KINDERGARTEN

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 147, 7 June 1932, Page 10

KINDERGARTEN

IN SOVIET RUSSIA THE MAKING OF ATHEISTS. GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. AIARX. The following is a report on the working of the Kindergarten in Russia where advantage is taken of the system to poison the child mind against civilisation as we know it, and to strengthen the spirit of Bolshevism in Bussiaa’s rising generation. It is well that this story should be read in New Zealand where at the present time a canvass is being made for members of a Dominion branch of the Friends of the Soviet Union. The report is written by the Moscow correspondent of the London ‘ ‘ Observer. ’ ’ Moscow, April 23. That the moulding of the Soviet child along Communist lines begins at a very early age was the strongest impression which I carried away from a visit to the kindergarten “Communist International,” which is attached to the clothing factory “Labour.” About sixty children between the ages of three and seven are enrolled in this kindergarten, the expenses of which are mostly paid by the factory, the parents being assessed only for the cost of the food which is served to the children The diet consists of bread, vegetables, three quarters of a glass of milk daily, small quantities of butter and sugar, occasionally apples, and meat every second or third day.

In many of its features the kindergarten, which is considered one of the best in Moscow, is quite like similar institutions in other countries. The children are divided into groups according to the ages, and have organised programmes of play, study, and rest. They cut out ami paste pictures, build with blocks, take care of plants. Tho older children set the table and serve food. “But the three distinctive features of “The Communist Inter-

national” are the cult of Leninism, the intensive anti-religious propaganda, and the concentration upon military toys and games. Prominently displayed in one of the rooms is a placard, made by the children themselves, with the heading: “How we fulfilled the Commandments of Lenin.” Various children had carried our these “commandments” in different ways. Some had collected money for Afopr (an organisation which exists to help Communist prisoners in other countries) and for the construction of an airplane. Others had sent toys to a collective. One proud youngster claimed credit for having removed ikons from his home. A crude drawing showed the removal of the ikons, and beneath was an inscription: “There is no God; we don’t want Christmas; we shall make our parents also godless.” I asked a boy of seven who stood nearby to explain the meaning of this scene. His face became tense and serious. “There is no God,” he declared. “That is why we remove the ikons. Only the priests and capitalists say there is a God, because they are enemies of the workers and want to enslave them. ’ ’ Two other boys came up. “Of course, there is no God,” they added. “And abroad workers’ children are not allowed to go to school, because they don’t want them to learn that there is no God.” “Do any children abroad go to school?” I inquired. This question created some confusion. “Some go and some don’t,” was one reply. “The children of the rich go,” was another.

The ideas of tho children were very definitely directed towards military things. Pictures of AVar Commissar A’oroshilov, General Budenny, and Red soldiers and sailors were on the walls. In tho more advanced group, where the children were six and seven years old, practically all the toys suggested war. A table was covered with miniature tanks, cannon, rifles, machine-guns, armoured trains, and on the floor was a large toy wooden cannon, which the children had made themselves. Several boys ran around tho room with toy rifles, firing imaginary shots at eai-h other. I asked one of the teachers why there was so much emphasis upon military things, and she replied: “AVc arc not all pacifists, ami our children are very well informed about the Red Army. They are taught to love and admire it, ami they .-ill want to become soldiers wheu they grow up. We take the children on excursions to Red Army schools ami barracks, ami the soldiers visit us. AVe know that wo

shall be attacked by the capitalists, nud we pit-pure for it ami lije up 1< the commandments of Lenin,’* she concluded, with a gesture to the placard on tho wall.