Education Legislation as a Reflection of State Personnel Policy in the Soviet Period (1918–1954)

The paper examines major legislative acts of the Soviet State that regulated education from 1918 to 1954. «Spetsialitet» programs as a level of higher education were developed in the USSR and effectively supplied the national economy with qualified personnel. The formation of the Soviet education system occurred in stages. The most important achievements of the Soviet education system in the period under review include: 1) the introduction of universal schooling in the early years of Soviet power and the attainment of universal literacy; 2) the provision of industry with engineers and technicians during the period of industrialization; 3) the active development of correspondence and evening forms of education in the post-war period to expand access to secondary and higher education for workers. The constitutional enshrinement of the right to education played a significant role in achieving the goals of state personnel policy. Despite temporary and forced departures from the principle of free education, the objective set out in the 1936 Constitution was ultimately realized in the post-war period. To analyze Soviet education legislation, the paper employs semiotic methods, which facilitate a deeper understanding of how legislators formulated the provisions of regulatory legal acts and of the factors that influenced those decisions.

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