The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-12-07
By A. LUNACHARSKY.

The slogan of a Cultural Rev
olution" was most emphatically
proclaimed at the XIV Party Con-
gress of the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union, but it is no novelty
for the Communist mentality.
Lenin on Culture in U. S. S. r.
Lenin frequently expressed his
ideas on the subject and declared
in his famous theses that the chief
and only obstacle in the way of
Socialism in the territory of our
Soviet Union lies in the low cultural
level of the masses. If this level is
sufficiently raised, so Lenin as
sumes, nothing more would stand
in the way of the realization of our
Socialist aims.
True, Lenin Immediately went on
to declare that culture itself costs
money and that the provision of
sufficient means for the cultural
work in the country can--in view
of the great demands made by the
revolutionary be attained by
further achievements of our economy
and a further growth of our budget.
At times we encounter the fortu-
nately not very widely-spread opinion
that these reflections on the part
of Lenin are not direct proof that
he considered the construction of
Socialism possible in country and
wished to underline the immense
Importance of the fundamental pre-
sumption therefor, in the shape of
high cultural level; on the con-
trary, the relative passage is inter
preted as follows: Seeing that we
are culturally backward and that
our economy is backward and does
not provide sufficient means for Gull
ture, we should harbor no illusions
regarding the construction of So
cialism. 1t is hard to imagine a
cruder distortion Of the leading
ideas of Lenin.
Meanwhile, however, practice has
n ade clear the real sense of this
idea even to such circles of economy
as allow immediate economic needs
to blind them to the requirements
Of the so-called third 'front.'" i. e.
the cultural struggle.
At the XIV Party Congress all the
leaders of the Party with the full
support of tie Congress itself, de-
cl'.red what was subsequently re-
Elected in the corresponding resolu-
lions, yiz. that, in comparison, let
us say, with the growth of our in
dustry, our cultural development is
rowing backward and that it is
necessary that lost ground should
be caught up with on this front and
that our culture must be deve' oped
at revolutionary" rate if an I'M
Interrupted development Of the in
dustry If our country and an i'm
movement of our agriculture and
its tran 'fGrmation into a collective
agriculture are to be ensured.
Cultural Budget Increasing.
The budget of popular education
increased in the course of this year
II speak of basic figures, as the
details are not yet known by 40
per cent as regards it's central, gov
ernmental section. 1t must, however,
be pointed out at once that this in
crease in the budget was made to q
considerable eXten. for The sqke of
higher technical institutions and in
dustrial high schools. If this sort
Of growth Of the budget appears
Ct e-sided at first sight, seeing that
the other branches of the cultural
campaign make relatively smaller
proPrc $, this first impression mist
rot engender the opinion that our
development is actually one-sided.
For surely the tasks of industrial
ization are our foremost tasks. The
incorporation between the training
Of the specialists needed for industry
and the general growth Of economy
was quite obvious. There can be no
doubt but that in the near future
in the next few budgets, at any
rate--agricultural education, fol-
lowed by other forms of education,
will receive due attention.