Doloi Negramotnost'. The Literacy Campaign in the RSFSR, 1923-1927

This dissertation treats the main theme of how the literacy campaign, and literacy in general, was perceived, not only by those implementing it, but by those who were its target. By showing what priority the Soviet leadership placed on literacy, I am able to show how a perception of the need for complete literacy reflected the value placed on human capital during this evolutionary period in Soviet history. The dissertation demonstrates how the State imposed literacy on illiterate portions of its population, and how various segments of the population--workers, peasants, women, trade union officials, and bureaucrats--reacted to the subsequent campaign. I also take a comparative approach. Is it possible to determine if a greater awareness of the need for universal literacy is a "stage" through which nations must go on their way to "modernization"? Does this awareness in Russia in the 1920s parallel similar phenomena in other European states in earlier periods? To do this, I use published and unpublished sources held in the Russian Republic and the West. Such sources include Communist Party records from Smolensk province, records of the voluntary society and commissions involved in the campaign, published and unpublished congress reports, trade union records and Education Commissariat records, as well as newspaper, journal, and typescript accounts of the campaign.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Clark, Charles E.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Koenker, Diane P.

• History, European
• Education, History of
• History, Modern

Identifier

(UMI)AAI9329003

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/72327