Lunacharsky, singular People’s Commissar for Education, speaks of the accomplishments and prospects on the Revolution’s fifth anniversary.

‘The Destiny of Public Education in Soviet Russia’ by Anatoly Lunacharsky from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 2 No. 97. November 10, 1922.

From the beginning the Soviet Government was filled with the consciousness that the only real supplement to the conquests of the proletariat and the peasants, can be the mastery of science. A man who has the power in his hands is a master,–not only in the vulgar sense of the term. And a real good master can only be one who not only has the power, but knows his business thoroughly. It is necessary that the proletariat forms from out of its ranks a wide section of various specialists, who will replace the old semi-bourgeois intelligentzia in the ideological and technical leadership of the political and social life. It is also absolutely necessary to raise the level of the whole of the people, in the field of general culture as well as in the field of political self-consciousness.

Such tasks cannot be solved in a short period in an illiterate country. And if we also take into consideration that the five years existence of our republic were filled with war and continual economic destruction we shall not be surprised that the Department of Public Education could not during this period fulfil the above-mentioned tasks to any considerable extent.

Now, on the fifth anniversary of our Revolution, we hear many authorative declarations which deal with the relations of the Communist Party to the problems of Public education.

Comrade Bucharin declared at the trial of the S.R.’s that the question whether the new economic policy will end with the victory of Communism or the reappearance of the bourgeoisie depended upon how quickly and to what extent the proletariat can provide its own specialists. Comrade Trotzky at the Youth Congress described the question of the education of the youth as a vital question of the revolution. Comrade Rykov, pointed out at the Trade Union Congress that the third front, i.e., the cultural front, (the first front being the military and the second the economic), was the most important. But to characterize the situation we must recall the observation which Comrade Rykov made, to the effect that this third front cannot be quite realized in consequence of the severe situation on our second front. Of course the struggle of our ideology against the bourgeois ideology, whose importance was pointed out by comrade Zinoviev at the last Party Conference, will be carried on with sufficient energy, but the whole basis of this war a widespread and reformed public education beginning with the elementary schools demands an enormous amount of money which for the time being we have not.

We must divide the history of public education during the Revolution into two parts: the years 1918 and 1919 were the period of revolutionary enthusiasm; the years 1920, 1921 and 1922 the years of clear reckoning. Our heritage from the first period are: our Declaration, our fundamental ordinances regarding the Unified Polytechnic Workers’ School, the work of political exposition and its methods, a correct formulation of general vocational education, the properly formulated methods for the capture of the higher educational institutions through the most intelligent forces of the proletariat.

But these first years of enthusiasm created much more. They created almost out of nothing a network of primary institutions for children below school age which embrace more than 200,000 children. They raised the number of schools in Russia to 60-70,000. They created a whole series of educational institutions in the provinces. Unfortunately these real successes, which arose during the severe war, have proved to be unstable or at least for the time being, untimely. The desolation which the war wrought in Russia has also affected public education. All means which remained in the country after the war had to be used to heal those wounded organs of the republic, without whose restoration nothing can live: the heavy industry and transport. Public education can only receive the crumbs. We have to effect a great reduction in the number of preschool establishments and a great reduction in the elementary schools; in addition to this, the second grade schools are also in poor condition. In a word: the foundation of the Russian people’s education is in a greatly shaken position. The ideal Socialist school which we had in view, has not only been retained but in some of the better schools we even see an exemplary extension of many of its main features. For the realization of this plan we simply and solely lack the funds.

What else could we expect? The richest countries, America not excepted, maintain their schools out of municipal funds and out of private means, and only a relatively small percentage is defrayed out of the national treasury. In Russia the conditions during the revolution were quite otherwise. There were no private means available for the maintenance of the schools, there were no municipal budgets, and the central material resources rested entirely on the requisitioning of grain in the village and the printing of bank notes.

The State took upon itself the task of building up the whole system of the people’s education. But in view of its weak financial basis it was not capable of coping with such a fearful crisis.

What measures are now being adopted to save, restore and then to extend the foundation of public education, the public schools of both grades, and the education of the masses outside of the schools, the libraries, the reading rooms in the villages, the courses for adults, etc.? The chief measures are the same as those recommended by the People’s Commissariat of Finance for the salvage of the state finances: the restoration of the system of taxation, and not only of the state taxes but of the municipal taxes.

This taxation apparatus is still in its growth. Local means are already available and the People’s Commissariat for Education hopes for their increase. The provincial Executive Committees should order a sufficient percentage of all local incomes to be assigned to education.

On the other hand the results achieved by public education are somewhat comforting. Although the equipment of the higher institutions has suffered greatly through poverty, energetic measures have been recently adopted to raise the standard of living of the teachers. The formation of Workers’ Faculties, i.e., preparatory schools through which the most capable proletarians can pass directly into the universities, have almost entirely won the sympathy of the students. The last elections to the Petrograd Soviet and the elections to the students’ councils in Moscow proved that the real leaders of the student body are Communists. We cannot boast that our universities are in good condition, but we can at least say that they are living.

Up to now the People’s Commissariat for Education has succeeded in supporting the chief centre of scientific and artistic life and almost entirely to maintain it and to collect great treasures which had been stored up by the Tsar’s aristocrats and monasteries. The enormous work in this field will one day be adequately appreciated. Russian art and science constitutes an important element of human culture, in the sense of preserving the old traditions as well as in the sense of the new discoveries evoked by the revolution.

Taken altogether we may say: all roads that the revolution has taken are right. We know what we have to do and how it must be done. The ideal machine must only be set into movement by steam power and for this we must obtain the necessary fuel in the form of material resources. The country is for the time being frightfully poor, but a better future awaits it. Therefore we can look with confidence into the future of the Russian people’s education.

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecor” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecor’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecorr, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1922/v02n097-nov-10-1922-inprecor.pdf