Likbez
Encyclopedia
Likbez was a campaign of eradication of illiteracy in Soviet Russia and Soviet Union
in the 1920s and 1930s. The term was also used for various schools and courses established during the campaign. Nowadays this term is sometimes used in Russian as a slang for answers on common questions.
was an estimated 24% ,with the rural literacy rate at a staggering 19.7%. There were few schools available to the population, particularly in rural areas. Until the early twentieth century, there were still no specific curricular plans or guidelines in the zemstvo
schools. In 1891, the literacy schools came under church administration, and maintained a largely religious curriculum, which emphasized the teaching of old Church Slavonic. The peasantry was largely self-educated, and often relied on schools run by political dissidents for the latter period of tsarist rule. Facing a growing opposition from the general populace, Tsar Alexander II announced a decree that would raise the tuition fee for schools, thus preventing further social mobility for serfs who were allowed free mobility. During the reign of Tsar Nicholas II (1894-1917) liberals pushed for a universal education system, which scholars predict may have expanded if it were not for World War I
.
Lenin’s views on literacy were rooted in its economic and political benefits. “Without literacy,” he declared, "There can be no politics, there can only be rumors, gossip and prejudice." The Likbez campaign was started on December 26, 1919, when Vladimir Lenin
signed the Decree
of the Soviet government
"On eradication of illiteracy among the population of RSFSR" ("О ликвидации безграмотности среди населения РСФСР"). According to this decree, all people from 8 to 50 years old were required to become literate in their native language. 40,000 liquidation points (ликпункты) were arranged to serve as centers for education, and achieving literacy.
Fighting for time and funding during the ensuing Russian Civil War
of 1917-23, Narkompros, the Soviet Ministry of Education, quickly assembled the Cheka Likbez (an acronym for the “Extraordinary Commission for the Liquidation of Illiteracy”) which was to be responsible for the training of literacy teachers as well as organizing and propagating the literacy campaign. From the peasantry to trade unions, specific literacy percentage quotas were made for different sectors of Soviet society. For example, the trade union
campaign aimed for 100% literacy for its workers by 1923. The Bolsheviks also believed that through literary campaigns they could easily promote Party ideology and shape the population’s outlook. Women, given their low literacy rate, were regarded as having the highest potential for becoming the “modernizers” of Soviet society. Through the education of peasant women, the Bolsheviks hoped to break down the patriarchal domination of rural society. The Bolsheviks, however, were not freed of their own prejudices towards women. Lenin had written in The Emancipation of Women that a woman’s illiteracy would impair the “fighting spirit” of male party members and prevent wives from grasping their husbands’ ideals.
To further extend their reach to the peasant community, the Bolshevik’s built reading rooms in villages across the country. Serving as a propaganda center rather than library, a literate peasant would act as the room’s “Red Reader” and lead discussions on texts sent by the Party directive with members of the local community. Attendance was most often mandatory, as the reading rooms proved to be one of the Party’s most successful propaganda tools, where campaigns would take shape and the locals would hear about happenings in the outside world.
By 1923, however, it was clear that the campaign had its shortcomings. For one thing, Narkompros was having difficulty competing for funding from the Politburo
. The Narkampros budget for literacy education dropped from 2.8% in 1924-5 to 1.6% in 1927-8. Likbez literary schools were not established locally by order of Party elites
—instead, they relied heavily on grassroots demand. Narkampros also found it hard to find educated teachers actually willing to live in the isolated conditions of the countryside.
In many cases, peasant and proletariat students met their educators and literacy teachers with hostility due to their “petty bourgeois” backgrounds. To solve this problem, local governments established a system of rewards for workers who attended class, granting special privileges to those who did. In some extreme cases, during the 1922 famine
, many districts required their illiterate male and female populations to attend literacy school in order to earn their food points. Fearing they were not reaching out to the population and making the popular reading frenzy that they had hoped, the Politburo decided to heavily fund and promote clubs and societies such as the “Down with Illiteracy” society.
, governmental standards regarding what was considered “literate” also changed. Although all army personnel in the tsarist period eligible for conscription were required to be functionally literate, most men who could simply read the alphabet and their own name were deemed as fully literate. Although census takers were given rather strict orders on what was deemed fully literate and even semi-literate, in remote provinces and parts of Central Asia
standards were somewhat laxer than in locations with a closer proximity to Moscow
. The campaign was not the success the Bolsheviks had originally envisioned mainly because it lacked teacher volunteers, funding, and organization.
The likbez campaign was most effective for people between the ages of 9 and 35. For anyone over 35, the Bolsheviks believed they were utterly unreachable.
In 1926, however, only 51% of the population over the age of 10 had achieved literacy. Male literacy was at 66.5 while female literacy lagged behind at 37.2. By 1939, however, male literacy was at 90.8 and female literacy had increased to 72.5%. According to the 1939 Soviet Census, literate people were 89.7% (RSFSR, ages 9 – 49). During the 1950s, the Soviet Union
had become a country of nearly 100% literacy
.
There is speculation that had the peasant tradition of self-education been able to continue, the peasantry may have reached the level of education that it did by the mid 1930s, independent of government efforts. By the 1950s, with a stable education system and an entire generation that had at least completed some form of lower level education, the Soviet Union had reached a literacy rate of 100%.
(literally “putting down the roots”) within the separate autonomous regions and republics to the extent that teaching Russian
was considered a counter-revolutionary crime. For the separate nationalities, the ABCD Hierarchy, a system which ranked the 120 languages of the Soviet Union according their communicable significance, charted out a specific plan for each nationality’s achievement of literacy. In 1924 textbooks were printed in only 25 language of the Soviet Union. However, by 1934 they were printed in 104 languages.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in the 1920s and 1930s. The term was also used for various schools and courses established during the campaign. Nowadays this term is sometimes used in Russian as a slang for answers on common questions.
Background
In 1897, the overall literacy rate of the Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
was an estimated 24% ,with the rural literacy rate at a staggering 19.7%. There were few schools available to the population, particularly in rural areas. Until the early twentieth century, there were still no specific curricular plans or guidelines in the zemstvo
Zemstvo
Zemstvo was a form of local government that was instituted during the great liberal reforms performed in Imperial Russia by Alexander II of Russia. The idea of the zemstvo was elaborated by Nikolay Milyutin, and the first zemstvo laws were put into effect in 1864...
schools. In 1891, the literacy schools came under church administration, and maintained a largely religious curriculum, which emphasized the teaching of old Church Slavonic. The peasantry was largely self-educated, and often relied on schools run by political dissidents for the latter period of tsarist rule. Facing a growing opposition from the general populace, Tsar Alexander II announced a decree that would raise the tuition fee for schools, thus preventing further social mobility for serfs who were allowed free mobility. During the reign of Tsar Nicholas II (1894-1917) liberals pushed for a universal education system, which scholars predict may have expanded if it were not for World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
The Bolshevik literacy campaign
When the Bolshevik Party came to power in 1917, they faced a crumbling empire infamous for its perceived backwardness and poor education system. In 1917, within the remaining Tsarist territories, an estimated 37.9% of the male population above seven years old was literate and only 12.5% of the female population was literate.Lenin’s views on literacy were rooted in its economic and political benefits. “Without literacy,” he declared, "There can be no politics, there can only be rumors, gossip and prejudice." The Likbez campaign was started on December 26, 1919, when Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
signed the Decree
Soviet Decrees
Decrees were legislative acts of the highest Soviet institutions, primarily of the Council of People's Commissars and of the Supreme Soviet or VTsIK , issued between 1917 and 1924...
of the Soviet government
Government of the Soviet Union
The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was the de jure government comprising the highest executive and administrative body of the Soviet Union from 1946 until 1991....
"On eradication of illiteracy among the population of RSFSR" ("О ликвидации безграмотности среди населения РСФСР"). According to this decree, all people from 8 to 50 years old were required to become literate in their native language. 40,000 liquidation points (ликпункты) were arranged to serve as centers for education, and achieving literacy.
Fighting for time and funding during the ensuing Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
of 1917-23, Narkompros, the Soviet Ministry of Education, quickly assembled the Cheka Likbez (an acronym for the “Extraordinary Commission for the Liquidation of Illiteracy”) which was to be responsible for the training of literacy teachers as well as organizing and propagating the literacy campaign. From the peasantry to trade unions, specific literacy percentage quotas were made for different sectors of Soviet society. For example, the trade union
Trade unions in the Soviet Union
Trade unions in the Soviet Union trace their history back to Russian Revolution of 1905. Many trade unions were shut down or restricted on the eve of World War I and during the War, but they revived after the February Revolution and their leaders were democratically elected during 1917.Anarchists...
campaign aimed for 100% literacy for its workers by 1923. The Bolsheviks also believed that through literary campaigns they could easily promote Party ideology and shape the population’s outlook. Women, given their low literacy rate, were regarded as having the highest potential for becoming the “modernizers” of Soviet society. Through the education of peasant women, the Bolsheviks hoped to break down the patriarchal domination of rural society. The Bolsheviks, however, were not freed of their own prejudices towards women. Lenin had written in The Emancipation of Women that a woman’s illiteracy would impair the “fighting spirit” of male party members and prevent wives from grasping their husbands’ ideals.
To further extend their reach to the peasant community, the Bolshevik’s built reading rooms in villages across the country. Serving as a propaganda center rather than library, a literate peasant would act as the room’s “Red Reader” and lead discussions on texts sent by the Party directive with members of the local community. Attendance was most often mandatory, as the reading rooms proved to be one of the Party’s most successful propaganda tools, where campaigns would take shape and the locals would hear about happenings in the outside world.
By 1923, however, it was clear that the campaign had its shortcomings. For one thing, Narkompros was having difficulty competing for funding from the Politburo
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
. The Narkampros budget for literacy education dropped from 2.8% in 1924-5 to 1.6% in 1927-8. Likbez literary schools were not established locally by order of Party elites
Nomenklatura
The nomenklatura were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in all spheres of those countries' activity: government, industry, agriculture, education, etc., whose positions were granted only with approval by the...
—instead, they relied heavily on grassroots demand. Narkampros also found it hard to find educated teachers actually willing to live in the isolated conditions of the countryside.
In many cases, peasant and proletariat students met their educators and literacy teachers with hostility due to their “petty bourgeois” backgrounds. To solve this problem, local governments established a system of rewards for workers who attended class, granting special privileges to those who did. In some extreme cases, during the 1922 famine
1921-1922 Famine in Tatarstan
The 1921–1922 famine in Tatarstan was a result of war communism policy, realized in Tatar ASSR as well as elsewhere in the USSR. It started in autumn 1921. More than 2,000,000 peasants starved, particularly in Arsk, Sviyazhsk, Mamadysh, Menzelinsk, Spassk, Tetyushi and Chelny kantons.At the end of...
, many districts required their illiterate male and female populations to attend literacy school in order to earn their food points. Fearing they were not reaching out to the population and making the popular reading frenzy that they had hoped, the Politburo decided to heavily fund and promote clubs and societies such as the “Down with Illiteracy” society.
Results
With the October 1917 RevolutionOctober Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, governmental standards regarding what was considered “literate” also changed. Although all army personnel in the tsarist period eligible for conscription were required to be functionally literate, most men who could simply read the alphabet and their own name were deemed as fully literate. Although census takers were given rather strict orders on what was deemed fully literate and even semi-literate, in remote provinces and parts of Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
standards were somewhat laxer than in locations with a closer proximity to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. The campaign was not the success the Bolsheviks had originally envisioned mainly because it lacked teacher volunteers, funding, and organization.
The likbez campaign was most effective for people between the ages of 9 and 35. For anyone over 35, the Bolsheviks believed they were utterly unreachable.
In 1926, however, only 51% of the population over the age of 10 had achieved literacy. Male literacy was at 66.5 while female literacy lagged behind at 37.2. By 1939, however, male literacy was at 90.8 and female literacy had increased to 72.5%. According to the 1939 Soviet Census, literate people were 89.7% (RSFSR, ages 9 – 49). During the 1950s, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
had become a country of nearly 100% literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
.
There is speculation that had the peasant tradition of self-education been able to continue, the peasantry may have reached the level of education that it did by the mid 1930s, independent of government efforts. By the 1950s, with a stable education system and an entire generation that had at least completed some form of lower level education, the Soviet Union had reached a literacy rate of 100%.
Campaign for non-Russian speakers
In non-Russian speaking areas of the Soviet population, Narkompros promoted the policy of KorenizatsiyaKorenizatsiya
Korenizatsiya sometimes also called korenization, meaning "nativization" or "indigenization", literally "putting down roots", was the early Soviet nationalities policy promoted mostly in the 1920s but with a continuing legacy in later years...
(literally “putting down the roots”) within the separate autonomous regions and republics to the extent that teaching Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
was considered a counter-revolutionary crime. For the separate nationalities, the ABCD Hierarchy, a system which ranked the 120 languages of the Soviet Union according their communicable significance, charted out a specific plan for each nationality’s achievement of literacy. In 1924 textbooks were printed in only 25 language of the Soviet Union. However, by 1934 they were printed in 104 languages.