Issue ? 39. August 2013

Reforming the System of Social Science and Economic Disciplines Teaching as a Tool of Ideological and Political Education of Soviet Students in the late 1930s

Graduate student, School of Public Administration, Lomonosov Moscow State University.
E-mail: evgenyminaev@yandex.ru

The article is devoted to the process of reforming the system of teaching of social and economic disciplines in the Soviet higher education in 1936–1940. The period from the end of 1937 to 1938 should be considered a milestone, when the change in the leadership of the All-Union Committee on Higher Education took place, the History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) was published, and the relevant Resolutions were issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) on November 14, 1938, which led to a restructuring of the propaganda activities in the country. A single course on the Marxism-Leninism was introduced, that was based on the structure of the History of the CPSU(b). A logical extension of this was measures to improve the quality of scientific and educational work of the newly created Department of Marxism-Leninism, to strengthen the material base and discipline. According to official estimates, the system of teaching social and economic disciplines in higher education institutions was perfected by 1940. In author’s opinion, this work is one of many factors that enabled the Soviet Union to make a breakthrough in economic development — which, in turn, created the necessary conditions for victory in World War II. The article is based on archival materials from the VKVSH fund, much of the material was never examined before.

Keywords

History of higher education, ideological and political education, All-Union Committee on Higher Education at the SNK of the USSR, history of Marxism-Leninism, ideology, I. Mezhlauk, S. Kaftanov.