Chapter 17 Free education is no longer a fantasy

Education is the foundation of social progress and development, and the enjoyment of education is the basic right of everyone.However, in the era of the reactionary Kuomintang government, poor people, especially those in rural areas, did not have the right to survive, and it became impossible to enjoy education, especially free education.After the establishment of the red regime led by the Communist Party, it has become one of the important tasks for poor people to enjoy education.The National Congress of the Chinese Soviets held in the Central Soviet Area passed the "Constitutional Outline of the Chinese Soviet Republic" (hereinafter referred to as the "Constitutional Outline"). For the purpose of enforcing rights, within the scope permitted by the class war, start to implement completely free universal education, first of all, it should be implemented among the young working people, and all the rights of the young working people should be guaranteed...

In February 1933, the First Congress of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers of the Sichuan-Shanxi Province announced that the "Outline of the Constitution of the Chinese Soviet Republic" was the fundamental law.In June of the same year, the Second Congress of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial Party decided in the "Resolution on the Current Political Situation and the Party's Tasks": Soviet theories and practices must be passed on to the broad masses through Soviet schools, training classes, newspaper reading sessions, literacy classes, conference speeches, written propaganda, dramas, pictorials, etc....

In June 1933 and August 1933, the Second Party Member Congress and the Second Congress of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers in Sichuan and Shanxi Province made comprehensive arrangements for the cultural and educational work in the Soviet area.The resolution of the Second Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Congress in Sichuan and Shanxi Province stated: Extensively develop cultural education in the Soviet area.The focus of the work should be on the development of social education... After-work schools, clubs, literacy classes, and newspaper-reading classes should be established everywhere, and the literacy campaign should be stepped up so that the workers and peasants in the Soviet areas can be literate, and Lenin primary schools should be established in a planned way.Establish publishing work and publish a large number of communist books.At the same time, for the needs of the Soviets, the Congress decided that the Provincial Soviet Cultural Committee should immediately establish a Soviet school to train cultural and other specialized talents.

In order to implement the resolution on popularizing education, the Soviet government of Sichuan-Shaanxi Province specially set up the Culture and Education Committee, which is the highest authority in charge of culture and education in the Soviet area. There are people at all levels in the village who are responsible for cultural and educational work. School education in the Sichuan-Shanxi Soviet Area can be roughly divided into two types: one is completely free and universal compulsory education, such as the Lenin School, "All young people, regardless of gender, have the opportunity to enroll, and all expenses for school meals and books should be borne by the government." The other is schools aimed at cultivating various revolutionary cadres, such as Party Schools, Soviet Schools, Red Army University, Peng Yang Military and Political School, etc.

According to the requirements of the Sichuan-Shanxi Province Soviets, general district and township Soviet governments run Lenin schools, schools for the poor, and middle schools for workers and peasants, mainly to popularize education and improve the cultural level of the masses.The first school established by the Red Army after entering Sichuan was Tongjiang Nixichang Lenin Primary School.Not long after the establishment of the Soviet in Chijiang County, fourteen Lenin primary schools were established in the villages.Less than a month after the Red Army liberated Bazhong, twenty-three Lenin primary schools were established in the villages.Through hard work, 23 counties, cities and townships in the entire Soviet area have set up Lenin schools or Lenin model schools equivalent to senior primary schools.

The size of Lenin Primary School varies from a few dozen students, such as those in Tongjiang Changping, Mengba, etc., to dozens to hundreds of students, such as Tongjiang Kucaoba, Bazhong Huanglianya Lenin Primary School, etc. There are more than 80 students in each elementary school.Lenin Primary School mainly enrolls boys and girls aged 6 to 14. Teachers usually hire local tutors who have taught in private schools. Some of the remuneration are salary, some are food and clothing, or the farming team helps to cultivate the fields.All Lenin primary schools and Lenin schools implemented free compulsory education, and the children of the poor and poor people enjoyed the right to education for the first time.Among them, eleven schools implement a full-time "supply system", and ten schools only serve lunch, which is really unimaginable in the war years.

Lenin Primary School set up nine courses including politics, national language, arithmetic, music, art, physical education, general knowledge, labor, and literature and art. ", "Revolutionary Three-Character Classic", "Elimination of Liu Xiang Three-Character Classic", "Reader for Red Revolutionary Warriors", etc., there are also various self-compiled literacy readers. The second issue of "Sichuan Provincial Sports History Materials" in 1983 contained a precious "Course Schedule for Primary Schools in the Soviet Area of ​​Sichuan-Shaanxi Province". The schedule shows that Lenin Primary School has three classes in the morning and afternoon, six days a week.The three classes in the morning on Monday are political news, Mandarin, and arithmetic, and the three classes in the afternoon are Mandarin, general knowledge, and physical education.There are also two sections of music, two sections of art, and two sections of labor practice every week.

Those who did not attend Lenin's primary school learned in another way.Ding Shouyuan was originally a member of the Boys’ Troupe of the Literacy Post in Baimiao Township. He once recalled: Back then, our Boys’ Troupe cooperated with the Red Army to set up road posts to check the roads. On the post where we checked the roads, they taught us how to read and asked us to be able to recognize and write, so that we could understand the roads.Every night, we work in pairs, in the shed or by the fire, we pay close attention to reading and quizzing each other.When you hand over the shift, ask your teacher or partner for the words you don’t know on the road.Teacher Li Kezhuan also often went to check the post to help us recognize characters.After such a period of time, I knew two or three hundred characters.

Bai Tailu, a veteran of the Red Fourth Front Army, also recalled: I joined the Red Army when I was doing carpentry work in Tongjiang in 1933. At that time, most of our soldiers were illiterate.Although the combat tasks are heavy, the superiors still care about our studies, teach us how to read, and organize how many words we can read, teach those who can read more and those who can read less, and regroup according to the degree of progress. The textbooks we study are in addition to the mimeographed "Must Read for Soldiers" , Just write and recognize slogans, such as "beat the local tyrants and divide the land", "the poor and poor unite to start a revolution with the Communist Party" and so on.Our superiors paid close attention to our studies, requiring us to "learn by seeing things and doing what we do", such as quilts, sabers, rifles, straw sandals, shoulder poles, grain, bowls and chopsticks, eating, etc., so we learned quickly.When some marched, they just looked at the things on the backs of the comrades in front or the things on the side of the road. When they arrived at the campsite, they wrote it repeatedly on their stomachs before going to bed, so that they knew hundreds of words at once.

In addition to compulsory education, the Soviet government in Sichuan-Shaanxi Province has also established a number of provincial professional schools to train various professional talents urgently needed, such as party schools, league schools, cadre schools, Soviet schools, post and telecommunications schools, communication schools, journalism schools, teacher training schools, etc. Chengsuo (normal school), Chinese medicine training class, women's school and other professional schools.The military office has Pengyang Military and Political School, and the rural office has literacy classes, clubs, reading rooms, and sports fields (also called Red Square).