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