I was sorting through old books and came across my old school primer from 1984. I skimmed through it and, frankly, I was stunned. This children's book, according to which children need to learn to read cheerfully and with pleasure, turned out to be so densely saturated with communist propaganda that it is even surprising how we, born in the USSR, managed to avoid the final and irreversible zombie.

The trash starts from the very first page. I quote: "Today you begin your journey to a wonderful, extraordinary country - the Land of Knowledge. You will learn to read and write, for the first time you will write the words dearest and closest to all of us: mother, Motherland, Lenin"

Further more. Lenin, the party, Great October, the USSR - the best country in the world, veterans, the Second World War, and - a rather persistent push for the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bbecoming an astronaut. It seems that the USSR was planning a large-scale space expansion.

So do not be surprised at the amount of cotton wool in the brains of compatriots. Rather, one should be surprised that even with such grandiose and systematic efforts of state propaganda, normal people remained.

Born and raised in the USSR, what do you think: how much of what you think their beliefs and values, your, and what was simply driven into your head in childhood and became a part of you against your will? What is really dear to you, and what are you just trained to love? Why were you proud of some things and ashamed of others? How do you define what is good and what is bad?

Do not rush to answer. Let's leaf through the 1984 primer together, which I (and you, probably) were once taught from.

A primer is a book that children opened first, absorbing everything that was written in it or read between the lines without doubt or criticism. Each of his words laid down in the foundation of their future worldview as the ultimate truth. It takes years, a flexible and inquisitive mind, the habit of healthy reflection and a supportive environment to rethink and revise the beliefs formed in early childhood. Many never manage to get rid of the cliches imposed in childhood, and they do not consider it necessary.

What lesson did the primer begin with? What was written on its first page?

Mom, Motherland, Lenin. Here they are - the words that should have become the closest and dearest to us. Haven't forgotten anyone? And where is dad? What, did not even enter the top three? But Lenin was not forgotten - here they are, clearly set priorities.

I wonder what will be written in primers after 2017, when Putin and, perhaps, will significantly expand his powers? Mom, our Crimean, Putin? Or will mom be thrown out as unnecessary, replaced with something more useful - with "Orthodoxy", for example?

Lenin's snide physiognomy in full page (there are no more such large pictures in the book at all) - the first thing the child saw after the word "primer book". Later, the child was informed that Lenin "ardently wanted" the guys to grow up as staunch communists. Competent and hardworking citizens. Sensible and unpretentious cogs, in a word. So that at least sanctions, at least stones from the sky - nothing at all. Is it any wonder then that Lenin's mummy still lies on Red Square, and the population patiently demolishes any government experiments on the long-suffering domestic economy?

Motherland - the second of the most important words in the primer is the USSR - united, powerful, great, beautiful and generally the best. The coat of arms, the flag, the image on the map - everything is to show how important this thing is - the state. It is not for nothing that for many the collapse of the USSR is a personal tragedy, the actual loss of the Motherland. Now nostalgia for the USSR is successfully fueling aggression against Russia's closest neighbors under the guise of uniting the "Russian world". So what if people die? This is for the motherland!

And here is a funny exercise: “the pilot is sawing; carpenter - swims; captain is flying. You need to arrange the words correctly so that they correspond to each other. I don’t remember what I thought about when I saw this exercise many years ago, but now for some reason it immediately occurred to me that Shuvalov was flying with us (on his Bombardier), Usmanov was sailing on the world’s largest yacht, and sawing. Everyone is sawing who can get to the budget money. Alas, this is the time.

The fate of the Soviet schoolchild was predetermined from birth: an October child - a pioneer - a Komsomol member - a communist. It is no coincidence that everything began in October, more precisely, with the Great October Revolution. The date of the banal coup has become a starting point, a sacred event and even a kind of “thing in itself”. Is it possible to say: “glory to September” or “glory to the New Year”? Sounds stupid. And "glory to October", it turns out, you can.

And here, in general, the whole spread is dedicated to the symbols of communist ideology: Leningrad, Aurora, pioneers and a demonstration that demonstrates nothing but the controllability of the herd that voluntarily-compulsorily came out on it.

One gets the feeling that the USSR was purposefully preparing for a large-scale space expansion - otherwise why invest in children the desire to become astronauts? A more exotic profession still needs to be looked for: for 300 million inhabitants of the USSR, there are less than 120 cosmonauts, including 33 who have already died. Less than one astronaut for 2 million people - was it worth it to conduct such a long-term advertising campaign?

Moreover, the topic of cosmonautics is raised repeatedly, despite the fact that by 1984 leadership in space had long been lost, and the Soviet space program was special to its participants. with his dream of colonizing Mars, it is worth taking note of the idea - it will be useful for educating future Martians.

Militarism, too, of course, was not bypassed. Those volunteers who are now fighting in the DPR/LPR were also brought up in the spirit of respect for the glorious Soviet soldiers.

The children learned to honor the veterans and, for granted, accepted the idea that for peace it is possible (and necessary) to fight, no matter how absurd and hypocritical it may sound.

After reviewing the primer, I realized where a whole bunch of other, harmless clichés came from in my head: a dog is a man's best friend; Pushkin is a great Russian writer (by the way, why not a poet?); Tolstoy is a brilliant Russian writer; Mayakovsky - the great Soviet poet; Marshak, Mikhalkov, Barto are remarkable Soviet writers.

Ready-made labels hang on everything in the primer. Instead of simply signing this or that work and allowing the kids to form their own opinion about it, they are annoyingly informed that these authors are great and brilliant. The ability to evaluate and think critically has always been a superfluous skill for those who were destined to stand in line and obey the wise directions of the party and government.

As a result, if you look at Russians aged 30 to 50, it turns out that most of them have a head full of attitudes and clichés, the price of which is not even a penny, but 45 kopecks - that’s how much the Soviet primer cost, stuffed to capacity with communist ideology.

Of course, he was the first, but not the only link in the chain. Behind him, other books, films, newspapers, TV shows, performances, public events, and what the hell else would come into play. All this had one goal - to educate the man of the future, the builder of communism.

I don’t know who first came up with the idea that it is permissible to manipulate children, gradually pushing “correct” ideas and values ​​​​into their heads, but we now see the result of this in all its glory: an infantile population with densely powdered brains, vainly trying to find points contact between objective reality and the program laid down in childhood, nostalgic for the great and beautiful country, which in fact never existed.

Download Soviet textbook

To study! To study! And learn again!

V.I.Lenin

Approved by the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR

© " Penlightenment" Moscow 1987

Format: PDF, File size: 5.35MB

Today you start your journey to a wonderful, extraordinary country - the Land of Knowledge! You will learn to read and write, for the first time you will write the most dear and close words for all of us: mother. Motherland, .

The school will help you become a literate and hardworking citizen of our great Motherland - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

We congratulate you on the beginning of your studies and give you the first school book - Primer. Take care of him! It will open the door to the world of new, interesting books for you. From it you will learn how great and beautiful our Motherland is, how much the Soviet people do so that there will always be peace on the whole Earth! ..

Be diligent and hardworking.

Good luck, dear friend!

Download textbook USSR - Primer 1987

Cm. Textbook excerpt...

Pilots in flight - Those who are in the sky At work!

Those who are at the stoves - No hot work!

Tractor driver -

Glory in the field

And your job is at school.

Your work is also in sight.

Honest work!

Goats and wolf.

There lived a goat. She had seven children. She made herself a hut in the forest. Every day the goat went to the forest for food. She will leave herself, and tells the children to lock themselves tightly and tightly and not open the doors to anyone ...

When the dog approaches the swamp, the lapwing flies off the nest and lures the dog along with it. He runs in front of the dog itself. The dog rushes after him, wants to catch. And the lapwing leads the dog away from its nest.