ABSTRACT
Democratic educational values cannot be born and cannot survive in ‘obedient’ state schools. At least, not in Russia. If these premises are true, it is reasonable to assert that in a democratic civil society, the school can’t belong totally to the State. The Communard movement, a special educational method aimed at enhancing the collective creativity of children, quickly spread across the country. Three educational approaches were developed in the Vygotsky cultural-historical conception: the Davydov-Elkonin system, the Zankov system and the Galperin system. The educational situation in Russia in 1993 is grim. This can be seen in the management of educational institutions and the content of education. There are two distinct types of education in Russia today: the etacratic school of totalitarian values, and the alternative school of civil-society values. In a civil society, every person has the right to an education that is independent of state demands.
