Evening star., 1929-12-15
SOCIAL REVOLUTION STILL
GOES ON AMONG RUSSIANS
Adds to Complex Phenomenon That
Began With Political and Economic
Changes Dating From 1917.

with old age and sickness cared for
by the state, with the commune TAX
ing over much of the responsibility OF
the family, the worker only has to con-
slider the needs and the enjoyment Of
the day. To perfect the psychology OF
communism, as well as to assist In the
conservation of its practice, the mega
ton of the attitude toward thrift and
saving and accumulation Of capitalistic
society Is essential.
Propaganda Justified.
propaganda is limited to that of
commuistic or Soviet Russian interests.
That these propaganda interests so
often involve hostility to everything
foreign Is perhaps incidental. But that
constant misrepresentation of foreign
peoples and conditions, miSinterpreta-
ton of current events and cultivation
of enmity to foreign peoples is, in my
Judgment, the one great blot on Rus
sian education.
Naturally, the Russian educator JUS
tifieS this situation by the retort that
these are no worse than similar atti-
tudes of Western education toward
Russia. There Is some Justification for
the statement. No one position held
by the Communist leaders Is clearer
than this of the interdependence Of
politics and education, Of the school
and the government
The Russian leaders and onclals IN
general are free to admit that their
plans for the betterment of the masses
and the establishment Of their ideas
in general can be but partly realized at
best in the present generation. Conses
| quently they place the greatest eEn-
phasis on the importance Of education
of the young and the saturation Of that
education with the Communist ideas.
Anti Religious War Carried On.
"A recent book on education in Soviet
| Russia by q competent and unbiased
| observer Of Russian conditions makes
| the statement that nowhere did the
author see any propaganda against re-
ligion. My own observation was that
no phase Of education was more prorni-
nent or more widely diffuSed than that
against religion
'"The churches that have been sup
pressed and used for museums, centers
| for the Y. M. c. A. (Young Mems Com
munistic Association), theaters or other
public purposes are for the most part
| the former military churches, and yet
are frequently used by the Soldiery for
the aforementioned purposes.
ut is even reported on reliable au-
thority that there are great religious
movements among the people them
selves. Certainly at Easter time the
churches were greatly used and there
was evidence of wide observance Of old
Easter customs.
"The anti-religious propaganda Is
carried on by poster, by dramatic pres
| entation, by direct instruction in schools
and in other organizations by public
address and all forms of public propa-
ganda.
Emphasis Placed on Group.
"One other phase of method is Of
significance, namely. the group. The
word Soviet itself means council and
grew out Of the workers strike councils
in the factories in the revolution OF
1906 No word is more generally used
than group Consequently the chA-
dren study in groups, more or less for
NAL, and carry on their socially useful
work in groups.
"The emphasis on individuality, ini-
tiative, self-assertion, sslf-reliance, so
prominent in American school work, Is
replaced In Russia by the emphasis on
the group The Russian educator is
keenly alive to the excellencies of Amer1-
can education, and has borrowed many
of his ideas or the suggestion OF them,
from American history and American
schools, but he is setting them to DIFF
ferent ends.
I'm this dependence upon and en-
phaSis upon the group lies much OF
the communism of the Russian educa-
ton. At least herein lies a vital bond
between formal education and the COM
muniStic system in social organization.
"One other fundamental principle OF
Russian education remains to be men
toned. Since all social institutions
have an educative function, and since
nurture or the development Of inherent
capacities and interests may so on
through life, and also since great masses
of the Russian people have hitherto
been denied all cultural opportunities,
the education program should be di-
rected to all the people. 1t is only the
process of instruction that is restricted
to the school and applies to the youth.
Repression Adnktted.
at may be said, without contradiction,
| think. that in no other country has
there been such q widespread and de-
termined effort to bring all of the peo-
pie under the influence Of an educational
program.
This report Is one Of personal OBJ
Servation on the Russian culture pro-
gram. My observations in this and
previous visits had no interest in the
political situation. Undoubtedly, some
impression of political conditions was
gained indirectly One was that people
talked If at ali, with reluctance and
dom of speech or of the press cannot
be said to exist. Repression, even
tyranny, was admitted The rule Of
the recret police was in force, Is In
the old regime.
"One definite impression was that the
present political regime was in no dan
| ger OF overthrow from within, and that
any attempt from without would or1ly
strengthen it. The one danger was u
split within the party itself.
Program Only Year Old.
"In forming any Judgment, 1t is well
to keep in mind that the 'five-year pro-
gram is only one year under way.
Neither initial success nor initial fail
ure may be indicative Of permanent re-
suits.
Many of these economic enterprises,
as well as much of the welfare ana
contentment of the people, depend on
assistance from the outside world. The
chief form of assistance that was most
obvious and about which the people
talked the most was that received or
anticipated from the great American
capitaliStic concerns. Chief among these
are the General Electric, the American
Harvester, the Ford Motor Works, the
United States Steel and the oil COM
panieS.
1T is not the approval Of . few
American radicals or the interest or
few American professors that Is brtpg-
ing the Communists economic assist
ance in the time of dire need, but the
great capitalists, even those that have
lost heavily in the past"