Creating the New Soviet Man Education in the

Creating the New Soviet Man: Education in the USSR Cris Martin Davis Center

New Soviet Man � Def: A theoretical goal of several Soviet regimes to transform the culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse peoples of the Soviet Union into a single Soviet people, behaving according to the ideology of Marxism-Leninism. Library of Congress � “…the basic aim of Soviet education is to produce a new type of person. ” V. Mitina

Early Educational Goals � Destruction of Tsarist educational model ◦ Elimination of religion � Four years compulsory education, to grow to 7 over time � Eradication of illiteracy Teachers School for Metal Workers, Drawing Class (1920 s)

Likbez Woman! Learn to read and write!“ "Oh, mommy! If you were literate, you could help me!" Literacy is the road to Communism!

Do you help to eliminate illiteracy? Join the “Down with illiteracy” Society! (1925) Likbez Being illiterate is like being blind. Failures and misfortunes await him everywhere Statue illustrating Likbez in action in Druskininkai, Lithuania Photo by Dmitri Korobtsov

Educating Adults � Rabfak (remedial education for workers) The reading room of a rabfak in the 1920 s. The VUZ Students Come to the Rabfak Boris Ioganson (1928)

Targeting children � “We must make the young into a generation of Communists. Children, like soft wax, are very malleable and they should be moulded into good Communists. We must rescue children from the harmful influence of family, we must nationalize them. From the earliest days of their little lives, they must find themselves under the beneficent influence of communist schools. To oblige the mother to give her child to the Soviet state—that is our task. ” From The Whisperers , Orlando Figes “Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever. ” ~Lenin

Education Trends throughout Soviet Period � 1920 s: Great experimentation and fluidity � Stalin era: Rigidity of both content and pedagogy � Khrushchev: Thaw applied to classroom � Brezhnev: Era of Stagnation � Gorbachev: Reexamination of priorities

Education in 1920 s: Great experimentation and flexibility Labor School, First Grade Math Class (1920 s) Nadezhda Krupskaya

Stalin Years To produce more, you need to know more.

This charming poster celebrated the building of a new school that combined literacy and labor by locating a metal shop and wood shop on either side of the classroom. The doll-like Russian children admonish their elders for falling to join in the enterprise. Polytechnic Education

Curriculum hours in Tsarist grammar school (1914) Curriculum hours in Soviet primary and secondary schools (1920)

Vospitanie � Socio-political awareness � Morality and ethics � Patriotism and internationalism � Military-patriotic education � Labor education and professional orientation � Mental development and raising of general culture � Atheism � Knowledge of the law and obligations of citizens � Economic education � Aesthetic education � Physical education

“Political education in Soviet schools must be defined broadly. It does include specific indoctrination on specific issues, ranging from respect for Lenin to agreement with Marxist economic principles…However, most thoughtful Soviet educators insist that “social consciousness” is much more important than the specifics of political instruction…. the general values of Soviet society—identification with the group, muted individualism, respect for authority—occupy a more important place in the work of the school than anything else. If children internalize these values, the teacher need not worry about their loyalty on any given issue. ” Susan Jacoby, Inside Soviet Schools, 1974.

Pre-School http: //kcmeesha. com/2010/01/10/old-photossoviet-kindergartens/

General Schooling

Children’s literature Qotu (1935) Buratino Murzilka

Extracurriculars

Young Pioneers The Pioneer: � Is true to the working class � Is a friend and brother to every Pioneer and komsomol member � Is honest and truthful. His word is like granite. � Is disciplined � Daily helps his fellow workers to build a Communist society. � Is pure in thought, word and deed. http: //img 11. nnm. ru/3/f/6/2/b/58 b 41 efed 476683 de 11 be 0 f 6513. jpg

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Is this a problem? � For Soviet schools and colleges set out to shape young people’s knowledge and perceptions of the world through an organized process which is all-embracing and multifaceted. They attempt deliberately and systematically to instill in the young officially-prescribed attitudes, values and habits which will make them rounded, hardworking and loyal members of socialist society. ~George Avis, Preface, The Making of the Soviet Citizen

Pioneer House of Culture, Sevastopol, Russia