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V. Afanasyev
The Need for Communist Education

The objective of communist society is to mould the harmoniously developed man. He will be, first and foremost, a highly educated worker in communist production, a person possessing knowledge of the fundamentals of science, a maker of material values and a creator of communist abundance. He will be an active social administrator, a person with a scientific philosophy, a patriot and an internationalist who knows the fundamentals of art and is capable of creating not only material but also spiritual values, a man with high moral principles and all-round physical development.

In short, he will be an integral man with a knowledge of all the diverse manifestations of life and possessing not only inexhaustible creative talents but also the ability to apply these talents for the benefit of society and, thereby, of himself. This man is the wealth that will supersede material wealth, which is the foundation and objective of capitalism. “What is wealth,” Marx wrote, “if not the absolute bringing to light of man’s creative talents without any prerequisites except preceding historical development, i.e., the development of all human powers as such.”

The lofty qualities of the man of the future will not emerge of themselves. They must be cultivated. In this chapter we shall deal with the upbringing and the communist consciousness of the new man.

The Need for Communist Education

The adversaries of scientific communism are bent on proving that communism and the development of the individual personality are mutually exclusive, that only private ownership and free enterprise are a reliable foundation for man’s development. However, the practice of capitalism has shown the absurdity of arguments of this kind, and this has forced the theoreticians of capitalism to go to the other extreme: they maintain that it is senseless to speak of man’s perfection in this technical age of ours because man is slowly and surely dying, crushed by powerful machines.

For example, the bourgeois sociologist Erich Fromm writes: “In our day ... not only has ’God died’, as Nietzsche asserted in the 19th century, but man, too, is dead. Only organisation and machines live: instead of becoming their master, man has been turned into their slave.”

“Man is dead"—how strangely these words fall on our ears. Ours is a century of the greatest scientific discoveries, a century of far-reaching social changes which have opened unparalleled prospects for man’s improvement and for unbounded freedom. It is capitalism that has crushed the working man by social injustice, turned him into, essentially, a slave of powerful machines, and pushed millions of people out of their usual way of life, out of the very process of production.

Through exploitation, violence and pillage capitalism has accumulated incalculable wealth, but it neither knows nor can know what to do with man. Having divested man of his birthright, capitalism is mortally afraid of the social, socialist renewal of man and mankind. The crisis of man in capitalist society is a crisis of capitalism itself but not of man or mankind as such, as the bourgeois falsifiers of present-day social development would have us believe. Feeling that capitalism must inevitably collapse, they are trying to bury man alive and endeavouring to impress on people that there is no sense in dreaming of a happy future, much less of fighting for it, because mankind will perish all the same—if not in the all-engulfing conflagration of a nuclear war then from the oppression of new technology.294

What is the purpose of this strange concern of the spiritual pastors of capitalism for man, and why are they sounding the death knell for mankind?

The answer is quite obvious: they seek to poison the minds of the working people, destroy the human, social element in them and, primarily, their hopes for the future, to strangle their desire to fight for and build a new life, to cast aspersions on the citizen of socialist society, on the socialist and communist system, and prove that that system cannot create a man free of the prejudices of the old society. The opponents of communism admit that communism can create powerful technologies and an abundance of material blessings but argue that it is unable to change the vicious nature of man and free him from individualism, self-interest, superstition and fear.

The spiritual fathers of capitalism close their eyes to Soviet socialist reality in which the features of the new man are coming to the fore more and more distinctly. In proportion to the progress of socialist economy and the improvement of social relations people are growing intellectually, improving themselves morally and physically, and, step by step, freeing themselves from the spiritual heritage of the past. Much, very much, has been accomplished for the people by socialism. It has inspired them with an unquenchable thirst for life, given them confidence in the future and fired them with the aspiration to make their contribution towards the building of that future. There is a great deal of work waiting to be done and its difficulty is that it is being undertaken for the first time in mankind’s long history. Moreover, it is complicated because human nature is complicated, and will take a long time because no monumental work can be accomplished quickly. “Education,” Lenin wrote, “is a long and difficult business.” Age-old customs and survivals, the tenacity of old habits and the influence of hostile ideology make this business all the more difficult.

Communist consciousness is formed by the Soviet social system, in the course of the people’s participation in the building of communism, in joint, planned and organised work, in the process of the development of new social relations in production and everyday life.295

Planned, purposeful education is possible only on the basis of economic successes, of successes in changing social relations. While changing and remaking the economy and social relations, people themselves change intellectually and morally. In other words, the establishment of the communist way of life determines the formation of the corresponding communist consciousness.

Being an element of communist construction, communist consciousness in its turn influences the formation of the communist way of life and the solution of economic, social and political problems. The reason for this is obvious: communist society is built not spontaneously but as a result of the conscious, purposeful activity of the people and, naturally, the higher the level of the people’s communist consciousness the more successfully and the quicker will communist construction proceed. Any underestimation, even if it is insignificant, of the role of communist consciousness can become a serious impediment to the onward movement of society.

Economic development, the framing of a communist attitude to work and the formation of communist social relations and culture are the objective foundation for the moulding of the new man, for cultivating a communist consciousness in him. However, by themselves these conditions will not ensure the triumph of communist principles and ideas in the mind of every person. Therefore, the Party regards the communist upbringing of the people and its ideological work in this sphere as an indispensable condition for the building of communism.

In addition to pointing to the need for communist education, the Party has shown the content and basic direction for this education. On this question, the Programme of the C.P.S.U. states that communist education means “to educate all working people in a spirit of ideological integrity and devotion to communism, and cultivate in them a communist attitude to labour and the socialised economy; to eliminate completely the survivals of bourgeois views and morals; to ensure the all-round, harmonious development of the individual; to create a truly rich spiritual culture. Special importance is attached by the Party lo the moulding of the rising generation.”

Fundamental Principles of Education

The requirement that educational work must be linked up with life, with the Party’s policies and with definite tasks of communist construction has been and remains fundamental in education. Education yields positive results and helps to form the new, active participant in the immense task of building communism only when it is intrinsically bound up with life, production and the practical experience of the people.

Communist education is incompatible with subjectivism, vainglory and ostentation. “Less political fireworks,” Lenin said, “and more attention to the simplest but living facts of communist construction—taken from and tested by actual life—this is the slogan which all of us, our writers, agitators, propagandists, organisers, etc., should repeat unceasingly.”

Realistic and scientific direction of the economy and of all social life, scientific organisation of social relations in all links of the social system and scientific organisation of education itself are the key condition for successful communist upbringing.

Concreteness, a profound scientific approach, objectivity and truthfulness, accuracy and organisation are the important principles underlying communist education.

Efficiency in the work of the Party and the uprooting of subjectivism and ostentation created extremely favourable conditions for promoting the social activity of the people and thereby for education itself. At the same time, particularly high demands are made of ideological work under these conditions. The principal demand is that there should be frankness when dealing with the people and that difficulties and shortcomings should be neither concealed nor slurred over. “I must say at this point,” Lenin wrote, “that our propaganda and agitation must be open and above-board.” [296•*

People do not always accept the ready-made recipes of educators and, therefore, the task of educators is not to prefer ready-made recipes for all occasions in life but to bring the people round to accepting these conclusions painstakingly and with perseverance, but never obtrusively.297

One of the major tasks of communist education is to instill pride for one’s country and people and a readiness selflessly to defend the gains of socialism against imperialist vultures.

In our day there is mounting interest in man’s inner world, in his inclinations, way of thinking and feelings. This is only natural, because the new society creates not an abstract but a living, concrete man in all the diversity of his vital manifestations. In this connection, the task is carefully and considerately to enrich this inner world without driving it into isolation by crude contact. Formalism, callousness, peremptory shouting and the tagging of labels are impermissible in education. The duty of the propagandist and the educator is to know the interests of the people and the problems that worry them.

Upbringing implies the formation not only of a person’s intellect but also his feelings and emotions, for man is an extremely sensitive and emotional creature, who can love and hate, rejoice and grieve, take delight, suffer, and so forth. The sensitive, emotional side of the individual plays an important part in his perception of social ideas. Lenin wrote: “...There has never been, nor can there be, any human search for truth without ’human emotions’.” It is therefore important to teach a person to control his feelings, to cultivate positive emotions and direct them for his own and society’s benefit.

However, people differ from each other by occupation, level of education, way of thinking, character, the content and volume of the tasks confronting them and many other indications. This means that education must be geared to different needs. The task is to educate not man in general, not an abstract man, but a concrete man with all his merits and demerits.

Thus, attention for man and for his inner world and a selective approach to his upbringing are indispensable principles of educational work.

Warmth and sincerity in ideological work have nothing in common with forgiveness and slurring over of an individual’s weak points and shortcomings. A principled approach and implacability are requisites of communist education. It is important not only to educate a person but to teach him to educate and improve himself, and this 298 necessarily presupposes a critical attitude to oneself, a frank admission of one’s shortcomings and errors and unfailing correction of these shortcomings and errors.

Care for man is all the more incompatible with manifestations of alien, bourgeois ideology, and with the customs, manners and actions inherent in capitalist society. Partisanship and non-reconciliation to all forms of bourgeois ideology have been and remain a major principle of educational work.

Enemies attack the Communist Party for having monopolised education, alleging that it fetters man’s spiritual freedom. The Party directs ideological activities, this being its right and duty. The C.P.S.U. is the ruling party and, therefore, is called upon to provide scientific direction to all spheres of the life of socialist society, including its spiritual life. It has won this right by persevering struggle and dedicated labour together with and at the head of the people. Marxism-Leninism, which is the Party’s ideology, has absorbed profound wisdom and extensive experience of struggle and work, and it has been accepted by the people voluntarily and consciously. Therefore, partisanship, the safeguarding of the Party’s ideology means safeguarding the people’s most cherished ideals, protecting their present and their future. As regards the freedom of man’s spiritual life, the Party places no restriction whatever on it. On the contrary, it teaches man to think and create freely in the interests of the people and of communism.

Lastly, system, consistency, and intrinsic unity and interaction of all forms and means of education are likewise important principles underlying communist upbringing.
* * *
Means of Communist Education

An efficient system of education, which embraces the family, secondary special schools, institutions of higher learning, political education, the press, radio, TV programmes, and so forth has been built up in the Soviet Union.

Take the family. It fulfils an important social function by not only reproducing the human race but also bringing up the rising generation. In the family a child’s organism, spiritual world, attitude to its environment, behaviour, deeds and actions are formed. In the family a child learns the elementary principles of human life, begins to differentiate 299between good and bad, and learns to do good and steer clear of the bad.

The school is one of the key links of communist education. It gives man a knowledge of the rudiments of science, enables him to penetrate the secrets of nature and society, forms his outlook and morals, and gives him a broad polytechnical education, thereby preparing him for socially useful work and making it possible for him to continue his education. With the family the school brings to light and encourages young people’s talents and inclinations, develops their senses and thinking and helps them choose their road in life.

The Soviet higher school is of inestimable value in promoting communist education. It has acquired extensive experience in training specialists and giving them not only knowledge but also a scientific, Marxist-Leninist outlook, in educating people who are not only well brought up themselves but are able to engage successfully in the bringing up of the new man.

In the system of Party education, Communists and nonParty people study the works of Marx, Engels and Lenin, the Programme of the C.P.S.U., the decisions of Party congresses and the most important Party documents. The mastering of theory is combined with the study of problems connected with the economy and industry and is closely tied up with the specific tasks confronting factories and collective and state farms. This brings political study close to life, makes it purposeful and enhances its educational value.

The factory, collective or state farm, team, workshop, office or other place of work is man’s best teacher. In the Soviet Union every able-bodied person is obliged to work and he therefore belongs to a definite collective. Through this collective man is linked up materially and spiritually with the whole of society.

In the collective he comes into contact with other people, with the result that he develops both as a specialist and a toiler. Here his spiritual world is enriched and his morals 300—collectivism, comradeship, discipline, exactness and lofty sense of responsibility for the work assigned to him—are shaped.

Spiritual Culture and the Advancement of the Individual

Material factors, i.e., economic progress, are of decisive significance in the moulding of the new man. Along with material factors, the social environment under whose influence man is formed embraces spiritual factors, which, despite being of a secondary nature with regard to the former, play an important role in the upbringing of man. These factors include science, education, art, literature and the moral code of society—in short, society’s spiritual culture.

Socialist culture is one of the major vehicles making it possible to surmount the’ age-old antithesis between mental and physical labour and to form a new type of intellectual, who comes from and is devoted to the people. To mould the man of the new system, an intellectual with a high cultural and technical level, it is necessary to promote communist culture.

In order to utilise cultural achievements for the development of the individual, it is necessary to make culture accessible to the masses. Socialism has resolved this epic problem. In socialist society culture—education, science, art and literature—serves the people with the object of improving them and developing their capabilities and talents. In proportion to the progress made by socialist culture towards the formation of communist culture, its ennobling influence on man becomes more and more tangible.

Labour is the foundation of man’s all-round development. But in order to work fruitfully and creatively and thereby remake the world, man requires knowledge. Knowledge of the laws of development of nature and society and skilled application of these laws for the benefit of man constitute the foundation of his freedom, of his ability to act expertly, and make him ^ creative personality. The key to the blossoming of the individual lies in unity between his cognitive and practical, transforming activity. The individual develops all-sidedly not 301by performing any kind of work, but by working freely, by absorbing knowledge and culture. This unity is achieved in the period of communist construction, when communist work and communist culture take final shape and become integrated in everyday life. By mastering new achievements of spiritual culture, the individual becomes enriched intellectually and this, in its turn, has a positive effect on his labour activities.

Scientific progress in socialist society, where it has become the affair of the whole people, creates the most favourable conditions for the development of the individual. In order to keep pace with the requirements of modern production, Soviet people, primarily young people, constantly improve their knowledge, mastering the latest achievements of science and technology and advanced experience and raising the level of their professional and general education. Knowledge is strength. Never before has this time-honoured aphorism been so urgent and never before has it served as a guide to action for such a huge number of people as it does today.

The mastering of science and knowledge is facilitated under socialism by an expanding system of education. This system is characterised chiefly by its mass nature, by the fact that it embraces the entire people, and therefore it shapes a h|igh intellect not in individuals or groups of people but virtually in millions upon millions of people. Suffice it to say that the number of people studying in Russia during the 1914/15 school year was 10,588,000, while in the U.S.S.R. some 72 million people studied during the 1965/66 school year. As a result of the institution of compulsory eight-year education, study in school has become not only a right but also a duty dictated by the economic and cultural progress of socialist society. The transition to universal ten-year education is to be, in the main, completed during the present (1966–70) five-year plan. A specific feature of the socialist system of education is that it is indissolubly linked up with life, with practical activities, and this means that unity between cognitive and practical activity, which is the only foundation for the moulding of the harmoniously developed individual, is achieved in the process of education.

The number of evening and extra-mural secondary schools for young workers and collective farmers as well as of secondary special schools and institutions of higher learning is steadily growing in the U.S.S.R. More facilities are being opened to enable people to learn a new trade or improve their qualifications directly at factories.

Art, which promotes the advancement of the individual, is an important element of spiritual culture. Having made art the property of the people, socialism has turned it into a vehicle for the self-assertion of the individual, for his all-round development. Maxim Gorky called literature and art a science of the study of man, and always believed that it was the duty of writers and artists to educate people in the spirit of socialism.

Because of its great cognitive value science enriches man’s spiritual world and affords him incomparable aesthetic pleasure. The lofty ideals and morality of socialist art and its genuine humanism enable it to shape the individual’s political, philosophical and moral outlook, expounding lofty ideological and moral principles not in the dry language of placards, slogans, figures or moral admonition, but by means of positive examples which it presents in stirring artistic form and by the powerful language of feelings, which all people understand. Without superfluous clamour and without obtrusiveness, a real work of art holds a person’s attention without his noticing it and makes him think of the purpose of life, of the great accomplishments of people of the new society and of his own part in these accomplishments. It inculcates lofty humanism, stirs the individual to the performance of feats that bring glory to his people and country and infuses him with devotion to the ideals of communism and with unrelenting hate for its enemies.

pReal art lauds industrial labour, the working environment and modern technology. It glorifies the land and the poetry of farming. It extols science, the human mind and the poetry of scientific quests. Works of art, states the Programme of the C.P.S.U., “are great factors in ideological education and cultivate in Soviet people the qualities of builders of a new world. They must be a source of joy and inspiration to millions of people, express their will, their sentiments and ideas, enrich them ideologically and educate them morally".303

Partisanship, revolutionary ideals, implacability to evil and admiration of the working man are what distinguish socialist art. It combines solicitude for the best traditions of world culture with quests for new ways and means of showing revolutionary reality, with unvarnished truth and optimism.

Socialist art mirrors life in all its fullness, complexity and diversity, its difficulties and contradictions, its sharp conflicts and dramatic situations. It shows the joy of victory and the misery of error and miscalculation. The life of the Soviet Union in its advance towards the new society is joyful bul there are thorns, too. Bright hues predominate but their brightness does not rule out dark spots. Socialist art seeks to present this life truthfully and does not allow adversity and setbacks to obscure historical prospects or confidence in the triumph of the great cause. On this road it attains its most brilliant successes. The grandeur of the work of building the new society and the heroism of contemporary man have been and remain the principal theme of Soviet art.


Notes

[296•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 32, p. 215.

Scientific Philosophy and the Struggle Against Hostile Ideology