Kak obuchat' gramote vzroslykh: Pamiatka kul'tarmeitsa. Vtoroe izdanie [How to teach literacy to adults. Second edition] by Ivanovskaia osobaia komissia po kul'tpokhodu ivanovskoi promyshlennoi oblasti - 1931

Ivanovo-Voznesensk: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo, ivanovskoe oblastnoe otdelenie, 1931. Octavo (18 × 12.5 cm). Original typographically illustrated staple-stitched wrappers; 24 pp. Owner inscription in blue ink to front wrapper and title page. Light foxing to wrappers; unobtrusive restoration to spine extremities; upper corner of p. 4 torn, not impacting text. Still very good. First provincial edition of a literacy campaign pamphlet intended as a practical aide to the "cultural army" in battling illiteracy in the provinces, with the original editions published in Moscow and Leningrad the year prior. Illiteracy was a major issue in turn-of-the-century Russia, with literacy rates for 1897 at only 21% of the population (29% for men and 13% for women). This became a problem for the new Soviet state as the Bolsheviks tried to provide political education to largely illiterate populations. The first All-Union Cultural Campaign to eradicate illiteracy was launched in 1928, coinciding with the first five-year-plan. Not only teachers but all literate members of the population - university students, members of the Komsomol, and other educated professions were assembled into literacy brigades of "cultural soldiers" and encouraged to carry out literacy workshops in the provinces. This pamphlet provides a practical guide for teachers who are not necessarily experienced in teaching adults. Basic literacy and arithmetic are emphasized. A catalog to the rear wrapper provides a list of political education books published especially for semi-literate adult audiences. Not in KVK or OCLC.