ABSTRACT
In view of the importance attached to the collective as an educator in both Russia and China it is surprising that few writers have given the subject the special treatment it deserves. In the Soviet Pedagogicheskaya Entsiklopediya (1965) the ‘children's collective’ is given six pages and ‘collectivism’ another three, while Shchukina's Course of Lectures in Pedagogy (1966) contains a whole chapter on ‘the collective and the formation of the personality of the pupil’. N. Grant (1964) deals with the educational role of the various Soviet youth organisations without mentioning the concept as such, nor does he mention Krupskaya or Makarenko. B. King (1937) writes at length on the related concept of children's self-government, but also does not discuss the collective. Even Woody (1932) who is aware of the concept and describes his visit to Shatsky's Colony of the Cheerful Life (Bodraya zhizn), used his chapter on ‘collectivism’ to discuss the socio-economic policies and goals of the USSR rather than its educational theories. Bowen (1962), in his discussion of Makarenko and Anweiler (1964) are exceptional in discussing the concept at some length, though almost exclusively in the context of children's colonies.
