Ministry of Education (Soviet Union)

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Ministry of Education of the USSR
Министерство просвещения СССР
Coat of arms of the Soviet Union 1.svg
All ministry seals of the Soviet Union used the Soviet coat of arms
Agency overview
Formed3 August 1966
Dissolved5 March 1988
Superseding agency
    • State Committee for People's Education (1988–1991)
    • Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation (1991–1996)
    • Ministry of Science, High School and Technical Policy of the Russian Federation (1991–1993)
JurisdictionUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics
HeadquartersMoscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

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. 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. However he described Nadezhda Krupskaya as the "soul of Narkompros".[1] Mikhail Pokrovsky and Evgraf Litkens also played important roles.

Lunacharsky protected most of the avant-garde artists such as Vladimir Mayakovsky, Kazimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Despite his efforts, the official policy after Joseph Stalin 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 reported to after 1918.
  • A Theatre Department which published Vestnik Teatra
  • Vneshkol'nyi Otdel, the adult Education Department run by Krupskaya

Some of these evolved into separate entities, others discontinued.

History[]

The Ministry's predecessor, the People's Commissariat for Education of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), was established by a decree of the second convocation of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets on 8 November [O.S. 26 October] 1917 and was part of the Sovnarkom. The first Commissar was Anatoly Lunacharsky 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  [ru] from 11 March 1988 to 10 December 1991.[2]

Commissars and ministers[]

Anatoly Lunacharsky was the first and longest serving Soviet Narkom of Education.

The following persons headed the Commissariat/Ministry as commissars (narkoms) and ministers:[3][4][circular reference]

Name Took office Left office Duration
People's Commissar for Education of the RSFSR
Anatoly Lunacharsky 26 October 1917 12 September 1929 11 years, 321 days
Andrei Bubnov 12 September 1929 12 October 1937 8 years, 30 days
12 October 1937 29 March 1940 2 years, 169 days
Vladimir Potemkin 29 March 1940 23 February 1946 5 years, 331 days
Minister of Education of the RSFSR
9 April 1946 24 January 1948 1 year, 290 days
Aleksandr Voznesensky 24 January 1948 15 July 1949 1 year, 172 days
15 July 1949 28 March 1956 6 years, 257 days
28 March 1956 4 May 1966 10 years, 37 days
4 May 1966 24 December 1966 234 days
13 February 1967 27 November 1980 13 years, 288 days
15 January 1981 26 July 1988 7 years, 193 days
Minister of Education of the USSR
24 December 1966 20 December 1984 17 years, 362 days
20 December 1984 5 March 1988 3 years, 76 days

Note[]

The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education of the Russian Empire, which was formed by combining:

  • Ministry of National Education (Russian Empire);
  • 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.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ The Commissariat of Enlightenment
  2. ^ "Портал о здоровье и заболеваниях позвоночника. Информационный портал".
  3. ^ "14161".
  4. ^ ru:Список министров просвещения России

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.

External links[]

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