The Second All-Russia Congress for the liquidation of illiteracy which was held recently took note sympathetically and warmly of the work of the Red Army in the struggle against illiteracy. The greetings of the educational workers are precious to us, but ought not to cause us to indulge in self-deception. Illiteracy in the Red Army has been liquidated only in the rough. The majority of the Red Army men are returning to illiterate villages, and there the man who has not learnt his lesson thoroughly risks forgetting it altogether. We need to ensure that every Red Army man who returns to his village becomes an active fighter against illiteracy. In order to achieve this aim we need, besides correct, organised planned work by the entire army apparatus, to ensure the exercise of constant influence by the more literate, more conscious, more cultured Red Army men upon the backward ones. Illiteracy and semi-literacy must come to be looked on in the Red Army as something shameful, which everyone will strive to get rid of as soon as he can.
The fight against illiteracy is only the first step in a great struggle against poverty, grossness and all the other heritages of slavery. Let us never forget this for a single day or a single hour.
Last updated on: 28.12.2006