The Kremlin and the Schoolhouse: Reforming Education in Soviet Russia, 1917-1931

by Larry E. Holmes

Overview

" . . . an exciting, first-rate contribution to our understanding of Soviet history on several levels . . . and the relationship between tsarist and Soviet educational policies and practices." —Ben Eklof

"Larry E. Holmes' book is a fine, expert study of a difficult topic." —The Historian

" . . . this first-rate work definitely points the way toward a new understanding of the Soviet Union in the 1920s." —Journal of Modern History

" . . . a succinct and original study of early Soviet education and an engaging disaggregation of the convoluted relations among ideology, politics, and social reality in a revolutionary society . . . This well-researched, innovative, and insightful study is required reading for any serious student of early Soviet history." —The Russian Review

". . . elegantly written, a pithy fast paced, and intersting book . . ." —East West Education

Larry Holmes examines Soviet school policy from 1917 to 1931 in its ideological, political, institutional, and social dimensions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253328472
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	12/22/1991
Series:	Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
Introduction

Part One: The Idea and the Reality, 1917-1921

I. A New School for a New Society
II. In Search of a Policy
III. In Search of a School and a Public
IV. Narkompros under Siege

Part Two: Change and Permanence in the 1920s

V. NEP and the Progressive Curriculm
VI. SLow History
Classroom Practice
VII. Teachers
A Preference for the Customary
VIII. The ABC's beyond the School

Part Three: Compromise, 1925-1928

IX. Policy Running After Practice
X. Komsomol and the Technical Lobby
XI. A Threat of Failure

Part Four: Compromise Betrayed
XIII. Purges and Projects, 1929-1930
XIV. Slower History
XV. Policy Meets Practice, 1931

Conclusion

Statistical Appendices
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Stunningly beautiful photographs of the old and new in the Kremlin. Icons, decorated buildings, Faberge eggs, souvenirs of Lenin are but a small part of the splendors of the Kremlin and of this book. Many of the photographs are full-page. The text, roughly one-third of the pages, gives a concise history of Moscow and the Kremlin, also descriptions of the items shown. Bibliography lists works mostly in Russian, through all the titles are given in English. Examines Soviet school policy from 1917 to 1931 in its ideological, political, institutional, and social dimensions. While the Commissariat of Enlightenment tried to make schools agents of grand social change, teachers, often joined by parents and local departments of education, refused to cooperate. Holmes shows how their resistance below forced major reconsideration of policy above. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews