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Language and Education in the Soviet Ukraine1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2017
Extract
One of the most painful lessons mankind has learned since the rise of nationalism in the last hundred years is that language diversity fosters conflicts between states and among peoples living within one state but speaking different languages. Conversely, language uniformity makes for unity. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries most governments have strongly desired such uniformity. In some countries, as in America, assimilation into one language has been achieved by allowing national groups the free use of their native languages, and by relying upon the advance of education and of commercial and industrial development to break down the barriers those languages erect between various linguistic groups. In the period before the First World War, many governments sought language uniformity by forcibly repressing the languages of minorities, by Germanizing, Magyarizing, Russifying their national minority groups. Of no government was this more true than of that of the old Russian Empire, in which the “minorities” — that is, the groups other than the Great-Russians — constituted over half the population. But by attempting to suppress the languages of the Ukrainians, Georgians, Tatars and so on, the Tsarist régime did not achieve its goal of unity; rather, it aroused a host of nationalist movements which put language repression first on the bill of grievances against the government and which helped drive Tsarism to its death.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1941
Footnotes
1
This study is based on material gathered for a book on the policy of the Soviet Union with regard to national minorities. The book is being written under a grant from the Columbia University Council for Research in the Social Sciences, and it is being sponsored by Professors Carlton J. H. Hayes and Geroid Tanquary Robinson of Columbia University.
References
2 VKP(b) v Rezoljudjach i Rešenijach S'ezdov, Konferencii i Plenumov Tz. K., 1898–1932 (Moscow, 1933), I, 238–240.
3 For the views of Lenin contained in this paragraph, see Lenin, V. I., Sošinenija (Moscow, 1935), XVI, pp. 509, 551–554, 595–596; XVII, pp. 66, 89, 114–115, 133, 139–154, 178–181, 361.
4 Ibid., XXIV, pp. 155, 552–554.
5 Stalin, J., Slati i Reči ob Ukraine (Kiev, 1936), pp. 111–112, 194–195Google Scholar.
6 Stalin, J., Marxism and the National and Colonial Question (New York, 1935), p. 208 Google Scholar.
7 VKP(b) v Rezoljucijach … I, pp. 155, 637.
8 The Kiev Educational District comprised the provinces of Kiev, Poltava, Podolia, Volhynia and Chernigov. The number of pupils is from Ministerstvo Narodnogo Prosvieshcheniia, Vsepodanneiši Otičt, 1912 (St. Petersburg, 1915), p. 196. The estimate of the population is from Centralny Statisticeski Komitct, Ežegodnik Rossii, 1912 (St. Petersburg, 1913), pp. 33–59.
9 For the condition of the educational system up to 1924, see Urkainska Socialistčna Radianska Respublika. Zbirnik Spravozdan Nafodnich Komisarijativ i centralnich ustanov U.S.R.R. ta Upolnivaženich Narodnich Komisarijaliv R.S.F.S.R. 5-mu Vseukrainskomu Z'izdovi Rod Ukraini. Otičt Narodnogo Komisariati Osviti U.S.R.R. za 1920 rik (Kharkov, pp. 3–6; Zbirnik Uzakonen ta Rosporiadžen Robitničo-Seljanskogo Urjady Ukraini za 1924 rik, 1924, part 1, sec. 271, pp. 800–803; Sojuz Robotnikov Prosveščenija S.S.S.R., Pjatyvsesojuznyi S'ezd Sojuza Robotnikov Prasveščenija S.S.S.R. Stenografičeski Otčet (Moscow, 1925), pp. 172–174.
10 Zbirnik Uzakonen …, 1919, sec. 260, p. 347.
11 Ibid., 1920, part 1. sec. 509, pp. 712–713.
12 Ibid., 1923, part 1, sec. 430, pp. 896–899; 1924, part 1, sec. 272, p. 801; 1924, part 1, sec. 300, pp. 932–933.
13 Visti (organ of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee and of the Kharkov Provincial Executive Committee), Oct. 28, 1923.
14 Ibid., Oct. 26, 1923; see also ibid., Mar. 1, 1924.
15 Ibid., Oct. 2, 1924.
16 See ibid., Mar. 4, 1924, Mar. 5, 1924.
17 Ibid., Mar. 5, 1924.
18 Ibid., Oct. 28, 1923.
19 Kommunist (organ of the Central Committee and of the Kharkov Provincial Committee of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of the Ukraine), Mar. 21, 1925.
20 Proletarska Pravda (organ of the Kiev Regional Committee of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of the Ukraine, of the Kiev Regional Executive Committee and of the Kiev Regional Trade-Union Council), Aug. 26, 1926.
21 Ibid., June 2, 1926.
22 Ibid., July 25, 1926.
23 Ibid., Sept. 26, 1926.
24 Ibid., June 2, 1926.
25 Statistika Ukraini. Narodnja Osvila na Ukraini na 15 Grudnja 1927 (Peperedni Pidsumki Škilnogo Perepisy), Kharkov, 1928, pp. 20–21.
26 Ibid., pp. 24–25.
27 Zbirnik Uzakonen …, 1923, part 1, sec. 430, pp. 896–897.
28 E.g. Kommunist, Mar. 6, 1925; Mar. 20, 1925; Proletarska Pravda, July 6, 1926.
29 Proletarska Pravda, July 6, 1926.
30 Ibid., June 26, 1926.
31 This was doe, for example, by the Kiev Regional Committee of the Party.—Ibid., July 15, 1926.
32 Ibid., July 14, 1926.
33 Ibid., July 4, 1926, July 22, 1926.
34 Zbirnik Uzakonen …, 1927, part 1, sec. 157, pp. 626–628.
35 Only students and professors coming to the Ukraine from other republics were to be permitted additional time to fulfill the requirements.
38 Slatistika Ukraini. Narodnja Osvila na Ukraini … , pp. 48–51. In this period technicums were classified with higher educational institutions rather than with other types of technical or “professional” schools, which were in turn classified as middle schools. The other technical schools included “workers' faculties,” “workers’ evening professional schools,” “schools of the working youth,” “long-term courses,” “schools of brigade apprenticeship,” and “trade-union schools.”
37 This data was given in a speech by Kossior, published in Proletari (organ of the central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of the Ukraine and of the All-Ukrainian Council of Trade-Unions), July 17, 1930.
38 Ibid., Jan. 8, 1929.
39 Komsomolec Ukraini (organ of the Central Committee of the Leninist Communist Union of the Youth of the Ukraine), Mar. 16, 1929.
40 Proletari, Apr. 25, 1919.
41 E. g., Komsomolec Ukraini, May 16, 1929, June 26, 1929.
42 Proletari, Jan. 3, 1930.
43 Ibid., Feb. 16, 1930.
44 Proletarska Pravda, Sept. 22, 1931.
45 Ibid., Oct. 4, 1931.
46 Ibid., June 30, 1931.
47 Ibid., Apr. 4, 1931.
48 See especially Zbirnik Umkonen … , 1919, sec. 260, p. 347; 1927, part 1, sec. 157, pp. 626–627. See above pp. 129–130.
49 Ibid., 1924, part 1, sec. 300, p. 933.
50 E. g. Visti, Dec. 10, 1924; Kommunist, July 3, 1925; Proletarska Pravda, Apr. 8, 1928.
51 E.g. Visti, Mar. 9, 1925; Proletarska Pravda, July 23, 1927.
52 Zbirnik Uzakonen … , 1925, part 1, sec. 218, p. 587; 1925, part 1, sec. 285, p. 10; 1926, part 1, sec. 106, p. 221.
53 E.g. the directive of the Central Committee of the Party in Kommunist, May 21, 1925; the resolution of the Kiev Regional Party Committee in Proletarska Pravda, July 15, 1926; the speech of Liubchenlco (chairman of the Ukrainian Council of People's Commissars) in ibid., May 11, 1926; speeches of Kaganovich (secretary of the Central Committee of the Party) and of Skripnik (Commissar of Education) and the resolution of the 10th Congress of the Party in Desjati Z'izd Kommunističnoi Partii (Bilšovikiv) Ukraini, 20–29 Listopada 1927 p. Stenografičnii zvil (Kharkov, 1928), pp. 126, 444, 574; the resolution of the All-Ukrainian Council of Trade-Unions in Proletarska Pravda, Apr. 7, 1928.
54 Visti, Oct. 2, 1924.
55 Proletarska Pravda, July 24, 1926.
56 Ibid., Aug. 14, 1926.
57 Ibid., July 19, 1926.
58 Kommunist, May 21, 1925.
59 Slatistika Ukraina. Narodnja Osvita na Ukraini … , pp. 20–25.
60 Proletarska Pravda, Mar. 29, 1933.
61 Sinthiska Ukraina. Narodnja Osvita na Ukraini… , pp. 48–51.
62 Zbirnik Uzakonen … , 1926, part 1, sec. 453, p. 1246.
63 Proletarska Pravda, Oct. 2, 1926.
64 Ibid.
65 Ibid., Feb. 20, 1933.
66 Ibid., Mar. 29, 1933.
67 Visti, May 1, 1933.
68 Ibid., Aug. 23, 1933.
69 Ibid., Jan. 16, 1934 (speech of Zatonski); Aug. 22, 1934, Jan. 5, 1935.
70 Ibid., Dec. 4, 1933.
71 Ibid., Oct. 23, 1934.
72 The figure for the number of pupils in 1937 is taken from Socizlističeskoe Stroitelslvo Sojuza S.S.S.R., 1933–1938 gg. (Moscow-Leningrad, 1939), p. 163.
73 Ibid., p. 163.
74 Socialistična Ukraina. Statistični Zbirnik (Kiev, 1937), p. 222.
75 Ibid., p. 222. Statistika Ukraini. Narodnja Osvita na Ukraini … , pp. 20–26. A comparison of absolute figures for 1927 and 1935–36 must take into account that the statistics for 1927 gave the total number of pupils in mixed schools but not the number studying in various languages used in these schools. The number of pupils studying in the Russian, German, Moldavian, Tartar, Bulgarian and Czech languages in 1935–36 was greater than the number studying in their own schools in 1927 plus the total number in mixed schools using these languages for some classes. The conclusion that there was a decline in the total number of pupils studying in the Jewish, Polish, Assyrian and Swedish languages is arrived at by considering roughly the number of pupils in mixed schools studying in these languages. For example, in 1927 there were 68,836 pupils in Jewish schools; in 1935–36 there were 69,211 pupils studying in the Jewish language; hence, there were 375 more pupils studying in Jewish in 1935–36 than had been attending Jewish schools in 1927. But in 1927 there were 11,603 pupils in mixed schools using Jewish and either Russian or Ukrainian; in all probability there were more than 375 pupils in these schools who were being taught in Jewish; and by 1935–36 the surplus above 375 had been lost to Jewish classes, indicating a decline in the total number studying in Jewish.
76 Visti, May 30, 1937; June 6, 1937.
77 Socialistična Ukroina … , p. 133.
78 The percentages for 1927 are taken from Desjati Z'izd Kommunističnoi Partii (Bilšovikiv) Ukraini… , pp. 48–52. The percentages for 1936 are from Socialistična Ukraina … , p. 152.
79 Zbirnik Uzakonen … , 1920, part 1, sec. 509, p. 713; 1927, part 1, sec. 157, p. 626.
80 Zbirnik Nakaziv ta Rosporiadžen Narodnogo Komisariaty Osviti Ukrainskoi R.S.R., 1940, sec. 355, p. 14.
81 Zbirnik Uzakonen … , 1923, part 1, sec. 430, p. 900.
82 Ibid., 1927, part 1, sec. 157, p. 626.
83 Proletarska Pravda, May 9, 1926.
84 Visti, Aug. 23, 1933.
85 Za Kommunisličeskoe Prosveščenie (organ of the commissariats of education of the union republics), May 16, 1937; Učitehkaia Gazeta (organ of the commissariats of education of the union republics), Feb. 27, 1938, Mar. 19, 1938, Mar. 29, 1938.
86 Narodni Komntissariat Osvita U.R.S.R., Navčalni plant počatkovoi ta serednoi školi (Kiev, 1939) pp. 8–9, 11, 13, 15–17, 19, 21, 23. It may be noted that the plan for the rural elementary schools contained 36 more hours and for the rural middle schools 54 more hours than was assigned to the corresponding urban schools.
87 Za Kommunističeskoe Prostščenie, May 14, 1937.
88 Zbirnik Nakaziv …, 1940, sec. 336, pp. 8–9.