ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the background against which the present Soviet educational system can be judged. Soviet theory places all particular loyalties into an international idealism, progressing gradually from its appearance as "workers of the world" to a current emphasis on humanism sometimes identified as international understanding, environmental consciousness, international cooperation, and peace. Over the first forty years of Communism the drive to provide primary education for all included something of the language and culture of the minorities-often for the first time. Praise for Soviet education is usually focused upon the rapid expansion and democratization of school enrollments, and the success at expanding secondary and higher education for an increasing part of the population-particularly in the 1920s. The discrimination faced by minorities took the form of threats to physical security, denial of "rights" such as land, goods and power, and occasional difficulties arising from actions of citizens who misinterpreted the laws and acted as enforcers.
