Another important "fellow traveler" No less characteristic is another "fellow traveler of Yeltsin and Gaidar", Alexander Vladimirovich Rutskoi. To a large extent, this is the exact opposite of Khasbulatov ... In 1991-1993, the details of Rutskoy's biography were either omitted altogether or falsified -

INTRODUCTION
Over the past five years, I keep hearing: is the history of libraries really needed? Well, they were alive now, but are they worth such close attention to their past. I am sure: the history of libraries is on the same level with the history of public education. After all, they, along with schools, have played a huge role in the life of our people. It is they who help to store and pass on from generation to generation the knowledge accumulated by mankind. Studying the history of libraries operating in the city is an opportunity not only to determine the date of opening, addresses, but also to try to name those who opened these libraries.
The history of libraries can be studied in two ways. First: memories of the oldest library workers and their readers. The second is the study of documents that are stored in the funds of our archives: the State Archive of the Ulyanovsk Region and the archive recent history. In addition to traditional statistical reports on the work of libraries for each year of work from the date of foundation, the funds of the Department of Culture and the Department of Culture of the City Council also store text reports, references on the work of libraries and other documents. What a joy it is when, through a pile of dusty dry reports, you come across a living word about a library or a reading room - evidence that not just a performer, but also a real ascetic worked in this small cultural institution.
The scope of my research is limited to the Soviet period and only to the city (the history of the largest libraries - regional scientific and youth - is handled by the academic secretary of the Palace of Books, V.M. Patutkina).

HUT - READING ROOMS
Let's imagine our city in the early twenties. It is generally accepted that at that time the city had two or three libraries. This is not true. According to the list of libraries as of December 1, 1921, there were 34 libraries in the city. The list includes military and departmental libraries: for example, at the Economic Council, Gubzemdepartment, health department, concentration camp, correctional house, and so on. In the same list - the provincial book depository familiar to us, the central library, two regional ones, and so on. In addition to the registered libraries, it is known that various institutions and organizations of the city had ... 47 distribution points.
The ruler of thoughts in those years was our countryman - V.I. Lenin. He and his wife N.K. Krupskaya thought out and put into practice the idea of ​​bringing the book as close as possible to the reader. For example, V.I. Lenin believed that the number of libraries serves as an indicator of the culture of any country. In his opinion, the library should be a 20-minute walk from the reader's place of residence. In the most difficult years of devastation and famine for the country, reading rooms began to appear in the country.
About a hundred reading rooms were registered in the Ulyanovsk region, six of them were located in the city. Some of them became prototypes of modern libraries, clubs and even kindergartens.
The reading huts of Ulyanovsk appeared as "centers of political education and conductors of all cultural events." The reading hut was supposed to contribute to "rallying the poor and farm laborers with the middle peasants".
At each reading room there were political circles, likpunkts (for the elimination of illiteracy), drama circles (in the largest - Kulikovo - reading room they staged performances that were popular with the population.
The reading huts were supposed to become centers for organizing conscription into the army, the huts organized evenings of remembrance of former servicemen and solemn farewells for conscripts. The duty of the hut is the design of the wall newspaper, the organization of loud readings and various lectures. Not at all, but at many huts-reading rooms there were small funds of books. In some cases, the hut agreed on the issuance of books at certain hours (brought books from the Book Palace). Each reading room subscribed to newspapers and magazines. In the early 1930s, the reading rooms resembled today's teenage clubs. “There have been more cases when teenagers and low-income children of the dispossessed, breaking off relations with their parents, go out into the street where they beg, commit offenses, thereby replenishing the ranks of homeless children,” Terekhina and Agapova write to Gorono, “please give specific instructions on how to deal with children deprived people living in poverty on the streets". Much attention was paid to working with children and women. At large reading huts, playgrounds were organized, which became the prototypes of today's kindergartens. One of the documents specifies that "the reading hut arose as a means of cultural enlightenment work among unorganized household housewives". In the same document, it was proposed "in view of summer time, to transfer work (reading huts) to nature and, if possible, organize excursions (housewives), for example, to their nursery. Ilyich, to a museum or to a house for the protection of motherhood and childhood. The plans for the work of the reading hut include arranging outdoor readings of the magazines Rabotnitsa, Delegate, and Peasant Woman. On the outskirts of the city, where there are no reading huts yet, it was proposed to organize travel and book collection points. “Some reading rooms were organized not from above, but ... from below, spontaneously, by the population itself. For example, in November 1925, the Butyrskaya reading room was opened.
From the documents of 1928, one can see the concern of the authorities that “the population of Tuti and the Northern pasture with the adjacent areas of Brick sheds and Boltavsky pits are completely not served by political enlightenment work.”(f.521, inventory 1, file 521, p.191). “The house according to the 74\4 team is quite suitable for a reading room for serving the Northern pasture,” reports the author of one of the reports. He recommends purchasing the Doktorov brothers' house for this purpose. It is possible that as a result of the concern of the authorities, huts appeared - reading rooms on Kulikovka and in Podgorye. Prior to this, the population of these areas of the city was served by the Booksellers of the Palace of the Book and school workers. However, the authors of the documents admit, this work was carried out "haphazardly and without any regulation of this." One of the reasons is called “non-payment of labor”. Izbachi, like school workers, received a salary. The GORONO is responsible for supplying reading huts with kerosene, firewood and newspapers. The Department of Public Education supervised the work of reading huts until 1954. Questions about reading huts were discussed at the "Association of Librarians" operating in the city. For example, at a meeting of the Gubpolitprosveta (1925), the "Association..." raised the issue of supplying reading huts with reader and book forms, as well as "Book lending notebooks." At each hut-reading room there were Soviets from among the activists. Before starting work, the izbach-librarian had to pass a monthly “test” (training and practice) with Central Library. The archives contain many interesting facts about many huts-reading rooms of the city and the region. Reading huts were financed from the county budget. Where there is no money, they were supported by ... the population. “The reading rooms seem to have come to life,” they write in the documents of the Gubpolitprosveta dated March 10, 1924, “the visits have increased several times, the need for a good peasant book has increased .... The magazine "Atheist" is read to the holes. It is necessary to write out posters with the image of V.I. Lenin, books with his biography. We need Stasov's books "What the peasants need to know about Soviet power, about the land and their economy" ... We need the magazine "New Village".
The funds of the Ulyanovsk archives contain many interesting facts about the Nizhne-Chasovenskaya, Kanavskaya and Royal huts-reading rooms of the Zavolzhsky district. In the center of Ulyanovsk there were Butyrskaya, Kulikovskaya and Podgornaya reading huts. In this publication I will focus on one of them - Butyrskaya.
BUTYRSKAYA
Old-timers know that Butyrki is the area of ​​the old cemetery, Robespierre and Nizhne-Polevoy streets. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Butyrok area was considered an area of ​​poor handicraftsmen and artisans. Judging by the sources, it was they who initiated the opening of the reading room. Opened it twice. For the first time - in November 1925. The reading hut was placed in the two-storey building of Pishtrest, which before the revolution housed the office of the Lipatov mill.
The ideal reading room presupposes a stage. She was built. An illiteracy liquidation center was opened in one of the rooms, and another was occupied by a watchman. The first furniture of the reading room: tables, benches, water tank.
So far no information has been found about the first Butyrok hut. Most likely, he did not manage to prove himself, it is possible that he simply did not know where to start work. Perhaps he spent two years in this state, otherwise why in November 1927 the Butyrskaya hut-reading room was opened again. This is reported by the hut Presnyakov. In statements to Gorono, he writes that the reading room was opened literally from scratch: by the time he arrived, there was no table, no bench, no water tank in the room. Presnyakov asks for a hundred rubles for him to buy furniture. In January 28, he orders firewood, as there are three stoves in the room, and before that he bought firewood with his own money. The inspectors are unanimous in assessing his activities: "The work ... is felt."
Under Presnyakov, a drama circle and a literary circle began to operate in the reading room.
K. Okolova, a methodologist of the Palace of Books, who checks the work of the reading-room, calls the Butyrskaya reading-room "a valuable mobile point." In the audit report, she reports that "more students and teenagers read, but there is no reader's guide to reading.". K. Okolova notes that the reading room is one common room where they play checkers and rehearse. Maybe there was some room for lending books? It is known that Presnyakov regularly informed about the working hours of the movement. Most likely, the books were brought from the Palace of Books. Izbach compiled annotated lists of literature, designed book exhibitions.
Under Presnyakov, the reading room was renovated, and a playground for 62 people was arranged under him. On the day of the Red Army, he organized an excursion to Polivno. This event resolved the issue of the bond between the population and the army. By the date of the capture of the city (September 12), a report was held. After the speaker, a loan agitator spoke. The event "brightened up" the movie. The work of the Butyrsky hut was set as an example. And, as often happens, he was noticed there, "above" and already in October 1928, Presnyakov was transferred to another area of ​​​​work: to the Karsun Volost Committee of the Komsomol.
The fate of the Butyrskaya hut-reading room confirms the well-known "Cadres decide everything." Presnyakov's place was taken by Bayushev, who, as it is written in the report of the inspector of political education for the city of Vasyanin, "has never worked at the political education and has little interest. His work is poor." Bayushev is the exact opposite of Presnyakov. He is rude, insensitive.
The most affectionate thing about visitors: "hooligans", Being not in the mood, he could call the visitor a "drunk face". The Butyrka activists fought the rude hut: each of his "blunders" was reported to the political enlightenment. For example, once Bayushev disrupted the planned report "On the Lena execution." The speaker has come, and circus performers are performing in the reading room. The hut was justified by the banal: "But I thought that you would not come."
Activists continued to brand the hut in the wall newspaper. But this did not help: Bayushev did not want to be re-educated, he behaved defiantly. At one of the meetings, Inspector Vasyanin reports that Butyrok activists refuse to work with Bayushev.
There are not so many huts in the city. The hut of the Kanavskaya hut-reading room Ivan Veselkin has long been asking to be transferred to the city. You have to make concessions. Veselkin is transferred to the Butyrskaya hut-reading room, Bayushev is "exiled" to Kanavskaya.
Let's leaf through one of the plans of the Butyrskaya hut-reading room. The main task is "wide familiarization of the population with the tasks of the Party." No less important is "to focus the population's attention on strengthening the country's defense capability." In the section on circle work, it is increasingly noted: "Organize ...", "Resume ..."
Obligatory for all circles at huts - reading rooms were circles of OSOAVIAKHIM, MOPR. Under Presnyakov, they were, but under Bayushev, they fell apart. The wall newspaper ceased to be issued, activists did not gather.
Likpunkt is open again at the reading room. Izbach plans to create a circle of stencors, a cell for the fight against alcohol, a circle "Godless", Komsomol and pioneer circles. It is planned to "stage a movie three times", to prepare a performance twice by the drama circle, to organize checkers games. An interesting point: "Hold a show trial."
At the Butyrskaya hut-reading room there is a playground - this is the prototype of the modern kindergarten. It is headed by E.F. Greshnyakova. There is her statement with a request "to release the manufactory in order to sew underwear for the children of poor parents."
Unfortunately, Ivan Yakovlevich Veselkin did not prove himself either. According to one version, he quit of his own free will. According to another, it was filmed by harsh Butyrka Komsomol members. They did not forgive him "negligent attitude to work, drinking and rudeness ...". Since February 1929, A. Voronin has been in charge of the Butyrskaya hut-reading room. His work is marked by the rise of mass work. An assessment of his work can be read in the report of political education inspector Sharagina, who visited the reading room. He writes that “in the area of ​​old and new Butyrki there are no cultural and educational institutions, except for the reading room. ... Territorially, it is located far from the outskirts. -reading rooms - 80-100 people."
The inspector notes that “work is getting better: there are already 27 people in the OSOAVIAKHIM cell, 17 people in the drama circle, 22 attend the sanitary circle - ROCK. Amateur artists sometimes put on paid performances in favor of the reading room.
There is a political circle among Komsomol members .. All political and economic campaigns, all revolutionary holidays are reflected in a timely manner in the Butyrskaya reading room.
Sharagin cites several figures: monthly - seven reports and lectures, in the fund of the reading room there are about 200 political and fiction books. Books are issued twice a week. Recruited (in the sense - recorded) 157 people. Every month, 670 books pass through the hands of readers. There are booksellers in the reading room.
Sharagin is dissatisfied with the "weak leadership of the reading room." A separate room is missing: "68 sq. m. is not enough." He calls the lack of work with parents a lack of work. The "Group of the Poor" is not organized, work is not carried out among women. The head of the hut-reading room does not participate in the work of the illiteracy liquidation point.
Sharagin suggests that the hut should "keep accurate records of visitor traffic." At the same time, he recommends "setting a course for weeding out alien elements visiting the reading room."
In June, Voronin asks for a vacation: he was lucky enough to get a ticket to a rest home. And since September, he has been writing an application for "departure to Samara for admission to the Pedagogical Institute from September 1 to September 6, 1929." In the same folder - M. Trifonova's statement. She asks to be appointed head of the reading room at Butyrki.

FIRST LIBRARY
In 1938, the Butyrskaya izba-reading room turns into library No. 1. Until recently, the employees of city library No. 1 considered 1941 to be the date of their opening, citing the fact that an inventory book has been kept since that year. The search for the decision of the city executive committee "brought" me to 1938. Firstly, because in one of the references on the work of the city's libraries for 1950, the director of the Palace of Books, Elizaveta Perukhina, reports that ... "the first library has existed since 1938." Having plunged into the documents of the pre-war period, I discovered the “Estimate of expenses for 1 city library for 1938”. However, where is the decision of the City Council?
"Proletarian Way" dated May 28, 1937 publishes a note by N. Sokolova "Forgotten Outskirts". She writes that in the city “little attention is paid to the outskirts. Take at least the old and new Butyrki. There is no club here, not even a small reading room. There was a reading room, as we know, in this area, but, perhaps, in the thirties it worked so imperceptibly that N. Sokolova did not notice it. One way or another, but the authorities read the note and made their own conclusions. From the protocol of the section of public education and the eradication of illiteracy dated January 28, 1938, its head Pyotr Kradenov spoke “... about the need to open a library under the mountain, where it is also necessary and secondary school because the population will increase there in the future.” At the meeting, it was decided to provide for the opening of one library on the outskirts of the city in the budget for 1939. Today we know that before the war only one library was opened, the first one was opened on the fund of the former Butyrka reading room. There is a document according to which the librarian E. Gladilina was hired in the Butyrskaya reading room, and left already from the city library No. library, which dates back to December 1918).
It is possible that many modern libraries "grew" out of reading huts. Some of them lasted until the mid-1950s. But this is in the area. City huts-reading rooms ceased to exist by themselves even before the war, the very phrase "hut-reading room" is a thing of the past. And after the war, libraries began to grow. Second city ​​Library(now library No. 4) and the first children's (now library No. 24) opened in the 46th. Three years later, in May 1949, documents were signed on the opening of the city library No. 3 (street of the 40th anniversary of October, 33). In the first half of the fifties, half of the libraries currently existing in the city were opened in the city: from the 4th to the 11th. On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin - in 1969 and 1970 - seven more libraries appeared in Ulyanovsk. One of the last ones opened in the city was the 30th Children's Library (1990). In 1967 the second city library became the Central Library. Since 1974, centralization has taken place in the city: the city's libraries have become a single library system. Its first director was L. A. Ogneva, then - V. M. Poletaeva. Since 1992, the city's library system has been headed by R.M. Gimatdinova, Honored Worker of the Russian Federation.

SUBURBAN LIBRARIES
In December 2006, ten suburban libraries joined the city's library system. Each of them has its own story. It is possible that the opening date of many rural libraries should be considered the date of the opening of the reading room. As we remember, they acted in almost every large village in the Ulyanovsk region. This is mentioned in the list of reading huts in the Ulyanovsk region by the instructor of the political education at the GORONO Vyugov. In a report dated September 26, 1936, he lists that reading rooms operated in the villages of Zagudaevka and Volostnikovka. Biryuchevka, Novy Uren, Karlinsky, Seldi, Mostovaya, Shumovka, Vyshki, Poldomasovo, Isheevka, Vinnovka, Vyrypaevka and others... 8 libraries. From the reports for each library, it can be seen that in the reading huts there is an accordion, a gramophone, a balalaika, in some - a radio. Most have books, but not all. Booksellers bring books to such reading-rooms.
From documents related to the work of reading huts, we learn that many libraries and reading huts are occupied “for other needs”: for example, in Bely Klyuch, Kuvshinovka and Elshanka, grain was stored in reading huts.
An interesting fact: in the thirties, the press (in particular, the newspaper Proletarsky Put) willingly covered the work of reading huts. In the issue for September 1, 1937. we are talking about a reading hut with. White Key (now - branch library No. 32). “... a good library, beautiful pictures, but the villagers rarely visit it. Sokolov's (Lyakhov's) hut does not organize mass cultural work well. In another note, they criticize the chairman of the board of the Sviyaga collective farm, Tikhonov, who does not understand the role of the hut. Tikhonov forces the hut Guryanov to be ... a hairdresser. “You won’t be a hairdresser,” Tikhonov threatens, “I’ll take off work.”
CONCLUSION
Recreating the history of small and seemingly inconspicuous cultural institutions is an important part of preserving social memory. It is possible that it was in such small cultural institutions that our parents or grandparents read their first books. The study of the history of individual libraries and the library system as a whole is an important part of the history of the city's cultural development. Librarianship has always been an indicator of the level of literacy and intelligence of the people. Information about how many libraries there were in the city, where they were located, how they worked, and even what mistakes were made in relation to these cultural institutions, is part of the history of the city. The reading room from which this or that modern library of the city has grown is like “ small homeland who we love no matter what. Unfortunately, it is impossible in one article to cover the history of the activities of our libraries with different points vision. The materials stored in our archives are enough for hundreds of articles. I want to express my gratitude to the staff of the Ulyanovsk archives for their help in finding materials for research on the history of reading huts and libraries in the city of Ulyanovsk.

NOTE:

Sergei Kez

This station has worldwide fame, which few people in Russia know about. Passengers of the Trans-Siberian Railway crossing Russia can say with good reason that they have passed through Malta. Connoisseurs of geography should not boil: on the map there was a place not only for the island state of Malta, but also for stations with the same
name. Moreover, the inhabitants of Siberian Malta are proud of their history no less than the Mediterranean.

Malta from Buryat means "bird-cherry place". With the current head of the station, Andrey Drachuk, no matter how hard we tried, we could not find even a hint of the remains of bird cherry thickets. Either the first builders of the great Siberian road completely reduced this shrub with black tart berries, or it disappeared for unknown reasons even before their arrival. Could not shed light on the botanical incident and the head of the local municipality Sergei Miller, in the recent past, also a railway worker. True, by joint efforts they successfully overcame that part of the story that concerned the most noticeable historical events 333-year-old village.

Malta takes its origin from the monastery village, which belonged to the Ascension Monastery of Irkutsk. The date of foundation is considered to be 1675. The village, apparently, was destined to be first a postal station, and then a railway station. The Senate decree on the construction of a high road from Moscow to Irkutsk was signed in 1731, and almost three decades later the road reached Malta. The landmark, according to historians, was the old shackled path along which convicts and settlers trudged. Neither Radishchev, nor Chernyshevsky, nor the Decembrists, nor the exiled Poles passed Malta. History repeated itself in the 20th century, when a camp for Japanese prisoners of war appeared in the village.

Life in Malta has changed dramatically since the arrival railway: it was divided, as it were, into two parts railway and purely rural. Over time, the railroad came to dominate. A school, a rest home, shops appeared here. In a word, the center of business and cultural life has shifted closer to the railway.

But real glory Malta was brought by excavations when it was revealed that almost all of its territory is a unique monument of the Paleolithic era. And it all started, according to the old-timers, as it often happens, anecdotally. In 1929, a local peasant, Savelyev, was deepening his cellar, and during this simple occupation, he hardly pulled a giant bone out of the ground. Savelyev did not attach much importance to the curiosity, and a few days later the Maltese children began to use the find as a sled. The head of the village reading room turned out to be a more knowledgeable person he reported the bones of strange sizes to the Irkutsk local history museum. Anthropologist, archaeologist, historian and sculptor Mikhail Gerasimov, known to the whole world today, appeared without delay in Malta.
Continuing to deepen the Savelyevsky cellar, the archaeologist, to indescribable delight, discovered the bones of a mammoth, art products from his tusks and the remains of other long-disappeared animals. This is how the oldest human settlement was found in Siberia.
And then the discoveries rained down like from a cornucopia. For several decades, and Gerasimov continued his archaeological research until 1959, and not only in the cellar, he found many bone human figures. All of them were female. According to the scientist, this was due to the fact that the ancient Maltese had a matriarchy. According to him, more than two tens of thousands of years ago, there was a tundra on the site of Malta, along which herds of mammoths, rhinos and bison slowly moved. They served as the main object of production. The ancient Maltese ate the meat of animals, and built a chum from the bones, and used deer antlers woven together as a roof. Skins were thrown over this frame of bones, which were pressed down by massive skulls and mammoth tusks. (It is curious that in Mediterranean Malta, the discovery of, for example, the Hypogeum was accompanied by similar events: the owner of the land accidentally discovered a hole leading to underground caves. note site)

Excavations by archaeologists with varying degrees of intensity continue to this day.
Here, wherever you poke a shovel, with luck, you can get to the world sensation, because the entire territory of Malta, according to the student of Mikhail Gerasimov, Irkutsk scientist, Professor German Medvedev, has long been declared a continuous zone of archaeological heritage. With all the ensuing restrictions for local residents: getting a land plot for construction or starting it, Sergei Miller admitted, is a big problem. Things will get off the ground only when scientists issue a permit.
But the head of the local government himself dreams of the time when the world fame of Malta will begin to bring at least some penny to the skinny municipal budget.

– It was quite possible to organize a paid tour of the parking lots already discovered in the region ancient man. We are late, but we are even making a museum for this purpose, which will be located in the building of the former parochial school, which, by the way, is also a local old-timer this house is almost old. And archaeologists have long been notified: dig, but some of the artifacts found are for us. And then, after all, there is practically not a single good exhibit all in Moscow and in St. Petersburg. In a word, a shoemaker without boots, says Sergei Miller.

And finally, we go to the famous Maltese springs. A mug of cold salt water goes around in circles. Sergei Miller promises to give me a book about the history of Malta, written by retired teachers Anatoly Grechenko and his wife Antonina, along with other family members.

And I am trying to find with my eyes such a piece of the landscape, where there would not be a single sign of modernity, in order to imagine how herds of mammoths wandered here thousands of years ago. I think I found it, giant animals will appear now. But a nearby locomotive buzzed, and the delusion was gone.

- ((hut chit (a (flax)) hut of the reading room; pl. reading hut, reading hut; and. In the USSR until the end of the 60s: a cultural and educational institution in the countryside. Head of the hut reading room. * * * Reading hut one of the types of rural club institutions in the USSR until ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

One of the types of rural club institutions in the USSR before the beginning. 60s ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Exist., number of synonyms: 2 library (19) toilet (87) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

Zh. Cultural and educational institution in rural areas (in the USSR in the 20-60s of the XX century). Dictionary Efremova. T. F. Efremova. 2000... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Efremova

hut-reading room- , s and, f. Reading room in a peasant house. ◘ In our country clubs have now become centers of political educational work, and reading rooms in the countryside (Molotov). BAS, vol. 5, 86. Decided: to buy for the fee of worker correspondents ... ... Explanatory Dictionary of the Language of Soviet Deputies

One of the types of rural club institutions in the USSR. They arose in the early years of Soviet power. In some national republics, districts, territories, regions, mobile I. h. red teahouses, red plagues, red yurts, etc. were created ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

hut-reading room- reading hut, reading hut ... Russian spelling dictionary

hut-reading room- (1 f 1 f), R. hut / chita / linen ... Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language

hut-reading room- huts / chita / flax; pl. and / zby chita / flax, izb chita / flax; and. In the USSR until the end of the 60s: a cultural and educational institution in the countryside. The head of the hut of the reading room ... Dictionary of many expressions

hut-reading room- izb / a / cheat / a / l / n / i ... Morphemic spelling dictionary

Books

• The ashes of Odessa are knocking on my heart Collection of poetic prose and journalistic materials, Izba-Reading Room. The collection "The Ashes of Odessa knocks on my heart" was compiled by the editorial team of the literary and artistic portal "Izba-Reading Room" based on the materials of the authors of the site.. The main idea of ​​this…
• Rejected return or Rejected attaches the Collection of poetic prose and journalistic materials, Izba-Reading Room. The collection "Crimea is a Russian land. Rejected returns or Rejected joins!" Compiled by members of the editorial board and artistic council of the literary and public association "...

Chapter V. Cultural work of the Komsomol in the countryside

Komsomol members - organizers of youth leisure

Collective-farm youth, who know how to work stubbornly, persistently, selflessly to help the front, loves to sing in their free time good song, listen to music, exchange a funny joke, dance. Young people also have a great desire for knowledge - for the study of history, geography, literature, and technology.

The war leaves little time for rest, but the more wisely you need to use this time. Well-spent moments of rest provide a charge for many hours of work.

Komsomol members should act as leaders of the youth not only in work, but also in organizing the education and leisure of young people.

Mass cultural work is based on the broad initiative of the masses and must meet the most diverse interests of the youth.

Fascinating lecture, comradely, conversation, literary or military evening, amateur performance review, reading aloud the best works of classical and Soviet literature, excursions, collective visits to the cinema, discussion of books, films, performances, drama, choral and musical circles, circles of folk dances and dances and much, much more - all these interesting and entertaining types of cultural and mass work should find their place in the work of Komsomol organizations collective farms and state farms. They open up inexhaustible opportunities for instilling in young people a feeling of ardent love for the motherland, pride in the great, immortal culture of our people.

The Soviet state, taking care of cultural development working people, and during the war releases tens and hundreds of millions of rubles for the needs of political and educational institutions. On the territory of each village council, a reading room is created, funds are allocated for its work, a special worker is allocated - the head of the reading room, the hut.

The reading hut is the center of the cultural life of the village. This is at the same time a combat propaganda center, a club, and a reading room. This is the most important center of mass work with youth. The social life of the village is concentrated here. A good reading room is always crowded. Both old and young come here for a light: to read a fresh newspaper, to consult with a knowledgeable person, to talk about what is being done at the front, to talk about collective farm affairs.

Here you can listen to an interesting report on current events, meet with the hero of the Patriotic War, join an interesting circle.

Therefore, rural Komsomol members should strive in every possible way to improve the work of their reading room.

How should the work of the reading room be organized, and what can Komsomol members do for this?

First of all, each reading room must be equipped, landscaped, and given a cozy and cultured look. No one will go to a neglected reading room, where it is dirty, uncomfortable, not heated, there are no fresh newspapers and books.

Another thing is if the reading room is in good, caring hands. The work of such a reading hut in the Novo-Schapovsky village council of the Klinsky district of the Moscow region is told by the hut comrade. Clerks:

“When the evening descends, a string of people stretches into our reading room, as if into a cozy home. Both old and small come here: to read, listen to a conversation, relax.

A clean painted floor, wallpapered walls, white curtains on the windows, portraits of leaders, a geographical map, colorful shop windows, photo newspapers, battle slogans, illustrated montages, flowers on the tables - such is the interior view of our reading room.

The walls inside the building are well decorated. Here you will see a board of honor, a slogan calling for hard work, or a montage “How did you help the front today?”, where the collective farmer will read the names of his neighbors who donated warm clothes, money, food to the Red Army aid fund. They seem to visually, agitate, convince visitors that their work is a contribution to the great cause of the fight against the German invaders, that victory depends on the stamina, endurance and selfless work of every patriot.

There are several circles working at the reading room, there is a choir, which has learned many Russians folk songs, a drama circle has been created.

When Komsomol member Raya Yagafarova took over the reading room in the village of Tatarskie Vyselki, it was cold and deserted: bare, ragged walls, a ruined stage. There are two or three old pamphlets on the bookshelf. From the very first days, Yagafarova was convinced that it would be difficult to put the reading room in order alone. First of all, it was necessary to create an asset. Komsomol members came to the aid of Yagafarova. First of all, they organized a collection of books, and soon a library with up to 3 thousand books appeared in the reading room. With the help of the Komsomol members, Yagafarova put the room in order and decorated it. Now the reading room has become a favorite place for young people to relax.

How to organize work in the reading room

The reading hut is, first of all, the center of political information of the population. Collective farmers and our youth are following with the greatest interest the situation on the fronts of the Patriotic War, the events in our country and in international life. To satisfy these requests, to give an answer to exciting topics, to be at the level of the increased political activity of the masses is the direct duty and duty of the hut.

Komsomol members can help many in organizing political information from the izbachu. The best Komsomol agitators should be on duty in the reading room to conduct conversations, to answer incomprehensible questions to the collective farmers, to clarify important military and government messages.


Rural teachers and high school students can be of great help in organizing political information. The teacher has an honorary role in the reading room. He will conduct a conversation, and he can lead the circle, and clarify an incomprehensible question. Teachers and kolniki can make a home-made geographical map, flags indicate the places where fighting. The teacher can help readers, talkers, agitators.

One cannot, of course, confine oneself to conversations and reading newspapers. The rural youth will listen with great interest to the stories of the fighters who have returned from the front, learn courage and bravery from the front-line soldiers, and learn to hate the enemy.

Reading letters from fellow countrymen from the front is an important, interesting, and exciting thing. It can be well organized by Komsomol members. For this, it is necessary to make extensive use of bright letters from the front, published in Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Reading and discussing such letters among young people is a great event. It will make every young man and woman think about the purpose of life, will cause a passionate desire to be like the heroes of the Patriotic War.

In many reading huts, Komsomol members arrange artistically designed showcases “Letters from relatives and countrymen from the army in the field”, as well as exhibitions of portraits of countrymen - heroes of the Patriotic War. Komsomol members take out photographs of their fellow countrymen who have distinguished themselves at the fronts, or cut out their pictures from newspapers and magazines; if there are artists of their own, they draw them. Placed under the portraits short description the feat of a fellow country hero. Instead of a signature, you can put a clipping and a letter received from the front.

Visual agitation occupies no small place in the mass cultural work of the reading room.

Like an exhibition of portraits of heroes, you can arrange various photo montages from magazine and newspaper pictures, write or redraw "TASS windows", etc.

Such montages and posters are easy and simple to make. You can successfully involve local self-taught artists, especially older schoolchildren, to work on them.

Librarians and teachers have a lot of experience in arranging such homemade posters. They will help in the selection of material, make clippings from newspapers and magazines, and suggest how best to arrange them.

Youth Soviet village loves and respects good book. This book is always in high demand.

The Komsomol organization cannot confine itself to the creation or strengthening of the local rural library; it is also necessary to convey the book to the youth. A good means of educating young people to love the book is the collective reading of works of art and their discussion. In each organization there are several well-educated Komsomol members who will help the hut to organize collective reading. Teachers will advise which book should be read aloud, tell the reader how best to read it. There is no need to strive to read a book in one evening. A large work can be divided into several evenings, and then the listeners will look forward to the next meeting with the heroes of the book.

In many reading huts, literary evenings are held, the participants of which discuss the work read by everyone in advance. It is good to spend such a literary evening with a discussion of the best examples of classical and Soviet literature. It is necessary to prepare for such an evening in advance. You should widely inform the youth about what work will be discussed, prepare a comrade who will speak with introductory remarks, arrange a preliminary reading of this work.

Rarely do we have discussions about movies. But the heroes of movies are often the favorite heroes of young people.

The more inventive the Komsomol members are in organizing such evenings, the more interesting, lively, and exciting they will be, the more trace they will leave in the memory of each participant.

The needs of our youth are wide and varied. It would be nice to organize talks and lectures on topics about military affairs, about various types weapons, on historical themes, geography, astronomy, various natural phenomena, plant and animal life, sanitation and hygiene.

Lectures and discussions on agricultural topics should take a special place. They can be successfully carried out by an agronomist or livestock specialist, if the Komsomol members turn to him with a request. Now that the youth has become a decisive force in agriculture, our task is to constantly help them acquire agrotechnical knowledge and train new personnel for the collective farm. In some huts-reading rooms interesting evenings-meetings of the old masters of the collective farm fields with the youth are arranged. At such evenings, old and young collective farmers exchange experience: young people learn from old, experienced land workers the skill of obtaining high yields. Such evenings are very popular in the countryside and bring undoubted benefits.

The reference work of the reading room has acquired great importance in the current conditions. In connection with the war, the collective farmers are raising many new, most diverse questions that directly affect the vital interests of the youth. For example, the question of benefits for the families of military personnel, the procedure for paying pensions to war invalids, how to find relatives who have gone into the army, etc. Some reading rooms, with the help of Komsomol members, did a good job of such reference work. The head of the Serpey hut-reading room of the Meshchovsky district of the Smolensk region, comrade. A. Fatova tells how, after the restoration of the reading room, destroyed by fascist robbers, she organized a table of information:

“When I posted an announcement that the information desk had started working, they willingly came to me for information, with requests to write a letter, a statement. In many ways, the Komsomol helped me. In my absence, they were on duty, issued certificates, wrote letters to the front at the request of the collective farmers.

At first, the wives of those mobilized into the Red Army came to the Vershnikovskaya hut-reading room in the Gorky region for information, asking them to write a letter, an application, to obtain an allowance. Izbach and his asset helped in all these cases. Now people come here for a wide variety of issues: agricultural technology, medicine, pedagogical, legal and many other issues. The number of certificates issued by the reading room is constantly growing.

Various circles organized by Komsomol members at the reading room help to involve young people in the social life of the collective farm, in active Komsomol work.

Amateur art circles - dramatic, choral, songs and dances, musical ones - were especially widespread in the village. Who, if not the Komsomol organization, should initiate the creation of such circles and direct their activities?

The first thing Komsomol members should take up when creating amateur circles is to identify and unite all those who want to be engaged in such circles. At the same time, one should not be afraid if there are too many applicants at the beginning. In progress random people drop out quickly.

When creating a drama circle, it is most difficult to find a leader. Best of all, if it becomes a literature teacher of the nearest school or one of the gifted high school students.

At first, the circle should begin work with staging small, one-act plays, sketches, sketches, for which many characters and complex scenery are not needed. Such a repertoire will also allow you to change the program more often. When choosing a play, one must remember that its theme should correspond to the combat missions of the day.

When starting work on a play, the leader and members of the circle must first discuss it in the circle class, understand the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthis work, find out the characters and characteristics of each actor, his relationship to other characters in the play.

Even on a poorly adapted site of a rural reading hut or club, you can stage a production well (you just need to show ingenuity.

Drama club members do not have to limit themselves to working on the production of a play. It will be good if the circle members who are not involved in the play prepare a recitation of verses. This will provide an opportunity to diversify the program of the evening and involve more young people in the active work of the circle.

The work of the circle will be interesting and fruitful if the Komsomol organizations seriously and daily help its leader.

The song has always been a faithful companion of the Russian people in work and in battle. There are many lovers of singing in every village. Therefore, creating a choir is not difficult. The best of the singers, the most musical, can become the leader of the choir. Sing well to the accompaniment of an accordion or guitar. New songs can be learned by ear, the melody and words can be recorded on the radio. If there is a gramophone in the village, songs can be learned by listening to records. Choir circles should widely promote Russian folk songs, new battle songs Soviet poets and composers, songs of the Great Patriotic War.

In a moment of leisure, young people love to dance. Why don't Komsomol members act as organizers of this exciting business? In every village there is a good dancer, a dancer. He can be entrusted with the organization of a folk dance circle.

We should not forget about the musical circle. There are many music lovers among young people in the countryside. It is necessary to gather comrades who have musical instruments, consult with them, select a leader from among the most prepared people, and together with them outline a program for the work of the circle.

You can separately collect harmonists, lovers of playing stringed instruments.

Several circles can perform at the evenings at the same time. This will make the concert varied and interesting. In addition to circles, there may be performances by individuals - soloists: singers, storytellers, dancers, reciters, musicians, harmonists, etc.

It is good to organize a competition for the best harmonist, guitarist, best performer folk songs. Such competitions always attract a lot of attention of young people. Competitions and reviews of amateur performances, organized on the initiative of Komsomol organizations, attract new forces, help to nominate talented, gifted people from among the youth.

An amateur art competition can be arranged first in one village, on the collective farms of a given village council, and then the best forces can be gathered for a district amateur performance review. In the very course of a competition or review, new circles usually grow up, new participants in amateur performances appear, and Komsomol life in the countryside begins to beat faster.

A good organization of amateur performances raises the activity of the youth, rallying them around the Komsomol organizations. The youth sees in the person of the Komsomol their leaders, organizers and eagerly reaches for work, joins the ranks of the rural Komsomol.

Youth evenings are one of the best forms of Komsomol mass work. If amateur circles work well in the village, it will not be difficult for young people to prepare and hold an interesting evening.

You can open the evening with a report on any topic of interest to young people: about the heroes of the Patriotic War and their exploits, about the current moment, etc.

The speaker for the evening should be invited from the district center. It can also be a fellow countryman who participated in the Patriotic War, a hut, a teacher of a local school, or one of the well-trained Komsomol members. After the report, it is good to organize performances of amateur art circles, dancing, dancing.

An interesting evening was organized by Komsomol members of the Kirov state farm in the Kvarken district of the Chkalov region. A report on the combat traditions of the Komsomol was made by the instructor of the regional committee of the Komsomol comrade. Danilova. After her, the front-line soldier Prosha, who worked at the state farm before the war, took the floor. A meaningful report, an ardent speech by a front-line Komsomol member, a participant in the defense of Stalingrad, excited the youth.

At the evening, an amateur art circle performed, then the athletes showed gymnastic exercises. The evening ended with a performance by an amateur brass band and dancing.

After the evening, four young collective farmers and two trainees of the courses of tractor drivers declared their desire to join the Komsomol. Such evenings are held by many Komsomol organizations, and they always give positive results.

It is very important to involve as many collective farm youth as possible in organizing such an evening. Give the young collective farmers who stood apart from public life, some assignment for the preparation of the evening, help them with advice, support their initiative, and they can soon become active participants in all the undertakings of the Komsomol members.

In the summer, propaganda teams can be organized from amateur art participants. Members of such a propaganda team, working in the field along with other collective farmers, organize small concerts in their free time, help to issue combat leaflets, conduct conversations, read newspapers and books aloud, compose funny ditties on local topics.


The agitation team of the Khutorsky reading-room of the Nizhne-Uvelsky district of the Chelyabinsk region, led by Nikolai Ovchinnikov, is known far beyond the village council. She is warmly welcomed by the collective farmers in the field. The head of the brigade usually holds a conversation with the collective farmers, and then a small concert is arranged: a short play or skit is shown, songs and dances are performed, a string orchestra performs, and sometimes athletes perform.

The performance of ditties on local themes is especially popular. Izbach Ovchinnikov, the compiler of ditties, in the village is called the "master of ditties." Especially in them goes negligent collective farmers. The propaganda team bakes them with its mark and sharp satirical ditty.

The Komsomol organization must remember that the success of mass cultural work depends to a large extent on the hut. If the head of the reading-room hut is a cultured, well-trained, energetic person, and work will begin to boil in the reading-room hut, it will be easier for the Komsomol organization to work. Therefore, the selection of a good hut is the vital business of the Komsomol organization.

“Every step in the work,” says M.I. Kalinin, “every word of the hut, which can influence people, should be directed to help the front. The work of huts is difficult, but noble and exciting. This is work for the soul. A person feels that he brings enlightenment to the masses. What could be more exciting when you realize that you are expanding the mental horizons of the masses.

Active Komsomol members, teachers, agronomists, doctors, collective farm activists can be involved in this work.

One form of association of such an asset is the council at the reading room. The council involves all the cultural forces of the village, considers the work plan of the reading room, discusses questions of its practical activities, hears reports from the leaders of circles, heads of red corners, etc.

The Council also monitors the fulfillment of the budget of the reading room, the safety of its property, timely repairs and maintenance of the premises in a clean and orderly manner. The members of the council themselves work in brigades, in red corners and ten-yards and distribute among themselves the responsibilities for organizing and managing individual areas of work: military defense, agrotechnical, reference, amateur art, etc. The council of the reading room reports on its work to village council of working people's deputies. The Komsomol organization must take an active part in all the work of the council of the reading room.

Cultural-mass work in the countryside is an important sector of the activity of the Komsomol. You can not think that it is limited only to the hut-reading room.

The head of the Komsomol organization should be aware of what young people read, the heroes of what works excite them, what a young man who is fond of history, military affairs or geography wants to know. Skillfully directing these interests and demands, tirelessly caring about raising the knowledge and political horizons of the youth is the urgent task of the Komsomol leader.

In organizing mass cultural work, one should always be guided by the instructions of Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin, who at the Moscow meeting on political enlightenment work said:

“Constantly contribute to cultural and educational work political elements. AT this moment Concentrate all your attention on helping the front in all its forms, in the most varied manifestations. The one from the cultural workers, from the huts, who will carry out this line satisfactorily, will do a great political deed.