Autonomy and Academic Freedom in Soviet Universities (from 1920s to 1950s)
https://doi.org/10.15826/umpa.2024.01.010
Abstract
This article explores the issue of university autonomy and academic freedom in Soviet universities during the 1920s–1950s. In the years 1917–1922, Bolsheviks established a new type of university based on the higher education system of the Russian Empire – the democratic-enlightenment university, contrasting with the pre-revolutionary imperial university. It was open to the lower classes of society, primarily proletarians, did not award diplomas upon completion, was not integrated into the civil service system like the imperial university, and focused on training personnel for the economic and social spheres and mass education. Its complete subordination to Narkompros was accompanied by relaxation in the realm of academic freedoms. This university was characterized by pedagogical experiments, the application of cutting-edge teaching technologies for that time, and an emphasis on independent and creative student work. Following the end of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and the country’s shift towards industrialization and cultural revolution, there arose a need for specialists in the national economy, teachers, and medical professionals. The universities of the 1920s were unable to meet these transformations, leading to Stalin’s reform of higher education. This reform aimed at pragmatizing higher education and significantly impacted universities. As a result, universities became integrated into the higher education system as institutions preparing personnel for science and the education system. Practices reminiscent of pre-revolutionary universities, including their focus on elite reproduction, were revived. The new regulations further restricted their autonomy; however, remnants of university autonomy crucial for training scientific personnel persisted in Soviet universities.
Keywords
University autonomy,
academic freedom,
Soviet universities,
early Soviet university,
Stalinist university
Supporting agencies: This research was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 23–18–00048)
About the Author
R. R. Vakhitov
Ufa University of Science and Technology;
National Research Tomsk State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Rustem R. Vakhitov – PhD (Philosophy), Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Sociology, Ufa University of Science and Technology
32 Zaki Validi st., Ufa, 450074;
36 Lenin Ave., Tomsk, 634050
References
1. Mazur L. N., Karmanova E. D. K voprosu ob avtonomii rossiiskikh universitetov: istoriko-dokumentovedcheskoe issledovanie ustavov XIX–XXI vv. [On the Question of the Autonomy of Russian Universities: Historical and Documentary Study of the Statutes of the XIX–XXI Centuries]. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 4: Istoriya. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya, 2020, vol. 25, nr 2, pp. 156–169. (In Russ.).
2. Nikol`skij V. Universitetskaya av tonomiya i akademicheskaya svoboda (kriticheskii vzglyad na vzaimosvyaz’ traditsionnykh tsennostei) [University Autonomy and Academic Freedom (a Critical Look at the Relationship of Traditional Values)]. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii, 2008, nr 6, pp. 147–155. (In Russ.).
3. Ridings B. Universitet v ruinakh [The University in Ruins]. Moscow, Izd. dom Gos. un-ta – Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki, 2010, 304 p. (In Russ.).
4. Prokop`ev V. P. Federal’nyi universitet i klassicheskoe universitetskoe obrazovanie [Federal University and Classical University Education]. Universitetskoe upravlenie: praktika i analiz, 2010, nr 6, pp. 28–32. (In Russ.).
5. Zelenskaya L. D. Mirovoi opyt stanovleniya universitetskoi avtonomii i samoupravlenie [World Experience in the Formation of University Autonomy and Self-Government]. Pedagogika, psikhologiya i medikobiologicheskie problemy fizicheskogo vospitaniya i sporta, 2008, nr 3, pp. 69–71. (In Russ.).
6. Kail ` M. V. Sovetskii universitet kak sotsiokonstruiruyushchii proekt: ideologiya i praktika v sozdanii pervykh sovetskikh universitetov [The Soviet University as a Socio-Constructing Project: Ideology and Practice in the Creation of the First Soviet Universities]. In: Epokha sotsialisticheskoi rekonstruktsii: idei, mify i programmy sotsial’nykh preobrazovanii: sbornik nauchnykh trudov [The Era of Socialist Reconstruction: Ideas, Myths and Programs of Social Transformations, Collection of Scientific Works], Ekaterinburg, Izd-vo Ural. un-ta, 2017, pp. 461–469. (In Russ.).
7. Noveishii filosofskii slovar’, available at: https://gufo.me/dict/philosophy/%D0%9C%D0%9E%D0%94%D0%95%D0%9B%D0%AC» (accessed 21.11.2023). (In Russ.).
8. Shandulin E. V. Universitetskaya transformatsiya v 1920-e gg. v SSSR kak otrazhenie gosudarstvennoi politiki reformirovaniya vysshego obrazovaniya (po materialam Donskogo universiteta) [University Transformation in the 1920s in the USSR as a Reflection of the State Policy of Reforming Higher Education (Based on the Materials of the Don University)]. Gumanitarnye i yuridicheskie issledovaniya, 2017, nr 1, pp. 135–140. (In Russ.).
9. Parsamov V. S. Bor’ba za universitet v bol’shevistskoi Rossii 1917–1921 gg. [The Struggle for the University in Bolshevik Russia in 1917–1921]. // Vestnik RGGU. Seriya «Istoriya. Filologiya. Kul’turologiya. Vostokovedenie», 2018, vol. 6 (39), pp. 121–146. doi 10.28995/2073-6355-2018-6-121-146 (In Russ.).
10. Martinovich D. M. Realizaciya modeli svobodnogo universiteta v RSFSR: 1918-nachalo 1920-x gg. [Implementation of the Free University Model in the RSFSR: 1918-Early 1920s.] Vesnіk BDU, 2012, iss. 3, nr 3, pp. 33–36. (In Russ.).
11. Tarasenko V. N. Vysshaya shkola i studenchestvo v epokhu NEPa [Higher School and Student Youth in the NEP Era]. Biznes i dizain revyu, 2017, vol. 1, nr 4 (8), p. 15. (In Russ.).
12. Markov A. Chto znachit byt’ studentom? Raboty 1993– 2003 gg. [What Does it Mean to Be a Student? Works of the 1993–2003]. Moscow, NLO, 2005, 264 p. (In Russ.).
13. Universitet skvoz’ stoletiya: kak menyalas’ vysshaya shkola Rossii [University Through the Centuries: How the Higher School of Russia Has Changed], available at: https://theoryandpractice.ru/posts/19896-universitet-skvoz-stoletiya-kak-menyalas-vysshaya-shkola-rossii (accessed 21.09.2023). (In Russ.).
14. Komarov Yu. T. Dal’ton-plan v sovetskom variante [Dalton Plan in the Soviet Version], available at: https://moskvam.ru/publications/publication_1938.html (accessed 21.09.2023). (In Russ.).
15. Vdovenko A. Istoriya o tom, kak otkryli i zakryli instituty krasnoi professury [The story of How the Institutes of the Red Professorship Were Opened and Closed], available at: https://skillbox.ru/media/education/istoriya-o-tom-kak-otkryli-i-zakryli-instituty-krasnoy-professury/ (accessed 21.09.2023). (In Russ.).
16. Pisarev D. I. Nasha universitetskaya nauka [Our University Science]. In: Universitetskaya ideya v Rossiiskoi imperii XVIII-nachala XX veka. Antologiya. Uch. posobie dlya vuzov [University Idea in the Russian Empire from the 18th to the early 20th Century], Moscow, ROSSPEN, 2011, pp. 283–296. (In Russ.).
17. Stalin I. V. Ob itogakh iyul’skogo Plenuma TsK VKP(b). Doklad na sobranii aktiva leningradskoi organizatsii VKP(b) 15 iyulya 1928 g. [On the Results of the July Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). Report at the Meeting of the Asset of the Leningrad Organization of the CPSU(b) on July 15, 1928], available at: http://www.hrono.ru/libris/stalin/11–20. html (accessed 21.09.2023). (In Russ.).
18. Avrus A. I. Istoriya rossiiskikh universitetov [History of the Russian Universities.] Moscow, Moskovskii obshchestvennyi nauchnyi fond, 2001, 85 p. (In Russ.).
19. Vakhitov R. R. Sud’ba universiteta v Rossii: imperskii, sovetskii i postsovetskii razdatochnyi mul’tiinstitut [The Fate of the University in Russia: Imperial, Soviet and Post-Soviet Multi-Distribution Institute]. Moscow, «Strana “Oz”», 2014, 276 s. (In Russ.).
20. Vakhitov R. R. «Bolezni» nashikh universitetov: sovetskie vuzy v postsovetskuyu epokhu [“Diseases” of our Universities: Soviet Universities in the Post-Soviet Era]. Universitetskoe upravlenie: praktika i analiz, 2017, vol. 21, nr 2, pp. 14–23. doi 10.15826/umpa.2017.02.016 (In Russ.).
21. Malyavina L. S. Universitety v usloviyakh otraslevoi reorganizatsii sovetskoi vysshei shkoly (1930-e): na primere Dal’nevostochnogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta (g. Vladivostok) [Universities in the Context of the Sectoral Reorganization of the Soviet Higher School (1930s): on the Example of the Far Eastern State University (Vladivostok)]. Paradigmy universitetskoi istorii i perspektivy universitetologii (k 50-letiyu Chuvashskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta imeni I. N. Ul’yanova): VII Arsent’evskie chteniya (12–14 oktyabrya 2017 g., Cheboksary) [Paradigms of University and Perspectives of University Studies]. Cheboksary, 2017, vol. 2, 285 p. (In Russ.).
22. Koldushko A. A. Obrazovanie kak element sotsial’nogo portreta partiinoi nomenklatury v 1920–1930-e gody (na primere Sverdlovskoi i Permskoi oblastei) [Education as an Element of the Social Portrait of the Party Nomenclature in the 1920s-1930s (on the Example of the Sverdlovsk and Perm Regions)]. Vestnik Permskogo gosudarstvennogo tekhnicheskogo universiteta. Kul’tura. Istoriya. Filosofiya. Pravo, 2010, vol. 3 (29), pp. 105–111. (In Russ.).
23. Tromly B. Making the Soviet Intelligentsia: Universities and Intellectual Life under Stalin and Khrushchev. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014, 295 p. (In Eng.).
24. Mincz M. M. Tromli B. Sozdanie sovetskoi intelligentsii: universitety i intellektual’naya zhizn’ pri Staline i Khrushcheve [B. Tromly. Making the Soviet Intelligentsia: Universities and Intellectual Life under Stalin and Khrushchev]. Sotsial’nye i gumanitarnye nauki. Otechestvennaya i zarubezhnaya literatura. Ser. 5. Istoriya: Informatsionnoanaliticheskii zhurnal, 2017, nr 2, pp. 80–86. (In Russ.).
25. Vodichev E. G. Sovetskaya nauchnaya politika v period «pozdnego stalinizma» (vtoraya polovina 1940-kh-nachalo 1950-kh gg.): markery i metamorfozy [Soviet Scientific Policy During the Period of “Late Stalinism” (the Second Half of the 1940s-early 1950s): Markers and Metamorphoses]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya, 2014, vol. 2 (28), pp. 41–53. (In Russ.).
26. Gribovskij M. V., Sorokin A. N. Akademicheskie svobody i byurokraticheskie uzy prepodavatelya: rezul’taty polevogo issledovaniya v universitetakh Velikobritanii i Frantsii [Academic Freedoms and Bureaucratic Ties of a Teacher: Results of a Field Study at Universities in the UK and France]. Universitetskoe upravlenie: praktika i analiz, 2019, vol. 23, nr 1–2, pp. 60–71. doi 10.15826/umpa.2019.01-2.004 (In Russ.).
27. Agamirzyan I. R., Atnashev T. M., Zin`kovskij K. V., Klyuev A. K., Leshukov O. V., Pavlyutkin I. V., Savelyonok E. A., Safronov P. A. Universitet INC.: ot akademicheskoi korporatsii k intellektual’nomu proizvodstvu [INC University: from Academic Corporation to Intellectual Production]. Universitetskoe upravlenie: praktika i analiz, 2018, vol. 22, nr 4, pp. 126–134. (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Vakhitov R.R. Autonomy and Academic Freedom in Soviet Universities (from 1920s to 1950s). University Management: Practice and Analysis. 2024;28(1):144-153. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.15826/umpa.2024.01.010
Views:
397
Email this article 