Giving the report for the Comintern’s Education Commission, Nadezhda Krupskaya and Edwin Hoernle introduce a resolution to the Fourth Congress covering the Ideas of Marxism, Agitational Work, and Informing the Membership. Both reports and the resolution are included.
‘Communist Education’ by Nadezhda Krupskaya Edwin Hoernle from Abridged Report of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International, 1922.
EDUCATION QUESTION. SESSION 25, November 28, 1922. Chairman: Comrade Neurath.
Hornle (Germany): Comrades, the arrived Education Commission at the unanimous conclusion that the question before the Congress should not be the entire scheme of the Communist education policy, but only the question of Communist educational work done by the Party itself, namely, the question of the political education of the members and functionaries of the Party, and of the political education which is carried on by the members and functionaries of the Party among the masses outside the Party.
The Communist policy differs from the bourgeois and reformist policy not only by its aim but also by the fact that it has a strictly scientific basis; that it rests on a careful analysis of the historic situation and on a thorough knowledge of the social forces which are at work within the capitalist system. Its methods are the methods of Marxist research and of historic materialism. Thus, the Communist International can only fulfil its task as leader of the revolutionary proletariat and as the defender of the masses of the oppressed and exploited if it puts its policies on a strictly Marxist basis. For this reason, it is essential that the Communist parties should give their members and functionaries a careful theoretical training.
The Communist educational work is very different from that carried on within the reformist parties. The reformists make the workers believe that in spite of the exploitation and the poverty of the proletariat, it has the opportunity within the capitalist system to emulate the bourgeoisie at least on the field of knowledge and art, and that perfect equality and freedom exist at least in this respect under the capitalist system. The aim of Communist educational work is the training of revolutionary fighters, the education of every individual for class solidarity, the development and intensification of the fighting, agitational and organisational power of the Party. Thus, while the result of reformist educational work is a greater dependence of the working class on bourgeois ideology, the aim of the Communist educational work is to free the workers from the thraldom of bourgeois ideology.
The Communist educational activity, being strictly dedicated to the struggle, must confine itself to certain limits. It is quite impossible for a financially weak party, engaged in a hard political struggle, to indulge in teaching any branch of science that might be quite useful in itself, but serves no direct purpose in promoting the task of the Party. It must confine itself to such subjects as will be of direct interest to the fight. For instance, it should give the membership instruction in the history of the revolutionary labour movement, in the principles of Marxian science, in the principles and tactics of the Communist International, and where the large masses are still strongly under the influence of the theological doctrine it must take a further step to acquaint them with natural science and the role of religion. In those countries where the large masses of the proletariat are still illiterate, attention should also be given to elementary education, at least among its own members, in order that they be enabled to become propagandists and agitators, as well as reporters for the Party, for, otherwise, they will not be in a position to carry out their political and revolutionary tasks.
Communist educational work should always be revised in the light of experience gained in the daily struggle and propaganda of the Party. It should therefore be closely related to daily practice and to daily conflicts. Under no circumstances should the educational activity of the Party run on parallel lines with the political work, but the former should always be subordinated to the latter. This should be achieved by purely organisational means, by seeing to it that the responsible officials of the educational work of the Party should not be composed of unknown literatures, aestheticists, etc., who form, so to speak, the unattached intellectual fringe of the revolution; but of the best political officials and fighters of the Party, so that the entire educational work should be strictly subordinated to the political fighting interests of the Party. This would at once bring to light the necessity of adapting the educational policy continuously to the political experience under given circumstances. When the Party is engaged in action which demands the straining of all the forces, which calls every member to the front, where the centre of gravity is in the street, in the factories, etc., all must temporarily be put in the background, and renewed theoretical work during the ensuing quiet period in order to analyse the past experiences and to draw the proper lessons from the victory or defeat, so as to turn it all into a source of new knowledge and new force for action.
To sum up, the minimum educational demands upon Communist Parties to-day should be stated as follows: Centrally guided and organised educational work among the members; special training for the officials, scientific Marxian intensification of the agitation, associated with a really popular form of propaganda and supported by all the technical means of the magic lantern, music, the stage, etc.
It would be wrong to allow free play to the initiative of individual groups of persons in the publishing of textbooks, etc. This work should also be centralised and carried on by the united forces of the Party.
The educational work of Communist Parties should also include the educational work among the young workers and the children. The independent educational work of the Young Communist organisations should be strongly supported by the Party financially as well as by supplying teachers, books, etc. Every member of the Communist Youth must be attracted and admitted to all the educational institutions of the Party. The Communist Parties should also take care of the revolutionary education of the proletarian children organised by our local Communist children’s groups.
The Commission submits the proposal to the Congress–a resolution in that sense will be handed to the Presidium–that in order to organise, to guide and control Communist educational work of the different parties, the Executive of the Comintern shall create a section which shall take charge of the educational work of the different parties, making it an international organisation. The Commission deems it exceedingly desirous that a Socialist academy should be established here in Moscow, the seat of the Executive, the place which brings together all the threads of the International and where the international outlook of the comrades is most wide awake. The exact details will be discussed later on. But we deem it necessary that the individual countries should have the possibility of sending some comrades with the necessary practical and theoretical preparation to obtain their thorough Marxian training here, at the seat of the Executive. For all the Western parties, all the parties outside of Soviet Russia, know that they suffer because they have quite large numbers of revolutionary comrades who lack proper Marxian science, and this need should be satisfied by establishing the academy.
Comrades, this systematic and centrally organised educational work, guided by the Executive, will be a great source of strength to the theoretical training of the militant forces of the Communist Parties and of the Communist International. (Prolonged cheers.)
Krupskaya (Russia): Comrades, I should like to add a few words to what has been said by Comrade Hornle. Our Communist Party has had a great deal of experience in the line of agitation and propaganda. The distinctive feature of our Party has been that every member of the Party is obliged to carry on active work. Twenty years ago Comrade Lenin, in his book “What Must Be Done,” emphatically stated that every member of the Party must be active in Party work. At the Second Congress of the Party in 1903 it was the question of Party membership that became the cause of the split between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. The proposition introduced by Comrade Lenin stated that every member of the Party must not only subscribe to its programme, but must be active in one of its organisations. On the other hand, the position of Martov was that a member of the Party should recognise the programme of the Party and work under its directions. From the first glance it appeared that the difference of opinion was very insignificant. Indeed, many comrades were then of the opinion that the whole argument involved minor details and had no serious background. But, the subsequent history of the Party proved that the issue involved was of a very vital character. Every member of the Party must work either in the field of agitation and propaganda or carry on organisation work. I shall dwell on the question of agitation first. Owing to the proper organisation of its agitation apparatus, the Communist Party succeeded in gaining an immense influence in the masses. Agitation is calculated to act upon the sentiments and the emotions. By means of agitation, the broad masses are drawn into the Party. The question of agitation has first arisen when a large economic movement began to manifest itself. The first agitation on large scale was conducted in the struggle for the improvement of the material conditions of the working class. This was in the nineties of the last century. Then many of our Comrades paid too much attention to this particular phase of the struggle, and as a result we had a special faction, the so-called ” Mysl” group. The latter over-estimated the significance of the direct elemental movement of the masses. They were too much carried away by the colossal successes of their agitation and began to believe that theory was altogether unnecessary, that the entire thing is in the elemental movement of the workers. This “Mysl” group went so far as to express the famous idea that we have no need for Marx and Engels and that the working class will achieve Socialism without them. Then the Party directed an energetic campaign against this tendency. Another question which arose then was how to deepen our agitation. This controversy also occurred during the same period, i.e., 30 years ago. Then a part of our Comrades maintained that we should not force the agitation and confine ourselves to those questions which find an immediate response among the masses. At the time the masses were mostly interested in economic questions, and, therefore, some of our members insisted that we should limit ourselves to this phase of the struggle and not go any further in our agitation, i.e., to stand on the level reached by the working class at this given time.
These were the so-called economists (the group of the “Workers’ cause”) who maintained that it was unnecessary to deepen our agitation and that all we had to do was to follow behind the working class. During this time the “iskra” group conducted an extremely determined and passionate campaign against this tendency, considering it productive of the greatest detriment. Indeed, if the Party would have taken this standpoint of the economists, it would have meant that the Party would not be leading the masses.
Marxism helped the Party to correctly estimate the value of agitation. How did we conduct that work? We always defined the central issues of our agitation, which required much time. At the end of the ‘nineties, the economic demands were the central issue of our agitation. In 1905 the central issue was the political demands of the working class, and, finally, during the world war it was the war that became the central issue. But the central issue was only one of a number of questions into which it was divided. We gathered a select element of agitators into a group where we discussed all the questions of our agitation. Our Party was capable during the war to accomplish colossal work, because during the preceding period we devoted the utmost attention to all the questions of agitation. Discussing the forms of agitation, we shall consider first verbal agitation. The success of agitation depends not so much upon the eloquence and the artistic ability of the orator, but it depends much more to what extent the question is of vital interest to the masses.
We have in our Party still another tradition. Not only agitation, but also propaganda played in our Party a great role. Prior to the time when our agitation began to attract large masses, we were conducting propaganda in our illegal circles. Usually a Marxian student would come to the circle and read Marx and Engels and lead discussions on the questions of the day. He would speak on the history of civilisation and on political economy. This tradition took deep root in the working class, not only among the adult workers, but also among the youngsters. I had a chance to observe how in a far-off village the boys and girls demanded of their teacher that she teach them the subjects which they were taught formerly in the circles, i.e., political economy and the history of civilisation. They thought that without such study there is no salvation. The studies in the circles were very frequently interrupted due to arrests, and the workers had to complete their education in exile or in the prisons. The tradition of our Party is such that the jails and the places of exile were converted into a sort of universities and schools in which the workers who were later to become prominent leaders acquired a solid Marxian training. The “Workers’ Cause ” group was unappreciative of the importance of propaganda. Comrade Lenin, arguing with them, pointed out that Engels in his introduction to the “Peasants’ war,” states that parallel with the economic movement of the working class and the political struggle, equally important is theoretical grounding. The Communist Party has never separated the questions of agitation and propaganda from its fundamental work. Agitation and propaganda constituted the essential work of the Party.
At the present time, when the Party has become legal and the working class is in power, all our education work, our work in the trade unions, is permeated by the same traditions.
We are to-day witnessing generally a fundamental transition. In the first years of the revolution all our attention was concentrated on the agitation on the fronts and among the entire population; at the present time when we entered upon the work of economic construction, questions of a more involved character have come to the fore. Now the interest in theory and in the study of Marxism is extremely intense. I am working in the Chief Political Education Department and there we receive every day abundant confirmation of the fact that the masses are to-day striving for fundamental education. This is perfectly natural.
In 1905 the revolution stirred the masses to the very depths and brought the entire country into an upheaval. This was followed by years of reaction. During these years the intelligentzia lost heart. It imagined that all the conquests of the revolution were lost and that there was no hope for victory. But the masses cannot be made to forget the revolution. We saw that in 1912 the Lena events stirred the masses anew and proved that the masses had grown stronger. Throughout this period of time colossal internal work was going on unobserved.
The impressions of the revolution were thought out and digested by the masses, and in 1912 the masses represented an entirely different phenomenon from what we observed in 1905. At the present time an identical process is manifesting itself. We see that the masses withdrew into themselves. At the present time the entire attention is concentrated on building up of this material basis under the conquest of the revolution. But the building up of this material basis is closely bound up with the transformation of the human element, with the elevation of it upon a higher cultural level, with a modification of the habits of work and the change of the entire psychology.
To-day we are passing through a definite stage when a deeply intensified, internal and invincible work is going on among the masses. The working class and the working youth of Russia is at the present time engaged in self-education. This fills us with the hope that at the time when the world revolution arrives we shall be ready for the occasion.
‘Communist Party Activity in the Sphere of Education: Resolution of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International’
I. Ideas of Marxism
1 Educational work in the ideas of Marxism is an essential task for all Communist Parties. The aim of such educational work is to improve and strengthen the educational activity of Party members and organisers. The organisers must acquire, besides a general grounding in the Marxist world-outlook, the knowledge necessary for their special sphere of work.
As the work of Communist education is an integral part of the activity of the Party as a whole, it must be placed entirely under the central control of the Party. In countries where the education of revolutionary workers has until now been largely in the hands of special organisations outside the Communist Parties, systematic work should be done by the Communists inside these organisations to establish Party control.
An “education secretariat” attached to the Central Committee of each Communist Party should be set up to supervise the educational activity of the Party as a whole. All Party members who work in proletarian educational organisations not under Party control (workers’ educational associations, proletarian universities, proletkult, labour colleges, etc.) must come under the control of Party organs and follow their directives.
To extend the Communist educational activity of the Party as opportunities and circumstances permit, central and local Party schools, day and evening classes should be set up, teachers and lecturers invited for the various groups, libraries organised, etc.
The Party must give material and moral support to the Communist youth organisation in its independent work in the sphere of education. The Communist youth organisation must have the right to attend any meetings arranged by the Party on the question of educational work.
Detailed instructions for this work should be formulated by the educational section attached to the Executive Committee of the Communist International.
An international educational section is being established as part of the Executive Committee of the Communist International. Its main task is to develop and clarify further the problem of Communist educational work and to co-ordinate the work of the proletarian educational organisations outside the Party. This includes the accumulation and exchange of international experience, the introduction of new methods of activity in different countries, the compiling and publishing of handbooks, text-books and other material, and the handling of any special problems in the sphere of education that may arise in particular countries. The international education section should also be responsible for developing and preparing material on the policies of the Communist Parties and the Communist International regarding schools and education in general.
The Socialist Academy in Russia is organising international preparatory courses and other similar events for comrades from the various sections of the Communist International, with the aim of developing an understanding of Marxism and providing a practical Communist education.
II. Agitational Work
1 Every Party member must conduct agitation among non-Party workers. Agitation can take place whenever and wherever there are workers present: in the factories and workshops, or generally anywhere where work is going on; in the trade unions; at public meetings; in the workers’ clubs and societies, including sports clubs, choirs, tenants’ associations, co-operatives, etc.; in people’s palaces, in workers’ restaurants, on railway journeys, in the villages, and so on. Probably the most effective form of agitation is the visiting of individual homes.
2 The starting-point of such agitational work should always be related to the concrete needs and living conditions of the workers, with the aim of leading the workers on towards organised class struggle. There must be no attempts to force on those listening Communist principles and demands that are incomprehensible to them; the agitator must rouse people to fight for the basic demands of the proletariat, to fight against the capitalists and against all the wrongs of the bourgeois system.
3 Communists must actively participate in the revolutionary workers’ movement opposing the capitalists and the economic system of the bourgeois class. Their priority is to fight for the interests of the workers, disregarding personal gain and setting their comrades an example of how to agitate.
4 The Party’s Executive Committee should issue local groups with practical instructions on the regular agitational work that all Party members should conduct. It must also issue special instructions for agitational work in connection with non-routine campaigns, such as election campaigns, the campaign against high prices and for tax cuts, the movements for industrial soviets and for the unemployed, and other forms of Party activity. Copies of any instructions given should be sent to the Executive Committee of the Communist International.
5 All Party members have the right to ask the appropriate people in their organisations to provide sufficiently exact and concrete information on how agitational work should be conducted. It is particularly important to give such guidelines to, and to observe how they are followed by, the, group leaders of the Communist cells, workers’ groups, “groups of ten” and the fractions. Where there are no group leaders the local groups should elect special agitators to supervise this work.
6 During the winter a report on all Party members must be made and sent to their Party organisations:
i) Does the Party member carry out agitational work among non-Party workers
a. regularly?
b. occasionally?
c. not at all?
ii) Does the Party member carry out any other Party work
a. regularly?
b. from time to time?
c. not at all?
After consulting with the Executive Committee of the Communist International, the Party Executive Committee must send all the local groups a circular which explains how clear answers can be obtained to the above-mentioned questions.
The district councils and local groups must see that these reports are completed quickly. The Party Executive Committee will send the results to the Executive Committee of the Communist International.
III. Informing the Membership of the Major Decisions of the Parties and of the Communist International
1 All members of the Communist International must be informed not only of the major decisions taken by their own Parties but also of the major decisions taken by the Communist International.
2 During the winter all the sections and groups must take steps to see that all Party members are acquainted with at least the programme of their own Party, the twenty-one conditions for joining the Communist International, and any decisions of the Communist International that particularly concern their own Party. Party members should be tested to ensure they have a basic knowledge of all these questions.
3 The Party organisers with responsibilities must be aware of every major tactical and organisational decision taken by the Congress; their knowledge should be tested. This is also desirable, though not compulsory, for ordinary Party members.
4 The Executive Committee of each national section must send all the local groups instructions for putting these decisions into practice. In the spring the Party Executive Committee must present the Executive Committee of the Communist International with a report on Party activity in this area.
from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 2 No. 118. December 30, 1922.
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 Inprecor, 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/v02n118-dec-30-1922-Inprecor.pdf
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