V. I.

Lenin

Draft Decision for the Plenum of the C.C., R.C.P.(B.) on The Reorganisation of the People’s Commissariat for Education [1]

1. The post of Assistant People’s Commissar to be instituted at the
Commissariat for Education with all administrative functions concentrated
in his hands.

[ sic.]

3. General reorganisation of the Commissariat for Education is considered
essential, but it should be more thoroughly prepared, particularly it
should be discussed at a number of meetings in connection with the
Congress of Soviets. Exact distribution of functions between the central
and local bodies of the Commissariat for Education to be discussed and
settled there.

4. It is considered necessary in principle to merge the secondary
schools (or their higher forms) with technical vocational training under
two indispensable conditions: 1) that general education subjects and
communism in the technical vocational schools be extended; 2) that
practical steps be taken immediately to pass over to polytechnical
education, for which purpose use is to be made of every available electric
station and suitable factory.

The implementation of this reform is to be deferred pending the general
reorganisation.

5. Comrade Litkens to be appointed Assistant People’s Commissar and
made to devote no less than half his work hours to the Chief Committee for Political Education until. such time as
this Committee is properly staffed.

6. The Orgbureau to be directed to speed up the staffing of the Chief
Committee for Political Education and see to it that it is fully provided
for in this respect. [2]

---
Notes:
[1]
The question of reorganising the work of the People’s Commis-sariat for
Education was raised by Lenin in November 1920 (see Collected Works, Fifth [Russian] Edition, Vol. 42, p. 376). This reorganisation
was necessitated by the fact that the activities and structure of the
Commissariat did not meet the new tasks in the field of public education
arising from the transition to peaceful socialist construction. In his
letter to Lunacharsky dated November 29, 1920, Lenin set forth his