The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-09-22
BY NJ GoRKY,

q FEW DAYS AGO I heard that in one Of the
r towns of Italy 200 young men who had gone
through the secondary school, went up for their
entrance examination to the university, and that
only four Of them passed. What is the explana-
ton of this harsh Sitting process" with regard
to young people who aspire to higher education?
Maybe the strictness of the pedagogical de-
mands There is every reason to assume that
it is something else, namely: fear Of an over
production of inteIectuals Capitalist states
have no use for them.
It is precisely for this reason that about
year ago several important German newspapers
published articles in which they eloquently tried
to convince the youth not to rush to the uni
versties because there are more than enough
educated people in Germany; they have moth
ing to do, and the capitalist state thinks it
harmful to increase their number indicative of
this harmful surplus of intellectuals is the
struggle of the low brows," / e., the lower mid
die class, against the high brows' i, e, the
inteIectuals in the United States of America, a
struggle which finds expression in phenomena
Of medieval backwardness such as for instance,
the famous monkey trial" and the ban in some
states on the teaching Of Darwinism in schools.
Still more indicative of this is "fascism" which
in its frenzed struggle against the working class
suppresses all its aspirations to culture trying
hereby to retard the development of its intel
lectual power
Caitalism is afraid that the intellectual power
which it is no longer able to absorb and exploit
for its own benefit, might go over to the side
of the working class dts enemy and that it
will serve its great aim as "conscientiously" as
the intellectuals who contributed to the con-
struction of the iron cage of the capitalist state.
Having got entangled in its own snares, capt.
talism has become monstrously conservative, and
all its aspirations are being more and more mar
rowed down to the protection of its still COM
manding but already shaky positions 1t no
longer requires creative intelectuals, inventors,
If they do not invent cannon and machine guns
of new pattern, poison gases and all the par
aphernalia for the future war against the prole-
tariat, for any slaughter-regardless by which
of the capitalist states it is started-will in
evtably be mass determination of the prole-
tariat.
The working class and peasantry of the Union
of Socialist Soviet Republics stand in great need
of INTELLECTUAL power. For the fulfillment OF its
great historical task it requires an immeasur-
able quantity of such power. A year ago the
XVI Congress of the &C. of the Party made the
decision to introduce compulsory elementary
education. Here is an excerpt from the report
of the Peoples Commissar for Public Instruc-
ton A S. Bubnow, dated July IS, 1881, to the
c. c. of the Party and to its General Secretary
7. V. Stain:
IN connection with the introduction of COM
pulsory education, $4,000 new teachers were
trained and sent to work. mainly in the rural
districts.
THE teachers of the mass schools have taken
a very active part in the introduction of COM
pulsory education. Thousands of them have
shown creative initiative and enormous energy
in the struggle for the fulfillment of the de-
Cisions of the Party and government, though
they had frequently to work in difficult condi-
tons, having to overcome the resistance of the
class enemies to the energetic Socialist offensive
THE plan to introduce compulsory education
for children by the anniversary of the decision
of the &C. of June 25 1880, has been more than
fully carried out. The total number of children
attending the first grade schools in the R. S. F.
s. r. without the autonomous repubhcs) has
reached 8,7o9937-1O57 per cent of the plan of
the Peoples Education Commissariat There
has been a 234 per cent increase in the num-
Der of pupils in the primary school alone, COM
pared with 1929-3O. In the autonomous repub-
lies the number of pupils in the elementary
schools has reached 1,506,013-101.3 per cent of
the plan of the Republic.
While in the school year of 1929-30 the aver
age percentage of children attending school was
II, and 68.2 per cent in the rural districts this
percentage rose to 97.1 per cent in the R. S. F.
S. r. without the autonomous republics, and
to S7.9 per cent in the autonomous republics
1.-THE number of youngsters between the age
of IL and IS attending school went up to
1,392,146 compared with 10000 in the past year.
The number of new schools in the R.SF.SR.
without the autonomous repubics) is 1885, or
1911 per cent of the plan, and in the autono-
nous republics the plan for the opening of new
schools has been exceeded by 81 per cent"
And here is the report of the Peoples Com
missar of the Ukraine, Conlrade N. Skrypnik;
"On the anniversary of the decision of the &C.
CPSU re: introduction of compulsory elemen-
tary education, the Peoples Education Com
nissar Of the Ukrainian SSR. reports to the
c. c. G. P. S. u and to the c. G. G. P. of Ukraine
that the directive of the Party introduction
of compulsory education on the territory of the
Ukrainian SS.R. has been in the main carried
out: the school attendance of children between
the age of and 10 reaches 1872 per cent COM
pared with 1852 per cent last year, including: in
the cities-99.8 er cent in the Donbas-994 per
cent the number of children who have gone