Hello comrades and welcome to the fifth improvement megathread of March! bonfire There’s only one more day of March left, it’s a good time to make some plans or intentions for April.

Some discussion ideas:

  • How was your March?
  • Do you have any plans for April?

Poster caption: “The victorious growth of Socialism in the USSR will find its expression in the great growth of socialist based national cultures.”

spoiler

The woman illustrated on the poster is wearing an Uzbek costume, and she is a Soviet-era depiction of educational success. Her education came about through the campaign of Likbez (Liquidation of Illiteracy).

With Likbez, an individual became “semi-literate” after six to eight hours a week of study over three months. An additional six to eight months of study was then required to achieve full literacy. The Likbez Commission re-doubled its efforts among the population to reach the target of full, national literacy in time for the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution (1927).

Likbez withered after its commission missed the goal for October 1927. In time, the government closed the literacy centers and the resources once earmarked for them were put towards technical and higher education programs during Stalin’s First Five-Year Plan (1928–32).