The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-06-10
A FACTORY NUCLEUS EDUCATIONAL
STRUCTURE IN THE RUSSIAN PARTY

! candidates there are general elemen-
tary circles for workingwomen, for
current affairs, for anti-religious ac-
tNity, and for combating illiteracy
Some of these are in direct connection
with the local trade union committee
There is also a circle of worker cor
respondents and wallpaper collabora-
tors, and one of party agitators. In
connection with the nucleus Agitprop
there is generally a Consultation
Point" at which questions concerning
any of these courses can be raised.
Courses Confined To Industry.
The guiding principles in this work
of the lower educational units are:
1. Attendance is voluntary Except
for Politgrammar or equivalent
which is compulsory for candidates),
open to party members and qualified
non-party members. 2. The students
must be on approximately the same
level of political development. 8.
The study circle should be made up
IF workers from one enterprise, or at
least from one line Of industry, so
that the work of the circle can be
closely tied up with their activity in
the factory as workers and party
members; hence it is not advisable
for several nuclei to combine their
study circles. The material must
always have direct bearing in the fac
tory in which the circle is held, every
'fact" taught must be concrete and
subject to verification. The teachers
arc called "propagandists" and as far
as possible they are developed out of
the workers in the factory. Each
class, headed by a qualified "propa-
gandist," also has one or more of the
best members designated as "assis-
tant propagandists." More work is
expected from them than from the
other students, they are called upon
to attend the seminary or collective
groups of propagandists where meth
DDS and experiences of various study
classes are put under discussion, and
finally, when they are sufficiently
trained, they are given lower classes
of their own. One of those "Assis-
tant Propagandists" generally serves
as secretary of the class to help de-
velop a sense Of responsibility, and
this post enrolls a number among the
party "activists." All the propagan-
dist work in the nucleus circles is
unpaid
Next in line above the nucleus
classes are the Section Schools. These
are Of two kinds: AZ the school for
activists and b. the Rayon Soviet-Par-
ty School. The first is night school
which meets twice a week for a term
Of nine months, open to all active nu-
cleus minor functionaries possessing
adequate political knowledge, and pre-
pairing them for such nucleus posi-
lions as secretary, agitprop organizer,
women's organizer, anti-religious or
ganizer, etc. The program includes
general Marxist- feminist subjects
plus practical detailed courses on spe-
cial fields of organization activity;
the method embraces personal study
of the very adequate available printed
materials with concluding conferences
on each subject. The "Rayon Sow
Part-Shkol" is full-time school, and
trains professional revolutionaries in
both theoretical subjects and practical
work. The first year includes polit-
ical economy, history of the class
struggle, history of the CPSU, and
Party structure. The second year car
ries the same subjects further and
adds Soviet structure and historical
materialism. During their whole
course the students continue to per-
form political work in factories, and
during their Summer vacation they
are sent to various industrial centers
for "parctical work." the first year as
ordinary laborers at the bench, the
second as political assistants in Party,
trade union and soviet work while |
they carry on Investigations for writ
ten reports on their return.
Above this are the Communist Uni
versities 49, Sverdlov, Zinoviev, ETC.,
Academy for Communist Education,
Institute for Red Professors, colleges
for revolutionary minorities, etc. !
These will be described in detail an
other time. The proper functioning
OF lower Party educational units is
Of great importance for the American
Party now and, allowing for widely
differing conditions, the experience of |
our Russian brother-Party surely con-
tains many lessons Of value to our
Agit-Prop work. /
y