KILLING THE GOOSE

The latest decree of the Soviet Government of Russia, Which eliminates nearly one hundred thousand students of non-proletarian origin from high schools and colleges, seems to be an unfortunate continuation of the Communist policy of destroying the bourgeois class. In aiming to provide educational facilities for students in the lower walks of life, the Soviet authorities are working with a beneficent intent, but in persisting in elevating one class at the expense of another, their wisdom is more than doubtful. The Communists have apparently discovered, however, that one of the best ways to keep opponents out of power is to educate the proletariat.

At the same time, this policy of class discrimination seems likely to result in the formation of an endless cycle; if the proletarian is forcibly educated, and the bourgeois is kept from education, it will be but a short time until the situation is reversed, and each is in the other's shoes, which will result in no appreciable gain to the state as a whole.

Although the right to an education is theoretically the possession of every citizen, in actual practise the every citizen, in actual practise the question resolves itself into one of utility; those first entitled to receive instruction are the classes best able to apply it to the service of the community. Although living up to its ideals, the Soviet government hardly seems to be acting wisely in depriving a large number of its citizens, and particularly those best fitted to receive them, of the advantage of an education. Instead of accentuating the class struggle, they might build more permanently by conciliating the bourgeois and inaugurating a policy of assimilation rather than destruction.