarist
regime. New schools were founded
thruout the country and numbcrlcss
"frst-aid stations" libraries and
reading rooms in the villages with
teachers for adults, while in the
towns cultural and educational clubs
and classes for adult workers sprang
up everywhere and fourished. This
gigantic work of propaganda and en-
lightenment was undertaken by the
Soviet government working in con-
junction with the Communist Partv.
and its fruits are shown in tho rails
ing OF the cultural level Of the whole
Russian nation in the short space of
seven years and in the face Of the
enormous difficulties created by the
famine and the civil war.
Illiteracy on the Wane.
The progress Of the struggle
against illiteracy is shown by the fig
ures published In report on Educh-
tion in Russia issued by tho govern
mcnt in 1922 on the basis of the re-
suits of the census of 1920. An in
teresting comparison is made between
the conditions in that year and IN
1897, which may be taken as n typical
year of the old regime when the edu-
cational efforts were practically sta
tionary. The number of men who
could read and writo increased dur
ing this period from 318 per thou
sand to 400, of women from 131 to
244, and for every thousand of the |
whole population the number of liter
ates rose from 223 to 319. In 1920 |
S38 of every thousand of tho popula-
ton in the country below the age of IS
were able to read, in the cities, 603. |
In the next age class up to forty |
years, 425 per thousand of the coun- !
try population and 791 of tho city I.
population were able to read. BE-
tween 40 and % the relative figures
were 215 and $50 and over As, 32C /
and 661. This is a remarkable rec
ord of enlightenment for the short
period of existence of tho Soviet gov .
eminent, but Lenin, who was never
willing to let communism rest on its
laurels or even pause to congratulate
itself in tho struggle upward, pointed /
out the enormous work that still re-
mains to be done in statement dur
ing the 1872 All-Russian Congress of
Soviets. eve find as a consequence,
as was to be expected THAI, we are still
very far from the time when hlitcracy
will have entirely disappeared in Rus
STA. We see too what gigantic work
we must still carry out in order to /
build real structure of culture on
the basis of our proletarian con-
quests"
Care of Children.
While the Socialist program has
always included an enlarged respon-
sibility of the state for the children,
the consequences Of the war and
famine in Russia involved the Soviet
state more deeply in this problem
than would ever have been the case
under more normal conditions. In
addition to the orphans who were
made helpless by the terrific losses Of
Russia during the great war were
added those whose parents persisted
in the civil struggle and the war
against capitalist Intervention. Then
came the famine, and Soviet Russia
had thrown upon her hands millions