The Ministry of Education of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (russian: Министерство просвещения СССР), formed on 3 August 1966, was one of the most important government offices in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. It was known as the People's Commissariat for Education (russian: Народный комиссариат просвещения), or Narkompros, until 1946. Narkompros was a Soviet agency founded by the State Commission on Education (russian: Государственная комиссия по просвещению) and charged with the administration of public education and most of other issues related to culture.
Its first head was
Anatoly Lunacharsky
Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (russian: Анато́лий Васи́льевич Лунача́рский) (born Anatoly Aleksandrovich Antonov, – 26 December 1933) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Bolshevik Soviet People ...
Vladimir Tatlin
Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin ( – 31 May 1953) was a Russian and USSR, Soviet painter, architect and stage-designer. Tatlin achieved fame as the architect who designed The Monument to the Third International, more commonly known as Tatlin's Towe ...
and
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (russian: Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд, translit=Vsévolod Èmíl'evič Mejerchól'd; born german: Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre ...
. Despite his efforts, the official policy after
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
put him in disgrace.
Narkompros had a number of sections, in addition to the main ones related to general education, e.g.,
* Likbez, a section for liquidation of illiteracy,
* "Profobr", a section for professional education,
* Glavlit a section for literature and publishing (also in charge of censorship in publishing),
* "Glavrepertkom" (Главрепертком), a commission for approval of performers' repertoires.
* Department of the Mobilisation of Scientific Forces, to which the
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across ...
reported to after 1918.
* A Theatre Department which published
Vestnik Teatra
''Vestnik Teatra'' (''Theatre Courier'') was the journal of the Theatre Department of Narkompros, founded in Moscow in 1919. It became an influential journal amongst theatrical practitioners during the period following the Bolshevik seizure of powe ...
* ''Vneshkol'nyi Otdel'', the adult Education Department run by Krupskaya
Some of these evolved into separate entities, others discontinued.
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
(RSFSR), was established by a decree of the second convocation of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets on and was part of the
Sovnarkom
The Councils of People's Commissars (SNK; russian: Совет народных комиссаров (СНК), ''Sovet narodnykh kommissarov''), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (Совнарком), were the highest executive authorities of ...
. The first Commissar was
Anatoly Lunacharsky
Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (russian: Анато́лий Васи́льевич Лунача́рский) (born Anatoly Aleksandrovich Antonov, – 26 December 1933) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Bolshevik Soviet People ...
appointed in 1917.
The Ministry of Education, at the all-Union level, was established on 3 August 1966. It was merged, on 5 March 1988, with the Ministry of Higher and Middle Special Education and the State Committee for Vocational and Technical Education to form the State Committee for People's Education of the Soviet Union headed by from 11 March 1988 to 10 December 1991.
Ministry of National Education (Russian Empire)
The Ministry of National Education (russian: Министерство народного просвещения Российской империи), also translated as Ministry of National Enlightenment, was a government ministry in the Russian E ...
;
* The Chief Directorate of Religious Affairs of the Orthodox Faith of the Most Holy Synod;
* The Chief Directorate of Religious Affairs of Foreign (i.e. non-Orthodox) Faiths,
and directed the spiritual affairs of all faiths in Russia and the institutions of public education and science, trying to restore rights in East Slavic culture of
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
.
See also
*
Education in the Soviet Union
Education in the Soviet Union was guaranteed as a constitutional right to all people provided through state schools and universities. The education system that emerged after the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922 became internationally reno ...
*
Ministries of the Soviet Union
The Ministries of the Soviet Union (russian: Министерства СССР) were the government ministries of the Soviet Union.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the previous bureaucratic apparatus of bourgeois ministers was replaced by Pe ...
Ministry of Education and Science (Russia)
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (russian: Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации or Minobrnauki of Russia) existed from March 2004 till May 2018. It oversaw ...
*
Ministry of National Education (Russian Empire)
The Ministry of National Education (russian: Министерство народного просвещения Российской империи), also translated as Ministry of National Enlightenment, was a government ministry in the Russian E ...
References
Bibliography
* Bird, Alan. ''A History of Russian Painting''. G.K. Hall Painting, Russian, 2007.
* Graham, Loren R. ''Science in Russia and the Soviet Union''. Science—Soviet Union, 1993.
* Constantin, Nathan. ''A Study of Bolshevism''. Free Press, 1953.
* Smele, Jon. ''The Russian Revolution and Civil War''. Continuum International, 2003.
* Fitzpatrick, Sheila. ''The Commissariat of Enlightenment''. Cambridge University, 1970.
Education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...