Enlightenment activities of Soviet classical universities: a valorization of the role

The enlightenment activities of the Soviet classical universities are constructed on the basis of normative legal acts, office documents, periodicals and interview materials. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Tomsk, Saratov, Perm universities are studied. The conceptual basis of the research is put forward - the "third role", which is understood as the totality of all university activities aimed at meeting the needs of society outside the academic environment. The author emphasizes the difficulty of distinguishing the concepts of "enlightenment" and "education", which are synonymous for most contemporaries of the events. The definition of enlightenment activity is put forward - the dissemination of knowledge, skills, experience, ideas and cultural values carried out outside the framework of educational programs. The conditions, goals and nature of enlightenment activities in the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods are investigated. It is noted that the imperial universities had a fairly narrow range of listeners, there was practically no ideologization in the materials of the lecturers, and participation in public education was voluntary. Soviet universities, on the other hand, focused on a mass audience, combined the popularization of knowledge and the promotion of socialism at the goal level, and participation in the activities themselves by the teaching staff was mandatory. Universities have become an integral part of the new system, where educational activities as a type of practice were institutionalized already in the first standard charter (1921). The forms and results of enlightenment activities are investigated. It is emphasized that the forms in which the education of the population was carried out were quite "formulaic" for all classical universities: lecture halls, Sunday universities, cells of the public organization «Znanie», public universities. It is stated that Soviet universities were indispensable and active participants in enlightenment activities, responding to all requests from the authorities during the most difficult and crisis periods of history. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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