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Stalin's Grandchildren

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Stalin's Grandchildren VOL. V11 SHANGHAI. JULY 19 •• No.1 STALIN'S GRANDCHILDREN By KLAUS ?tIEHNERT Since tile publitalion. of Qu·r C1rticle "Sh(mlJer Strapa-Afld Then'" (February 1944). which deall 1/'ilh Ihe co"r811 Bolllllevi8m has take,. durit.g the la8t jetlJ year8. t111,,:I. IW8 happe/le,l Illat ullo'/J/I the "-A Ild Thul?" tu be 8un ir. a clearer light. Jr. IAe foUowilly, we have aingled oul one problllm-lhal oj the youngM' SOfJid genaation -to ...." it for Ihe nllalY8i8 oj 1I0llle oj Ihe P8Ychologi«Jl corMeqtUncu oj lhe war in Ihe USSR. The aut/lor has 81ltdied thll problem" oj Soviu youlh' Jor fifteen flcar. and written u book ,md rWIIIUOl/8 urlielM 'Woul il. .48 a Joreign corrupondent he 8pIlTit .everul moniliA in tile ycar8 betweCTI /929 atld 1936 in 8tudctll dormitunu and youth cumps in Ihe Sot·iet Utlion, and he wall ucqtUJinUd wilh mallY yotmg RtultWn8. Since lemnl/.Y Ihl1 USSR he hU8 kept ,fp urith developmenl8 among Soviet yott/h by jollowing i'" lilern/ure, (/8 i/ i8 reprullnied by book8, f1eW8papcr8 8UCh. cu the "Kom. 80molskaya Prcwdu" alld "Piollerlll.:aya Pravda," a"d magu:;lIu 8lJch aoB "Smeno," .. Vojaly;' alld ..Ogollyo{·... II oflen /wPl>a18 ill political liJe Ihat real.ily changu more rapidly ,/1(". our idea" abou' it. The 'ror/d a8 a whole 81il1 hall tdea8 oj SOlriu floWh whteA held good jor 1M Ihirliu. Our llI/IIuy ill an ulle1llp' 10 bri"g thulS ideail up.lo.dale. T the outbreak of ·wa.r in 1941 there and to produce-must be carried out chiefly lived in the Soviet Union, within t.he by the younger generation. A borders of 193U, some 100,000,000 people who were bom after the Revolut.ion When speaking of the working youth of of 1917. The agc structurc of Soviet youth the Soviet Union, there are Cwo point.s to was lLt that time : be horne in mind. Up to the age of I) years 46 millions (1) The proportion of youth in the From 10 to 14 yours 17 milJiona population and its share in the state's .From Iii to 18 )'OUI'!l 15 millions total production ill greater than in any other l<'runl 19 to 25 years 22 milJiolUl state. The sbortage in manpower, which Never before ill the history of Russia and has become particularly acute since the hardly ever in the bistory of any other state start of the almost continuou8 offensivc8 in hlL!l yOllth played so important a part as it the summer of 1943 with their huge casual­ does today in the Soviet Union. The war ties, has led to the mobilization of millions has terribly decimated the ranks of t.he of children for economic life. In his book middle generat.ion, t.he men from 25 to 45; One World, Wendell Willkie describes his and the older gencration Ims very little to visit to the USSR in the autumn of 1942, lIlLY. Now and again pres.'! and radio men· long before the complete mobilization of tion lctters written by an elderly father to manpower which has taken place since, his son serving in the Red Army, or letters Yet e\'cn then Willkie saw childrcn of ten he had received from his son. But other­ working 66 hours a week in the airplane wise ha.rdly anything is ever heard about factory over \\·hich he was shown. After the old people in t.he country. And this is finding no men of military age, except the only natural. In tbe first place, com· director, in the kolkho% (collectivized village) paratively few old people bavc survived the he visited, Willkie remarked: "The wives strenuous events since 1914; and secondly, and children of the soldiers feed the coun­ the two main tasks set by t.he war-to fight try." " '- '. 2 THE XXtb CENTURY YOUTH MEANS omLS &8 the true props of education, This led to such catastrophic consequences that the (2) Soviet working youth consists ma.inly Soviets attempted to consolidate the family of girls. This is especially true in the field again during the thirties and to place it as of agriculture. According to Soviet statis­ a third, equal factor beside the other two. tics, si· per cent of all tractor drivers, for But this period lasted only six years. The example, are women (Bolshevik, No.5, 1944, family has fallen back into a state of dis­ p. 3-l). The majority of them belong to the integration for reasons whioh are to be younger generation. found above all in the effects of the war, A letter addressed to Stalin by the kolkhoz and the forming of the younger generation women of a single province (Tambov) and is once again almost completely'in the hands reprinted in the 18Ve8tiya (17.6.43) con­ of schools and youth organizations. tains the following passage: Au examination of these two inBtitutions You, Comrade Stalin. know that many kol1cho: is particularly topical since both of them chainnon have gone to the (ront. Without hesita· underwent a series of important changes tion, their posta were taken over by WI women. during the last few months, in the course of In our province women have fined the (onowing posta : which a number of previously hidden facts have come to light. III villagll IOviet chairmen 408 kolkhoz chairmen FOUR SCHOOL REFORMS 3,056 heads of tractor brigad08 2,867 beads of cattle farlWl 17.275 group leadol'8 In the winter of 1943/44, Soviet schools 3;932 members of 1rolkJw% committ.oos entered upon a new phase. The most 1,110 chairmen of examination committees important Dleasures by which this phase is 3,235 stablo luwda , .. to be distinugished from the previous one and more than 50,000 other leading or special are: (1) a new system of school marks, (2) positions in the kollchozu of our province. the end of coeducation. (3) new rules for Not only in agriculture but in all other pupils, and (4) new rules affecting the spheres of economic life has the proportion visiting of cinemas and theaters by school­ of women riscn in an unparalleled manner. children. In the field of transport, for instance, it is At first sight these changes do not look 90 per cent, and even in the oil industry espt.-"Cially interesting. But in the Soviet with its great dernands on physical exertion Union things rarel! seem interesting at first it is 50 per cent (Mainichi from Moscow, sight. In contrast to the USA, for example, 10.3.44). To appreciate the significance of where national problems are cl.i2cussed in this, one must remember that the Russian public, that which is problematical in the woman has always been known' for her USSR is only fC\'ealed to the observer upon capacity for hard work. closer study. For officially there arc no To give an approximate idea of the present problems in the sta.te of the Bolsheviks. ago distribution among the two sexes in the Officially, everything is wonderful and runs younger generation behind the front we sIDoothly. In the first few years after the present the following figures which we have l~evolution, somo problelllil were still ac­ worked out on the basis of nil material and knowledged. Now, however, that the Bol­ factors (mobilization, evacuation to Ger­ sheviks have triumphed completely and have many, death, capture, etc.) known to us, but done away with the old classes-by "liquidat­ with no guarantee for accuracy: ing" the bou·rgeoisie and "dekulakizing" the farmers-there is, according to Marxist In MillioUB ideas, no longer grotmd for problems of Agll Bay" Uir's any kind. If wc arc to believe Soviet ac­ count.s, the Soviet state, Soviet' eco~omy, 10 to 14 7.5 7.5 15 to 18 4 6 Soviet education-indeed, the entire life of 19 to 25 1.25 9.5 the Soviet Union runs like a perfectly con­ structed machine. It is true that when a • In most other countries the family and machine is not lubricated properly it docs the school are the main pillars of education. not run so well. But that docs not imply Not so in the Soviet Union. During the a problem. The machine itself and its first eighteen years of its rule, Bolshevism cOllstruction remain perfect. All that is systematically weakened family influence needed is to add some lubricating oil, and and regarded schools and youth organizations the machine runs as smoothly as ever. In STALIN'S GRANDCHILDREN 3 -the eyes of the Bolsheviks, the reforms in it posseBBes a "significance ofthe first order." the field of education, too, are nothing but We shall return to this question later. fresh lubricating oil for a perfect machine. But are we to take their word for it? EXAMINATIONS DISOOVERED GOOD OR 4! This is not the first time in the field of education tha.t the Soviets have proclaimed A new decree states that from now on the return to a prerevolutionary measure as ICliool mlU'ks are not to be expressed with an important innovation a.nd refonn. To tb~ words "excellent, good, satisfactory, give an example: after the victory of Bolshe­ imsatisfactory, bad" but by the figures 5, 4, vism in Russia, the system of examinations 3J 2, and 1. Obviously the difference is not formerly customary in Russia's education great. Is it not a matter of utter indiHerence was abolished. For fifteen years .there were or, at most, of taste whether the mark no examinations of any kind in the Soviet ia.
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