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People's Commissariat A People's Commissariat (russian: народный комиссариат; Narkomat) was a structure in the Soviet state (in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in other union and autonomous republics, in the Soviet Union) from 1917� ...
for Education (or Narkompros; russian: Народный комиссариат просвещения, Наркомпрос, directly translated as the "People's Commissariat for Enlightenment") was the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
agency charged with the administration of public education and most other issues related to culture. In 1946, it was transformed into the
Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
. Its first head was Anatoly Lunacharsky. However he described Nadezhda Krupskaya as the "soul of Narkompros".
Mikhail Pokrovsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Pokrovsky (russian: Михаи́л Никола́евич Покро́вский; – April 10, 1932) was a Russian Marxist historian, Bolshevik revolutionary and a public and political figure. One of the earliest profession ...
, Dmitry Leshchenko and
Evgraf Litkens Evgraf Alexandrovich Litkens (russian: Евграф Александрович Литкенc; 1888–1922)
was a
...
also played important roles. Lunacharsky protected most of the avant-garde artists such as Vladimir Mayakovsky, Kazimir Malevich,
Vladimir Tatlin Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin ( – 31 May 1953) was a Russian and Soviet painter, architect and stage-designer. Tatlin achieved fame as the architect who designed The Monument to the Third International, more commonly known as Tatlin's Tower, wh ...
and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Despite his efforts, the official policy after Joseph Stalin put him in disgrace. Narkompros had seventeen sections, in addition to the main ones related to general education, e.g., *
Likbez Likbez (russian: ликбе́з, ; from a Russian abbreviation for russian: ликвида́ция безгра́мотности, translit=likvidatsiya bezgramotnosti, label=none, , meaning "elimination of illiteracy") was a campaign of eradicat ...
, a section for liquidation of illiteracy, * " Profobr", a section for professional education, * Glavlit, a section for literature and publishing (also in charge of censorship in publishing), * " Glavrepertkom" (Главрепертком), a commission for approval of performers' repertoires. * Department of the Mobilisation of Scientific Forces, to which the
Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across ...
reported after 1918. * TEO, the Theatre Department which published
Vestnik Teatra ''Vestnik Teatra'' (''Theatre Courier'') was the journal of the Theatre Department of Narkompros, founded in Moscow in 1919. It became an influential journal amongst theatrical practitioners during the period following the Bolshevik seizure of powe ...
* ''Vneshkol'nyi Otdel'', the adult Education Department run by Krupskaya Some of these evolved into separate entities, others discontinued.


Relationship with Proletkult

Pavel Lebedev-Polianskii, as chair of the Organizing Bureau for the National Proletkult argued that Narkompros, as a state organ, had responsibilities for the whole of society, whereas Proletkult asserted its autonomy as an organisation set up specifically for workers class. However, there was concern with "parallelism" - the situation which arose when similar work was carried out in parallel by different organisations. In early 1918 Narkompros gave Proletkult a budget of over 9,200,000 rubles, whereas the entire Adult Education Division received 32,500,000 rubles.


Izo-Narkompros

The Izo-Narkompros (Изо-наркомпрос), or the section of
visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts a ...
(отдел изобразительных искусств) created on 29 January 1918. It consisted of two parts: the collegium (deliberative organ) and the section proper (executive organ). The first collegium was headed by
Vladimir Tatlin Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin ( – 31 May 1953) was a Russian and Soviet painter, architect and stage-designer. Tatlin achieved fame as the architect who designed The Monument to the Third International, more commonly known as Tatlin's Tower, wh ...
and included Kasimir Malevich,
Ilya Mashkov Ilya Ivanovich Mashkov (russian: Илья Иванович Машков; – 20 March 1944) was a Russian artist, one of the most significant and at the same time most characteristic painters of the circle of " Jack of Diamonds" (russian: Бу� ...
,
Nadezhda Udaltsova Nadezhda Andreevna Udaltsova (, 29 December 1885 – 25 January 1961) was a Russian avant-garde artist (Cubist, Suprematist), painter and teacher. Early life and education Nadezhda Udaltsova was born in the village of Orel, Russia, on 29 Decemb ...
,
Olga Rozanova Olga Vladimirovna Rozanova (also spelled Rosanova, Russian: Ольга Владимировна Розанова) (22 June 1886 – 7 November 1918, Moscow) was a Russian avant-garde artist painting in the styles of Suprematism, Neo-Primi ...
, Alexander Rodchenko,
Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj;  – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
. It was subdivided into a number of subsections. Lunacharsky directed some of the great experiments in public arts after the Revolution such as the agit-trains and agit-boats, that circulated over all
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
spreading Revolution and revolutionary arts. He also gave support to Constructivism's theatrical experiments and the initiatives such as the '' ROSTA Windows'', revolutionary posters designed and written by Mayakovsky, Rodchenko, and others. Izo-Narkompros also published ''
Iskusstvo kommuny ''Iskusstvo kommuny'' (Art of the Commune – IK) was a Russian arts magazine published by IZO-Narkompros. It was edited by Osip Brik, Nathan Altman and Nikolay Punin who produced nineteen issues between 7 December 1918 and April 1919. Each issue ...
'' (Art of the Commune) of which 19 issues appeared between 7 December 1918 and April 1919.


Museum Bureau


Film industry

Lenin saw film as the most important medium for educating the masses in the ways, means and successes of communism. As a consequence Lenin issued the "Directives on the Film Business" on 17 January 1922, which instructed the Narkompros to systemise the film business, registering and numbering all films shown in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, extracting rent from all privately owned cinemas and subject them to censorship.


People's Commissars


See also

* Foreign Literature Committee *
Ministry of Education (Russia) The Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation (russian: Министерство просвещения Российской Федерации) is a ministry of the Government of Russia responsible for education. The Ministry of Education ...
* Academic Centre


References


The Governments of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 1917-1964
{{authority control Soviet culture Education Education in the Soviet Union Education ministries