ID
'3
27753
'I WANT TO BE LIKE STALIN"
"I WANT-TO BE
LIKE STALIN
99
FROM THE RUSSIAN TEXT ON PEDAGOGY
BY B. P. YESIPOV AND N. K. GONCHAROV
TRANSLATED BY George S. Counts and
NllCia P. Lodge WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY GEORGE S. COUNTS
1947
THE JOHN DAY COMPANY NEW YORK
C O% YKlVJbUT f : * 9 47-> B t: THE JOHN DAY COMPANY
_4^ rzgfifs reserved* This b&ok 9 or parts thereof 9 must
not be reproduced ir any form -vcizhout permission*
Published on the same day in the Dominion of
Canada by Longmans, Green and Company*
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY THE CORNWALL PRESS, INC., CORNWALL, N, y.
CONTENTS*
PAGE
INTRODUCTION
By George S. Counts 1
I FOR COMMUNISM
The Tasks of Moral Education 34
II FOR BOLSHEVIK CHARACTER
The Principles of Moral Education 42
III FOR OUR BELOVED MOTHERLAND
Education in Soviet Patriotism 53
IV FOR LOVE, HONOR, AND RESPECT
Education in the Spirit of Socialist Humanism 71
V FOR THE COMMON GOOD
Education in Collectivism 81
VI FOR ORDER AND DISCIPLINE
Education in Discipline 94
VII FOR COURAGE AND STRENGTH
Education in the Volitional
Qualities of Character 124
VIII FOR ALL MANKIND
Lenin and Stalin on Moral Education 141
APPENDIX RULES FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN. 149
* The second title in each case is the title in the original Russian text*
"I WANT TO BE LIKE STALIN'
INTRODUCTION
By George S. Courtis
WHAT are the Soviet leaders "up to"? What are their
plans for the long future? Are they abandoning the orig-
inal Marxian doctrines? Are they changing their views
of capitalism in general and American capitalism in
particular? Are they reviving the nationalism of the old
empire? Are they forsaking the idea of leading the -work-
ers of the world in the overthrow and reconstitution of
human society? Are they expecting a peaceful resolution
of the differences now dividing the peoples of earth?
Are they interested in promoting mutual understanding
and friendship between East and West? Do they have
confidence in the United Nations? Are they preparing
for war or peace? Do they believe in democracy? Are
they relaxing or planning to relax the rigors of the dic-
tatorship? In a word, what may we expect from the
Soviet leaders in the years ahead?
These questions are in the minds of all students of
world affairs and of all thoughtful men and women who
are anxious about the future. If we knew the answers, we
could shape our own policies with more assurance. Un-
1
fortunately, few people, except hardened Party-liners
and chronic Russophobes, feel much confidence in their
ability to give the correct answers. And these dogmatists
have been proved wrong again and again by events. Per-
haps the Russian leaders themselves are in something of
a mental fog and, with little precise and dependable
knowledge of the strange lands lying beyond their west-
ern borders, are endeavoring to fathom the intentions of
the "capitalistic world." Perhaps their minds have been
so molded by ceaseless repetition of false dogmas and
partial truths about society and history that they live
perpetually in an intellectual prison of their own
making.
To find wholly trustworthy answers to these questions
we would have to make our way into the so-called "Rus-
sian enigma." We would have to get behind the "iron cur-
tain" which today makes impossible free communication
between the peoples dwelling in the opposing camps of
authoritarian communism and liberal democracy. In-
deed, we would have to penetrate the highest councils of
the All-Union Communist Party, even invade the sacred
precincts of the Politburo whose fourteen members con-
stitute a kind of high command responsible for the fram-
ing of grand policy for today and tomorrow in both
domestic and foreign affairs. Public discussion of such
policy does not exist in the Soviet Union.
We cannot, of course, be admitted to the deliberations
of the Politburo. Yet we need not remain entirely in the
dark regarding the present long-term plans, policies, and
expectations of the Russian leiadership. Because of the
nature of Soviet education, whose relevant features will
be developed later in this introduction, an examination
of what the Russians are teaching their children should
throw light on some of the questions. To be sure, we
know that they can teach one thing today and another
tomorrow* But any radicaFreversal of position, such for
example as the Soviet-Nazi Pact entailed, is costly and
possibly fraught with some hazard. Certainly, if they
have long-term plans, policies, and expectations, they
must endeavor to build supporting foundations in the
minds of the members of the younger generation. It may
be safely assumed that they do not frame their educa-
tional programs or write their textbooks for the purpose
of deceiving foreign governments and peoples.
This little volume, therefore, although it deals with
the subject of education, is presented in English, not pri-
marily for the educator, but rather for the citizen who
is interested in understanding the Soviet Union. In its
pages are outlined with great precision and power, and
with almost endless repetition, the basic loyalties, quali-
ties of character, and world views which the Russian
leaders are endeavoring to build into the minds of the
children and youth of the "first workers* republic in
history," a republic wfiich has a population of two hun-
dred million people and occupies "one-sixth of the land-
surface of the earth." If any considerable measure of
success is likely to attend their efforts, what they propose
to do is of vast importance to us in America.
For understanding Russia, "/ Want to Be Like Stalin"
is, as the historian would say, a primary source. And in
this fact resides its great value. It was not written by
some foreigner, whether friendly or hostile, to inform
his countrymen on the nature of Soviet life and educa-
tion. Nor was it written by a Russian for the purpose
of giving a favorable picture of his native land to the
rest of the world. In short, it does not tell what anybody
says about the rearing of the young in Russia. On the
contrary, it is itself a part of that process, an instrument
employed in the molding of the next generation in an
image fashioned by the present leaders. It is in itself
an uncensored exhibit of the Russian mind and outlook
on the world.
For many years I have devoted a considerable part of
my time and energy to reading materials in both English
and Russian dealing with Soviet affairs. Never has a
more revealing and illuminating document fallen into
my hands. Here is exposed to full view at least some of
the long-term purposes and intentions of the Russian
leadership.
n
The materials in this volume are taken from the third
edition of a textbook on Pedagogy written by two Soviet
educators, B. P. Yesipov and N. K. Goncharov. It was
published in 1946 and has been approved by the Minis-
try of Education of the RSFSR for general use in so-
called pedagogical schools* 1 Such approval means that
it expresses the official position on all questions covered
and is the one book that may be used in teaching the sub-
ject of "pedagogy" in the institutions for which it was
written. In the Soviet Union this subject embraces in
comprehensive fashion the controlling ideas and prin-
ciples, the theory and practice of education.
This particular book is far more inclusive in its scope
1 These institutions are devoted to the preparation of teachers for the
elementary schools of the country and correspond roughly to normal
schools in the United States.
than any corresponding work in use in America. It is
more than two hundred thousand words in length and is
composed of twenty-one chapters. 2
A hasty perusal of the book was sufficient to reveal its
worth as a basic Soviet document. Every chapter con-
tains materials which should be known in America. The
immediate preparation of a full English edition seemed
eminently desirable. But the translation and publication
of the entire book would both postpone the date of its
appearance and reduce the number of its readers. It was
decided therefore to translate and publish that portion
of the volume which would be of most interest to the
American reader and which would give the essence of
the social, political, and moral doctrines which it seeks
to propagate.
This decision of course meant concentration on those
parts of the Pedagogy which deal with what the Russians
call "education in communist morality** or "education
in the qualities of Bolshevik character" qualities which
presumably have reached their fullest and most perfect
expression in the person of Joseph Stalin. 3
2 The chapter titles are: "The Subject of Pedagogy," "The Aim and
Tasks of Communist Education," **The School System," "The Education
of the Pre-School Chad," **The Child of Younger School Age>" "Physi-
cal Education," "The Foundations of Teaching," "The Content of Edu-
cation in the Elementary School," "The Recitation and Methods of In-
struction," "The Organizational Characteristics of the Recitation," "The
Content and Method of Moral Education," "Education for Work,**
"Aesthetic Education," "Out-of -Class and Out-of-School Work -with Chil-
dren," "The Organization of Pioneers/* "The Education of the School
Child in the Family," "The Planning and Evaluation of Schoolwork,"
"The Soviet School Teacher," "The School Building and Equipment, 95
"The Direction and Leadership of the School," and "A Brief Account of
the History of Pedagogy."
* The heart of the present volume, Chapters II to VII inclusive, gives
in full the contents of the six sections of Chapter XI of the Pedagogy,
HI
The critic may say that the lifting of sections from
such a large volume may convey to the reader a false or
partial view of the Soviet position. This danger of course
is always present in apy selection and in my opinion a
translation of the entire book would have been prefer-
able. Yet a full reading shows that the Pedagogy as a
whole supports without qualification, in so far as ethical
values are concerned, the patterns and tendencies found
in the sections translated. Indeed, because of the pene-
tration of Soviet moral doctrine into every chapter of
the book, such a reading confirms and strengthens the
impressions gained from an examination of the parts
devoted specifically to the subject of the cultivation of
communist morality. Whatever else one may say. about
a Soviet work on education, one cannot criticize it on
the grounds of inconsistency, unless the basic doctrine
itself embraces contradictions.
A few illustrations showing how the stated purposes
of moral education control other aspects of Soviet educa-
tion should remove any doubts. In their discussion of
physical education the authors of the Pedagogy state that
winch is entitled "The Content and Method of Moral Education." The
Russian titles of these six sections are "Principles of Moral Education,**
"Education in Soviet Patriotism," "Education in the Spirit of Socialist
Humanism/* "Education in Collectivism," "Education in Discipline," and
"Education in the Volitional Qualities of Character." Chaptei I is for
the most part the sixth section of the second chapter of the Pedagogy^
which is called "The Tasks of Moral Education." The final chapter of the
present volume is composed of two sections in the final chapter of the
Pedagogy "Lenin on Moral Education" and "Stalin on Moral Educa-
tion." These two men alone, huilding on the work of Marx and Engels,
are the authoritative sources of the ethical doctrines taught in the Soviet
schools.
"physical education in our school is most intimately
related to the cultivation of communist morality and the
traits of Bolshevik character in the pupils/* They say
also that "physical education as a whole promotes the
development of those qualities which are essential to
future warriors of the Red Army** and includes "forms
of exercise designed to give specific mastery of certain
knowledges and habits related to military preparation,
such as elements of military formation, use of gasmasks,
and mastery of skills in skiing.'* Of particular educa-
tional value are "simple military games leading to the
acquisition of the ability to overcome various obstacles
and to the development of strength, agility, ingenuity,
endurance, and other such qualities.* 5
The teaching of history, according to the authors,
"possesses exceptional significance for the education of
the growing generation in communism.** Study of the
past will give children "pictures of the exploitation, the
oppression, the backwardness, and the humiliation of
the workers under the czarist autocracy . . * an under-
standing of the achievements of the socialist revolution
and of the heroic battle waged by their fathers and
grandfathers for their freedom ... an awareness of the
need for the vigilant defense of the accomplishments of
the revolution and the fruits of victory of the valiant
Red Army over the fascist robbers ... a desire to con-
tinue the work of their fathers in building a communist
society in the Soviet Union.** The study of the past "cul-
tivates in children high idealism and deep devotion to
the interests of the working people, irreconcilability to-
ward all reactionary forces, and resoluteness, courage,
and bravery in the struggle for the finest ideals of hu-
inanity, for communism/* History prepares the young to
"realize the great historic role of the Party of Bolsheviks
in the struggle for the liberation of the workers of all
the peoples of our land of many nationalities from ex-
ploitation and oppression, from national and religious
persecution." History also inspires children "with deep
love for the highly gifted leaders of the proletarian revo-
lution Lenin and Stalin." These "greatest leaders of
history" struggled "supremely, unswervingly, persist-
ently, and stubbornly" against "all enemies of the
people" and "brought our country to* the victory of
socialism."
Even aesthetics has "exceptionally great significance
for moral education." For example, "dry moralizing"
to the effect that lying is evil makes little impression on
the "soul of the child," whereas a single reading of Leo
Tolstoy's "The Little Stone," which "depicts the baseness
of lying" with the "power of genuine art," will cause
the story to "remain in the consciousness of the child
forever." Likewise, a moving picture such as The
Death of Ivan Susanin will cause "the hearts of chil-
dren to be filled with a feeling of hatred toward the
enemies of the fatherland." In music and song "the
native land is glorified, and the deeds of her heroes and
the sufferings and joys of the people are presented
vividly and lovingly." By telling the story of "our
struggle and building" in "simple artistic words, in a
song, in a picture, in a play, or in a film, the school
cultivates in pupils a love for our Motherland, 4 for so-
4 In the Russian language there are two words for native country.
In the present work one is translated as "motherland" and the other as
"fatherland." The former is used more frequently, is more intimate, and
is usually capitalized in the original text of the Pedagogy.
8
cialist construction, and for the leaders of the people."
By the same means "it nurtures hatred toward enemies
and abhorrence of vestiges of the past which prevent us
from moving ahead.**
In the selection of the materials to be used in his
daily work in any subject the teacher is admonished to
make his choices "in full accord with the purposes of
communist education." Thus, among subjects for essays
"he selects stories about the exploits of the heroes of the
Great Patriotic War 5 and the extraordinary deeds of
people capable of sacrificing personal interests for the
common good." In the field of mathematics the teacher
chooses or devises "problems which involve calculations
relating to the rural economy, which teach pupils to save
state pennies in industry and daily life, or which instruct
in the application of mathematical knowledge to mili-
tary affairs." These problems "must reflect our socialist
reality" and make the pupil "realize that mathematics
is necessary for technics, for production, and for the
strengthening of the defense of the socialist Mother-
land." Finally, the teacher is told that pupils must be
trained in auditory discrimination so that they may be
able "to hear the faintest sounds, even to a barely per-
ceptible rustling," because "in modern warfare the fu-
ture defender of the Motherland, and particularly the
scout, must possess such powers."
5 The recent war is officially designated as the "Great Patriotic War
of the Soviet Union."
IV
The chapter on moral education in the Pedagogy,
which constitutes the major part of this volume, is
directed primarily toward the work of the elementary
school. It should be emphasized, however, that the foun-
dations of education in communist morality are system-
atically laid in preschool institutions, particularly in
the kindergarten, which enrolls children from three to
six years of age and is more widely developed than in
any other country. In the Soviet Union the kindergarten
is a major educational institution.
According to the Pedagogy, "the basic habits of so-
cialist life are formed during this period order and
discipline, friendship and comradeship among children,
love of our great Motherland, of the Communist Party,
of the leaders of the people, love of and respect for the
Red Army and its heroic warriors, love of and respect
for the best people of our country." The kindergarten
cultivates in children "a feeling of respect for labor . . .
and initiative, honesty, truthfulness, courage, resource-
fulness, and respect for elders and teachers." The basic
method of moral education at this age is through "con-
crete facts and examples." In the kindergarten collective
"the little ones" live according to the rules of communist
conduct. They are told vivid and imaginative stories
which "show how in the Red Army the warriors help
one another and save one another under the most griev-
ous circumstances, how people work in a collective and
through a collective conquer nature, how Comrade Stalin
and the Soviet government watch over every Soviet per-
son." Since children "love everything heroic, . . . love
10
of the socialist Motherland" is cultivated "through sto-
ries about our Motherland, about the heroic episodes of
the struggle of the workers for their freedom." Incidents
are taken from the biographies of Lenin, Stalin, Dzer-
zhinaky, Sverdlov, and Kirov 8 for the purpose of devel-
oping in children "love of and devotion to their people."
The work in music, molding, and drawing must be uti-
lized in fostering "the beautiful feeling of love for the
Motherland." The celebration of revolutionary holidays
should be directed toward the same ends. In their games
the little ones "reflect the surrounding life. Here children
play Red Army soldier: in their hands are little flags,
on their uniforms and caps are the insignia of infantry-
men, tankmen, sailors, and aviators. They march in
formation to the tune of a martial song."
At the upper levels of the school system, in the lower
and higher technical schools, and in the universities, the
same general pattern of education in communist moral-
ity is continued. And it is in these institutions for the
youth of older age that the intellectual foundations of this
new and strange society are laid. The study of the so-
called Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist "science," from which
communist morality is derived, is a basic and universal
requirement. "Every student in a teacher training insti-
tution," say the authors of the Pedagogy, "during his
study in this institution and subsequently, when he is a
teacher, must study thoroughly this broad, many-sided,
and extremely significant science of society in order to
work with maximum consciousness and clear purpose-
6 It is interesting to note and this is characteristic of the Pedagogy
throughout *Tutt of the five persons mentioned here Stalin alone is
living.
11
fulness for the cause of communism." This aspect of the
training of the specialist and general education ends
with the secondary school is presented by Stalin as
follows: "There is one branch of science whose knowl-
edge must be compulsory for all Bolsheviks of all
branches of science this is the Marxist-Leninist science
of society, of the laws of development of society, of the
laws of development of the proletarian revolution, of the
victory of communism. For it is impossible to consider
Mm a genuine Leninist, who calls himself a Leninist,
but who is cloistered, let us say, in mathematics, botany,
or chemistry, and who sees nothing beyond his spe-
cialty/* The authors of the Pedagogy thus summarize the
matter: "Culture, literacy, political orientation, sound
knowledge of science, technique, and loyalty to the work
of socialist construction these are the principle traits
of a Soviet specialist.'*
The Pedagogy from which the present volume is taken
is approved by the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR
for use in the normal schools of the RSFSR. This fact
may lead some readers to conclude that it has relevance
for only one of the sixteen "union republics" which com-
prise the Soviet Union. Such, however, is not the case.
The doctrines and programs here set forth rest in all
important matters on decisions and resolutions formu-
lated by the highest authorities in the AU-Union Commu-
nist Party and the government of the Soviet Union.
Moreover, the reader should realize that the RSFSR, or
Russian Republic, embraces 6,444,000 square miles out
of a total Union territory of 8,500,000 square miles and
109,000,000 people out of a total Union population in
1940 of 193,000,000. The RSFSR is the land of the
12
Great Russians, 7 the people who built the empire of the
czars and who led the Bolshevik Revolution to victory in
1917.
**/ Want to Be Like Stalin" since it deals with moral
education, must be taken with utter seriousness. In terms
of political significance it must be taken far more seri-
ously than any book ever published in the field of edu-
cation in the United States. It must be taken seriously
because it represents concentrated power as no peda-
gogical work written in America ever has or, let us hope,
ever will. This fact is due to three distinctive features
of the Soviet educational system which must be under-
stood if the full meaning of the contents of the book is
to be grasped.
In the first place, education in the Soviet Union is
essentially and profoundly social in purpose. Standing
on the foundations of the historical materialism of Marx
and Engels, the Soviet authorities assume in their ap-
proach to the educational question that throughout his-
tory organized education has been the handmaiden of
politics, that the idea of the school standing outside o
politics is "a lie and an hypocrisy,** that since the disso-
lution of primitive tribal society education has always
been the servant of the ruling class, that this was the con-
dition in the slaveholding states of antiquity and in the
feudal order of the Middle Ages, and that it is the condi-
tion in contemporary capitalistic society everywhere,
7 The Russian people; are divided into three ethnic groups: the "Great
Russians'* who huilt the empire, the "Little Russians" who live in the
Ukraine, and the "White Russians" who inhabit Byelorussia*
13
regardless of political forms and ideologies. The true
Bolshevik scoffs at the very idea of "freedom in educa-
tion" in any bourgeois state. Applying this doctrine
without qualification on coming to power in 1917, the
Bolsheviks established an open and avowed dictatorship
under the banner of the proletariat and converted the
entire educational system into an instrument wholly and
unreservedly committed to the achievement of their pur-
poses* "Education in the USSR," in the words of the
Pedagogy., "is a weapon for strengthening the Soviet
state and the building of a classless society." The school
therefore is regarded as a powerful and indispensable
organ of the Communist Party, of the same order as
the government, the economy, the army, or the political
police. According to a resolution of the Party at its
Eighteenth Congress in 1939, "the work of the commu-
nist education of the workers assumes decisive signifi-
cance."
All of this gives to the work of organized education
a seriousness that certainly cannot be matched in the
United States. Periods of great stress and trouble in the
Soviet Union are marked, not by a weakening, but by a
strengthening of ths school program. This sense of im-
portance is reflected in the relatively huge expenditures
on education, amounting in terms of proportion of na-
tional income to two or three times the expenditures in
America. At the present time the Russian educators de-
clare that one out of every four of the inhabitants of
the Union is attending a school or a class of some kind.
In the Soviet land, moreover, it is customary for the
highest authorities of the state to give close attention to
14
the work of the schools. In 1934, for example, the re-
writing of textbooks in history was inaugurated hy Stalin
and was guided by a committee of the Party composed
of the three most powerful figures in the country
Stalin, Kirov, and Zhdanov. At the time Kirov, later
assassinated, was regarded as the heir apparent. Zhda-
nov was thought to be next in line.
Soviet children are made to feel the seriousness of
their work in school beyond anything known in the whole
history of American education. Rarely, if ever, have the
members of an entire younger generation of any people
been subjected to an equally severe regimen in the insti-
tutions of organized education. "A person educated in
the Soviet school," say the authors of the Pedagogy,
"must stand much higher in the ^cale of intellectual
education than a person who has gone through a bour-
geois school." This statement certainly expresses the
intent of the Soviet leadership and applies with far
greater force to the subject of moral education.
In the second place, education in the Soviet Union is
extremely broad in scope. In both conception and prac-
tice it is by no means limited to the work of the system
of schools. In addition to that system which embraces a
vast network of institutions from the nursery school and
kindergarten through the elementary and secondary
schools ana- the various vocational, technical, and pro-
fessional schools of different grades to the university
and scientific institutes and academies, it includes for
all practical purposes all the organized agencies capable
of enlightening or molding the minds of both young and
old the family, the factory, the collective farm, and
15
the cooperative, the Society of Young Pioneers, 8 the
League of Young Communists, 9 the labor unions, the
organs of government, and the Red Army, the book
press, the newspaper, the magazine, the radio, and even
the bookshop, the theatre, the moving picture, literature,
works of art, and all agencies of entertainment. In the
case of children, the co-ordinating factor under the Party
has tended increasingly during the past fifteen years to
become the school and the teacher. At present the latter
has enormous authority over the child, being clothed
with the power to supervise his life in the home and in
the community, even to the extent of granting or with-
holding permission to attend the cinema or other places
of amusement. If a youngster is not doing his school-
work satisfactorily, he will be advised to stay home and
study. In so far as children are concerned it seems to
be literally true, as the Pedagogy says, that "Stalin and
the Soviet government watch over every Soviet person."
The Russian educational system is thus a system of tre-
mendous reach and power.
In the third place, education in the Soviet Union is
emphatically monolithic in control. Regardless of the
forms of administration, which recognize the political
divisions and subdivisions of the country, actual control
of this vast educational system in all crucial matters
rests squarely in the hands of the Ail-Union Communist
Party and its central organs. Teachers and educators as
8 "The Children's Communist Organization of Young Pioneers in the
Name of Lenin," a disciplined Communist organization of ahout twelve
million hoys and girls from ten .to fifteen years of age.
9 The All-Union Leninist Communist League of Youth,"* a disciplined
Communist organization of ahout seven million youth of both sexes from
fourteen to twenty-three years of age*
16
such are essentially technicians who translate into prac-
tice the general or specific directives formulated by the
Party leadership. This does not mean that they may not
on occasion influence that leadership. But when they do
they must take care lest they overstep the boundaries
imposed by the nature of the dictatorship. The history
of Soviet education is strewn with the wrecked lives of
teachers and educational leaders who for one reason or
another found themselves convicted of espousing "coun-
ter-revolutionary" doctrines.
The way in which this form of control operates is
clearly revealed in the case of the rewriting of the his-
tory textbooks already mentioned. The rise of Stalin to
power in the late twenties and the decision to "build
socialism in one country" resulted in a critical examina-
tion of all Soviet institutions, doctrines, practices, and
leading personnel. The teaching of history was naturally
subjected to most careful scrutiny. On May 16, 1934, on
the initiative of Stalin, the Soviet of Peoples' Commissars
of the Union and the Central Committee of the Party
adopted a resolution which called for the preparation of
an entirely new set of textbooks for the teaching of his-
tory in the schools. It also provided for the appointment
of groups of scholars to prepare outlines for the pro-
jected volumes. A committee composed of the three
most powerful men in the Soviet Union, Stalin, Kirov,
and Zhdanov, as stated above, was authorized to ex-
amine and criticize the outlines. This the committee did
with great vigor in three separate documents under the
common title of "Remarks on the Outlines, etc." These
"Remarks" have served to guide all who have had any
17
part in the writing, the criticism, or the approval of the
new history textbooks.
Other profound changes in educational theory and
practice in the Soviet Union, and there have been many
such changes during the past fifteen years, have gen-
erally been introduced in similar fashion. In 1936 a
subject called "pedology," which was founded on the
scientific study of the child after the manner of Thorn-
dike in America and which had come to be widely taught
and studied in teacher training institutions, was forth-
with abolished, and "pedologists" were told to shift to
other fields of pedagogical instruction and inquiry.
Leading pedologists were asked to read papers before
a great conference of educators in Moscow in September
and to confess their errors. In 1943 similar action was
taken regarding coeducation. The resolution demanded
that coeducation be abolished and separate schools for
boys and girls from the first grade be established wher-
ever conditions made possible the maintenance of two
systems. This was the more astonishing because a few
years before Soviet educators had criticized American
coeducational practice on the grounds that it was not
sufficiently thoroughgoing. According to the authors of
the Pedagogy, "the decision was brought about chiefly
by the necessity of differentiating in the work of the
military-physical preparation of the youth of the two
sexes. 9 *
Through the monolithic control of the Party small
things, as well as great, are shaped. As the authors of
the Pedagogy say, "the work of the school is carried on
by specially trained people who are guided by the state."
This watchful attitude is clearly evident in the prepara-
18
tion of textbooks. In the middle thirties, as an aspect of
a general drive toward the tightening of control over
education, the doctrine of the "stable" textbook was
adopted the doctrine that a textbook should be pre-
pared with great care under the close supervision of the
highest authorities and then be adopted throughout the
system. In a textbook, said Stalin, Kirov, and Zhdanov
in their "Remarks," "every word and every definition
must be weighed." They also stated that the textbook
must give "full support to the communist direction" and
be saturated with "materials of socialist construction/*
In summary, according to the authors of the Peda-
gogy, "the textbook contains the knowledge which pupils
are obliged to master. Being the chief aid of the teacher,
it must play an exceptionally important role as a weapon
of communist education." Also "all teaching plans and
programs, approved by the Ministry of Education, are
obligatory state documents. Every teacher and school
director is responsible for their execution. Arbitrary
changes . * . are inadmissible. Compulsory uniformity
of programs is one of the most valuable conditions for
the improvement of schoolwork in our country." These
directives apply fully to the contents of the present
volume.
As the reader, therefore, reads "/ Want To Be Like
Stalin" he should keep clearly in mind this monolithic
character of Soviet education. From the first sentence to
the last its contents are taken directly and in balance
from an officially approved textbook, and it represents
in essence not the peculiar views of some frontier phi-
losopher who wants to give his message to the world or
of some educator desirous of seeing his name in print,
19
but rather the ideas, doctrines, and purposes of the high-
est authorities in the Soviet government and the All-
Union Communist Party. For good or ill the volume
must be taken seriously.
VI
This is not the place to undertake a systematic and
comprehensive appraisal of "/ Want To Be Like Stalin"
Yet in the light of the contents of the total educational
program, and of certain broad tendencies in the Soviet
Union, a few generalizations which are of profound
concern to the American people should be set down.
The Russian challenge presented bere is real. It can-
not be brushed aside. It cannot be dismissed on the
ground that it is a gigantic fraud being played on the
gullible, even though to the average American mind^t
is full of error and on the whole paints a false picture
of the world. The Soviet leaders are engaged in deadly
earnest in remaking the mind of the younger generation
of the vast population of all nationalities dwelling within
the borders of the Union. They are "welding" that gen-
eration, to use Kalinin's term, into a force of tremendous
power. Toward what ends this force is being or will be
directed is indicated father clearly in this book. Some
of those ends make a genuine appeal to millions through-
out the world today.
Any individual reared in the liberal and bumane tra-
dition of the Western World and in the spirit of Ameri-
can democracy will find much in the book to approve
notably the opposition to fascist doctrines, the concern
over the condition of the working people, the struggle
for economic security for all, the dedication to the prin-
20
ciple of equality of races and nationalities, the empha-
sis on humanistic ideals, the devotion to the common
good, the respect for the weak and the aged, and the love
of family and friends, of neighborhood and motherland.
No one could take exception to the appeal to the younger
generation to be worthy of their elders and to continue
the struggle to raise the standards of material and spirit-
ual well-being of the entire population of the Union.
The American people, moreover, are well aware of the
debt of gratitude which they owe to the Red Army and
the Soviet people for their valor and sacrifice in the
defeat of the fascist powers. Also there is much in the
field of methodology that should be of interest to educa-
tors in the United States. Yet certain tendencies stand
clearly revealed in the book which must disturb all who
during these tragic days are hoping for the reconcilia-
tion of peoples and the establishment of lasting peace on
the earth.
First, the Russians undoubtedly are building in the
minds of the young two great myths one about them-
selves and the other about the rest of the world. To be
sure, every people is more or less guilty of this prac-
tice, but rarely has it been done so deliberately and
thoroughly. The prevention of free communication be-
tween the American and Russian peoples is absolutely
essential to this process of myth-building. If all barriers
to travel and cultural exchange were removed, many of
the things told prospective Russian teachers in this book
would fall of their own weight.
In school textbooks the Soviet Union is described as
the 'largest country in the world," as the "richest coun-
try in the world/* as the "most powerful country in the
21
/* and as the "most advanced country in the
world." The impression is given, moreover, that Russia
won the Great Patriotic War almost singlehanded. In the
1945 edition of a secondary-school history no reference
is made to lend-lease, to the battle for the control of the
oceans, or to the bombing of German industrial centers
by the Western powers. Indeed the military contribution
of the Allies to the winning of the war is confined to
thirty-three lines, but the account does include a truly
glowing tribute to the landing in Normandy. In the 1946
edition of the same book the account is reduced to less
than one hundred and fifty words and the tribute is miss-
ing. Toward the end of the chapter the entire struggle is
summarized and evaluated as follows: **The victory of
the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War called forth
the admiration of all progressive mankind. The entire
world recognized the great service of the Red Army,
which by its heroic and steadfast struggle saved civiliza-
tion from the German fascist barbarians and from the
Japanese imperialists. The Red Army stood before the
whole world as an army of liberation, and the Soviet
Union as the savior of civilization and progress in Eu-
rope and the entire world."
The whole capitalistic world is forced into the harsh
mold of Marxian thought. The outline of American his-
tory follows a simple pattern. The colonies were settled
as an outthrust of British capitalism. During the colonial
period two exploiting classes appeared in the new land
the capitalists of the North and the slaveholders of the
South. Thus at the time of the War for Independence the
people were subjected to a triple exploitation by the
English bourgeoisie, by the Northern capitalists, and by
22
the Southern slaveholders. The war destroyed the power
of the first of these classes, but left the people to the mer-
cies of the other two, who consolidated their rule through
the federal constitution. By the middle of the nineteenth
century the struggle between these classes reached a
climax in the Civil War. The slave system was destroyed,
but the people did not win freedom. Following the death
of Lincoln, who was killed by an assassin bribed by
capitalists and slaveholders, the Northern bourgeoisie
established a dictatorship which has continued down to
the present time. Although our wealth of natural re-
sources and our great industrial development are recog-
nized, there is no reference to the Bill of Rights, to
political liberty, to popular rule, to public education, or
to the relatively high standard of living in the United
States.
Second, the Russians are creating a synthesis of Soviet
patriotism and Marxian doctrine. The current emphasis
on patriotism in Soviet education has been equaled or
exceeded in our time only by the fascist totalitarian
powers, notably Germany, Japan, and Italy. The Bol-
sheviks have recovered every vestige from the past that
can be made to add lustre to the record of the Great
Russians, whether in the field of administration, mili-
tary prowess, science, literature, or art. This people,
according to the current interpretation, came into pos-
session of one-sixth of the land surface of the globe
primarily by defending the weak against the strong. Re-
cent revisions of earlier school histories remove every
reflection on Russian valor. Illustrative is the case of
the Russian soldiers who at the siege of Sevastopol in
the Crimean War "fell daily by hundreds" in the 1937
23
edition of an elementary school text, but "fou^bt hero-
ically" in the 1945 edition. A messianic note of great
power, linked with emphasis on military might, runs
through Russian education today.
How great is the transformation already achieved in
this sphere is revealed in the remark of Lenin that "he
is no socialist who will not sacrifice his fatherland for
the triumph of the social revolution." Today the Soviet
leaders from Stalin down seem to agree that "the culti-
vation of Soviet patriotism in the younger generation is
the most important task of moral education in our coun-
try." Yet the retreat from the internationalism of the
original Bolsheviks is by no means complete. References
to the writings and doctrines of Marx, Engels, and Lenin
pervade the Pedagogy from beginning to end. Stalin is
presented as the leader of the toiling masses of the world,
and Soviet "truth" as "the truth" of these same masses.
Moreover, a detailed account of the dissolution of the
Third International found in the 1945 edition of a sec-
ondary-school history is omitted in the edition of the
following year. Also a partisan who simply dies before
a German firing squad in the first edition dies singing
the "Internationale" in the second.
There are three possible rational interpretations of the
facts. According to the first, Marxian doctrines are be-
ing employed as a spearhead of Russian nationalism
committed to an aggressive role in the world; according
to the second, the resources and peoples of the Soviet
Union are being used to serve the cause of the spread
of communism over the earth; according to the third,
the Russian leaders are badly frightened and are at-
tempting to marshal every possible resource for defense
24
against an attack by capitalist powers. Each of these
interpretations is profoundly disturbing.
Third, the Russians are building in the minds of the
young a perfectly fantastic loyalty to Stalin and the
Communist Party. This assertion requires no documenta-
tion whatsoever for anyone who has the slightest knowl-
edge of Soviet education. Stalin's picture hangs in every
classroom and Stalin's name is invoked at every gather-
ing or assembly of children or youth. He is consistently
portrayed in truly heroic proportions, the embodiment
of all that is wise and good, the architect of both the
civil and the military triumphs of the time. Gradually he
has come to overshadow .Lenin, as well as Marx and
Engels. All harsh and ugly features of his life have been
completely expunged from the record. The young hear
not a word of public criticism of his character or leader-
ship. They hear only praise without stinL According to
a school history, "the Soviet people associate with the
name of Stalin their present and their future, all their
achievements and victories." Soldiers from "all the peo-
ples of the USSR went fearlessly into battle with the
cry: Tor the Motherland! For Stalin!' " The kst words
of a celebrated partisan woman leader, as she faced
execution at the hands of the German fascists, were:
"Fear not. Stalin is with us. Stalin will come/* This is
undoubtedly an improvement as a work of art over her
"last words" as reported in the edition of the same book
in the preceding year: "Comrades, farewell! Stalin will
come." He is lovingly characterized as "leader of the
peoples, author of the Constitution, beloved father and
friend, Comrade Stalin." In the Pedagogy no possible
rival among living political and military leaders is even
25
mentioned by name. It would be entirely appropriate
therefore to entitle, not only the present work, but also
the entire program for the rearing of the young in the
Soviet Union, "I want to be like Stalin."
Among organizations the Ail-Union Communist Party,
the Party of Bolsheviks, the Party of heroic and un-
precedented achievements in both peace and war, holds
the same place that Stalin holds among men. Indeed,
the two are so intimately associated that the one is com-
monly identified with the other.
The blind and unswerving loyalty to Stalin and the
Party which is cultivated in the young by all organized
agencies for molding the mind is unquestionably one
of the major realities in the Soviet Union and in the
world. Indeed, this may be the key to that understand-
ing of Russia about which so much is said today. Such
loyalty to a person or the leadership of a party intro-
duces into the behavior of a state a pattern commonly
associated with the conduct of an army. Whatever the
orders of the high command, even though they may
contradict the orders of yesterday, they are obeyed im-
plicitly. The Soviets are striving to build a mentality in
the masses of the people that will make possible the
most radical change of line in either domestic or foreign
affairs without serious criticism or loss of popular sup-
port. Whatever the policy, if it is endorsed by Stalin
and the Party, it will be accepted as correct, right, wise,
and necessary.
^Fourth, the Russians seem to be relying on their own
strength to meet all eventualities and overcome all haz-
ards in the realm of international relations* This is
suggested first of all by their emphasis on military
26
preparation from the nursery school through the uni-
versity. This preparation, moreover, involves the acqui-
sition of not only the technical skills and knowledges
hut also the attitudes and habits of mind essential to the
successful waging of war. Again and again the point is
stressed that deep love of the Motherland must be linked
with bitter hatred of all enemies. At any time, the latter
can be named by Stalin and the Party with the confident
expectation of practically universal response. Except for
vague references to "all progressive mankind" which in
actuality means friends and apologists of the Soviet
Union, and except for repeated emphasis on the cruel
lot of the toiling masses under capitalism, the Pedagogy
ignores almost completely all the other peoples of the
world. It contains no mention of the United Nations or
of the desirability of the development of understanding
of the cultures and institutions of the various nations of
the earth.
A word should be said here about the recent establish-
ment of two types of schools which take boys at seven
years of age and through a severe regimen lay the edu-
cational foundations for military careers* According to
the Pedagogy ', these "schools of Suvorov 10 and Nakhi-
mov n are ten-year boarding schools with a special mili-
tary organization of life. Parallel with subjects of
general education, serious attention is devoted to mili-
tary preparation. The aim of the schools is to prepare a .
culturally disciplined contingent for military and mili-
tary-naval institutes." The expectation is that graduates
^A distinguished military commander under the czars.
31 A distinguished naval commander under the czars.
27
of the one will become officers of the Red Army, and
those of the other, officers of the Red Fleet.
Fifth, the Russians have little to say about democracy
in their educational program. The term is almost com-
pletely absent from the Pedagogy and is not mentioned
at all in the chapter on moral education, except casually
in a quotation from Lenin. Also there is no reference to
political liberty or individual freedom in the sense in
which these terms are understood in America and in the
world generally. The entire question is apparently dis-
posed of by declaring that the Soviet Union is a classless
society, that the official leadership is completely devoted
to the welfare of the people, and that consequently
genuine conflict of interests between the individual and
the state simply cannot exist. Political liberty therefore
would merely give "enemies of the people" an opportu-
nity to work for the restoration of the system of capi-
talistic exploitation which was overthrown at such great
cost in 1917. If the Russians were confronted with the
charge of ignoring democracy, they would undoubtedly
say that the entire conception of Soviet morality devel-
oped in the Pedagogy is essentially democratic, that in
fact it is far more democratic than anything to be found
in bourgeois societies, where, in the words of Lenin, the
purpose of public education is to rear "meek and effi-
cient servants, slaves of capital."
Naturally, there is not even the suggestion of a refer-
ence in the Pedagogy or anywhere in Russian educa-
tional literature to the harsh and tyrannical features of
Soviet society. There is no reference to the severity of
the dictatorship, to the regimentation of mind, to the
system of thought control, to the supervision of move-
28
merit both within the country and beyond its borders, to
the operations of the political police, to the treatment o
dissenters, or to the use of forced labor. All who incur
the displeasure of the present leaders are tools of "re-
action" and enemies of "all progressive mankind." Ex-
cept for the condemnation of vestiges which persist in
the minds of the people from prerevolutionary times,
Soviet society is always presented in the most favorable
terms, as the most cultured 2nd advanced in all the
world, as fulfilling the dreams of the "best people" of
all preceding ages.
v Sixth, in summary the Russians seem to be building a
theocracy on the philosophical foundations of material-
ism. At any rate, parallels in the sphere of education
can be found only in the religious states of the past. Al-
ready the Soviet theocracy has four major prophets and
a vast sacred scripture. These prophets, Marx, Engels,
Lenin, and Stalin, are the ultimate sources of authority
on all crucial matters. An author in almost any field in-
volving, even remotely, social ideas and programs in-
variably buttresses what he has to say with quotations
from the writings of these men. This is profoundly true
in school textbooks. An elementary psychology, pub-
lished in 1946 and approved by the Ministry of Educa-
tion of the RSFSR for use in normal schools, provides
an almost incredible confirmation of this point. Except
for occasional references to his own works, the author,
a distinguished Russian psychologist, cites only the writ-
ings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin. Moreover, in
the footnotes the name of the author is always printed
in smaller type than the names of the four prophets.
Following the death of Stalin, his successor will doubt-
29
less be elevated in time to the exalted company of the
saints of communism.
References in educational literature to the qualities
of mind and character of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and
Stalin are invariably couched in superlatives the
"greatest people of history/ 9 the "greatest leaders of the
working class/* and the like. They are "models of peo-
ple who revealed tremendous persistence and energy in
the mastery of all the wealth of knowledge accumulated
by mankind.' 5 Marx made original contributions "even
in the field of mathematics." Engels, in his knowledge of
the military sciences, "stood immeasurably higher than
the best military specialists and theoreticians of the rul-
ing classes." Lenin was a "man of genius/* Stalin's
"scholarship is encyclopedic." And the attitudes toward
these men and particularly toward Stalin, as expressed
in educational literature, can be described only in terms
of the psychology of adoration characteristic of reli-
gious movements. If William James were writing his
The Varieties of Religious Experience today, he un-
doubtedly would devote a long chapter to Soviet com-
munism.
The title of this little book was chosen neither to at-
tract the attention of the thoughtless nor to cast ridicule
on the Soviet state, but rather to convey to the American
reader the essentially religious quality of the Soviet out-
look on the world. In this materialistic religion, "I want
to be like Stalin" is the equivalent of "I want to be like
Jesus" in the Christian community. And Soviet battle
cries, as recorded in schoolbooks, are reminiscent of the
Crusades and the religious wars. A devout Mohamme-
dan or Christian warrior of the eleventh century would
30
have understood the last words of the partisan girl:
"Fear not. Stalin is with us. Stalin will come." The Rus-
sians, moreover, have their apocalypse. They believe as
certainly in the ultimate triumph of communism on the
earth as the early Christians believed in the "second
coming/' All of this helps to explain the power, the de-
votion, the dynamism, the dogmatism, the fanaticism,
the blindness, and even the ruthlessness of the commu-
nist mentality wherever it appears in the world.
This enumeration of disturbing tendencies in Soviet
education should not be concluded without taking into
account the impact of the years of isolation and war on
the Russian mind. The people of the Union are still liv-
ing in the fear of "capitalist encirclement" and in the
shadow of the Great Patriotic "War a war that came
within a hair's breadth of destroying their institutions
and dragging them down into slavery. Their apprehen-
sions can therefore be understood, particularly when
projected on the background of the long and unceasing
struggle for survival on the unguarded plains of eastern
Europe, from the days of the incursions of the Huns and
the Avars at the very beginning of Russian history. And
we may be justified in hoping that with the stabilization
of the world, if it can only be done, the present absorp-
tion in military matters and self -glorification will gradu-
ally disappear- We should do everything in our power
to remove from the Russian mind every legitimate rea-
son for fearing a military attack from any source. At the
same time we must look reality in the face and recognize
certain patterns and tendencies in Soviet education and
life for what they are a threat to the peace and security
of the world.
31
VII
As the reader goes through the pages of this little
volume, he should ponder with all soberness the mean-
ing of its contents for the future of mankind. Express-
ing, as it does, the hasic educational doctrines and
practices of Russia, it reveals something of the nature of
the Soviet challenge to America and to the champions of
human freedom everywhere. The Russian leaders are
obviously organizing all of their resources, both human
and material, to guard their conception of life and so-
ciety, and to make that conception prevail in their own
country and perhaps in the world. That conception, in
spite of its verbal appeal to humanism, constitutes in its
political orientation a reaction against the major liberat-
ing tendencies of the past three centuries.
First and most urgent of all is the military challenge.
The Russians are undoubtedly preparing for war;
whether for a war of offense or a war of defense is not
disclosed. This challenge can be met only on the highest
levels of statesmanship. If conflict is to be avoided, the
peoples of the world must move swiftly toward disarma-
ment and the establishment of an international police
force. But disarmament involves much more than the
scrapping of tanks and war planes and battleships and
atomic bombs. It involves also the disarmament of the
mind. What this would mean in the reconstruction of
Soviet education is made abundantly evident in the pres-
ent volume. The establishment of free communication
between the peoples of Russia and America is clearly
necessary to the achievement of this end. If the Russians
refuse to co-operate in any effective plan for both mate-
rial and spiritual disarmament, we shall be compelled to
32
prepare against the day of conflict. But before accepting
this terrifying alternative, we should make every effort
to persuade them to abandon the course which they are
pursuing today. This should be done through the United
Nations.
If the issue of war is resolved, the moral challenge
will remain. Although the total Soviet social and educa-
tional program must frighten and repel all who have
been nurtured in the truly humane, liberal, and demo-
cratic traditions of mankind, it contains elements which
make a universal appeal, evoke the idealism of the
young, and arouse the hopes of the oppressed and ex-
ploited of the earth. It proclaims that the way of dicta-
torship, a dictatorship of "our best people," is the only
effective way of removing the gross inequalities, injus-
tices, and insecurities among men and nations and of
establishing a lasting peace on the earth.
This phase of the challenge is addressed directly to
America. If we are to meet it successfully, we shall have
to demonstrate to the world that the way of liberty is also
the way to equality, to the elimination of poverty and
misery, to the banishment from the earth of every form
of exploitation and oppression. This means that we shall
have to achieve a new birth of freedom at home, strive
with all our might to make our democracy live and
work, take seriously the professions inscribed in our
great historic documents, and endeavor to order our life
and institutions so that all of our people, regardless of
race, creed, or national origin, will share fully in the
benefits and blessings of our country. This is the one
sure road to the preservation of the "sacred fire of lib-
erty*' in America and the world
33
CHAPTER I
FOR COMMUNISM
EDUCATION for us is a vital public concern and is di-
rected toward the strengthening of the socialist state. The
Great Patriotic War demonstrated that our Red Army,
educated in our schools, was able to achieve victories
beyond the strength of the most democratic bourgeois
state. It demonstrated also that the workers in the rear
were worthy of their glorious Red Army. The moraL
steadfastness of the Soviet people was fully revealed*
The war subjected to a severe trial the educational ideas
and principles which had been put into practice in our
schools. These ideas and principles, clearly formulated
in the teachings of Lenin and Stalin, passed all tests, con-
quered, and are victorious.
The basic mark of the new man a member of com-
munist society is his new attitude toward labor, a
communist attitude toward labor. Under the conditions
of a socialist society labor is an expression of a need of
a healthy organism. With us labor is not a grievous bur-
den; nor is it performed under compulsion. On the con-
trary, it brings joy. In our country, as Comrade Stalin
has said, labor "is a matter of honor, a matter of glory >
a matter of valor and heroism"* The communist atti-
1 Stalin, Questions of Leninism, 10th e<L, p. 393.
34
tilde toward labor Is associated with man's desire to
serve society more fully, to work consciously and with
highest productivity for the general welfare.
The most eloquent example of devoted service through
labor to the welfare of the toiling masses has been given
us by the greatest leaders of the working class Marx,
Engels, Lenin, and Stalin.
The communist attitude toward labor is most inti-
mately related to the communist attitude toward public
ownership and to the solicitous attitude toward socialist
property produced by social labor. "It is the duty of
every citizen of the USSR/ 5 says the Stalin Constitution,
"to safeguard and strengthen public, socialist property
as the sacred and inviolable foundation of the Soviet sys-
tem, as the source of the wealth and power of the Mother-
land, as the source of a prosperous and cultured life for
all working people."
The cultivation of this quality of mind in the younger
generation constitutes a most essential aspect of moral
education. Essential also is the development of disci-
plined conduct in pupils. Training in conscious disci-
pline is an exceptionally important component part of
communist education.
Discipline is one of the basic conditions for the de-
velopment of the communist attitude toward labor. For
pupils labor is first of all studying. The cultivation of
discipline in children has as its purpose the ensuring of
successful schoolwork, the fostering of a conscious striv-
ing for perfect knowledge, and the preparation for
organized and disciplined labor 19 higjier schools, in
production, and in the service of the Red Army.
A communist attitude toward labor signifies concern
35
for the general good and for the interest of the Soviet
state* To be of greatest possible usefulness to the Soviet
Motherland through deeds is patriotism. People who
work devotedly for society, who strive to contribute as
much as possible to the state, and who are ready when
necessary to give their lives for the Motherland such
people are patriots.
The cultivation of the spirit of Soviet patriotism in the
younger generation is the most important task of moral
education in our country.
Duty to the Motherland is duty to the people; the
feeling of love for one's fatherland is the feeling of
devotion to the people. Our best men and women are
banded together in our Communist Party which directs
the entire life of the country. Soviet patriotism is ex-
pressed in devotion to the Communist Party and supreme
readiness to serve the cause of Lenin and Stalin.
To educate the young in the spirit of Soviet patri-
otism means also to plant in their consciousness the un-
derstanding that the interests of our people and the
interests of the toiling masses of the entire world are
indivisible.
We set ourselves the task of educating every school
child to grasp clearly the fact that the Soviet Union is a
multi-national state, where the friendship of peoples is
strengthened, where culture national in form and so-
cialistic in content develops, where national antago-
nisms do not -exist, and where creative constructive
work is carried on in building a communist society.
This will enable him to understand the leading role of
our country in peaceful social life.
We must cultivate in our children the realization that
36
the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a land where
a socialist society is being constructed for the first time
in history. We must develop in them a feeling of pride
in the most revolutionary class, the working class, and
in its vanguard, the Communist Party. This party, the
party of Lenin and Stalin, was able to organize the toil-
ing masses for the construction of a new communist so-
ciety- Through the victories of the Stalin five-year plans,
our land was transformed into a mighty industrial coun-
try, the most advanced and most cultured. We must
make every school child aware of the grandeur of our
struggle and our victories; we must show him the cost
of these great successes in labor and blood; we must tell
him how the great people of our epoch Lenin, Stalin,
and their companions in arms organized the workers
in the struggle for a new and happy life.
Our youth must be trained in militant readiness for
the defense of their socialist fatherland.
The Communist Party was able to rally all the peo-
ples of the Union in the struggle for the freedom and
independence of the Motherland. During the Great Pa-
triotic War patriotism was manifested in extraordinary
force, the national self-consciousness of the people
grew, and the feeling of pride in the powerful Soviet
fatherland became stronger. Hence the task of rearing
the younger generation in the spirit of Soviet patriotism
has become yet more responsible.
To educate a member of our Soviet society means to
educate a person who understands the interests of this
society and who has no personal interests opposed to the
collective interests. With us there are no contradictions
between individuality and society. But while we are de-
37
sirous of cultivating in pupils the spirit of collectivism,
we pay due attention to the personal tendencies, needs,
and interests of each child. The education of the indi-
vidual pupil proceeds through the collective, and the
collective grows and becomes stronger through the edu-
cation of each of its members. A collective is not a sim-
ple mechanical union of identical children. Every pupil
has his own peculiarities, his own needs and interests.
Consequently the living concrete school child must be at
the center of attention in education. A teacher who loves
his work and loves children must remember the saying
of Stalin: "People must be grown carefully and ten-
derly, just as a gardner grows a favorite fruit tree." 2
These words of Stalin have a direct bearing on peda-
gogical work. Only by means of a careful approach to
the pupil and a complete development of his individu-
ality is it possible to educate him in collectivism.
Through the collective and with the aid of the collective
the abilities of every individual are developed.
In his utterances Comrade Stalin emphasizes again
and again the necessity of an attentive and careful atti-
tude toward people. And in his own actions he offers a
model of such an attitude by recognizing and honoring
the best workers in the different branches of technology,
military affairs, economy, science, and art.
Such is the morality of socialist humanism. 3 We must
cultivate in our children such an attitude toward people
and such a consciousness of interdependence and of
unity of interests of individual and society.
3 Stalin, Talk with Metallurgists," Pravda, No. 358, 1934.
9 Humanism (from the word hitmanus which means human) recog-
nition of the supreme rights and respect for the dignity of human per-
sonality.
38
To rear Soviet patriots means, at the same time, to
rear people who clearly understand the purposes of our
construction, people of indomitable will, people of pur-
pose. "Only clarity of aim, persistence in achieving an
aim, and firmness of character in overcoming each and
every obstacle, could guarantee such a glorious vic-
tory/* Thus spoke Comrade Stalin in his greetings to
the cavalrymen of Sunny Turkmen on the occasion of
their successful completion of the wholly unprecedented
bold and daring run from Ashkhabad to Moscow the
capital of the Soviet Union. These qualities are culti-
vated by the Communist party in the workers of our.
country.
The leaders of our party, Lenin and Stalin, are
models of people with clear aims, persistence, inflexi-
ble will, and resolute character. Their lives and actions
show how stubbornly and persistently they worked to
create the Party and to temper it in battle with enemies
and in struggle with difficulties, how stubbornly and
persistently they overcame all obstacles to achieve the
clearly formulated aim the victory of the socialist
revolution and the building of a communist society.
The best people of our country embody the traits of
the new man, the traits of Bolshevik character. It is pre-
cisely with the qualities of purposeful and persistent
Bolshevik character that such persons are endowed as
Stakhanov, Chkalov, and Papanin, the unforgettable
Zoia Kosmodemianskaia, the heroes of Krasnodon, the
glorious defenders of Stalingrad, as well as many, many
other famous heroes of our country who boldly venture
upon new discoveries, stubbornly achieve remarkable
records in raising the productivity of labor, and self-
39
lessly and courageously vanquish the enemies who dare
to trespass on the land of socialism.
During the Great Patriotic War all of the Soviet peo*
pie were able to overcome tremendous difficulties and
achieve victories. In the furnace of intense labor and
struggle they acquired new qualities. Comrade Stalin in
his address at the time of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary
of the Great October Socialist Revolution pointed out
that, as a result of complex organizational and construc-
tional work, people had been transformed: "People
pulled themselves together, abandoned sloppiness, be-
came more disciplined, learned to work in a military
fashion, grew aware of their duty to the Motherland
and to her defenders at the front to the Red Army." 4
The positive moral qualities of an individual must be
stable. His convictions must be expressed in work, de-
termine his habits of conduct, and direct him toward
noble deeds.
To sum up, moral education is an education which,
in the light of the communist ideal, shapes all the ac-
tions, all the habits, and the entire conduct of a person,
determining his attitude toward people, toward his
Motherland, toward labor, and toward public property.
The entire question of education in communist moral-
ity calls for a knowledge of those ethical standards and
requirements which are determined by the character of
the new socialist relations. This knowledge is acquired
in the study of the foundations of science. The convic-
tions which must determine the conduct of the individ-
* Stalin, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, 1943, p. 58.
40
ual in society and in his relation to nature are formu-
lated for the most part in the process of instruction.
Thus moral education is most intimately related to in-
tellectual education.
41
CHAPTER II
FOR BOLSHEVIK CHARACTER
1. Essential elements of education in communist mo-
rality. Communist morality serves our general purposes
and is wholly linked with the building of a new com-
munist society.
The Stalin Constitution declares the defense of the
fatherland to be the duty of every Soviet citizen. It
speaks of the obligation to work, of the obligation to
guard public property, and of the obligation to observe
.the rules of socialist life.
A morally educated individual, according to our un-
derstanding, is one who in his conduct subordinates his
own interests to the service of his Motherland and his
people. Such service presupposes wrath and hatred to-
ward the enemies of the Motherland who imperil the
battle-won rights of the people and all that has been
created in the realm of material and cultural life by
both the older and the younger generation. Communist
morality presupposes action and makes struggle oblig-
atory.
The Great Patriotic War demonstrated the excep-
tional moral steadfastness of our army and of the entire
Soviet people. Only those who are passionate and ardent
warriors in the cause of all progressive mankind, su-
42
premely devoted to the party of Lenin and Stalin, can
fight with such stubbornness and such supreme heroism
and self-sacrifice.
Every action of the greatest people of our time
Lenin and Stalin expresses a passionate love of and an
ardent devotion to the people, a relentless struggle
against the enemies of the workers, and a deep convic-
tion in the righteousness of their cause.
This conviction rests on the firm scientific foundations
of Marxist-Leninist science which clarifies purposes,
provides arms for the struggle for every progressive
cause, and colors all activity with beautiful emotions.
". . . Without 'human emotions,' " said Lenin, "there
never was and never can be search for truth." *
The entire work of the school must be directed toward
the education of children in communist morality. In
giving knowledge to pupils and in formulating their
world outlook, the school must cultivate in them the
habits of communist conduct.
Moral education embraces a whole series of prob-
lems. We shall best approach the solution of these prob-
lems by making clear the general principles which
must be observed in order to ensure the success of the
educative influence on the child.
2. Concreteness in moral standards and demands* In
all forms of educational work with children extreme
concreteness is the first necessity. It is difficult for
children to understand abstract moral propositions.
Moreover, best results are obtained through the vivid
presentation of some significant fact, through some ex-
1 Lenin, Works, V, XVII, p. 33L
43
ample whose content arouses the emotions and touches
the mind of the child.
Observe how Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaia 2
begins her letter to the Pioneers on the subject of "Mine
and Yours": "Dear Children! Today I want to speak to
you about a great and important question. A boy I know
has on his wall a portrait of Lenin. He had cut it out of
a book* 'You have destroyed the book,* said I. 'But,'
he responded, *I did not cut it out of my own book. It
was a library book/ " 3
The concrete incident thus reported immediately dis-
turbs the children. They begin to discuss and evaluate
the case. The correct conclusion concerning the treat-
ment of public property logically emerges.
Examples should be taken directly from life, as well
as from literary works, folklore, history, and biography.
It is necessary to present the appropriate materials to
children skillfully so that they will be filled with a desire
to emulate our best people.
Children imitate before they understand. They imi-
tate even in the absence of any deliberate stimulation or
direction. It is imperative therefore that they always
see around them positive examples of good behavior,
that they have before them models of proper conduct in
the persons of teacher and parents, of older brothers
and sisters, and so on. Later, imitation becomes con-
scious. The teacher makes clear to the child the neces-
sity of observing this or that rule, this or that regulation.
Explanations through facts and examples clarify rules
and standards, and consequently cause them to sink
3 Wife of Lenin.
3 N. K. Krupskaia, "Letter to Pioneers," Molodtda Gvardia, 1938.
44
more deeply into the soul of the child. He begins to be
guided by them in all of his actions.
3. Consciousness of the learner. Moral conduct does
not have great value if the individual complies with
regulations merely because "he is told," or because he
is threatened with some unpleasant consequence in the
event of their violation. A person thus educated con-
forms to moral rules and standards only when he is un-
der observation. But for us it is important that he
behave in accordance with the canons of communist
morality because of inner conviction; that he himself
always strive to observe the norms and requirements of
socialistic living, the correct rules of conduct in family,
school, and society; and that he prompt others to do
likewise. This means necessarily that he should under-
stand with sufficient clarity the demands made upon
him.
While giving foremost place to methods of persua-
sion, Soviet pedagogy does not repudiate methods of
coercion. In our socialist society there are no require-
ments governing the conduct of adults and children
which would do injury to the dignity and the rights of
personality. The young are not confronted with rules
which are unreasonable. If the learner grasps the es-
sence of a given rule, he will understand why it should
be obeyed; but if he still fails to conform and violates
the established procedures, he must be forced to observe
them. Indulgence of and indifference to violations of
moral requirements will bring harm to society and to
the learner himself. If the teacher overlooks such viola-
tions, the child will permit himself to disregard moral
rules and standards in the future.
45
There are instances when pupils are unable, by rea-
son of immaturity, to understand a given moral require-
ment. But one must not wait until they grow up and
understand: the conditions of social life make the ob-
servation of a given requirement necessary and obliga-
tory. Under such circumstances the rule may simply be
given categorically and obedience ordered without spe-
cific explanations and proofs, with the warning that
failure to conform will bring unpleasant consequences.
Moral demands must always be made upon school
children in a decisive form and be carried into life with
firm insistence. It is entirely inadmissible for a teacher
at one time to punish pupils strictly for errors, and at
another "not to notice/* to display the indifference of an
outsider. Also the teacher should pay attention to little
things, because in education there are no "little things. 9 *
Strictness must accord with respect for the dignity of
the personality of the child. A. S. Makarenko 4 in one
of his speeches before teachers said: "If you should ask
how I would briefly define the essence of my experi-
ment, my answer would be: the making of the greatest
possible demands on the individual and the showing to
him of the greatest possible respect/* 5
4* Significance of the authority of the teacher. The
higher the authority of the teacher the better will his de-
mands be fulfilled. A conviction has great power for
children simply because it is uttered by some adult close
to him. A teacher clothed with authority easily obtains
4 A distinguished Soviet educational leader, author of A Pedagogical
Poem.
* From an article, "Discipline, Regimen, Punishments, and Rewards,"
Uddtekkaia Gazeta, Jan. 5, 1941.
46
obedience from his pupils. But whence comes authority?
How is it created?
If the child feels that the teacher treats him with con-
cern and is sensitive to his needs and interests, his af-
fairs, his joys and sorrows; if the child receives aid
and care from the teacher; if he learns that the teacher
insists on obedience all of these things strengthen the
authority of the teacher in the eyes of the child.
But the most important condition tending to establish
the moral authority of the teacher over children is the
setting of a worthy example in his relations to work and
people and in the entire conduct of his life.
However, while using his authority and leaning upon
it, the teacher must at the same time strive to develop in
children independence in their moral judgments. Let it
be said that what the adult tells them must become a con-
viction of their own which will guide them in life and
which they will defend in the presence of others.
Occasionally teachers seek to build their authority on
false foundations. Thus, for example, some assume that
if the child fears them and trembles before them, stand-
ing in terror of their wrath and of severe punishment
for every fault, then he will always be obedient Such
authority, holding children in a state of perpetual fear,
A. S. Makarenko calls the authority of suppression. It
evokes lies and cowardice and cultivates cruelty in chil-
dren. "Out of oppressed and suppressed children come
either slushy, good-for-nothing people, or hard and stub-
born people, who throughout their entire lives seek re-
venge for childhood frustration/* 6
e A. S. Makarenko, lectures on the Education of Children, 1940, p. 30.
47
On the other hand, some teachers strive to build their
authority on excessive kindness: in their relations with
children they practice compliance and unnecessary and
at times even decided softness. By such means they hope
to evoke in their pupils love and gratitude. In reality
children soon sense their weakness and not only cease
to obey them, but even begin to order them around.
True authority is founded on the making of reason-
able demands on the child, combined with respect for
his personality, devotion to his interests, ability to help
him, clarity and firmness of educational purposes, and
jvorthiness of personal example.
5. Necessity of consistency in educational work. It is
extremely injurious to the pupil for a teacher to make
certain demands and then to forget them, or even to con-
tradict them through his own actions. Such a teacher is
inconsistent. He gives an assignment to children. He
warns them: "Beware, I shall check strictly." And then
he does not check at all. He perpetually threatens his
pupils for the slightest violation of order, but fails to
carry a single threat into action. He promises to do
something interesting and then forgets his promise. Nat-
urally such a person does not inspire children with re-
spect and deference. It is imperative that every teacher
permit no contradiction between word and deed; it is
imperative that he be consistent.
To present to children at one time a large number of
rules and demands is not advisable. They should be
taught habits of conduct in the same graded and sys-
tematic manner as they are taught habits involved in the
mastery of school subjects. Habits of conduct will then
be enduring and dependable* A definite nrtinimnrn of
48*
these habits, to be sure, must be fully formed in chil-
dren as early as the first grade.
Such a compulsory minimum is set down in the
"Rules for School Children/* 7 But subsequently new
habits will be added to the elementary habits and the
content and form of expression of separate habits jrill
be perfected.
Consistency must be observed by all adults who share
in the rearing of the young. The several teachers of a
given child should not contradict each other, but rather
should follow a single line. s As his teachers change,
provision should be made for an orderly and consistent
sequence of influences. When a child passes with age
from certain teachers to others, he suffers injury if he
encounters an entirely different treatment, if, for ex-
ample, mildness changes sharply to severity, or if firm-
ness changes to weakening softness. It is injurious also
if the child experiences a duality or even a trinity of
educative influences, if, for example, the elders in the
family say one thing to him and the teacher tells him
something else, if one teacher follows one line and his
comrade in work another.
Observation of consistency, sequence, and singleness
of line in the influence affecting pupils is one of the
most important conditions of success in educational
work.
6. Efficacy in education. Education is of no value
whatsoever if the moral rules, standards, and require-
ments are excellently known in words only, but are not
observed in deed. A pupil may write an excellent com-
position about patriotic exploits, but if he himself re-
* The code is printed in full in the Appendix.
49
mains passive while his comrades perform modest
patriotic deeds, we cannot say that he is well educated.
In his address before the Third Congress of the
League of Communist Youth (1920) Lenin said that the
education of communist youth must not consist of pre-
senting to them every kind of sweetened speech and
rule about morality. In a series of propositions Lenin
further points out that at the base of communist moral-
ity lies activity in the spirit of that morality, participa-
tion in the struggle for communism, and engaging in
socially useful labor and in the construction of a new
life. "Only through such work is a young boy or girl
transformed into a genuine communist. Only through
practical successes in such work do they become com-
munists." 8
Of course Lenin does not separate educational prac-
tice from the development of understanding and
convictions. He states explicity that "our schools must
give to youth basic knowledges and the ability to culti-
vate in themselves communist views, must make of them
educated people." 9
We must employ this method of habituating pupils to
moral conduct through practice from the very beginning
of organized education. Practice, which provides for the
repeated application of moral principles in deeds,
strengthens specific moral qualities and "leads to the
formation of useful habits. The older the children the
more conscious this process should become.
Lenin, Forks, VoL XXX P- 415.
id^ p. 413.
50
7. Relation of moral education to age and individual
differences. In view of the vast scope of the problems,
ideas, and tasks comprising the content of moral educa-
tion, it is very important to know how to select for each
stage of development that which is most necessary and
which at the same time harmonizes most completely
with the age traits of children. Of greatest significance
for those of younger school age is the formation of ele-
mentary habits and skills of socially useful labor and
cultured conduct among comrades and in the company
of adults in the family and the school, on the street, and
in public places. Of greatest significance also is the in-
culcation of love of birthplace and Motherland.
For acquainting children with moral concepts, stand-
ards, and requirements, stories, tales and fables,
instructive episodes from the surrounding life, and
vivid examples of contemporary reality should be uti-
lized. And in educational work with young men and
women, talks, lectures, and even debates directed toward
fostering serious moral ideals are necessary.
But an enumeration of age traits common to all the
children of a given collective is quite insufficient. A col-
lective is composed of individuals. An educative influ-
ence on the personality of each child is required. And
for this purpose it is necessary for the teacher to know
to what influences the child is subjected in the family,
how those around him of his own and older age have in-
fluenced and are influencing him, what his interests are,
how he behaves in a collective, what good and bad tab-
its he has formed, what deficiencies of character he has
which must be rooted out, and so on. Without concrete
51
knowledge of each individual child a planned and pur-
poseful influence cannot be achieved.
The success of education is particularly aided hy the
ability of the teacher to take advantage of positive inner
qualities developing in the child.
52
CHAPTER III
FOR OUR BELOVED MOTHERLAND
1. Development of patriotic sentiments in the child.
The feeling of love for one's Motherland, for one's peo-
ple, and for one's state is extremely complex. For the
awakening and development of this feeling a certain
soil, in the form of simple love for parents, is necessary.
Patriotic sentiments and patriotic conduct are closely
related to those primary feelings of love for friends and
relatives which appear early in life*
It is important first of all to develop in children that
intimate feeling of love of family, of home, of native
village or city, and of natural surroundings.
Recollections of childhood hy some of our Best Rus-
sian writers can serve this purpose superbly; also liter-
ary descriptions of nature in the verses of poets and in
beautiful Russian prose. The Russian people have put
into their folklore much love of the Russian land.
Through the medium of all these treasures in the native
tongue a conscious effort should be made to awaken and
develop in children the sacred feeling of love for the
Motherland.
Both the observation of nature and the acquaintance
of children with the classical pictures of our landscape
artists also serve this purpose.
53
The study of one's village, city, province, and region
strengthens, deepens, and makes mote meaningful the
feeling of love for the Motheiland. What one knows bet-
ter, one loves and values more. For this reason regional
study is very important, and above all study from the
first grade of the surrounding nature and the school
neighborhood.
Experience in the earlier grades shows that children
progress most easily to the feeling of love for their
Motherland, their fatherland, and their state through a
feeling of love for the leaders of the Soviet people
Lenin and Stalin. Lenin and Stalin, warriors in the in-
terests of the workers, are the creators of the Soviet
state.
Stalin, disciple of Lenin, is our own, beloved father
of the workers, leader of the people, organizer of vic-
tory over the fascists and enemies of our Motherland.
Children can easily understand this. They associate with
the concrete images of Lenin and Stalin the Party of
Communists, the Party of Bolsheviks, created by great
leaders. They quickly begin to perceive that under the
leadership of the Party of Lenin and Stalin we both
build and defend our Soviet state, our fatherland. And
then they are able to see the relation of their work and
their study to the tasks of the entire society, to the tasks
of the state.
This association of the immediate activity of children
with the social life of the country as a whole facilitates
the development in them of genuine patriotic feelings,
of a sense and an awareness of their duty to their fa-
therland. The concept of Motherland is broadened from
the narrow limits of their locality, the motherland in the
54
literal sense of the word, to the boundaries of the Union
itself,
2. Content of education in Soviet patriotism. Soviet
patriotism is exhibited in the daily activities of people
both in the "little things" of life and in the sacrifice
of life itself for the welfare and happiness of the Moth-
erland. In our country, under the leadership of the
Party of Lenin and Stalin, vast reforms, having pro-
found significance, not only for us but also for all pro-
gressive mankind, have been achieved. These reforms
fill us with a feeling of pride in our people and in our
magnificent country, the most advanced in all the world.
The boldest and finest ideals of the best people are real-
ized in the Soviet socialist state.
National pride and national self-consciousness are
characteristic of Soviet patriotism. These qualities must
be cultivated in our children.
Forward-looking men and women of the past who
passionately loved their people and their Motherland
were never confined within the framework of a narrow
nationalism* "Patriotism, living and active,** wrote Do-
broliubov, 1 "is to be distinguished precisely by the fact
that it excludes all international animosity; and an in-
dividual inspired by such patriotism is ready to work
for all mankind, if only he can be useful. Genuine pa-
triotism as a personal expression of love for mankind
cannot be reconciled with hostility toward particular
peoples."
Lenin pointed out that the bourgeoisie strove to plant
and nurture hostility between different peoples because
national discord^ being the greatest obstacle to a suc-
1 Distinguished Russian nineteenth-century literary critic.
55
cessful struggle against the monarchy, aided the bour-
geoisie in their effort to increase the exploitation of the
workers.
"Look at the capitalists: they strive to kindle national
hatred among the 'simple people/ but they themselves
attend well to their little affairs: in one and the same
business corporation there are Russians and Ukrainians,
Poles, Jews, and Germans, Capitalists of all nations and
religions are united against the workers, but they at-
tempt to divide and weaken the workers by national
hatred." 2
The Lenin-Stalin policy of nationalities has achieved
a brilliant victory. Under it a Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics has been created in which all peoples in
closest friendship are building a new society, in which
one people assists another in economic, political, and
cultural growth.
"As a result we have now completely formed a multi-
national socialistic state one that has passed all tests
and one whose stability could be the envy of any na-
tional state in any part of the world." 3
Our basic achievements in this domain are written
into the Stalin Constitution. Article 123 reads:
Equality of rights of citizens of the USSR, irrespective of
their nationality or race, in all spheres of economic, state,
cultural, social and political life, is an indefeasible law.
Any direct or indirect restriction of the rights of or con-
versely, any establishment of direct or indirect privileges for,
citizens on account of their race or nationality, as well as any
Lenin, Works, VoL XVI, p. 554.
* Stalin, Report on the Projected Constitution of the USSR, 1937.
56
advocacy of racial or national exclusiveness or hatred and
contempt, is punishable by law. 4
Stalin defined the essence of Soviet patriotism very
clearly and distinctly in the following words:
64 The strength of Soviet patriotism consists in the fact
that it is based on neither racial nor nationalistic preju-
dices, but on a deep devotion and loyalty of the people
to their Soviet Motherland, a brotherly comradeship
of the workers of all the nations of our land- In Soviet
patriotism the national traditions of peoples and the
general life interests o all workers of the Soviet Union
are harmoniously united. Soviet patriotism does not
divide; on the contrary, it unites all nations and peoples
of our country into a single brotherly family. In this one
may see the unshakable foundations and the ever grow-
ing friendship of the peoples of the Soviet Union. At
the same time the peoples of the Soviet Union respect
the rights and independence of peoples abroad and al-
ways have been ready to live in peace and friendship
with neighboring states." 5
Soviet patriotism is a powerful source of heroism.
The feeling of devotion to the Motherland and to the
cause of Lenin and Stalin inspires Stakhanovites a in
their struggle for the raising of the productivity of labor.
This same sacred feeling inspires our warriors and com-
manders. The immortal act of Alexander Matrosov, who
with his own body blocked the embrasure of an enemy
* Stalin, Report on the 27th Anniversary of the Great October Social-
ist Revolution, 1944.
* Workers of exceptional efficiency.
57
fort, demonstrates that love of one's Motherland evokes
contempt for death.
Pupils must come to know that in our Soviet country
the interests of the people are inseparable from the in-
terests of their government The source of Soviet patri-
otism is found in the fact that the people themselves
under the leadership of the Communist Party have built
their own life, and in the further fact that our rich and
beautiful land only now, under Soviet power, is genu-
inely open to the workers. And the natural attachment
to the native country is strengthened by pride in one's
socialist Motherland, in the Bolshevik Party, in the
leader of the workers of the entire world Comrade
Stalin. It is a great honor to any individual to be a citi-
zen of and to defend such a fatherland.
Pupils must become acquainted with the great past
of our Motherland which fills the workers of our coun-
try with pride. Lenin in his work on The National Pride
of the Great Russians wrote: "Is the feeling of national
pride alien to us, Great Russians, conscious proletar-
ians? Certainly not! We love our language and our
motherland, we work tirelessly to raise her toiling
masses, nine-tenths of her population, to the conscious
life of democrats and socialists. It grieves us to see and
feel to what violence, oppression, and ridicule the czar-
ist executioners, noblemen, and capitalists subject our
beautiful motherland. We are proud of the fact that
this violence evokes opposition out of our midst, out
of the midst of the Great Russians, that the Great Rus-
sians produced Radizhchev, the Decembrists, and the
revolutionary intelligentsia of the seventies, that the
58
Great Russian working class created in 1905 a powerful
revolutionary party of the masses . . .** 7
In the history of our country the Great Russian peo-
ple occupy a special place. The history of this people
is the history of its heroic struggle for independence
and freedom against innumerable enemies against in-
vaders and conquerors. In 1242 the Great Russian
people defeated the Teutonic knights. In 1613 they
shattered and destroyed the Polish attackers. In 1709
they destroyed the Swedish invaders. In 1812 they de-
stroyed the army of the conqueror of Europe Napo-
leon I. Collaborating with and leading other peoples
of our country, the Russian people carried on a heroic
and victorious struggle against the violence and mock-
ery of the boyars and the czars, the landlords and the
capitalists.
Under the harsh conditions of tyranny and violence
the Russian people have created an extraordinary cul-
ture. In the fields of science and art they have exhibited
astonishing power, creating in spite of the difficult con-
ditions of monarchical oppression, a magnificent litera-
ture, remarkable paintings, and original music, enjoyed
by the whole world. "Sealed were the lips of the people,
tied were the wings of the spirit, but its heart gave birth
to tens of great artists of word, sound, color." (Gorky).
The Russian classics focus attention squarely on the
struggle for the freedom of mankind and show their
power, above all, in their identification with the people.
The Russian people are rightfully proud of the names
of Lomonossov, Radizhchev, Pestel, Rileev, Pushkin,
Lennontov, Gogol, Herzen, Chernishevsky, Dobroliubov*
7 Lenin, Works, VoL XVffl, p. 81.
59
Nekrasov, Saltikov-Shchedrin, Tolstoy, Gorky, and
others. The Russian culture unquestionably has had a
significant influence on the development of the foremost
world cultures.
That great patriot of our Motherland, L V. Stalin,
speaking with contempt of the fascist cannibals, reveals
the role and significance of the Russian nation: "And
these people devoid of conscience and honor, people
with the morality of animals, have the insolence to in-
voke the destruction of the Great Russian nation, the
nation of Plekhanov and Lenin, Belinsky and Cherni-
shevsky, Pushkin and Tolstoy, Glinka and Tschaikovsky,
Gorky and Chekov, Sechenov and Pavlov, Repin and
Surikov, Suvorov and Kutuzov!" 8
In his speech in the Kremlin on May 24, 1945, in
honor of the commanding troops of the Red Army, Com-
rade Stalin characterized the Russian people as "the
most remarkable of all the nations entering into the com-
position of the Soviet Union." The Russian people, in
the words of Comrade Stalin, "merit general recognition
in the Great Patriotic War as the leading power among
all the peoples of our country . . . they have a clear
mind, steadfast character, and endurance."
V. G. Belinsky in the "Almanac of 1840" wrote: "We
envy our grandchildren and great-grandchildren who
are destined to see Russia in 1940 standing at the head
of the civilized world, giving laws to science and art,
and receiving reverent tribute from all enlightened hu-
manity." These remarkable words have been fulfilled.
The Russian working class, in the struggle for the
building of a new socialist society, has stood at the
'Stalin, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet limn, 1944> p. 28.
60
head of and has led the entire people. We are filled
with a feeling of national pride because the Russian
nation created this revolutionary class and proved itself
capable of giving to mankind the great models of the
struggle for freedom and for socialism. The numerous
peoples of the Soviet Union were liberated from national
oppression, from the oppression of landlords and capi-
talists, through the direct aid of the Russian proletariat
The services of the Russian people are exceptionally
great, not only to the peoples of the Soviet Union, but
also to all mankind. The Soviet Union By its example
inspires the workers of the entire world for the struggle
against exploiters and ravishers. The history of the Rus-
sian people proves to all mankind their political wis-
dom, their military valor, and their genius.
These facts from the past of our heroic people must
be skillfully presented to the pupils in order to awaken
in them a feeling of just pride in everything progressive
and revolutionary which has so enriched the history of
our country.
At the same time it is the task of the teacher and the
school to reveal to the pupils everything loathsome and
hideous committed by the ruling classes of czarist
Russia, to show them the oppression, the bondage, and
the injustice suffered by the workers in pre-October
Russia. The best people of our country carried on the
most resolute struggle against monarchy, landlords, and
capitalists.
All of this, to be sure, must be presented imagina-
tively and emotionally. And then the pupils will under-
stand why we must strengthen, cherish, protect, and love
61
our socialist Motherland why we must hate oppression
and exploitation.
The pupils of the Soviet school must realize that the
feeling of Soviet patriotism is saturated with irrecon-
cilable hatred toward the enemies of socialist society.
Hatred gives birth to class revolutionary vigilance
and creates a feeling of irreconcilability toward the
class enemy; the weakening of such vigilance under-
mines the cause of the socialist revolution. It is neces-
sary to learn, not only to hate the enemy, but also to
struggle with him, in time to unmask him, and finally,
if he does not surrender, to destroy him.
Through materials dealing with the Great Patriotic
War one must show the pupils the international sig-
nificance of our struggle with the German robbers. We
proved to be the only power capable, not only of halting
the dark surge of fascism, but also of inflicting on it a
decisive and fatal defeat. At the Twenty-Fourth Anni-
versary of the Great October Socialist Revolution Com-
rade Stalin, turning to the army, said: **The whole world
looks upon you as the power capable of destroying the
pillaging regiments of the German robbers. The en-
slaved peoples of Europe who have fallen under the
yoke of the German robbers look upon you as their sav-
iors. A great liberating mission falls to your lot. Be
worthy of this mission! The war which you conduct is a
war of liberation, a war of justice." * Here with re-
markable clarity is revealed the union of the interests of
our Motherland with the interests of the workers of the
entire world.
3. Methods of education in, Soviet patriotism. For
IbitL, pp. 36-7.
62
education in Soviet patriotism it is necessary to utilize
all of the diverse resources which the school has at its
disposal, beginning with the process of instruction.
The study of history has special significance for edu-
cation in Soviet patriotism. The greatness of the past of
the Russian people has been developed briefly above.
Other peoples of the USSR also can be proud of much
in their past.
The task of the teacher consists in presenting in a
vivid and engrossing form historical materials designed
to awaken in children a deep interest in the heroic strug-
gle, in the creative work, and in the noble leaders and
talented builders of culture of their people. All of this
is done for the purpose of kindling in them love for the
great past of their people. This requires the use of stir-
ring stories and the utilization of historical documents,
reminiscences, and literary works. Pictures dealing with
historical subjects should also be employed.
During lessons in geography the teacher, first of all,
interests the children in their natural surroundings, in-
troducing them directly to the phenomena of nature by
means of observations and excursions.
In the study of the natural zones of the USSR he
cultivates in his pupils an interest in the great variety
of natural landscapes of their country and arouses love
for the scenic beauties of their native land. He shows to
them artistic representations of different landscapes and
reads to them descriptions of nature from literary works
and sketches written by travelers.
In presenting vivid pictures of socialist construction
the teacher tells the children about the flowering of the
national republics and provinces of the Soviet Union*
63
about their economic and cultural growth, how each of
them with its own natural riches contributes to the ad-
vancement of the material welfare of the entire land.
It is necessary to show the pupils how socialist con-
struction has changed the geography of our land, how
shallow rivers have been made navigable, how the Mos-
cow sea was created, how the North Pole was conquered,
how the Dnieper dam was built and built again, how
deserts have been transformed into gardens. We must
reveal to them also the rich perspectives of our further
development and the great creative work necessary for
the liquidation of the consequences of the German oc-
cupation.
Natural science also has considerable significance in
the cultivation of love for the Motherland. The natu-
ralist, I. V. Michurin, could develop his talents only
under the conditions of Soviet life. The academicians,
Lisenko and Tsitsin, and a whole galaxy of Soviet scien-
tists could carry their ideas into life on a mass scale
only on our socialist farms. In so far as they can grasp
its meaning, children must be told about this creative
work. They must be introduced also to the names of our
great natural scientists of whom our country is proud,
such as Timiriazev and Pavlov.
In studying natural science children must strive to
acquire knowledge which will help them better to per-
form their socially useful work which is of value to the
Motherland the collecting of medicinal herbs, the
growing of new plants, the protection of birds, and the
struggle with agricultural pests.
Out-of-cla$$ work has great significance in education
in Soviet patriotism. This work supplements the work
64
of the classroom, promotes understanding of social-
political life, and raises the level of political literacy
and activity among the pupils. The value of out-of-class
reading deserves particular emphasis. The school li-
brary should have illustrated and recommended lists of
hooks on the subject of "Motherland."
"Trips" to different national republics and to the
borders of our Union should be organized as follows*
The library prepares several itineraries of imaginary
trips. Children desiring to participate sign up for this
or that itinerary. For example, pupil N. signs up for
a trip to Uzbekistan. He is handed an itinerary for this
trip. The itinerary tells him how to go to Uzbekistan,
what maps to consult and what to look for, what histori-
cal books and articles to read, what pictures to examine,
with what adults who have been in Uzbekistan he should
talk, and so on. The pupil performs this task with the
aid of librarians and teachers in the school. Then, im-
agining himself a traveler in Uzbekistan, he keeps a
diary, makes notes, and writes a little composition an
account of the journey. In this composition he describes
the life of the Uzbek people. From pictures, postcards,
and newspaper and journal clippings he prepares an
album or placard about Uzbekistan. With this material
lie then gives an evening talk about his travels. Other
children who signed up for the same itinerary appear
with supplementary materials. Other itineraries, trips,
and talks are organized along similar lines.
Children are very much interested in this kind of
work. They collect relevant materials with enthusiasm;
they tell willingly stories about their own "trips" and
65
they listen -willingly to stories about the "trips" of their
comrades.
In order to acquaint children more concretely and
vividly with what constitutes the glory of the various
peoples inhabiting the Union of Soviet Socialist Repub-
lics, the teacher should resort in class and out-of-class
work to readings of tales, legends, stories, fables, verses,
proverbs, and other literary treasures of these peoples.
More emphasis should be placed in our schools on
such out-of-class work as correspondence with schools
of the various republics, regions, and provinces and
exchange of objects characteristic of local nature and
local economy. Provision should be made also for the
actual meeting of children of various nationalities, for
the arranging of literary-artistic mornings on the sub-
ject of "friendship of peoples," for the writing of themes
devoted to the various national republics, for the or-
ganization of accompanying exhibits of appropriate ma-
terials, and for the preparation of special issues of wall
newspapers, journals, albums, and the like.
All of this work will promote the development in
children of interest in the peoples of the Soviet Union
and of respect for each nationality and its culture. This
will encourage also the formation of comradely relation-
ships among the children of different nationalities.
For fostering in the young the feeling of patriotism
it is important to acquaint them, in so far as possible,
with current political events. This may be done through
special conversations of the teacher with the children
once or twice a week, through listening to the news over
the radio, and through reading suitable excerpts from
newspapers. Knowledge of what is most essential and
66
important, of what is new in the struggle for the defense
of the fatherland, in the field of socialist construction,
and in our relations with other countries, will always
nourish in children a deep interest in their state and will
strengthen in them the feeling of patriotism.
The aim of patriotic education, however, may be
considered realized only if pupils not only have knowl-
edge about their country and are imbued with a feeling
of love for it, but also show patriotism in deed.
At the time of the Great Patriotic War our school
children showed themselves to be genuine patriots.
They participated in great numbers in such forms of
socially useful work as agricultural labor, the gathering
of wild useful plants and medicinal grasses, the collec*
tion of articles needed for defense, the giving of aid
to the families of men at the front, the conduct of cor-
respondence with the warriors of the Red Army, and
the visiting of hospitals and the presentation there of
artistic performances.
Also many pupils of the Soviet school participated
directly in the struggle with the fascist robbers. They
aided die partisans and exhibited quickness of wit, fear-
lessness, courage, and genuine filial devotion to their
people and their Motherland, down to complete readi-
ness to sacrifice their lives for their country.
This is patriotism of action. But we must remember
that our most fundamental task is the cultivation in fu-
ture citizens of a capacity for manifesting, not the
heroism of impulse, but the "most prolonged, most stub-
born, most difficult heroism of mass everyday work." 10
The first patriotic obligation of every citizen of the
^Lenin, Works, VoL XXIV, p. 339.
67
Soviet Union is always to perform in the very best way
his daily task. And it is necessary to cultivate patriotic
consciousness in pupils from the earliest years so that
they will regard studying as their basic daily task and
studying well as their first and chief patriotic duty. "To
strive with tenacity and perseverance to master knowl-
edge, in order to become an educated and cultured per-
son and to serve most fully the Soviet Motherland" is
the first point in the Rules for School Children.
4. Elements of knowledge having special significance
for the military preparation of the future defenders of
the Motherland. An important part of education in So-
viet patriotism for the growing generation is the cultiva-
tion of readiness to defend the socialist Motherland.
Military-political preparation of the rising generation
of our country is directed toward the improvement of
health and the development of strength, hardiness, agil-
ity, bravery, and courage. It is directed also toward the
cultivation in the young of a consciousness of those pur-
poses for which it is necessary to fight. The grandeur of
these aims, the knowledge of the genuine truth about
the essential nature of the struggle, and the knowledge
that our truth is the truth of all toiling mankind instill
into our youth that zeal with which they go forth to study
and to sport, to the physical culture grounds, and to the
circles of the Society of Soviet Aviation and Chemistry;
that zeal with which they participate in skiing expedi-
tions, in marksmanship and other athletic meets and
contests; that zeal with which they pass the tests qualify-
ing them to wear the insignia, "Ready for Labor and
Defense."
Already in the primary school work is conducted for
68
the purpose of equipping the pupils "with those elements
of general knowledge which are closely related to the
military preparation of future warriors. Here they be-
come acquainted with the types of arms used in the Red
Army; here they learn that the military equipment of
our army is on the level of contemporary technology
and that the warrior must possess knowledge of the foun-
dations of science and achieve mastery of technique.
All the workers of our country love their Red Army
because it is joined to them by blood and by the defense
of their interests. This love is easily transmitted to chil-
dren. Already they are imbued with great sympathy for
the Red Army. It is absolutely necessary to acquaint
them with the role of the League of Young Communists
in our Red Army during the Great Patriotic War and in
the development of our Red Fleet and military aviation,
and with the valor of Young Communist aviators. The
transmission to children of knowledge of the heroism of
the civil war and the Great Patriotic War, as well as of
the heroic deeds of our warriors who defended the bor-
ders of the USSR during the intervening years, is a
mighty means of communist education.
In the course in geography attention should be given
to the development of the ability to define the cardinal
points, to use the compass, to understand a topographi-
cal plan, to read a map, to grasp the relations of the
various elements of relief. This is an essential part of
military study.
Mathematics should provide training in the use of
the scale, the divider, the caliper, and other instruments
in the making of a simple survey of a locality. Knowl-
69
edge of mathematics is extremely important for the
mastery of military technique.
Various forms of out-of-class work designed to pre-
pare children for the defense of their country may be
utilized: evenings of reminiscences about the Red Army,
excursions to military museums and military exhibits,
games of a military character, including games of move-
ment out-of-doors and indoors and also table games,
military activities in communication, aviation, topogra-
phy, and so on.
The material for the conduct of all this work may be
concentrated in the Pioneer Room or in the Circle of
Defense where at definite times meetings and consulta-
tions take place. In the Circle of Defense concrete ma-
terials for military work are utilized various tables,
placards, pictures, and diagrams. Here too are posted
topographical questions, puzzles, problems in commu-
nication, and a recommended list of readings.
In all educational work devoted to the preparation of
future citizens to defend the Motherland, it is necessary
to remember that to vanquish the enemy is impossible
without the most burning hatred of him. Passionate love
of the Motherland breeds inevitably strong hatred of the
enemy. Enslavers of people, destroyers of culture, and
stranglers of liberty are hated by all to whom the free-
dom and independence of the Motherland are dear.
70
CHAPTER IV
FOR LOVE, HONOR, AND
RESPECT
1. Soviet patriotism and humanism. Soviet patriot-
ism is joined with genuine humanism. This term has
been applied to a widespread movement which arose in
the epoch of the Renaissance in the fourteenth century
and which strove for the liberation of mankind from the
chains of the medieval-feudal world view in the name
of the rights and the dignity of personality.
In bourgeois society, because of its exploiting nature,
humanistic ideas could not be realized. And in the "race
theory" of fascism ideas of misanthropy directly antag-
onistic to humanism were expressed.
Genuine universal humanism is realized in our coun-
try the country of socialism because it has com-
pletely liberated the working people of all nationalities
from exploitation. The principle of socialist humanism
is thus expressed by Stalin: "of all the valuable capitals
existing in the world the most valuable and most decisive
capital is people, persons.'* *
In a conversation with tihe English writer, H. G. Wells,
Comrade Stalin explained clearly that a socialist society
is one which satisfies most fully the interests of per-
1 Stalin, Question of Lenirusm, llth c<L, p. 491.
71
sonality. "More than that," he said, "a socialist society
provides a uniquely durable guarantee of the protection
of the interests of personality." 2
And Comrade Stalin himself above all exhibits genu-
ine humanism in his relations with people. A leading
writer of our country, A. N. Tolstoy, in his article "For
the -Motherland! For Stalin!" said of him: "Every man
to him is a Man . . . The ethical heights of communism
are nurtured in love of man and of life."
Hatred of the enemies of the socialist Motherland by
no means contradicts the principle of humanism, since
it is devoted to the protection of the rights and liberty
of the workers from the designs of beasts of prey. The
heroic fulfillment by the Soviet people of the mission
of liberating freedom-loving peoples from inhuman fas-
cism is the highest expression of humanism.
2. Development in children of love for parents and
respect for elders. Education in the spirit of socialist
humanism has as its task the leading of children to a
consciousness of the high value of hutnan personality
and the inculcation in them of respect for the rights and
dignity of man. In practice this task is achieved first of
all in the relation of a child to people nearest to him.
m , The feeling of love for mother and father is the first
noble feeling which arises naturally in a child and
which plays a central role in the life of every individual.
It is quite understandable therefore why in literature
and in the memoirs of distinguished people so much
attention is given to the relations between children and
parents*
'Stalin, Questions of Leninism, 10th edition, p. 602.
72
In Russian literature the image of mother is drawn with
special warmth. Everybody knows well the novel Mother, by
Gorky.
A work by our gifted writer Gedar, entitled The School, a
work which is well known to all Soviet school children, is
steeped with a deep feeling of love and esteemed respect of
the son for the mother and the revolutionary father.
We are all moved by the sincere and warm relations with
his mother expressed in a letter of Lenin: "Dear little mother!
I strongly embrace you, my dear one. How is your health?
How are you?" These are the words of Vladimir Ilich in his
letter of December 26, 1903, to his mother from Geneva where
at the time he was leading energetically the work of the
Bolsheviks and was lashing without mercy the exploiting order
and all oppressors and conformists.
The same warm heartfelt relations with one's mother are
seen in Comrade Stalin. Here is what his mother, Ekaterina
Georgievna, said about her meeting with him in 1935: "My
meeting with Soso ... I had not seen him for some time.
I felt ill, I felt weak; but on meeting him I was rejoiced as
if wings had grown. Immediately both the weakness and the
sickness vanished.
"The door opens and on the threshold he appears, my dear
one ... I look and scarcely believe my eyes . . * He also is
happy. He approaches and kisses me. He looks well, hale, and
cheerful. Tenderly he inquires about my health, asks about
near ones, about friends.
"Unexpectedly I note silver threads in his hair. I even ask:
'What is this, my son, have you grown gray?* And he answers:
*It does not matter, mother, grayness that is not important. I
feel extremely well, have no doubt about it.*
"Time flows unnoticed . . . We recall old times, friends, and
near ones. He jokes much and laughs. We sit long together
and I am very happy; to me he is still my Soso.** s
* Komsomol Prwda, October 27, 1935.
73
In the days of the Great Patriotic War the feeling
of deep love and attachment between children and their
near ones of children for their parents and of parents
for their children was strong and poignant. And the
tremendous life significance of this feeling was reflected
in letters from the front and in letters to the front, in
grievous partings and happy reunions.
Most valuable in the relations between children and
parents was the feeling of mutual support and of unity
of purpose: the desire to contribute with all one's
strength to the defeat of the hated enemy and the lib-
eration of our beloved Motherland. The great power of
courageous mother love, of love of daughters and sons
for parents, and of deep respect and regard is shown
in the relations between Zoya Kosmodemianskaia and
her mother, between Oleg Koshevoy and his mother.
Stories of mothers about their heroic children have
exceptionally great educational value. By such examples
may be developed in school children love and respect
for parents.
Our children must appreciate how honorable is the
title of mother in our land. Only in the Soviet Union
has the state established the title of "Mother-heroine"
and the bestowal of orders and medals on mothers of
many children.
And with the word "father 9 * we address the Great
Stalin when we wish to express to him the feeling of
filial nearness and of love and respect
A respectful attitude is required of children, not only
toward their relatives, but also toward their elders gen-
erally. And it is most important that this result be
achieved in deeds as well as in words* The Rides for
74
School Children demand that children obey parents and
help them, that they be always polite toward their school
director and teachers, respectful toward their elders and
toward each other, considerate of and attentive to their
elders, the sick, the weak, and the little ones.
Members of the older generation in their conflict with
czarism and later with white guards and interventionists
achieved socialism. Now, together with the younger gen-
eration, they must work with tireless energy on all fronts
of socialist construction. In the years of the Great Pa-
triotic War against bloody fascism, they provided the
basic personnel of the military leadership under whom
the Red Army achieved such brilliant victories.
In our country there are no conflicts between fathers
and children. Members of the older generation possess
great merit in the eyes of youth. They have the rich
experience gained in the revolutionary struggle and so-
cialist construction. They set the example of the vic-
torious attack on the stronghold of monarchy and on
the stronghold of capitalism. They have traveled a long
road of intensive labor.
How base then are the rude pranks which some chil-
dren, adolescents, and youth permit themselves to play
on adults! Through shouting, abusive language, and
insults, through demonstrative refusal to perform a task
assigned by an older person, profound disrespect is
expressed. For an adolescent or a young person to fail
to greet an elder or to offer him his seat on a trolley
car is also a sign of disrespect
We must cultivate in our children a feeling of respect
and a cultured attitude toward elders, and particularly
toward teachers. The significance which the Central
75
Committee of the Communist Party assigns to the culti-
vation of these traits of character in the younger mem-
bers of our socialist collective is revealed in the fact,
for example, that it has established expulsion from
school as a form of punishment for insulting a teacher
or school director. 4
We must cultivate in our children also a feeling of
respect for one another. They still exhibit not a few
patterns of behavior which have come by tradition from
the old life, but which do not harmonize with the new
spirit of our socialist order. Sometimes, for example,
the older children bully the younger, the physically
strong taunt the weak, boys treat girls scornfully and
occasionally even insult them, children with certain de-
fects, such as stuttering or some physical disability, may
be teased and ridiculed.
All such forms of behavior are vestiges from the old
society and the old life. They must be rooted out. They
must be replaced by new attitudes. The experience of
our schools, as well as our Pioneer detachments, gives
many beautiful illustrations of these new and remark-
able relations among children. In response to a letter
to the Pioneers and the necessity of taking care of
younger brothers and sisters Nadezhda Konstantinovna
Krupskaia was showered with letters from children con-
taining such statements as the following: "I teach my
little sister," "We watch over the kindergarten," "I
study with my brother." The letters tell how the older
Pioneers undertake to work more effectively with
younger children, how with great love for their little
* Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party,
August 25, 1934.
76
comrades they organize games, walks, readings, and
physical exercises.
All of this is in conformity with the Rules for School
Children which demand that pupils be polite, respectful,
and attentive to people through deeds, and that they
exhibit such attitudes in their actions toward adults and
children of their own age, as well as toward little ones.
Teachers should strive for this result in practice by
strictly enforcing and introducing into the daily life of
children the rules of conduct.
3, Education in children of a feeling of duty and
responsibility, a feeling of honor and personal dignity*
In the life and conduct of the pupil much is determined,
not by personal needs and interests, but by a feeling
and a consciousness of duty toward parents, toward the
collective of comrades, toward the school, and toward
the state. The Rules for School Children begin with the
words, "it is the duty of every school child."
It is necessary also to give to children the concept
itself of duty and responsibility, to train them so that
a sense of duty becomes the governing principle in their
conduct, so that an honorable and conscientious attitude
toward the fulfillment of obligations becomes a stable
trait of character.
Children will understand the meaning of duty most
easily through concrete examples. The experience of the
Great Patriotic War is replete with such examples. How
many exciting stories may be told of warriors volun-
tarily assuming tasks whose fulfillment called for the
sacrifice of their own lives! Here people were guided,
not only by a patriotic impulse, but also by a sense and
consciousness of duty. The same moral incentives guide
77
individuals when they strive for goals which require the
conquest of insurmountable difficulties and the volun-
tary sacrifice of their personal interests in the fulfill-
ment of a socially important labor task.
Actual practice on the part of the pupil in the dis-
charge of his obligations is the basic means of develop-
ing a sense of duty and responsibility- Particularly
useful in this connection is the assignment to children of
definite tasks and the checking of their fulfillment. The
performance of the duties of a monitor, if treated seri-
ously, offers a significant opportunity to cultivate in
children the ability to introduce into life high moral
ideals and convictions. The point should be emphasized
that school children should learn, not simply to dis-
charge each task, but to discharge it as well, as pre-
cisely, and as accurately as possible. And let them be
prompted to such conduct, not only by expected control
from the teacher, but also by self-control, by holding
themselves to high standards.
Children should learn through simple facts how the
masters in various callings have worked and do work,
how they achieve perfection in their crafts. The example
of a consistently responsible attitude on the part of the
teacher toward his own work and obligations facilitates
the development in pupils of a responsible attitude to-
ward every task and every assignment. A man who
works honestly and conscientiously is always honest in
his deeds, is always truthful and sincere.
Truthfulness and contempt for lying must be culti-
vated in children from the earliest years. They must
come to experience a deep-seated revulsion toward such
practices as presenting the work of someone else as
78
one's own, concealing a bad deed from adults, or de-
ceiving one's teachers.
The pupil of our school must be incapable, because
of his inner strength and inherent honesty, of telling a
lie. In the classroom, in the school, and in the Pioneer
camp a public opinion should be created which will
condemn every kind of evasion, every ostentatious dis-
play of good behavior, every manifestation of falsehood
in both the opinions and the conduct of pupils. One must
be honest, conscientious, truthful, and studious, and not
merely seem to be such. Only a person of crystal hon-
esty can possess a genuinely true feeling of personal
dignity and honor.
To cultivate in a pupil a feeling of honor means to
get him to value the good opinion of people in authority
in the collective and to get him to earn such an opinion.
The feeling of personal dignity is inseparable from the
feeling of honor, but it differs in that it expresses self-
respect derived from the definition by the pupil of his
attitude toward himself in terms of the merit of his
deeds. For success in the realm of moral education the
pupil must be made sensitive to the opinion of the
teacher, of people in authority, and of the collective. A
child who is indifferent to such appraisal of his con-
duct presents the greatest difficulties to the educator.
One should develop in a child from the earliest years
an association of unpleasant feeling with disapproval
for bad deeds and an association of pleasant feeling
with approval for excellent performance of work and
for excellent conduct. At the same time it is important
that he value his own appraisal of his actions, being able
to admit his faults and mistakes and to show a desire
79
to improve, to restore his honor, and to make the neces-
sary efforts to this end. Hence there will develop in the
child the ability for self-criticism which is so important
in the collective creative work called socialist construc-
tion.
A person possessing a feeling of honor and personal
dignity demands justice for himself and is just to others,
refuses hoth to submit to insult and to insult others, and
overpraises neither himself nor others- A person reared
in the spirit of honor and personal dignity is revolted
by every manifestation of sycophancy, senility, offi-
ciousness, flattery, and other such vices. On the other
hand, respect for oneself and personal dignity are ir-
reconcilable with peacockery, conceit, hard egotism, and
self-love. Genuine dignity is identified with that modesty
which permits the individual to judge himself properly
and to respect the honor and dignity of others.
All of the positive qualities mentioned above may be
cultivated in children in large measure by establishing
in the school, the family, and the collective of pupils
and Pioneers the very same relations which exist among
the adults of the community. And here, as elsewhere,
the example of the teachers themselves and familiarity
with examples taken from life and literature are ex-
tremely important.
CHAPTER V
FOR THE COMMON GOOD
1. Comradeship and friendship among children. The
sense of personal dignity and honor has value only when
it is joined with a sense of the honor of the collective.
The creation of a closely knit children's collective is one
of the most important means for the achievement of
success in education.
Collective relations rest on the foundation of the
feelings of comradeship and friendship. "It is neces-
sary," said M. I. Kalinin, "that we have a welding of
comrades . . . the USSR will he yet stronger if such a
welding is cultivated in the Soviet people from child-
hood an active and strong welding of comrades from
school days. Then if the individual joins the Red Army
or finds himself at the front, it will be easier for him
to enter into the military welding. He will arrive with
the welding love of the socialist Motherland/* a
How then are comradeship and friendship cultivated
from the earliest years?
First of all, let us make clear the differences between
these concepts. Comradeship and friendship among chil-
dren are characterized by nearness to one another, by
kindness toward one another, and by community of in-
1 Kalinin, Problems of the Soviet Intelligentsia, 1939, p. 38.
81
terest and community of action. All pupils in a class
must be comrades. Friendship is a high stage of com-
radeship, In which nearness to another becomes stronger,
sharper, and more intimate. Friends are drawn to each
other. They want to be together, to work together, to
share with each other their thoughts and feelings, to talk
about their common work, games, and interests.
This is how Garin in The Childhood of Tema describes
the feeling of friendship experienced by his little hero:
Sometimes in the morning when Tema did not want to get up
and when for some reason the prospect of going to school
had no attractions for him, he suddenly remembered his friend
and a sweet feeling gripped him he jumped out of bed and
began to dress. He experienced delight at the thought of again
seeing Ivanov who would wait for him and cheerfully flash his
kindly dark eyes from under a shaggy shock of hair. The
friends would greet each other, would sit down real close to
each other, and would smile at Kornev who, chewing his nails,
would say mockingly: "Haven't seen each other for a hundred
years. Kiss each other from joy.**
During such moments Tema regarded himself as the hap-
piest of persons.
How can the teacher influence the friendship of chil-
dren? First of all, he must be sensitive to the growing
feeling of friendship among children and make sure that
it develops on a healthy basis and is beneficial to the
friends. The incentives to friendship are at first external.
Pupils may begin to be friendly, for example, simply
because they sit together, go to school together, or live
in the same neighborhood. Higher incentives are of
course better: common tasks, interests, games, or sport.
It is well when a friend attracts because of such qualities
82
as knowledge of something interesting, ability, bravery,
perseverance, kindness, sensitivity, initiative, resource-
fulness, and cheerfulness. The task of the teacher is to
raise the incentives of friendship among children to a
higher level.
Can friendship between children be established on
the recommendation of a teacher? Not if it occurs sud-
denly, artificially, and without foundation. But if the
teacher desires to create a fruitful friendship in a class
between certain children, he can gradually prepare the
conditions for it. For example, he may seat children
side by side, hand them a book to read together, or give
them a mutual assignment In this soil a desired friend-
ship can be evoked.
Sometimes friendship between children is formed on
the basis of negative interests or even harmful mutual
"enterprises." On noticing such a development, the
teacher should take measures either to destroy the
friendship by dispelling the halo of the "friend-leader,"
or to redirect it by diverting the friends from their evil
ways and leading them toward useful deeds.
For the cultivation of the feeling of friendship among
children it is necessary to acquaint them with vivid
examples of friendship among both children and adults.
Suitable materials may be drawn from literature and
memoirs of the lives of distinguished people*
Friendship between children should not be allowed
to develop at the expense of the general comradeship
of all members of the collective. All pupils of a class
are comrades and should be comrades. When there is a
genuine collective, there is comradeship. It arises and
83
is developed in the soil of the collective life and work
of children*
Comradeship is manifested in friendly social efforts
to achieve success in work by all members of a collec-
tive, in mutual concern, in mutual aid, and in devotion
to one another.
To be genuine comrades children must be collectiv-
ists.
2. Children in a collective. The class, the Pioneer
link, the Pioneer detachment, the pupils 7 circle, and
other children's groups and organizations may be re-
garded as collectives only if the members are aware
of common tasks, devoted to common purposes, con-
scious of complete mutuality of interests, and willing
to direct their strength and work toward the general
good. A distinctive mark of a collective is its organiza-
tional form the presence of guiding and executive
organs, good management and subordination, and dis-
tribution of obligations and responsibilities.
The significance of the collective is described as fol-
lows in Pravda, the organ of the Central Committee of
the All-Union Communist Party:
"Our children must be indoctrinated with the spirit
of collectivism, because a strong collective is the foun-
dation of foundations of the Soviet educational system.
It is sufficient to recall the interesting pedagogical expe-
rience of the teacher-writer Mafcarenko who succeeded
in transforming children corrupted by homelessness
into worthy citizens of a socialist society* The entire
secret of his success is found in the simple fact that he
formed a genuine collective which set the tone of the
colony, mastered the most incorrigible individuals, and
84
by habituating them to discipline cultivated the will."
Our task in the school is not merely the education of
individual children, but also and especially the educa-
tion of a collective and the education of each child in
the spirit of collectivism. The Soviet land, truly declared
A. S. Makarenko, is for the most part a land of col-
lectives.
The collective of course is not created all at once*
But the organization of a collective and the cultivation
in each child of a feeling of comradeship and collec-
tiveness begins from the first grade.
Here on the first day of school in the first grade the teacher
observes that the little girl Lucy on entering the classroom and
seeing flowers in vases on the desks, runs from desk to desk,
picking the loveliest flowers. Lucy sits down at the first desk
and seizes both glasses in her hands. The teacher notes further
that Lucy tries to take the best of everything for herself: she
grabs the best pencils and the best little counting balls. The
teacher asks Lucy to distribute the pencils in her row, not
choosing and not changing, but in order. With closed eyes
Lucy takes the pencils from the box and quickly distributes
them, but after first placing one pencil on her own desk while
holding another in her hand. When Lucy takes her seat she
thinks that Ura has a better pencil. Making a scarcely per-
ceptible movement in his direction, she controls herself; but
she looks enviously at Ura's pencil, being dissatisfied with her
own. However, she does not change.
The teacher has to work long and hard to overcome these
tendencies in Lucy. She consults with the parents, so that
they too will inculcate in Lucy a feeling of collectiveness. So-
cial tasks are given to her in the class which demand on her
part concern for the entire group of comrades. Lucy begins to
ask her mother for certain objects, not with the words "Give
85
me," but with the words "Give us. for us." Being by nature
active and sensitive, susceptible to the reasonable influence of
adults, she becomes in the third and fourth grades one of the
best members of the collective, willingly and gladly perform-
ing a large amount of socially useful work.
Some children are inclined from the first to share
their possessions with comrades. Others take advantage
of these generous impulses and exploit such children
for their own selfish purposes.
While supporting and developing in children com-
radely and kindly feelings, it is necessary to cultivate
in each a spirit of independence and a sense of his own
personality.
There are all kinds of children in a collective. In the
organization of its life the teacher Trill lean on those
who are energetic and possess initiative. But gradually
through active social work it is necessary to involve all
so that each pupil will he educated in collectivism and
will acquire organizational habits.
A correct organization of the life and work of a col-
lective creates favorable conditions for the development
of the abilities and talents of every member. The more
the distinctive positive qualities of each child are uti-
lized, the more vigorous, meaningful, and interesting
will be the life of the entire collective.
Let us consider an example of the organization of the
life of a children's collective in the third grade of a
certain school:
In the third grade the pupils conduct a system of monitor-
ship quite independently. The monitors are responsible for
order in the classroom, prepare the blackboard for use, and
look after the ventilation. Children are initiated into the dis-
charge of monitorial duties from the first grade.
In the nature corner the pupils themselves water the flowers,
wash them, keep them from withering, and are very grieved
if they die.
"Laboratory assistants," selected by the teacher, prepare
under his guidance whatever is necessary for the following
lessons, such as receptacles for natural science, or maps and
pictures for geography and history. They even know how to
operate the projector.
Children love this work very much. They are proud when
their turns come.
The wall newspaper is managed so that all members of the
class participate. Pupils submit notes and other materials to
the teacher for approval, but are entirely responsible for get-
ting out the paper. They manage these things very welL
Orderlies strictly see to it that the hands and ears of the
children are clean.
From time to time social responsibilities are redistributed.
In the course of the year every pupil engages in each of sev-
eral branches of socially useful work.
When the class organizes literary-artistic mornings, prac-
tically all children participate in them at one stage or another.
Many memorize not only their own parts, but also the parts
of their comrades. If any participant does not arrive, he is
immediately replaced by another.
The class also has defense work: children work in the cir-
cles of Anti-Air-Chemical National Defense and Ready for
Sanitary Defense; and each one has two badges which he
wears with pride. In the model aviation circle seven members
of the class work under the supervision of an eighth-grade
pupil. On the invitation of a group of children a musical
circle, led by one of the parents, was organized.
A literary reading circle works under the direction of the
teacher.
87
The class also has a circle on the calendar which is of in-
terest to all the pupils. The members of this circle have charge
of the loose-leaf calendar belonging to the class; they read
from the leaves of the calendar material for a given day, some-
times supplementing it with illustrations, verses, and proverbs.
All of this is assembled and accurately arranged in folders.
The collective and organized life of the class develops in
children concern for one another. For example, pupils look
after sick comrades, write them letters, and when possible go
to visit them. They are disturbed lest their sick comrades fall
behind in their schoolwork. They transmit to them at home
the lessons assigned so that they will be able to keep up with
their class.
Friendship and comradeship are born among the children.
From this example we see that a pupil collective, if
correctly organized, Is, in the first place, an aid to the
teacher and the school director in the achievement of the
tasks of communist education and in the struggle for a
high quality of knowledge. In the second place, a pupil
collective is a school for the formation of social habits
in the children and for the preparation of citizens who
will be able to put social above personal interests. In
the third place, a pupil collective is a way of organizing
the self-activity of children in various spheres of work
which is directed toward their cultural development and
the satisfaction of their needs and interests.
It goes without saying that the actual content and
form of pupil organizations depend on the age char-
acteristics, the level of development, and the powers and
abilities of the children.
In the primary school no general pupil organization
is created, but the teacher organizes the life of the chil-
dren in the grade collective.
In discharging social obligations in the class col-
lective under the tutelage of the teacher, children gradu-
ally acquire the qualities necessary for friendly mutual
work and life in a social organization. The pupil will
feel himself a member of the class collective, of course,
only if the class as a whole is organized by the teacher
as a collective. The teacher establishes the system of
monitorship of pupils and arranges the monitorial
schedule under which each pupil knows when he is to
fulfill this or that obligation.
But the life of the class embraces a multiplicity of
duties which exceed the powers of a single monitor.
It is necessary to check the cleanliness of the clothing
of pupils, the neatness of notebooks, the treatment of
books, and the care of school property. Two or three
pupils may be selected therefore to assist the monitor
in doing this work. In performing certain tasks, such as
the making of placards for a given theme, the procuring
of tickets to the cinema, or the preparing for a holiday,
different jobs may be assigned to different pupils.
From time to time in the primary school in grades
two, three, and four brief meetings must be arranged
Tinder the leadership of the teacher. In these meetings
the class may evaluate the performance of monitorial
duties by different pupils and discuss questions about
class order, about the improvement of discipline, about
assistance to various pupils in their studies, about par-
ticipation in the celebration of a revolutionary holiday,
or about organizing walks, games, and excursions for
the entire class collective.
89
The leaders of the Young Communist and Pioneer
organizations, and particularly tlie leaders of the Pio-
neers, stimulated by the example of the outstanding
people of our country, guided by the practices of whole
collectives of our foremost enterprises, schools,, and col-
lective farms, and manifesting through all their work
and conduct the qualities of the new man. inspire the
whole mass of children to persistence and tenacity in
working for a solid and lasting mastery of knowledge
and for the establishment of a system of order which
w T ill ensure discipline and create a cultured life among
the pupils and a correct attitude of children toward
adults. At the same time the leaders of the Young Com-
munist and Pioneer organizations strive to create a
happy, cheerful, and joyous life which will promote
the improvement of the health of the children.
Young Communist and Pioneer organizations should
demand of each member an accounting of how he ful-
fills his social obligations, and how he justifies, through
personal example in study and conduct, the high title of
Pioneer or Young Communist.
The leaders of Young Communist and Pioneer organ-
izations must be interested in the life of the pupil col-
lective in each grade and must associate intimately with
other children, helping them to organize their life and
work better and more interestingly talking with them,
relating to them the successful work of other collectives,
and enriching them with their own experience.
In a correctly organized collective favorable condi-
tions are created for the cultivation of comradely atti-
tudes between boys and girls. From the very first days
of school children must be habituated to associate with
90
each other and to regard as entirely normal common
participation in games and socially useful work. In the
distribution of various social tasks the teacher must
assign them to boys and girls so that both may be
equally active. This is easily achieved under the condi-
tions of coeducation, 2 if a correct line is followed from
the beginning. Under the conditions of separate educa-
tion the collective is homogeneous as to sex. Within the
grade and the school therefore the question of interde-
pendent relationships between boys and girls does not
arise. But they are together outside the school. So the
problem of education of comradely relations between
them is not eliminated. The school must cultivate these
relationships among children by approving friendly
mutual social work and friendly mutual games for boys
and girls from different schools. Coeducational out-of-
school activities, such as the staging of plays or the
arranging of a concert on a special theme in which mem-
bers of both sexes participate organizationally, should
be provided. The relations between boys and girls must
be formed in full harmony with the principle of equality
between men and women in our country. Mutual re-
spect, aid, and protection, each supplementing the other
in the collective according to abilities and talents, must
characterize their relations. This will be accomplished if
adults both teachers and parents create and support
such relations in practice and develop a corresponding
public opinion among the children.
But not infrequently among children cases of false
9 Beginning in 1943 coeducation has Been abolished and separate
schools for boys and girls have been established from the first grade in
communities large enough to maintain the two systems.
91
comradeship arise. Sometimes, for example, they con-
ceal the fact that one of their comrades, deliberately and
in a spirit cf hooliganism or mischief -making, has de-
stroyed school property. In many collectives it is cus-
tomary to regard as a "valiant hero" the pupil who,
without studying his lesson or possessing the necessary
knowledge, manages to get a good mark in a subject.
Among some children also the tradition persists of
prompting or helping each other in order to conceal
deficiencies in knowledge and conduct. This is done in
the name of "comradeship." But it is false comradeship.
Such "comradeship" causes an injury to the members
of the collective and brings harm to our socialist society
as a whole, because it promotes ignorance and cultivates
extremely unhealthy habits of conduct in the individual.
It encourages the development of a tendency toward
parasitism* Behavior of this kind is intolerable in any
collective of a socialist society. Equally intolerable in
our collective life and in the life of a children's collec-
tive are envy, peacockery, conceit, boastfulness, and
deception of one's comrades. It is necessary to develop
among children a healthy new collective life in harmony
with communist ideals.
The fact that children value comradeship and solidar-
ity highly, and are ready even to sacrifice personal
interests for the sake of comrades, is in itself most
fortunate. But it is necessary to explain to children that
practices, which in some instances seem to be genuine
manifestations of comradeship, in reality cause moral
injury to the members of their collective.
Under no circumstances in the struggle against the
manifestation of false comradeship should one encour-
92
age children to denounce and slander secretly for
purposes of personal advantage. Pupils should be habit-
uated to open protest against concealment of evil deeds
and harmful forms of assistance, and to bold exposure
of loafers and rowdies at meetings of the collective. If a
healthy public opinion is developed, the collective is
able to force its own offenders to admit ugly pranks and
delinquencies, to confess them, and to correct their be-
havior*
It is useful in certain cases to place before the mem-
bers of a collective the task of eliminating from their
midst such injurious practices without the aid of the
teachers. Of course the pedagogical influence, though
unnoticed, operates through subtle means.
93
CHAPTER . VI
FOR ORDER AXD DISCIPLINE
1. Basic traits of discipline required of the Soviet
pupil. An extremely important component part of moral
education is tlie education of children in conscious disci-
pline. Without discipline and habits of organization one
cannot study, one cannot work. But it is not merely a
question of ensuring the discipline of pupils during their
school years. Before the teacher stands a much deeper
task: the cultivation in children of a state of discipline
as a high quality of communist morality and one of the
most important traits of character. The development of
this quality in children is linked with the task of prepar-
ing future citizens of the Soviet state who will act from
a sense of public duty and will possess a feeling of re-
sponsibility before the socialist Motherland. Without
discipline one cannot achieve high productivity of labor
in production* Without discipline one cannot conquer in
war.
From early years we must educate children so that a
state of discipline will remain as their permanent pos-
session.
Discipline for our Soviet pupil means: to study and
work honestly, conscientiously, and with maximum effi-
ciency, to exhibit concern for ever greater success for
94
himself and his comrades, to Le polite and considerate
in his relations with his fellows, to show respect for his
elders, to help those in need, to take care of public prop-
erty, and to encourage others to do likewise.
The discipline which we cultivate in our children
under socialist conditions is characterized by the fol-
lowing qualities: In the first place it is conscious, that
is, it is f ounded on an inner conviction of the necessity
of following definite rules and regulations in conduct
which in turn are based on an understanding of their
meaning and significance. In the second place, disci-
pline is self-initiated, that is, it is not a discipline of
simple obedience, but rather a discipline which is linked
with the desire to fulfill in the best possible manner a
given assignment, order, or commission. More than this,
it is linked with a readiness always to do one's duty, not
waiting for an order or a reminder, hut displaying ini-
tiative. In the third place, discipline is firm, that is, it is
unquestioned obedience and submission to the leader,
the teacher, or the organizer. Without this there is no
discipline; submission to the will of the leader is a nec-
essary and essential mark of discipline. In the fourth
place, discipline is organizational, that is, it is a disci-
pline which prompts and habituates the pupil to the
precise organization of individual and collective work,
to organization in games and life. In the fifth place,
discipline is comradely, that is, it is founded on mutual
respect of the members of the collective. In the sixth
place, discipline is resolute, that is, it surmounts diffi-
culties, prompts the completion of every task, subjects
conduct to high purposes, and conquers motives of low
degree.
95
A state of discipline cannot bear merely an outer
character. The qualities enumerated above require an
inner condition. Conscious discipline cannot rest on a
foundation of fear. But in developing discipline in
pupils we may apply at times threats of punishment and
even punishments themselves, if regulations are vio-
lated. Also we may assume that the pupil will refrain
from such violations because of fear of displeasing
adults in positions of authority, fear of disapproval on
the part of the collective, fear of the reproaches of his
own conscience, and fear of the unpleasant experience
of shame. However, these are not the chief means of
stimulating our pupils to a high condition of discipline.
It is important to us that our pupils desire and strive to
become disciplined, not because of external pressure,
but because of their own voluntary promptings. It is
important that their own active disciplinary powers
function and that they have an inner harmony with dis-
cipline and a desire to achieve it. Such discipline leads
inevitably to self-discipline. Under such discipline con-
formity and obedience become more perfect.
Since a conscious state of discipline is an organic
part of communist morality, it is cultivated throughout
the program of communist education. It cannot be devel-
oped by any special measures separated from teaching
and above all from the conduct of the recitation. It must
be nurtured in the daily life of the school. Only the
sustained and careful work of the entire educational
undertaking carried on from day to day can ensure the
development of conscious discipline.
The basic conditions for the cultivation of conscious
and firm discipline in pupils are clearly outlined in a
96
recent decree * of the People's Commissariat of Educa-
tion of the RSFSR: "The discipline of pupils is nurtured
by the general practice and the "whole content of the
work of the school: skillful teaching of school subjects,
strict regimen for the entire school life, unwavering
observation by each pupil of the 'Rules for School Chil-
dren, 9 firm organization of the children's collective, and
rational use of measures of rewards and punishments.
The leading role in this work belongs to the teacher,"
2. Content of the Rides 2 for School Children. These
rules of conduct have as their first aim the ensuring of
the order necessary for the successful operation of the
school. But they constitute at the same time a program
for the cultivation in pupils of habits of disciplined and
cultured behavior both inside and outside of the school.
The "Rules" first of all set down the school obliga-
tions of the pupil: to study well, to attend classes faith-
fully, and to arrive on time; to be attentive during the
lesson period to the explanations of the teacher and the
responses of the comrades, to perform tasks efficiently,
and to do homework on time, accurately, and independ-
ently.
At the same time the "Rules" designate how die
pupil must behave during the conduct of the recitation:
to rise when answering a question, to hold himself erect,
and to take his seat only on permission of the teacher;
to raise the hand and await the call of the teacher
when wishing to recite; to rise as the teacher or director
enters or leaves the classroom.
1M On the Strengthening of Discipline in the School," No. 205,
March 21, 1944.
3 The "Rules'* are printed in full in the Appendix.
97
Several points embrace the demands of hygiene and
neatness: to appear at school washed, combed, and
neatly dressed; to keep his desk in the classroom clean
and orderly, not throwing litter on school premises; to
maintain cleanliness in the home by keeping his own
clothes, shoes, and bed in order, and by observing the
rules of hygiene and the daily regimen recommended by
the school.
The 4C Rules" devote particular attention to the treat-
ment by children of adults and the aged. They demand
unquestioned and exact fulfillment by the pupils of the
orders and requests of the director and the teacher, re-
spectful treatment of teachers and parents, politeness
toward all workers in the school, comrades, and visitors.
The "Rules" require of the pupil of the Soviet school
attentiveness to and consideration of the sick, the weak,
the aged, and little children; also care of younger broth-
ers and sisters.
The "Rules" impose on pupils responsibility for the
protection of school property and possessions of com-
rades.
The school child is categorically forbidden to smoke,
to gamble, or to use bad language.
The "Rules" regulate also the conduct of the pupil in
public places and on the street, demanding of him de-
cency, good behavior, and modesty.
The "Rules" call upon him to prize the honor of his
school and his class as his very own.
3. Most important conditions for education in disci-
pline in the school. The pupil must strive to observe
strictly the rules of conduct and achieve precision and
promptness in the fulfillment of the demands made upon
98
him. The rules themselves do not automatically incul-
cate the habits of disciplined behavior. In order that
they may become immutable law to the pupil, they must
be introduced into the daily life of the school by a vast,
serious., and systematic effort.
The most important condition for achieving discipline
in the school is a correctly organized process of instruc-
tion. Disciplined conduct is nurtured in the classroom.
A well-organized and carefully planned recitation or-
ganizes the attention of pupils and awakens interest in
work. An incorrectly conducted recitation is injuriously
reflected in the education of children. Where a recitation
is well organized, pupil conduct ordinarily evokes no
complaints. A good recitation educates, not only through
the content of its subject matter, but also through the
pattern of its organization through punctual beginning
of the lesson, planful conduct of the recitation, skillful
selection of teaching materials, and maintenance of
strict order.
A badly organized recitation not only fails to foster
the development of the desired qualities in pupils, not
only fails to provide the opportunity to master the pre-
scribed materials, but also nullifies the work of such
general educational measures as circles and Pioneer
meetings. Chattering permitted in the lesson period be-
comes more pronounced during out-of-class time.
A firm and well-planned regimen facilitates the
strengthening of discipline and the cultivation in the
pupils of the necessary useful qualities. Normal order
in everything must become habitual in the classroom
and in out-of-class activity, in the recitation and in the
99
Pioneer meeting, in conferences and during recess. It
must become an inviolable tradition.
This is not a question of repressive regulation at every
step, nor of that constant supervision from above which
humiliates the dignity of the person, but of educative
work leading to conscious conformity to a definite cul-
tural and healthful regimen which ensures normal work
and a cultured collective life.
A firm system of internal order and a definite educa-
tional regimen are developed, established, and main-
tained by the leadership and all the teachers of the
school with the active and conscious collaboration of the
entire pupil body. Insistence on the subjection of every
member of the school collective to this system of order
must be very firm.
The regulations assume the existence of external con-
ditions in the school characterized by cleanliness, con-
venience, and regard for beauty and comfort. In a
building resembling barracks, unfurnished and uncom-
fortable, children behave in an undisciplined fashion;
but as soon as a pleasing environment is created, they
begin to behave in a cultured manner.
It is an established fact also that the discipline of
pupils is better in those schools which manage well the
oul-of-class and out-of-school work of the children and
which maintain contact through supervised visits and
activities with out-of-school institutions. The teachers of
such schools also assist parents in the rational use of the
leisure time of children at home. When pupils thus have
an opportunity of satisfying their need for activity by
something constructive, they are diverted from harmful
100
influences and their conduct is organized in a cultured
manner.
The teacher is responsible for the supervision of
pupils in school. He of course assigns simple administra-
tive tasks to the monitors who assist him. Supervision
must be regular, but not meddlesome. The important
thing is for pupils to behave in a disciplined and proper
way when they are by themselves and away from the
supervising eye. One cannot say that children are well
brought up if they conduct themselves well in the pres-
ence of the teacher, but behave badly in his absence.
While organizing the supervision of children, it is
necessary at the same time to train them in the inde-
pendent organization of discipline, utilizing all that is
of value for this purpose in the vitally important chil-
dren's collective.
The teacher first of all must make exactions of the
pupils during the recitation. He does not coax pupils;
he demands obedience. Strictness signifies a definite
system of work. The teacher not only sets forth the mate-
rials of instruction, but also checks to see that the
materials are assimilated and that both class and home
assignments are carried out. Likewise he tests to dis-
cover how fully the materials are mastered and how
carefully and accurately notes are kept. Demands upon
pupils must be firm, clear, and definite: their fulfillment
must be systematically controlled and checked. If the
teacher is ineffective in this process, the pupils cease to
take assignments seriously. Strictness without control
and checking fails to educate and to strengthen disci-
pline; rather it creates a sense of irresponsibility.
But to persuade and demand is not enough. It is im-
101
perative that practices and habits of proper behavior be
cultivated in children. A child of seven years of age
conies to school with a great desire to learn. But how to
do it? He does not know. He wishes to behave well in
the classroom. But how to do this? Also he does not
know. One must teach the child through actual practice
how to enter the classroom, to rise, to reply to the
teacher, to stand before the blackboard, to take care of
textbooks, notebooks, and all school property, to listen
until the teacher finishes, and so on. All of this consti-
tutes a large and serious work in the cultivation of disci-
pline.
4. Cultivation of habits of cultured behavior. 5 The
more the individual makes habitual rational and useful
actions, the more meaningful and fruitful his life will
be. He will save much time for mental work, and conse-
quently for his development. He will simplify and in-
troduce orderliness into his life in many ways. "Habit,"
writes Ushinsky, "sets man free and opens to him the
road to further progress." 4
Habits have tremendous power, not only in the life of
the individual, but also in the life of the collective.
A smoothly running and well-organized classroom or
school is always based on a whole series of habits which
have become the attributes of all the pupils. Violation of
this habitual order by anyone arouses a sense of per-
plexity on the part of the collective and is followed by
resistance. The violator, feeling the disapproval and pro-
test of the majority, submits to the established regimen.
'There follows here in the Russian text a discussion of terminology
which would merely confuse the American reader.
*K. D. Ushinskf, Man as an Object of Education, 13th edition,
abridged, 1913, p. 35.
102
A system of definite habits of conduct, characteristic of
all members of a grade and school collective, gives a
certain style to the social life of the institution and con-
stitutes what is known as tradition.
Without the acquisition of habits education is not
effective. Of what value is the individual who knows and
can even explain rules of conduct but does not know
how to observe them?
While developing certain habits in children, we must
cultivate in them the ability to break habits when neces-
sary. Let us suppose that a child is habituated to rising
at nine o'clock in the morning. But when the school year
begins he is obliged to rise earlier. Naturally, since tar-
diness is not permitted, a new habit must be established
and established quickly.
The formation of a new habit begins in the pupil with
an awareness of its essence and significance. And then,
thanks to numerous repetitions of the action, it becomes
ever stronger, finally becoming habitual. Thereafter it
is performed automatically whenever the conditions ap-
pear which call for the application of the given rule of
conduct*
Quickness in the formation and accuracy and firm-
ness in the quality of habits depend to a very large
degree on the creation in children by the teacher of an
active will to mastery. When they themselves try to
attain a certain goal, when they experience a vigorous
urge in the desired direction, success is assured in the
shortest possible time.
An active purposefulness for the mastery of a habit
can be created in children through effective and skinful
explanations and through examples which arouse their
103
feelings. The dictum of the ancient philosopher Seneca,
"words instruct, examples attract," is sound.
But awareness and purposefulness are not enough for
the formation of a habit. Much practice is also required.
The process of acquiring a desirable habit must not
he interrupted. Otherwise a useless waste of time and
energy on the part of both pupil and teacher takes place.
We must therefore create appropriate conditions for
the practice by pupils of specific habits of cultured con-
duct As a result of frequent exercise such habits are
perfected.
In organizing this whole process of learning the
teacher must bear in mind the laws of habit-formation.
Ushinsky formulated these laws in the main as follows:
1. The younger the learner the more quickly habits take
root
2. The more habits the individual acquires the more difficult
it becomes to form new ones because of interference on the
part of those already formed*
3. The older the habit the stronger it is.
Certain pedagogical rules follow from these laws:
1. To cultivate and establish good habits as early as possi-
ble is extremely important
2. To acquire new habits after the attainment of maturity is
very difficult
3. To root out a bad habit at its very inception is impera-
tive. An old habit is not easily eradicated. One must anticipate
the appearance in children of bad habits.
Every teacher must utilize widely the great imitative
ability of children and serve as an ever-present model
of cultured behavior for them to emulate.
104
Occasionally, however, the teacher encounters in chil-
dren an opposite tendency: a child sometimes "wants to
act in his own way and thus express his personality; he
refuses to yield to the influence of example. In such
cases one must use other means. One must appeal to his
sense of honor and personal dignity, expressing confi-
dence that he could not act badly. Imitation will appear
in this child also, but later. As the pupils grow older
the teacher must endeavor to make the process of imita-
tion more and more conscious and purposeful. He must
encourage them to be selective in their imitation, con-
sciously refusing to imitate the bad and even choosing
to combat manifestations of evil.
In his own behavior the teacher must proceed delib-
erately to set an example of the habits which he wants
his pupils to acquire.
The teacher must strive not only to establish new
habits in pupils, but also to uproot bad habits. The
means of conducting the struggle against bad habits will
vary, depending on how, where, and when a certain
habit was acquired. The observing teacher, by noting the
appearance of a bad habit in a child at the very begin-
ning, can then suppress it without special effort.
More difficult are cases where one has to deal with
strong and well-established bad habits which have been
formed over a long period of time. Speaking of such
habits Ushinsky says: " , . . a habit which is established
gradually and over a long period of time must be rooted
out in the same way gradually and by means of a pro-
longed struggle." 5 Naturally patience and persistence
are required of the teacher,
p. 32.
In combating bad habits In children, success can fre-
quently be achieved through the waging of warfare
against harmful influences exerted upon the children by
certain adults. To root out rudeness, the use of abusive
language, and other vices in boys, one must strive to
eliminate them from the behavior of their fathers and
older brothers. But teachers cannot wait for adults to
change their habits. In the first place, they must take an
active part in cultural social work among adults; and,
in the second place, every teacher must make his pupils
realize that the bad behavior of others does not justify
bad behavior on their part. And by creating habits of
cultured conduct in children he can influence the family
and thus affect the conduct of adults.
Of great significance in all work involving the forma-
tion of habits of cultured behavior is the power of the
teacher over the pupils in the observance of established
rules and regulations. At the same time self-control
should be developed in children.
The inadequacy of control is revealed particularly by
the fact that some children make promises to improve
and do not improve, again make promises and again do
not improve. Possibly they do not improve because they
are dominated by old habits which prevent the formation
of new ones. It is necessary to treat children carefully
and help them to improve.
5. Methods of persuasion and explanation in work
with the Rules of Conduct. The demands of conscious
discipline based on an inner desire of the pupil for
better conduct and the recognition of the great impor-
tance of an initial understanding of the rule to be made
habitual force us to conclude that methods of persuasion
106
and explanation in cultivating a state of discipline are
of foremost significance.
Children must know and remember exactly each para-
graph of the "Rules." They must understand with com-
plete clarity the meaning of every rule and the reason
for it. A pupil who has violated discipline must himself
explain the rule he has violated, since for him there
must be no rules not yet mastered: he must know them
all well. It is necessary to return to certain rules many
limes, to remind pupils of them again and again, and to
explain them by means of new examples. And the exam-
ples must be chosen so as to reveal to the pupils as
clearly as possible the essence of moral and disciplinary
regulations.
The "Rules'* contain a great many very serious con-
cepts and propositions which must become more precise
and profound to the pupils with every year of study.
Such concepts, for example, as the following:
"To become an educated and cultured citizen."
"To conduct himself modestly."
"To prize the honor of his school and his class as his
very own."
Would anyone suppose that children could master
such concepts with a single explanation? They will have
to be told many facts related to each theme and be made
acquainted with examples from the lives of distin-
guished people. And all of these themes must be dis-
cussed with pupils in every grade in accordance with
their understanding.
Here is the type of work conducted by the fourth
grade of a certain school on the subject of modesty, a
concept only vaguely understood by children. They were
107
made familiar with Stalin's account of the modesty of
Lenin and with the characterization by Henri Barbusse
of Comrade Stalin as a simple man; they were asked to
read E. Kononenko's "Girl Acquaintance"; they read
Krilov's fable of "Two Barrels' 5 ; a group of pupils un-
dertook to prepare a placard with excerpts from the
above writings, illustrations showing meetings of Lenin
and Stalin with peasants, workers, and soldiers, and lists
of recommended books. "With the aid of this placard the
little girls made a very interesting brief report to their
class on the given theme.
Some people are skeptical about the method of devel-
oping discipline by means of persuasion and explana-
tion; they contend that this method is ineffectual. But
every explanation does not fail, only a poor explanation.
The art of conducting educative discussions with chil-
dren is far from being a simple matter.
In talks with younger pupils about the rules of con-
duct one must use skillfully simple examples, stories,
facts from life, and comprehensible comparisons.
Misha B., a first grader, was careless with his notebooks,
soiled them, and tore out pages. The teacher asked Misha
^whether his father did not have a document which he
takes care of and tries not to lose. Misha answered at
once that he did have such a document his passport. 6
Papa takes good care of it, tries to keep it clean, and
locks it in his drawer. The teacher pointed out that a
pupil's notebook is also an important document which
6 In tlie Soviet Union every citizen must have a passport for use
within the country. In movement from one place to another the citizen
most present the passport to the police both on his departure and on
his arrival. It is therefore a very important document. The "pupil's
card," mentioned in the "Rules," is in a sense a passport in embryo.
108
shows how the pupil works. It must therefore be guarded
and kept accurately. Misha understood very well what
was expected of him and how important it is to observe
this rule. He formed the habit of taking good care of
his notebooks.
The direction of the conduct of the child by the
teacher through the use of words can assume various
forms. In addition to explanations and talks, referred
to above, the teacher resorts to advice, requests, admoni-
tions, and commands.
A Command is a requirement expressed in a categori-
cal and authoritative form: it is an order. Precise and
timely execution of commands by the children always
depends upon the skill of the teacher. Makarenko sets
down the following principles which should characterize
a command given by a teacher:
1. It must never Be given in anger, in a loud voice, or with
irritation: rather it must resemble an entreaty.
2. It must be suited to the powers of the child: it must not
require of him too great exertion.
3. It must be reasonable, that is, it must not contradict com-
mon sense.
4. It must not contradict some other order given by some
other teacher.
"If an order is given, it must be carried out abso-
lutely. To give an order, and then to forget about it
yourself, is very bad." 7
Advice is an expression of an opinion as to how one
might behave better in a certain situation. It is given in
a friendly tone and assumes a moral and sincere re-
*A. S. Makarenko, Lectures on the Education of CMdren, 1940,
p. 51.
109
sponse on the part of the pupil. For the child himself to
seek advice is desirable. But the teacher must make use
of this form of influence very prudently and not too
frequently.
An Admonition is a form of motivation designed to
convince the pupil to act in a certain way, helping him
to penetrate more deeply into the essence and meaning
of a demand and to realize the importance of conform-
ity. Admonition, given in the presence of comrades in a
collective, evokes in a child a feeling of shame and if
employed skillfully and tactfully is extremely effective.
Sometimes admonition should be given in private.
A Request is a demand of the teacher couched in a
mild form. It refers to something which the pupil is
obliged to do. But in certain cases, for one reason or
another, he shows inner resentment toward a direct de-
mand. Resorting to a more subtle psychological ap-
proach, the teacher presents his demand to the child in
the guise of a request. Then the objection to performing
a duty made in the form of an official demand being
eliminated, obedience becomes a pleasure. The pupil
imagines that he is given the right to choose independ-
ently a line of conduct in an actual concrete case. For
example, the child is rude toward his mother. The de-
mands of the teacher to improve his behavior fail to
bijng the desired results. He then outlines to the child
in the form of a request the proper action to be taken.
The latter is thus placed in a position in which presum-
ably he makes his own decision. Rising to his responsi-
bility in response to this tactful approach and wishing to
please the teacher, the child changes his conduct.
But whatever form of verbal influence on children is
110
employed, whether directly as a command in some cases
or with the marked restraint of admonition or advice in
others, the dignity and firmness of will of the teacher
must always be felt.
Under no circumstances should the diversity of verbal
forms of influence lead to verbosity on the part of the
teacher. Nor should it lead to prolonged discussions
where children should be taught by practice and deed,
by example and exercise, and also where a demand
should be presented simply, briefly, and categorically
and its fulfillment checked.
6. Indirect methods of influence on pupils. In the
foregoing paragraph we have examined the use of the
method of admonition in the cultivation of discipline.
Parallel with this method, as explained earlier, Soviet
pedagogy permits also the use of the method of compul-
sion. But before passing to an examination of the latter,
let us examine a group of methods based on the fact that
any situation, deliberately created by the teacher, can
influence positively the conduct of pupils. Here the liv-
ing fact itself, the situation, incites good behavior.
Among such methods of indirect influence are the
following: redirecting the pupil's activity from destruc-
tive to constructive work by introducing new interests
and opening up new perspectives; distracting from
undesirable influences by bringing him unobtrusively,
into contact with other comrades or adults; hinting of
the guilt of a certain child without mentioning him by
name; relating a story of analogous misconduct com-
mitted by another person; or showing disapproval
through a measure of aloofness, but never really aban-
doning concern for the child* All of these methods are
111
designed for indirect action. Their purpose is to give to
children experiences which will force them voluntarily
to "re-examine" their conduct and prompt them to
change in the direction desired by the teacher.
7. Use of encouragements. Encouragements are based
on trust in the child and on recognition of the strength
of positive traits and qualities which he possesses. They
act favorably on a child because they arouse in him a
pleasant feeling. He behaves in a certain way in order
to gain approval, which in turn gives him pleasure.
Encouragements are valuable because they stimulate
positive traits, facilitate their further development, and
liberate the individual from negative traits and tenden-
cies.
The following forms of encouragement are employed
in the actual practice of the school:
1) Expression of trust in the child, for example, ty impos-
ing on him some simple yet responsible task. He is thus moti-
vated By the noble feeling of pride in himself and by a sense
of human dignity.
2) Encouragement of tie child when he strives to fulfill
some task. Perhaps the work is not done perfectly, but en-
couragement IB this instance increases his application and
eventually leads trim to achieve the desired results.
3) Approval of the child in the presence of his parents for
improved work or improved conduct The act is associated
with a feeling of great joy in children.
4) Approval of the pupil before the children's collective
for achievements in study, for good work, and for improved
conduct. This gives him great moral satisfaction.
5) Praise of the pupil for giving a correct answer, or for
work conscientiously performed
112
6) Praise connected with the issuing of awards, suci as
books, tools, and games.
A high form of encouragement, established by our
government, is the granting to pupils of Certificates of
Merit. Students graduating from the secondary school,
who have earned excellent marks in the basic subjects
and conduct, receive a diploma which entitles them to
enter higher institutions of learning -without entrance
examinations. In addition they are awarded gold or
silver medals.
Also encouragements in their simplest forms may be
extended to a pupil who has not yet attained excellence,
but has exhibited substantial and genuine efforts toward
the improvement of his work.
In some cases encouragement may be employed as a
means of correcting an undisciplined pupil, if there is
reason to expect that the recognition of occasional
gleams of goodness in his work and conduct will stimu-
late him to make an effort to improve. Encouragement
in such a case raises the pupil in the estimation of both
himself and his collective, instills in him confidence in
his ability, and may mark a turning point in his conduct,
causing him to be more critical of himself.
Encouragement may be applied not only to individual
pupils, but also to an entire collective, to a class or a
circle. It may take the form of approval on the part of
the director or the teachers' council by making the
names of the pupils known at general meetings or by
bestowing material awards in the form of theatre tickets,
railroad tickets, or materials for out-of -school work.
113
Encouragements have great educative influence: first,
if they are given only on the basis of merit; second, if
they do not humiliate others; third, if they arouse in the
pupil a feeling of personal dignity and a desire to raise
the honor of his collective; and. fourth, if they are not
extended too frequently to the same person.
There gre those among teachers as well as parents
who are extremely - cautious in the use of encourage-
ments. Some almost never praise or encourage, thereby^
creating an aloofness between teacher and child. On the*
other hand, there are those who scatter encouragements
unduly, frequently promising children rewards for ac-
complishments which merely mark the fulfillment of the
usual responsibilities of the pupil.
The correct course to follow in the dispensing of en-
couragements consists in recognizing that they are
neither a preliminary condition nor an object of bar-
gaining with the child, but rather a natural consequence
of exemplary successes in schoolwork and conduct.
8. Use of punishments. It is well if the teacher is
able to achieve good discipline without punishments.
But it is bad if children commit inadmissible acts and
suffer no unpleasant consequences. If a child remains
unpunished for an offense once, twice, or three times, he
will cease to obey altogether and will become incor-
rigible.
Measures of punishment are employed in our school
in the interests of the individual pupil as well as in the
interests of the class as a w r hole. Consequently punish-
ment with us is not an act of retribution for an offense,
but a means of educating the child.
Punishment is effective because it is unpleasant. A
114
child wishes to escape unpleasant experiences. Con-
fronted with the risk of punishment,, therefore, he re-
frains from misbehavior.
Corporal punishments are not permitted in the Soviet
school. They are incompatible with a socialist order
where man is liberated from the psychology of the slave.
Physical punishments never correct a child; far less do
they educate him. On the contrary, they multiply his
vices: fear of punishment angers him and causes him to
begin to lie.
Inadmissible also are forms of disgrace, such, for
example, as placing tardy pupils at a "table of dis-
honor," or at a separate desk over which is hung an
artistically executed caricature with some derisive in-
scription. Measures of this character, including also the
posting of "black lists" and the entering of children's
names on a "black board" or a "board of infamy," are
a mockery of the child's personality. They have a detri-
mental effect on his mind and evoke actions directly
contrary to those which the teachers desire to achieve.
Among the punishments practiced in our school, the
following may be listed:
Reproof. This is the mildest form of penalty. The teacher
reproves the pupil either in private or in front of the entire
class. Reproofs may be entered in the diary of the pupiL In
making each entry the cause thereof must be clearly stated.
Warning. Reproof may fail to bring results or may be effec-
tive for only a very brief period. For example, the teacher
reproves a pupil for not doing his homework on time. The
following day the pupil does his homework, but later he lapses
into his old habits. The teacher then must warn the pupil that
continued failure to do his assignments will lead to further
115
punishment. And in the event he does not improve the punish-
ment must be administered without fail.
Dismissal from the classroom. In spite of warning, the pupil
may continue to hehave in an unseemly fashion during the
period and disrupt the work of the class. The teacher may then
ask the pupil to leave the room. Such a punishment as request-
ing the offending student to stand up is also admissible.
Detention after school. Pupils who have failed to do their
work in the classroom or at home may be detained after regu-
lar hours to complete the assignment.
Reprimand. If the reproofs and warnings of the teacher fail
to bring the necessary results and the pupil continues to vio-
late the rules established by the school, the teacher or the
principal may reprimand the pupil. This action may be taken
in the presence of the entire class or in private. The degree of
guilt and the circumstances attending the violation of disci-
pline should be taken into account.
Lowering of the mark in conduct. This is a severe penalty.
It serves notice on the pupil that his conduct sharply violates
the rules of the school and that such violation occurs system-
atically and deliberately. The lowering of the mark in con-
duct is made at the end of the quarter after consultation with
the principal of the school.
The Soviet school attributes very great significance to
evaluation of pupil conduct as a means for prompting
children to a high state of discipline. This is revealed in
the set of instructions prepared by the Ministry of
Public Education of the RSFSR concerning the use of
the five-point system for appraising the knowledge and
conduct of children:
1L Evaluating the Conduct of Pupils:
8. Mark "5" stands for irreproachable conduct by the pupil
inside and outside the school.
116
9. Mark "4" stands for noticeable violations in conduct.
This mark is tolerated during one quarter only. In the event
the pupil fails to improve, the teachers* council discusses the
question of a further lowering of the mark.
10. Mark "3" stands for serious violations in conduct and
serves as a warning of possible expulsion from school.
In the event of failure to improve during the probation
period, the teachers' council discusses the question of expelling
the pupil from school. If the decision in favor of expulsion is
made, the mark is lowered to "2" and the pupil is expelled
from school. This action must be confirmed by the regional or
city branch of the ministry of public education.
11. Only if the conduct of the pupil is excellent (mark
"5"), may a certificate and testimonial of character be issued
with the following note: "conduct excellent" (5).
12. Teachers and class leaders must ensure the regular in-
spection of the daily and quarterly reports of the achievements
and conduct of pupils by parents or other responsible persons.
Each lowering of the mark in conduct of a pupil is
reported to his parents.
Warning of expulsion from school. Warning of expul-
sion from school is a very high degree of punishment
Naturally it should be employed with greatest caution
and after most careful consideration. It is a step which
should be taken by the principal of the school only after
all other measures have been tried and have failed to
give satisfactory results.
In cases of extremely malicious violation of disci-
pline expulsion from school is permitted. This measure
is undertaken, not so much for the purpose of correcting
those expelled, but rather for the purpose of creating
normal conditions of work for the majority of pupils.
Lack of discipline on the part of children is some-
117
times corrected by such measures as change of seats in
the same class, transfer from one collective to another,
from one parallel class to another, or from one school to
another.
In many schools such a measure as summoning the
parents is not used correctly: a pupil is threatened with
this action, a complaint is made to the parents, and the
latter sometimes administer corporal punishment to the
culprit. The teacher should visit the parents or invite
them to the school for the purpose of conferring with
them ahout the common task of the education of the
child and about improving the conditions of his work
and rest. It is well to send for the parents in order to
show them some of the pupil's achievements over a
period of time. The child will be pleased with this. He
will be encouraged to better conduct.
On the basis of accumulated practice it is possible to
indicate the conditions under ivhich punishments actu-
ally lead to the correction of violations of discipline and
the fostering of education in the spirit of strict discipline
for all pupils.
A punishment is effective when it is just and is so
recognized by the children.
Even the simplest of punishments in the form of re-
proofs have great power when applied with earnestness
and strength of will. Fortunate is the teacher who is able
to influence the pupil by silent reproof, by reproof of a
glance or a hint. Thanks to such ability discipline is
quickly restored without waste of words or time.
Reproofs are effective when they are brief, clear, and
infrequent.
A punishment is effective when in the consciousness
118
of the pupil it is made to fit the offense. Pedagogical
experience shows definitely that punishments which are
the natural consequences of a delinquency are always
regarded by the pupils as just and cause them there-
after to refrain from such conduct. Here are a few ex-
amples illustrative of this principle:
A pupil litters the building he is made to clean the room;
A pupil fails to do his homework he is detained after
school hours to do his work;
A pupil violates the rules of a game he is excluded from it;
A pupil is disorderly during the showing of a film or dur-
ing a walk he is deprived of this pleasure next time;
A pupil destroys some article belonging to the school or to
a comrade he is made to repair or pay for the article ;
A pupil elbows his way forward in a line he is placed last;
A pupil offends some of his comrades or is rude to certain
adults he is made to apologize.
A punishment will be effective if in its selection the
teacher takes into account the following considerations:
what has been the conduct of the pupil heretofore, did
he commit the fault accidentally or deliberately, is it a
first offense or a repetition, what are the consequences of
his action, whom has he offended, is he repentant, does
he experience a feeling of grief and shame, has he con-
fessed or tried to conceal his offense?
Under no circumstances should measures of punish-
ment be regarded as the principal means for the cultiva-
tion of discipline. The chief thing is educative work
conducted according to a positive plan: the cultivation of
convictions and outlooks, the explanation of the signifi-
cance and meaning of the "Rules," the practical training
119
of pupils in observing the "Rules," and the example of
elders.
At no time should the fact be forgotten that a model
state of discipline among pupils can be achieved only as
a result of the proper conduct of the entire educative
process in the school and of the influence of the school
on the family in the spirit of the basic requirements of
Soviet pedagogy.
9. Understanding of the child and tact of the teacher
as important conditions in the cultivation of discipline*
In order to guide correctly the process of education, one
must know well those whom one guides. The develop-
ment in children of a conscious discipline requires on
the part of the teacher an understanding of children, an
understanding of each and every individual child. He
must study his pupils, their out-of-school life, their en-
vironment. Knowledge thus acquired will instruct him
how to act in specific instances. In a great many cases,
when treating an undisciplined child, the teacher will
have to deal not so much with him as with his parents
and his relatives, and sometimes with social organiza-
tions.
The teacher who knows children well will more eas-
ily establish the causes for disciplinary violations and
consequently will discover more correctly the means of
overcoming a state of indiscipline.
Let us examine a number of examples which demon-
strate that the choice of educative means depends on the
concrete causes which lead to violations of discipline.
1. A pupil fails to observe an established regulation.
On checking, it is revealed that he did not understand.
120
The regulation is explained briefly and the child begins
to conform.
2. Certain pupils violate the rules of courtesy on
entering the teachers* room. They simply did not know
that permission was required. After receiving from the
teacher concrete directions and after some practice, the
children acquire a definite habit of cultured behavior.
3. A group of fourth grade pupils, having much time
after school hours, wander through the streets of the
city. An urge for activity leads them to take rides on the
buffer of a trolley, to jump onto running automobiles,
and even to gather on a stairway landing to play cards
for money. But these same children are drawn into a
dramatic club which is engaged in staging a simple his-
torical play. Parts have to be memorized, rehearsals
held, costumes made, stage built, and so on. They cease
aimless wandering through the streets and all mischiev-
ous conduct.
Thus, even in difficult cases an undisciplined state in
children may be corrected. If the source of this state is
the influence of some bad example, then the example
must be eliminated and the pupils' energy redirected to
new interests.
If the child is disobedient because of indulgence, it is
necessary to enter into consultation with the family for
the purpose of correcting this undesirable manifestation.
If the child is subjected to the despotism of adults at
home, if he is neglected and unsupervised, or if his
parents are indifferent to his education, the teachers
must pursue a firm and decisive course with the family
and strive with patience and persistence to transform the
conditions in the home.
121
Thus measures are chosen in the light of the causes
of an undisciplined state in children.
In searching for such causes the teacher must, first of
all, make certain that they reside neither in him nor in
the school.
Beginning teachers not infrequently have difficulties
with class discipline and sometimes make gross mis-
takes. The faint-hearted at once become disillusioned
regarding themselves and their pedagogical abilities.
But the teacher can remedy the situation, first of all,
through his own activity. He must calmly analyze the
causes of his failure and discover by critical self-
appraisal the role of his personal shortcomings and
defects in preventing the establishment of normal disci-
pline. By utilizing the advice of experienced masters of
teaching and by exhibiting Bolshevik perseverance, the
teacher will overcome his faults and eventually attain a
high state of pupil discipline and organization.
In dealing with children it is extremely important for
the teacher to find the correct tone and to master peda-
gogical tact as soon as possible. The essence of pedagog-
ical tact consists in the ability to sense the inner life of
each child, to discover the difficulties blocking the
proper organization of his conduct, and to find the
stimuli or motives which will direct him along the right
course in the best way. In his relations with pupils the
teacher must assume from the outset a firm and impres-
sive tone. To be sure, it must not alienate; on the con-
trary, it should bring them closer to him. Strong will in
a teacher, combined with attentiveness and interest in
their affairs, attracts the young.
The essence of correct pedagogical tact is well ex-
122
pressed by Ushinsky. The work of the teacher, he says,
"should be governed by an earnestness which permits
an occasional joke, yet does not turn everything into a
joke, tenderness without excessive sweetness, fairness
without capriciousness, kindness without weakness,
order without pedantry, and above all, constant and
reasonable action." 8
8 K. D. Ushinsky, A Guide in Teaching the Native Word, Part I,
20th ed., St. Petersburg, 1897, p, 20,
123
CHAPTER VII
FOR COURAGE AND STRENGTH
1. Major volitional qualities of character and their
cultivation. The development of cliaracter is an integral
part of communist education. It is a prolonged process
and, to be sure, is not completed in school. In the process
of practical life activity the character of the individual
is hardened; in the process of struggle his volitional
qualities are strengthened. Nevertheless the primary
school plays a tremendous role in the training of will
and character. For the child instruction in school is a
serious labor activity. Here he becomes a member of an
organized collective and is expected through study to
achieve a sober concentration of mental and physical
powers; here he must overcome many difficulties and
submit to an established regimen. All of this definitely
affects the child and shapes the volitional qualities of his
character.
In studying the problems of discipline we have al-
ready approached closely the question of the training of
the will. The chief volitional qualities of man are pur-
posefulness, resolution, persistence, initiative, courage,
and endurance. Let us examine the various problems
involved in the cultivation of each of these traits in the
pupils of the primary school*
124
Purposefulness. Wlien an individual sets before him-
self definite and clear aims, lie becomes confident and
productive in Bis actions and is spurred to ever new
achievements. The work of instruction in school, if
properly organized, is composed of a succession of pur-
poseful actions on the part of the pupils. The school
years, therefore, present an unusually fertile soil for
the cultivation of purposefulness in children. It is im-
portant that in their studies, social -work, and games
children always set themselves and strive to realize a
series of definite concrete aims. And the teacher must
consciously lead the children from one goal to another.
In the case of third and fourth grade pupils the perspec-
tives of the work should be partially opened, placing
before them not only the immediate, but also, to the
limit of their powers, the more distant aims.
Let our school children learn to assume responsibility
for tasks and fulfill them on time, with precision, and
with excellence.
An individual possessing volitional qualities of char-
acter is consistent; with him words do not contradict
deeds and acts harmonize with convictions. Children
form their convictions in school and become habituated
to conscious and definite consistency in their actions.
These traits of character are developed gradually and
in the face of serious difficulties. Primary school pupils
still act largely under the influence of emotions. They
readily promise to study and behave better, but then
quickly forget the promise. The task of the teacher is to
show through the example of distinguished people, such
as revolutionary leaders and scientists* how consistency
125
and loyalty to principles enabled them to perform re-
markable deeds.
Resolution. One must move toward the achievement
of a goal with confidence and without wavering: one
must act with resolution. Let us suppose that the teacher
gives the children assignments which, while suited to
their powers, require the overcoming of certain obsta-
cles. And he hears: "I don't know how to do it," "I
can V "I am afraid." We must create in 5oviet children
a state of mind which causes them to consider indecision
in necessary actions as unworthy of their honor. Without
this, conscious aims may remain only in the imagination
of the pupil and not be transformed into reality.
Persistence. Resolution is of value only if combined
with persistence, with the ability to attain the projected
aims at any cost and to overcome all difficulties and
obstacles. It is imperative that this power also be culti-
vated from the earliest years. Here is a pre-school child
building a house with blocks. Something goes wrong.
And he abandons the work. He undertakes something
else* Another child, on the other hand, concentrates for
a long time on whatever he begins and finishes it, expe-
riencing therein great satisfaction. What attitude the
teacher should take toward each of these children is
dear.
Exceptionally great attention should be devoted in
school to training in persistence, in tenacity. Without
this quality of character the pupil will not master knowl-
edge, will not develop powers and habits, and will have
no success in independent work.
Many children are inclined to wander very frequently
from the task at hand, to shift from one to another with-
126
out finishing anything, or to abandon a job altogether
for the sake of amusement* One should know well this
side of every individual child, establish the causes and
sources of his poor work, and stubbornly cultivate in
him a genuine and manly tenacity capable of overcom-
ing all obstacles. In some cases one must exert influence
on the family. It is important that children acquire not
only the ability to strive for immediate and quickly
achieved goals, but also the ability to struggle patiently
and stubbornly over a long period of time toward some
distant goal and to overcome difficulties in performing
uninteresting but necessary tasks. Frequently the child
experiences a conflict of motives: he would like to accept
the invitation of a friend to go to some place of amuse-
ment, but consciousness of the necessity of finishing
work he has begun forces him to decline the anticipated
pleasure. With the aid of examples, encouragements,
and other means, the teacher must cultivate in children
the ability to subordinate their conduct to higher mo-
tives. This constitutes the most important phase of the
entire work of training the child's will.
Along with persistence it is necessary to develop in
children the positive quality of restraint Many of the
rules of discipline demand of the children precisely this
trait the ability to listen attentively, to keep quiet, not
to interrupt an adult, not to slide down banisters, and
so on. In a word, restraint is the ability to subordinate
one's actions to considerations of reason. Self-control
and firmness are based on and in their turn nourish
restraint. And again the best means of cultivating these
qualities in children is actual practice. Mastery of re-
straint also require^ persistence.
127
Initiative. The tasks of communist education require
that our pupils leave school as people of initiative-
Citizens of our Soviet Union are expected not only to
execute consciously and perseveringly the will of their
leaders, but also to show personal resourcefulness of
their own and to contribute a spark of personal creative-
ness directed toward the welfare of the Motherland.
Only people of initiative are able to extricate themselves
successfully from a difficult situation under any condi-
tions or solve creatively some new problem presented
by life.
Initiative must be developed along with the creative
tendencies of children from the earliest years. Collective
games and participation in socially useful work, in ar-
tistic entertainments, and in the diverse activities of the
Pioneers all offer fertile soil for the development of in-
itiative. The teacher must be sensitive to the interesting
and valuable suggestions which come from the children
themselves in organizing school holidays, in celebrating
anniversaries, in conducting assemblies, excursions, and
other undertakings. It is important, however, that initi-
ative not be exhibited impulsively, but that it be directed
into organized channels. Thus will the development of
this valuable trait go hand in hand with the cultivation
of organizational habits in pupils. Out of children of
initiative good organizers must come.
Courage. There are times when simple resolution is
not enough to carry out a necessary action. In such cases
bravery is needed the ability to face danger, to over-
come fear and terror. This quality may be exhibited un-
der the influence of strong emotion or passion, but it
may also be associated with sober judgment, with aware-
128
ness of one's duty and responsibility, with firmness and
self-control. Such bravery is called courage and must
become a constant trait of character in our pupils. The
annals of the Great Patriotic War offer many examples
of bravery and courage. Shura Chekalin and Zoia Kos-
modemianskaia, tortured by German monsters, were
both brave and courageous. They behaved valiantly and
fulfilled their duty to the end. Their dying words were
freighted with the high courage and noble dignity of So-
viet patriots.
Courage and bravery may be needed in any task or in
any profession. Does not a doctor who performs a seri-
ous and delicate operation on the brain of a living man,
does he not exhibit courage, resolution, and restraint?
Does not a scientist who in the conduct of his researches
risks death from poison or injury possess these quali-
ties?
Any man at any time may be called upon, not only in
his special field, but also in related spheres and in daily
life in general to give proof of his courage and bravery.
Our country envelops brave, heroic, and courageous
people with regard: our government, our Central Com-
mittee of the Party, our leaders, and above all ciur Com-
rade Stalin encourage them and bestow high awards
upon them; the whole country and the entire world learn
about them; our press gives stirring accounts of their
deeds. Our children, fired with the desire to be equally
brave and courageous, are not confined to mere dreams
or wishes. In actual life they prove to be models of brav-
ery and courage. The exploits of school children during
the Great Patriotic War are widely known. A group of
Krasnodon children, led by Oleg Kosheyoy, carried on
129
heroic warfare against the fascist robbers under the
most grievous conditions of the underground. Exhibiting
fearlessness and veritable heroism they inflicted ven-
geance on the enemy in every possible way. Many other
similar examples could be listed. Soviet children ad-
mire the brave and the courageous. And they themselves
want to be brave and courageous.
The task of teachers, leaders, and parents is to main-
tain and develop in pupils the craving to possess these
qualities. Stories about the exploits, the heroic conduct,
and the brave deeds of adults and children are a
mighty means for the cultivation of courage and bravery
in our younger generation.
Endurance. This quality is one of the essential marks
of courage. To bear pain patiently, to maintain self-con-
trol on hearing unpleasant news, and to endure unavoid-
able privations without complaint all of this means to
children a manifestation of courage.
In cultivating courage, bravery, and endurance, as
well as other traits, practice is essential. There are many
situations in which a pupil is called upon to manifest
these qualities: to confess to a bad deed, to refuse to
support comrades in some undesirable though attractive
enterprise, to undertake a difficult assignment with con-
fidence, to overcome fear of the dark and unfamiliar
places, to defend himself skillfully in case of attack, to
protect a weak comrade from a ruffian, and to expose
bravely in meetings of the collective those who engage
in and foster hooliganism.
While nurturing bravery and courage in children,
one should be on guard against undesirable manifesta-
tions of these qualities. A pupil may consider it brave
130
to say something rude to the teacher. It is necessary to
explain before the entire collective that there is a great
difference between bravery and insolence or reckless
audacity.
The development of courage in children is related to
the overcoming of the feeling of fear and the cultivation
of a negative attitude toward cowardice. By presenting
appropriate examples to pupils an aversion to cowardice
must be aroused. Cowardice is disgraceful. To the ques-
tion of a twelve-year-old Pioneer girl, "What should
one do to be brave?" an experienced and estimable
partisan replied: "The bravest man may experience
fear, and it is no disgrace. What is disgraceful is for a
man to allow fear to take possession of him, to dictate
his acts, and to govern his behavior." Our advice to
children should be: "Fear comes to you, but you keep
busy." Activity diverts attention from the feeling of
fear.
The more conscious and mature the pupil, the more
successfully will he vanquish fear with a sense of duty.
And when patriotism and courage become enduring
traits of the youthful citizen whom we educate, he will
reason just as the old partisan reasoned with a Pioneer
girl: "When you say to yourself: *I am ready to give my
life for my Motherland,* then will the question of brav-
ery be resolved. However, at that point, I do not think
you will be considering whether you are a brave person
or not."
2. Acquaintance with the personalities of people of
mil. A mighty means in the training of the will is ex
ample. How often have we heard children say: "I want
to be like Stalin," "I want to be like Chkalov," "I want
131
to be like a hero in the Patriotic War/* Nothing could
be more comforting to the Soviet teacher than the knowl-
edge that such wishes, expressed with all sincerity and
with a readiness to acquire the qualities possessed by
the great and best people of our country, stir his pupils.
But to arouse wishes in children is by no means the
final task. The actual cultivation in the young of those
qualities which are indispensable to the performance of
the deeds of our best people is the final task.
Pupils must understand that such qualities are not
easily acquired, that one must possess firmness, per-
sistence, tenacity, and knowledge, that one must improve
oneself, that one must struggle to become such a person*
And one should not merely say: "I wish I were such a
person." One must practice such a life; one must strive
energetically to realize the expressed wish and assume
responsibility for one's words. Teachers should be on
their guard lest children develop only an ambition or a
desire for inordinate fame. They must make sure that
the struggle for the acquisition of the qualities of a gen-
uinely heroic personality on the part of a pupil is not
motivated by an egotistical desire to have people talk
about him, write about him, and print his picture in the
newspapers.
Not to this end, but for the sake of realizing lofty
ideals of mankind do genuine heroes of labor and strug-
gle perform great deeds, exhibit readiness for sacrifice,
or make scientific discoveries.
From this point of view the life and work of the
founders of communism may serve as our models.
Engels characterizes Marx as the greatest revolution-
ary and scientist. "Just as Darwin discovered the law of
132
development of the organic world, so Marx discovered
the law of development of human history . . .
"But this is not all. Marx also discovered a special
law of movement of the contemporary capitalistic mode
of production and of the bourgeois society to which it
gave birth.
6 *Two such discoveries should be sufficient for one
life. Happy would be the person who succeeded in
making one such discovery. But Marx made independ-
ent discoveries in every field which he explored even
in the field of mathematics. And of such fields there
were not a few, and not one of them did he treat super-
ficially.
"Such was this man of science. But this was not the
most important thing about him. For Marx science was
a historically moving revolutionary force . . .
"Marx was first and foremost a revolutionary." *
Wilhelm Liebknecht gives the following picture of
Marx and his personal qualities:
"With the many-sidedness, I should even say, with
the manifoldness of this universal mind, that is, a
mind which embraces the entire universe, penetrates
into all essential details, disdains nothing and consid-
ers nothing as unimportant or even insignificant, the
teaching which Marx provided also had to be many-
sided . . .
"Marx was the most magnanimous and just of people
when it was a question of judging the merits of others.
He was too great to be envious or jealous ... to be
vain. The false greatness or artificial glory which the
talentless and vulgar parade, he detested mortally as he
1 Man, Selected Works, in Two Volumes, Vol. I, 1940, p. 11.
133
detested every falsehood and lie. ... He was the per-
sonification of truthfulness.
"Marx worked with an assiduity which often as-
tounded me. He knew no fatigue. He had to overstrain
himself and even when this did occur, he showed no
signs of weariness." 2
Such was one of the greatest people in the history of
human society.
Comrade Stalin pictures Lenin as a man of genius, of
high principle, convinced of the righteousness of the
cause which he served, despising all enemies of the revo-
lution, but being at the same time an extremely modest
man.
Most remarkable was Lenin's capacity for work and
his strength of will, regardless of the conditions under
which he was forced to live and labor.
N. K, Krupskaia writes of Vladimir Ilich that "in his
second exile Ilich remained the same as he always had
been. He worked just as much and in the same organized
fashion, penetrated deeply into every detail, and tied
everything into one knot. As before, he knew how to
face truth squarely, no matter how bitter it might be.
As before, he despised every form of oppression and
exploitation, was just as devoted to the cause of the pro-
letariat, the cause of the workers, was just as concerned
about their interests and subordinated his entire life to
their welfare* He fought just as ardently and vigorously
against opportunism and every kind of self-seeking. As
before, he broke with his closest friends, if they ham-
pered the movement; and he could approach in simple
and comradely fashion the adversary of yesterday, if it
pp. 1134.
134
was necessary for the cause. As before, Be was always
candid and forthright in his speech* And as before, he
loved nature, the soft downy forest in the spring, the
mountain paths and lakes, the hum of a large city, la-
bor, crowds, comrades, movement, struggle he loved
life in all of its many aspects."
A genuine communist education demands that chil-
dren become familiar with the life, activity, and strug-
gle of the great and noble people who personify the
triumph of the human mind, of human will and courage,
who provide models of supreme fidelity to the interests
of the workers and contribute practical achievements in
various fields of socialist construction.
Personal contact of student youth with eminent people
is of tremendous significance. In our country this is pos-
sible for the wide masses of the pupils. Meetings, con-
versations, and walks with old Bolsheviks, with active
and direct participants in the revolutionary struggle,
with heroes of the Patriotic War, with our distinguished
people, exhibiting unheard-of models of high enthusi-
asm in the work of various branches of socialist con-
struction all of this constitutes one of the most efficient
means of communist education.
3. Overcoming of deficiencies of will in children.
Positive and planf ully conducted work in the training of
the will in children is the surest and most trustworthy
condition for preventing deficiencies of character. But
the teacher must undertake special educative work if
certain of his pupils reveal shortcomings which are ene-
mies of the will. Let us examine some of the more com-
mon of these defects.
High suggestibility is manifested in the readiness of
135
the child to do at once whatever anyone proposes with-
out regard for its necessity or wisdom. Although this is
natural in very young children, we must insist that pu-
pils in school refuse to accept undesirable proposals of
comrades because of their high suggestibility or lack of
the necessary resistance. We must explain to them that
this lowers their dignity. In assigning duties we should
place them in positions of organizers so that they may
be in command. It is important to give particular atten-
tion to the development of independence and responsi-
bility in these children.
Stubbornness is revealed in an irrational desire to
have one's own way. According to Prof. N. D. Levitov,
stubbornness is characterized by the following psycho-
logical traits: 1) insistence on having one's own way at
any cost; 2) narrowness of mentality marked by inabil-
ity to sense new considerations; and 3) great severity
toward others accompanied by great leniency toward
oneself.
In struggling with stubbornness in children one must
know its causes. Thus, for example, it may be the re-
sult of indulgence of the child. Spoiled children who are
never refused anything are egoistic; they stand aloof
from the collective and are not habituated to work. And
this gives birth to stubbornness and willfulness. To over-
come such a condition in a child, it is necessary to cor-
rect the line of education in his family.
Stubbornness is sometimes the result of an injury or
grievous injustice done to the child by adults. Not infre-
quently it is a response to the practice of physical pun-
ishment in the family.
Children may show stubbornness if the teacher is lax
136
in his demands, permits violation of agreements, and in-
dulges in overpraise. The removal of these causes will
help overcome and prevent stubbornness.
Caprice has basically the same traits as stubbornness,
but in addition is marked by irritability, nervousness,
dissatisfaction, and egoistic demands. In very young
children sniveling is present sometimes also. In their
fundamental causes caprice and stubbornness likewise
have much in common. Consequently the methods of
struggling with them are essentially the same.
When confronted with actual cases of stubbornness or
caprice the teacher should act as follows. While pursu-
ing a firm course with the pupil involved, the teacher
should outwardly pay no attention to him, make no
"fuss" over him or "pity" him, resort as little as pos-
sible to persuasion and admonition, and engage in no
wrangling. At the same time, to be sure, the teacher
should be sensitive toward the child and employ an in-
dividual approach. It is possible also that in some in-
stances sickliness may be the cause of capriciousness in
a pupil. Such a case calls for consultation with a physi-
cian.
To avert and remove capriciousness and stubborn-
ness their indulgence should be discouraged in the fam-
ily, as well as in school. It was well said by Locke: "If
things suitable to their [children's] Wants were supplied
to them, so that they were never suffered to have what
they once cried for, they would learn to be content with-
out it, would never with Bawling and Peevishness con-
tend for Mastery, nor be half so uneasy to themselves
and others, as they are, because from the first beginning
they are not thus handled. If they were never suffered to
137
obtain their desire by the Impatience they expressed for
it, they would no more cry for other Things, than they
do for the Moon." 3
Stubbornness and capriciousness are overcome by the
development in children of a collectivist sense. This can
be achieved by having them experience and feel every-
thing collectively in a well-organized class and in a Pio-
neer detachment, by having them live together in
comradeship, help one another, and be considerate of
the comforts and wishes of one another. The fulfillment
of the tasks of a collective and the accompanying sense
of responsibility constitute the best school for the strug-
gle against egoistic tendencies.
Laziness is a manifestation of weakness of will. Or-
ganically children are active; for them to be lazy is
unnatural. Yet the truth of the matter is that, though
they are active by nature, they are not industrious. The
habit of work must be developed in them by means of
correct education. Laziness is overcome if the pupil is
habituated to a definite regimen involving the devotion
of a fixed time to work. A child will not be lazy if he
has before him a clear working aim and is put in a
mood to achieve that aim.
There is no place for laziness in an environment
where everyone is energetically at work, where everyone
has his responsibilities, and where evasion of work and
fear of difficulties are condemned by the authoritative
opinion of adults and the entire collective.
To cure the indolence of individual children thus af-
flicted, the teacher must again go to the root of the trou-
3 John Locke, Some Thoughts Concenang Education, London, 1693,
p. 38.
138
ble. Thus, if the cause lies in a craving for amusements,
his time must at once be directed into proper channels.
In order to conquer laziness a schedule of hours of study
and play must be drawn up and followed. Sometimes
the cause is found in the backwardness of the child and
the consequent difficulty in doing his work. In such a
case, laziness may be overcome by working individually
with the pupil and assigning him simpler tasks. Some-
times the source is bodily sluggishness. Here we must
look to physical education for assistance.
A child may be lazy because he is assisted unduly
and is thus relieved of mental effort and the mastery of
difficulties through his own strength. Here the entire line
toward the child must be corrected: he must be freed
from excessive and injurious tutelage.
In case laziness bears a malicious character and the
pupil shirks his work in spite of everything, it is neces-
sary to resort to very firm and strict measures of com-
pulsion.
At first he must be forced to do his work. Later he
will work through habit. Then it should not be difficult
to find other stimuli to prompt him toward painstaking
and diligent work, to help him to become aware of the
significance and purpose of work, to breed in him an
interest in work. By such means is the child launched on
the road of normal work activity.
Thus the training of volitional traits of character in
children has an exceptional significance for the forma-
tion of personality.
In the achievement of the tasks which the school faces
in this field, the teacher must utilize all possible means.
Above all, he must organize the daily program of in-
139
structional and out-of-class activities of the pupils, both
work and play, so that it will promote the development
and strengthening of the will of each child.
If children also constantly see an example of a per-
son of will in the face of their teacher, and if such a
teacher, by means of an unwavering and rationally con-
ducted system of control, strives for the fulfillment of
demands and tasks, one can be certain that the moral
qualities and habits cultivated in children will be stable.
140
CHAPTER VIII
FOR ALL MANKIND
THE overruling purpose of the school, according to
Lenin, must be the cultivation of communist morality in
the pupils. The entire business of the education of con-
temporary youth must be the development in them of
communist morality.
Lenin showed that eternal and unchanging ethical
standards do not exist. Ethical standards are determined
by the development of society and by social relations.
Also for every concrete social form there are corre-
sponding ethical standards. The conduct of the indi-
vidual is determined by social relations and by social
position. The ruling ethics in society is the ethics of the
ruling class. Wealthy classes, as Lenin says, regard their
morality as the morality of all mankind and founded on
"the commandments of god." "We reject any such mo-
rality which is derived from extra-human or extra-class
conceptions. We say that it is a fraud, that it is a de-
ception designed to dull the minds of workers and peas-
ants in the interests of landlords and capitalists." 1
In place of such ethics, created in the interests of
exploiters, the working class creates a new ethics, which
develops out of the interests of the struggle for a new
1 Lenin, Works, VoL XXX, p. 410.
141
society in which there will be no exploitation of man by
man. The new ethics, the ethics of the forward-looking
class, serves the cause of the reconstruction of society.
Communist ethics unites the workers for the struggle
for the welfare of all mankind, for deliverance from
oppression and violence. Communist ethics therefore is
the most advanced, the most human, and the most noble;
and it is devoted to the purpose of creating a communist
society. "To this end," says Lenin, "we need a genera-
tion of youth transformed into responsible people by
the conditions attending a disciplined and desperate
struggle with the bourgeoisie. In this struggle genuine
communists will be developed; to this struggle must be
subjected and with this struggle must be linked every
step in the education of youth." 2
People who build a communist society must be de-
voted to the cause and be ready to defend it with all
their strength and resources. They must be brave, cour-
ageous, honest, steadfast, and disciplined. They must
hate their enemies, fear no difficulties, and overcome
all obstacles. Such is the moral force of the new man,
of the man of the new society. In the struggle and in
the conquest of hardships the traits of firm Bolshevik
character are cultivated.
Along with the revelation of the essence of communist
morality Lenin outlines the basis and the means of edu-
cation in this morality.
Lenin taught youth to dedicate all of their strength
and knowledge to the general good and to participate in
life and in the building of a new society in such a way
"that every day in every village and in every town youth
p. 413.
142
will perform some task of socially useful labor, let it be
ever so small or ever so simple." 3
In revealing the essence of communist morality, Lenin
gave particular attention to the question of conscious
discipline. Education in conscious discipline is an inte-
gral and essential part of education in communist mo-
rality. Through the study of morality in its historical
development and in its dependence on social relations,
Lenin shows that discipline varies in different periods
of the development of society. Also there is a definite
discipline which corresponds to every social order. The
discipline of the whip harmonizes with the feudal order
and the feudal discipline of labor. The capitalistic or-
ganization of production rests on the discipline of hun-
ger. In either case submission is placid and absolute. In
bourgeois society the discipline of hunger is often
cloaked by "democratic" discourses on the freedom of
labor. But if the workers are deprived of all means of
production, such "democracy" merely marks the disci-
pline of hunger. An entirely different situation is cre-
ated when the workers are the owners of the land and all
means of production. "The farther communist organi-
zation of productive labor proceeds, toward which so-
cialism is the first step," say Lenin, "the more will it
rest on the free and conscious discipline of the workers
themselves who overthrow the landlords as well as the
capitalists." *
The new conscious discipline is not a consequence of
good intentions. Nor does it appear ready-made. Such
discipline is forged only through the long and stubborn
143
p. 417.
'Ibid., p. 336.
struggle and labor of the workers. The younger genera-
tion must acquire discipline and habits of organized
conduct from the earliest years.
The old school remained a school of drill, where
measures of corporal punishment were applied and
youth were crippled physically and morally. Education
in conscious discipline must he put in the place of drill
and the discipline of the whip. "It is necessary,'* says
Lenin, "for the Young Communists to educate all youth
from twelve years of age in conscious and disciplined
labor." 5 Conscious discipline is developed in the stud-
ies and the socially useful work of children. Conscious
disciplined labor and conscious studies, that is, well
and correctly thought-out instruction of children, is the
means for the cultivation of conscious discipline. Lenin
created a rigorous science of communist morality, as an
integral part of communist education, and outlined the
principal directives for the achievement of education in
communist morality in the school.
By continuing to develop Marxist-Leninist theory,
Stalin has enriched the teachings of communist morality
with his own labors of genius. The morality of human
society is determined by the conditions of its material
life; and as the material foundations of life, the forms
of production, change, social and political ideas and in-
stitutions also change. "As the mode of life of society,
as the condition of material life of society," says Stalin,
"so are its ideas, theories, political outlooks, and politi-
cal institutions." 6
Morality is a product of all social relations and of
p. 417.
* Stalin, Questions of Lenijiism, llth ecL, p. 545.
144
the class struggle; and if social relations change and
develop, morality also changes and develops. The work-
ers fight for their liberation from the yoke of oppressors
and exploiters. In this struggle a new morality is forged,
a higher and nobler morality, because it is the morality
of the great majority of the population.
Comrade Stalin assigns to morality a great role in the
life of human society. Moral factors possess immense
strength and aid in the struggle with enemies. In his or-
der of February 23, 1942, on the occasion of the twenty-
fourth anniversary of the Red Army, after speaking of
the advantages enjoyed by the German robbers at the
beginning of the war, he states that now they do not have
this advantage, that now the fate of the war is being de-
cided by active factors, and names among others the
factor of the moral spirit of the army.
In his works Stalin has disclosed the essence of our
morality, the morality of Soviet people, and has indi-
cated the faults of Soviet people. In his address at the
Eighteenth Congress of the Ail-Union Communist Party
Stalin spoke of the necessity of "developing and culti-
vating Soviet patriotism." This Stalinist directive must
be an inviolable law in the work of every Soviet teacher,
in the work of every school from lowest to highest, and
in political work with the entire Soviet people. Educa-
tion in Soviet patriotism is the most important part of
moral education.
To cultivate love of our Motherland, of our people,
and of our glorious Communist Party and its leaders, to
cultivate readiness to sacrifice everything for the good
and welfare of the Motherland in this is the concep-
tion and meaning of Soviet patriotism. The protection of
145
tlie Motherland from enemies is the most honorable and
noble cause for all. The idea of guarding the fatherland
gave birth to mass heroism and strengthened with ties of
friendship all the peoples inhabiting our country.
"There can be no doubt," said Stalin, "that the idea of
guarding their fatherland, in whose name our people
fight, must give birth and actually does give birth to
military heroes who cement the Red Army . ." 7
Stalin always links patriotic education with the culti-
vation of a feeling of friendship toward other peoples
and a feeling of deep respect for other peoples. In the
Soviet state all peoples have equal rights and are edu-
cated in the spirit of mutual regard. In just this spirit
also our Red Army, flower and pride of the Soviet land,
is educated. **The strength of the Red Army," says Sta-
lin, "consists finally in the fact that it does not and can-
not have racial hatred toward other peoples, even toward
the German people, and that it is educated in the spirit
of the equality of all peoples and races and in the spirit
of respect for the rights of other peoples. The race the-
ory of the Germans and the practice of race hatred led
all freedom-loving peoples to become enemies of fascist
Germany. The theory of race equality in the USSR and
the practice of respect for the rights of other peoples led
all freedom-loving peoples to become friends of the So-
viet Union." 8
Stalin links the questions of education in patriotism
and in friendship between peoples with education in
hatred toward enemies of the people and enemies of the
Motherland, Soviet patriotism is active patriotism and is
* Stalin, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, 1944, p. 21.
pp.
146
not founded merely on good intentions. In the struggle
for the Motherland and in the resolution of questions of
construction exceptional difficulties are encountered.
"Difficulties on the road of our construction," says Sta-
lin, "exist in order to be fought and overcome." For the
overcoming of difficulties it is necessary to educate peo-
ple to he courageous, valiant, and firm of will and char-
acter. In the grievous days of July, 1941, when the
German hordes seized a part of the territory of the So-
viet Union, Comrade Stalin again declared that daring,
courage, bravery, and audacity must become general
throughout the great masses of the country. "The great
Lenin, who created our State, said that the basic quality
of the Soviet people must be courage, daring, and fear-
lessness in the struggle, readiness to fight with the people
against the enemies of our Motherland. It is necessary
that the superb qualities of the Bolshevik become the
possession of the millions and millions of the Red Army,
of our Red Fleet, and of all the peoples of the Soviet
Union." 9
The Stalinist teaching about pommunist morality in-
cludes humanism. Comrade Stalin himself is a model
of humaneness. He devotes his entire life to the people,
to their interests, their welfare, and their happiness.
Genuine concern for the individual, for his growth and
development, is the Stalinist manner of conduct. At the
center of attention of our party and of Comrade Stalin
as its leader stands the task of raising the material and
cultural level of all the workers of our country.
A thoughtful and attentive attitude toward the indi-
vidual is the teaching of Stalin. "People must be grown
9 /&, pp. 11-2.
147
carefully and tenderly, just as the gardener grows a fa-
vorite fruit tree. They must be cultivated, helped to
grow, given perspective, at times advanced and at times
transferred to other work.'*
"With the direct participation and under the leader-
ship of Comrade Stalin the Constitution, which is called
the Stalinist Constitution, was framed and adopted. In
this most important document one may find a very full
expression of the teaching of Stalin on humanism.
In education in communist morality Stalin attaches
particular significance to education in conscious disci-
pline. "Without discipline, it is impossible to conquer.
We must cultivate a socialist attitude toward labor and
study. Stalin emphasizes over and over again the fact
that without a system of organization and a state of dis-
cipline we cannot vanquish enemies, we cannot build a
socialist society. "Iron discipline is not excluded, but
conscious and willing acceptance of subordination is
proposed, for only conscious discipline can be iron dis-
cipline in fact." 10
In the resolutions of the Central Committee of the
All-Union Communist Party the cultivation of con-
scious discipline in the school is powerfully emphasized.
The school is under obligation to educate people to be
organization-minded and disciplined. Without a system
of organization and discipline it is not possible to mas-
ter the foundations of science, it is not possible to pre-
pare the younger to be a worthy successor of the older
generation.
30 Stalin, Questions of Leninism, 10th ed, p. 70.
148
APPENDIX
RULES FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN*
It is the duty of every school child:
1. To strive with tenacity and perseverance to master knowl-
edge, in order to become an educated and cultured citizen and
to serve most fully the Soviet Motherland.
2. To be diligent in study and punctual in attendance, never
being late to classes.
3. To obey without question the orders of school director
and teachers.
4. To bring to school all necessary books and -writing mate-
rials, to have everything ready before the arrival of the teacher.
5. To appear at school washed, combed, and neatly dressed.
6. To keep his desk in the classroom clean and orderly.
7. To enter the classroom and take his seat immediately after
the ringing of the bell, to enter or leave the classroom dur-
ing the lesson period only with the permission of the teacher.
8. To sit erect during the lesson period, not leaning on the
elbows or slouching in the seat; to attend closely to the ex-
planations of the teacher and the responses of the pupils, not
talking or engaging in mischief.
9. To rise as the teacher or the director enters of leaves the
classroom,
10. To rise and stand erect while reciting; to sit down only
* Adopted by the Soviet of People's Commissars of the RSFSR on
August 2, 1943. See Sovietsfaria Pedagogika, October, 1943, p. 1.
149
on permission of the teacher; to raise the hand when desiring
to answer or ask a question.
11. To make accurate notes of the teacher's assignment for
the next lesson, to show these notes to the parents, and to do
all homework without assistance.
12. To be respectful to the school director and the teachers,
to greet them on the street with a polite bow, hoys removing
their hats.
13. To be polite to his elders, to conduct himself modestly
and properly in school, on the street, and in public places.
14. To abstain from using bad language, from smoking and
gambling.
15. To take good care of school property, to guard well his
own possessions and those of his comrades.
16. To be courteous and considerate toward little children,
toward the aged, the weak, and the sick, to give them the seat
on the trolley or the right of way on the street, to help them in
every way.
17. To obey his parents and assist in the care of little
brothers and sisters.
18. To maintain cleanliness in the home by keeping his own
clothes, shoes, and bed in order.
19. To carry always his pupil's card, guarding it carefully,
not passing it to other children, but presenting it on request
of the director or the teacher of the school.
20. To prize the honor of his school and his class as his
very own.
For violation of these rules the pupil is subject to punish-
ment, even to expulsion from school.
150
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