Article contents
The Development of Literacy in Russia and the USSR from the Tenth to the Twentieth Centuries
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2017
Extract
The history of literacy in Russia may be divided into four periods: 1) the Kievan, from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries (before the Mongol invasion); 2) the medieval (Muscovite), from the middle of the thirteenth to the end of the seventeenth centuries; 3) the imperial, from the eighteenth century to 1917; and 4) the Soviet, after 1917. For each of these periods distinctive sources have been preserved that call for special handling and methodologies.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © 1991 by the History of Education Society
References
1. Gurevich, F. D., “Gramotnost' gorozhan drevnerusskogo Poneman'ia,” Kratkie soobshcheniia Instituta arkheologii Akademii Nauk SSSR (no. 135, 1973), 28–34.Google Scholar
2. Kolchin, B. A. and Ianina, V. L., “Arkheologii Novgoroda 50 let,” in Novgorodskii sbornik: 50 let raskopok Novgoroda (Moscow, 1982), 94–103.Google Scholar
3. Ocherki russkoi kul'tury xiii–xv vekov (Moscow, 1969), 166; Dneprov, E. D., ed., Ocherki istorii shkoly i pedagogicheskoi mysli narodov SSSR s drevneishikh vremen do kontsa xvii v. (Moscow, 1989).Google Scholar
4. Sapunov, B. V., Kniga v Rossii XI–XV vekov (Moscow, 1969), 206–7.Google Scholar
5. Ibid., 82.Google Scholar
6. Belen'kaia, D. A., “O gramotnosti moskovskikh gorozhan v XIV–XVII vv.,” Kratkie soobshcheniia Instituta arkheologii Akademii Nauk SSSR (no. 144, 1975), 47–53.Google Scholar
7. Dneprov, , ed., Ocherki istorii shkoly, 43–45; Rozov, N. N., “Statistika i geografiia russkoi knigi XV veka,” in Kniga v Rossii do XIX veka (Leningrad, 1978), 37.Google Scholar
8. Sobolevskii, A. I., Obrazovannost' Moskovskoi Rusi XV–XVII vv. (St. Petersburg, 1894), 3–13.Google Scholar
9. Ocherki istorii shkoly, 45–46.Google Scholar
10. Sobolevskii, , Obrazovannost' Moskovskoi Rusi, 3–26.Google Scholar
11. Bogoiavlenskii, S. K., Nauchnoe nasledie: O Moskve XVII veka (Moscow, 1980), 159–61; Borisov, V., “Vzgliad na gramotnost' shuian v XVII i XVIII stoletiiakh,” Zhurnal ministerstva narodnogo prosveshcheniia, part 84, section 7 (1854): 53–60; Istoriia severnogo krest'ianstva (Archangel'sk, 1984), 1: 408–9; Kopylov, A. N., Ocherki kul'turnoi zhizni Sibiri XVII-nachala XIX v. (Novosibirsk, 1974), 45–46; Sudakov, G. B., “Gramotnost' i knizhnaia kul'tura vologzhan v XVII v.,” in Materialy po istorii Evropeiskogo severa SSSR: Severnyi arkheograficheskii sbornik (Vologda, 1973), 3: 219; Ustiugov, N. V., Nauchnoe nasledie (Moscow, 1974), 78. In her study of Belgorod officers, Stevens, C. B. calculated a Russian-language literacy rate, again by counting signatures, that ranged between 17 and 50 percent. Stevens, C. B., “Belgorod: Notes on Literacy and Language in the Seventeenth Century Army,” Russian History, Histoire Russe, parts 1–2 (1980): 115, 122.Google Scholar
12. Bogoiavlenskii, , Nauchnoe nasledie, 160–61; Kopylov, , Ocherki kul'turnoi zhizni, 45–46; Ustiugov, , Nauchnoe nasledie, 78; Istoriia severnogo krest'ianstva, 1: 408–9.Google Scholar
13. Rogov, A. I., “Shkola i prosveshchenie,” in Ocherki istorii russkoi kul'tury XVI veka (Moscow, 1977), part 2, p. 250, n. 2; Iatsimirskii, A. I., “Obrazovannost' v Moskovskoi Rusi,” in Russkaia istoriia v ocherkakh i stat'iakh (Kiev, 1912), 3: 513.Google Scholar
14. Istoriia severnogo krest'ianstva, 1: 413. Basing his calculations on data on the circulation of primers and psalters, Gary Marker also estimates that at the end of the seventeenth century the level of literacy in Russia was between 3 and 5 percent. Marker, Gary, “Literacy and Literacy Rates in Moscow: A Reconsideration,” Slavic Review 49 (Spring 1990): 74–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Kafengauz, B. B., Ocherki vnutrennego Rynka Rossii pervoi poloviny XXIII v. (Moscow, 1958), 283–85; Istoriia severnogo krest'ianstvo, 1: 409; Istoriia Moskvy, 5 vols. (Moscow, 1953), 2: 477; Kopylev, , Ocherki kul'turnoi zhizni, 108. Between 1719 and 1858, ten censuses (revizii) were conducted. Begun by Peter the Great, the revizii included only rural and urban taxpayers and not the nobility, clergy, officialdom, or army. Certain regions and ethnic groups were also excluded.Google Scholar
16. Volkov, L. V., “O gramotnosti naseleniia Rossii v XVIII v.,” Voprosy arkhivovedeniia (June–Mar. 1964), 125.Google Scholar
17. Lappo-Danilevskii, A. S., Sobranie i svod zakonov Rossiiskoi imperii, sostavlennye v tsarstvovanie imperatritsy Ekateriny II (St. Petersburg, 1897), 15, 137, 140; Bochkarev, V., “Kul'turnye zaprosy russkogo obshchestva nachala tsarstvovaniia Ekateriny II po materialam Zakonodatel'noi komissii 1767 g.,” Russkaia starina (Feb. 1915), 327; Istoriia severnogo krest'ianstva, 411–14.Google Scholar
18. Istoriia severnogo krest'ianstva, 1: 411–14.Google Scholar
19. Trans.: The meshchanstvo was a legal category including petty tradesmen and artisans in the towns, and sometimes described the urban lower orders.Google Scholar
20. Bulgakov, M. B., “Gramotnost' pomeshchich'ikh krest'ian Kolomenskogo i Volokolamskogo uezdov Moskovskoi gubernii nakanune reformy 1861 [po opisaniiam pomeshchich'ikh imenii 1858 g.],” in Istochnikovedcheskie i istoriograficheskie aspekty russkoi kul'tury (Moscow, 1984), 63, 65; Druzhinin, A. G., Nachal'noe obrazovanie v Tul'skoi gubernii s 1800 po 1900 god (Tula, 1901), 54–75; Krutikov, V. I. and Fedorov, V. A., “Opisanie pomeshchich'ikh imenii 1858–1859 gg. kak istochnik po istorii pomeshchich'ego khoziastva i krest'ianstva nakanune reformy 1861 g. [po materialam Tul'skoi i Moskovskoi gubernii],” in Ezhegodnik po agrarnoi istorii Vostochnoi Evropy: 1970 (Riga, 1977), 153; Sel'skokhoziastvennaia statistika Saratovskoi gubernii, sostavlennaia po svedeniiam, sobrannym Saratovskoi Komissiei dliia uravneniia denezhnykh sborov s gosudarstvennykh krest'ian (St. Petersburg, 1859), 81; Semevskii, M. I., Gramotnost' v derevniiakh gosudarstvennykh krest'ian Pskovskoi gubernii v 1863 (St. Petersburg, 1864), 81–89; Trubnikov, V., “Resul'taty narodnykh perepisei v Ardatovskom uezde Simbirskoi gubernii,” in Sbornik statisticheskikh svedenii o Rossii, izdannyi statisticheskim otdeleniem Russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva (St. Petersburg, 1858), book 3, 426; Voennostatisticheskoe obozrenie Rossiiskoi imperii, vol. 13, part 4, Penzenskaia gubernii (St. Petersburg, 1849), 74; Rakhmatullin, M. A., “Krest'ianskoe dvizhenie v velikorusskikh guberniiakh v 1826–1857 godakh” (Ph.D. diss., University of Moscow, 1988), 138, 145; Blagoveshchenskii, N. A., Svodnyi statisticheskii sbornik khoziiastvennykh svedenii po zemskim podvornym perepisiam (Moscow, 1893), 1: 28, 124–28; Obshchii svod po imperii resul'tatov rasrabotki dannykh pervoi vseobshchei perepisi naseleniia proizvedennoi 28 ianvaria, 1897 goda (St. Petersburg, 1905), 1: 56–67, 40–43.Google Scholar
21. Obshchii svod po imperii, 1: 40–43.Google Scholar
22. Mironov, B. N., “Literacy in Russia, 1797–1917: Obtaining New Historical Information through an Application of Retrospective Prediction Methods,” Soviet Studies in History 25 (Winter 1986–87): 90–117.Google Scholar
23. Vakhterov, V. P., Vneshkol'noe obrazovanie naroda (Moscow, 1896), 7–12; Eklof, Ben, Russian Peasant Schools: Officialdom, Village Culture and Popular Pedagogy, 1861–1914 (Berkeley, Calif., 1986), 394–410; Korf, N. A., “Obrazovatel'nyi uroven' vzroslykh gramotnykh krest'ian,” Russkaia mysl' [Book 10, 1881], 30–31, [Book 12, 1881], 4–5; Charnoluskii, V. I., Voprosy narodnogo obrazovaniia na pervom obshchezemskom s'ezde (St. Petersburg, 1912), 12–13; Chekhov, N. V., Narodnoe obrazovanie Rossii s 60-kh godov XIX veka (Moscow, 1912), 141.Google Scholar
24. Calculated from Vsesoiuznaia perepis' naseleniia 1926 goda (Moscow, 1929), vol. 1: RSFSR, part 1, 136–39, 160–61.Google Scholar
25. Trans.: Zemstvos were local institutions of partial self-government established in European Russia in 1864. The zemstvos were active in promoting education.Google Scholar
26. Eklof, , Russian Peasant Schools, 287–99, 389–410.Google Scholar
27. Dubrovskii, A. V., Sel'skie uchilishcha v Evropeiskoi Rossii i privislinskikh guberniiakh (St. Petersburg, 1884), 88–91; Statisticheskii vremennik Rossiiskoi imperii (St. Petersburg, 1866), vol. 1, part 3, ch. 2, pp. 47–63.Google Scholar
28. Vakhterov, V., “Usloviia rasprostraneniia obrazovaniia v narode,” in Ekonomicheskaia otsenka narodnago obrazovaniia (St. Petersburg, 1899), 84–114; Materialy po voprosu o vvedenii obiazatel'nogo obucheniia v Rossii: Sbornik mnenii direktorov i inspektorov narodnykh uchilishch (St. Petersburg, 1880), 1–170; Odnodnevnaia perespis' nachal'nykh shkol Rossiiskoi imperii, proizvedennoi 18 ianvariia 1911 (Petrograd, 1916), vol. 16, part 1, p. 72, Petrov, V., “Ocherki po istorii gramotnosti v Rossii,” Novoe slovo (Oct. 1896), 83–113, and (Nov. 1896), 35–65; Fal'bork, G. A. and Charnoluskii, V. I., Narodnoe obrazovanie v Rossii (St. Petersburg, 1899), 156–64; Kumanev, V. A., Revoliutsiia i prosveshchenie mass (Moscow, 1973), 33–71.Google Scholar
29. Mironov, B. N., “Dinamika gramotnosti v Pribaltike v XVIII–XIX veka: Opyt istoricheskogo predskazaniia,” Izvestiia Akademii Nauk Estonskoi SSR: Obshchestvennye nauki (no. 1, 1989), 42–49.Google Scholar
30. At the turn of this century, boys remained in school for 2.14–2.33 years; girls for 1.80–2.03 years. For both sexes, the combined average was around 2 years. Eklof, , Russian Peasant Schools, 328–41.Google Scholar
31. Graff, Harvey J., The Legacies of Literacy: Continuities and Contradictions in Western Culture and Society (Bloomington, Ind., 1987), 77, 97, 106, 144.Google Scholar
32. Obshchii svod rezul'tatov pervoi vseobshchei perepisi naseleniia, 1: 161, 163.Google Scholar
33. Eklof, , Russian Peasant Schools, 474–82.Google Scholar
34. Mironov, , “Dinamika gramotnosti v Pribaltike,” 46.Google Scholar
35. Iatsunskii, V. K., Sotsial'no-ekonomicheskaia istoriia Rossii XVIII–XIX vv. (Moscow, 1973), 104.Google Scholar
36. Rashin, A. G., Naselenie Rossii za 100 let (Moscow, 1956), 98; Obshchii svod rezul'tatov, 2: 1.Google Scholar
37. Kniaz'kov, S. A. and Serbov, N. I., Ocherk istorii narodnogo obrazovaniia v Rossii do epokhi reform Aleksandra II (Moscow, 1910), 144–54, 179–82.Google Scholar
38. Eklof, , Russian Peasant Schools, 47–48, 281–82. Jeffrey Brooks argues that the level of literacy demanded by the peasantry increased at the turn of the century, therefore he is more optimistic about the impact of literacy upon peasant psychology. Brooks, Jeffrey, When Russia Learned to Read: Literacy and Popular Literature, 1861–1917 (Princeton, N.J., 1985), 3–34.Google Scholar
39. “A-l-a,” “Gramotnost'i prestupnost' v. Arkhangel'skoi gubernii,” Arkhangel'skie gubernskie vedomosti, 1869, no. 42; Borisov, N., K voprosu o vliianii zaniatiia, ekonomicheskogo polozheniia i gramotnosti sel'skogo naseleniia na nekotorye storony nachal'nogo narodnogo obrazovaniia (Aleksandriia, 1899), i–xviii; Vorob'ev, K., “Gramotnost' sel'skogo naseleniia v sviazi s glavneishimi faktorami khoziatsva [po dannym podvornoi perepisi Myshkinskogo uezda Iaroslavskoi gubernii],” in Trudy podsektsii statistiki XI s'ezda estestvoispytatelei i vrachei v S.-Peterburge 20–30 dekabria 1901 g. (St. Petersburg, 1902), 33–58; Gavrishev, L. L., “O vliianii obshchego obrazovaniia rabochikh na produktivnost' ikh truda,” in Trudy s'ezda deiatelei po tekhnicheskomu i professional'nomu obrazovaniiu v Rossii 1895–1896 gg. Sektsiia IV (St. Petersburg, 1896), 133–42; idem, “Obrazovanie masterovykh Nikolaevskogo Admiralteistva i ego vliianie na proizvoditel'-nost' ikh raboty,” in Ekonomicheskaia otsenka narodnogo obrazovaniia (St. Petersburg, 1899), 119–35; Koz'minykh-Lanin, I. M., Gramotnost' i zarabotki fabrichno-zavodskikh rabochikh Moskovskoi gubernii (Moscow, 1912); Kolokol'tsev, S. S., “Sviaz' promyslov s gramotnost'iu i ekonomicheskimi priznakami [po dannym Tverskoi gubernii],” in Trudy podsektsii statistiki XII s'ezda russkikh estestvoispytatelei i vrachei v g. Moskve 29 dekabria 1909–5 ianvaria 1910 (Chernigov, 1912), 599–615.Google Scholar
40. Strumilin, S. G., Khoziaistvennoe znachenie narodnogo obrazovaniia (Moscow, 1924); idem, “Effektivnost' obrazovaniia v SSSR,” Narodnoe obrazovanie (no. 5, 1962); Zhamin, V. A., Sotsial'no-ekonomicheskie problemy obrazovaniia i nauki v razvitom sotsialisticheskom obshchestve (Moscow, 1979); Ekonomikia narodnogo obrazovaniia (Moscow, 1986).Google Scholar
41. Mironov, B. N., “The Effect of Education on Economic Growth: The Russian Variant: The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries” (unpublished paper).Google Scholar
42. See, for example, Luria, A. P., “Psikhologiia kak istoricheskaia nauka [k voprosu ob istoricheskoi prirode psikhologicheskikh protsessov],” in Istoriia i psikhologiia (Moscow, 1971), 36–62.Google Scholar
43. Eklof, , Russian Peasant Schools, chs. 13–14.Google Scholar
- 23
- Cited by