Page:Nikolai Bukharin - Programme of the World Revolution (1920).djvu/82

 that is the reason why they have become so furious and have twice anathematised the present Government, i.e., the Government of the workers, by excommunicating all workers from the church. We must note this. At the time of the Tsar they knew well enough the text in the Scripture which says, "There is no power but from God," and "The powers that be are to be obeyed." They willingly sprinkled executioners with holy water. But why have they forgotten these texts at a time when the workers are at the head of the Government? Is it possible that the will of God does not hold good when there is a Communist Government? What can the reason be? The thing is very simple. The Soviet Government is the first Government in Russia to attack the pockets of the clergy. And this, by the way, is a priest's most sensitive spot. The clergy are now in the camp of the "oppressed bourgeoisie." They are working secretly and openly against the working class. But times have changed, and the masses of the labouring class are not so prone to become the easy prey to deceit they were before. Such is the great educational significance of the Revolution; revolution liberates us from economic slavery, but it also frees us from spiritual bondage.

There is another vital question concerning the mental education of the masses. It is the question of the school.

At the time of the domination of the bourgeoisie the school served more as an organ of educating the masses in a spirit of submission to the bourgeoisie than as a medium of real education. All primers and other appurtenances of study were permeated with the spirit of slavery. Especially was this the case with history books. These did nothing but lie in describing the feats of the Tsars and other crowned scoundrels. Next to these, an important part in the schools was played by the clergy. Everything aimed at one object: to mould the child so that it should emerge not a citizen but a subject, a slave, capable if the occasion requires to kill his fellow-men should they rise against the capitalist Government. Schools were divided into grades; there were schools for the common people and others for the better classes. For the latter there were colleges and universities, where the sons of the bourgeoisie were taught various sciences with the final object of teaching them how to manage and subjugate the rabble; for the rabble there was the lower school. In these, more than in the others, was the influence of the clergy predominant. The object of this school, that