Much has been written lately on the political changes behind the Iron Curtain. Yet little systematic information has been available up to now on the educational and cultural revision of life demanded by the men in the Kremlin. That they propose to develop a “new” Soviet man has been pretty generally understood. How this is to be done has remained somewhat of a mystery. This book fulfills an obligation to present the facts about national life behind the Iron Curtain and to offer the non-Communist world a picture of the educational system being utilized in the production of this flesh and blood robot, a process very frequently spoken of in the West as “brainwashing.”
In the satellite countries the educational revolution has had to take on the imperialistic technique—since not one of the states currently in the Soviet orbit has had any educational traditions that would favour the Marxist blueprint. Another sad commentary emphasizes the fact that, up to now, the Western world has paid very little attention to—and actually knows little of-the long educational heritage of these formerly free and proud countries of East Central Europe.
Already in the U.S.S.R., and in the ten satellites in East Central Europe, the state-owned and administered school systems have become virtually an integral part of the Communist political system assigned to play a key role in the “Building of Socialism”. Basic changes are already remolding the educational fabric of many countries; new generations of loyal Communists are now being reared, whose ethical standards and very thought processes stand 180° from those of Western man and the free world.
