lisposal and was thus able to dispose of certain funds. It was to be
supposed that the plan of introducing universal instruction would now be
applied. So much had been written and proclaimed regarding the liquidation
of illiteracy! And a decree was actually issued stating that the year 1934
should be the last limit in which universal education was to be introduced.
According to statistical data there were 66 thousand schools in 1923
with an attendance of 41; million children. The figures given by Soviet
statistics must be accepted only after careful sifting. But even if we
accept the statistical figures given by the Commissariat, we see that the
decrease of schools and pupils has been about 50 0%, as compared with
those existing in 1917!
As regards the decree of universal instruction, it is very obvious that
‘here are not sufficient funds, either locally or in the central administration
io carry it out; therefore there is no hope of returning to pre-revolutionary
conditions. Even as late as 1926 Lunatcharsky owns that there is a great
aeed of school equipment and of books; that many of the building are
falling to pieces; that the teachers salary is a mere pittance*).
Those who have visited not only Moscow, but also some out-of-the-way
provinces, and who have returned abroad, relate that even during the summer
of 1927 they saw many teachers whose salary was not sufficient to keep
them in decent boots and clothes. They lived in peasant huts, as there was
no place for them in the school-buildings. The remnants of the former
school equipment was all they had, to carry on instruction; for there was
no money to buy a new one; indeed, it was difficult to buy anything in
that line. Neither is it considered at all necessary that the schools should
be in good sanitary repair. The only thing demanded of the teachers is
that they should advance the interests of the Communistic Party. They are
obliged to pay the party subscription fee out of their pitiful salary. But
no one asks them what or how they teach, and whether they achieve good
results. Even at present the number of teachers is insufficient. And it is
Juite beyond the means of the S.S.S.R. to prepare the 130.000 teachers
actually necessary for universal instruction.
According to Rykoff’s statement: “Russia has been transformed into a
country with increasing illiteracy.” In the villages only fo 9% of children
———
*) In 1927 the salary of the teachers was raised to 37 roubles a month. But as
the rate of exchange of the “Chervonetz” has fallen considerably the actual worth of
the salary is only 18 to 20 roubles. On pre-revolutionary times it varied from 30 to
60 roubles. The desiderata of the teachers is that their salary should attain the pre-
war standard. (The Teacher's Paper, No. 12, 1927.) Lunatcharsky stated openly
during the XIII. Congress, that the salary of the teachers was only 40 9% of the pre-
war one. (Min. of Educ. No. 5, 1927.)
[QO