The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-12-08
By A. LUNACHARSKY.

SOftOHtttN~
An important factor in the cul-
tural struggle is the method en-
ployed in the free education of the
population. Under czarist rule this
was altogether unimportant. The So
called enlightenment of the people
is a creation of the revolution. The
education of the population outside
the schools consists mainly in the
liquidation of illiteracy. In this re-
spect we have attained considerable
success, but we must not rest on
our oars. AS a result of the great
backwardness of the female popula-
ton, there are in the R. S. F. S. R.
still some eight million illiterate
adults. Added to this it must be re-
membered that after tearing to read
and write, a great number of people
very speedily forget what they have
learnt. For this reason we are now
applying the more expansive but
more thorough system of reading
and writing instruction in one-year
schools.
For the development of knowledge
among adults there is a growing
system of the most varied instruc-
tional establishments; at present
they number about 1000 and COM
prise 100000 pupils. In the first
place we have the workers univer-
sites, of which there are about 40,
with 100000 students.
One of the innovations of the rev.
olution are the reading-rooms. Of
these there are about $4,000. They
are small centers of culture, dis
persed in the most primitive villages.
Radio and Movies.
Our political education and the
improvement of the cultural level of
the population owe much to broad
casting and to the cinematograph.
In this respect we have naturally
not got so far as would be in our
interest but nevertheless our achieve
ments are most significant. Broad
casting and the films have not only
conquered the towns, but have to a
great extent penetrated into the
rural districts. Both the Party and
the government have Of late been
paying great attention to the
furtherance of the penetration of
the country by these two factors of
culture. In the near future a re-
markable advance in this direction
may be expected. Though the rep
reaches we hear in regard to the
theological contents of our films are
sometimes merited, they are yet far
and away in advance of those of
western Europe. The bourgeois, but
decidedly progressive and enlight-
ened German critic Kerr, who has
written a preface for the book on
"The Russian Finn" deals with the
question as to how it is possible that
in spite of it's backward technique
and the small means at its disposal
in comparison with American and
other European productions, the
Russian film can yet surpass these
productions in its artistic effect. He
finds the answer to his question il
the explanation that in the capitalist
countries the commercial considera
ton is paramount in The production
of film, while in the Soviet Unior
the film is intended to serve cultura
aims and the discussion of the great
problems with which the country il
occupied. There is no lack of ideas
and of sentiment. In the Sovie
Union the cinema is in every sense
Of the word an artistic means in the
service of enlightenment.
New Theatre.
What has just been said in REGARD
to the cinema also applies to othei
realms of art. Out theatre is like
wise showing signs of a rapid re