Primer - the beginning of the beginning. The primer is the first book of a first-grader. Almost every Soviet boy and girl began the difficult path of knowledge with this book. The primer is a book that was the first to give Soviet children education and love for the Motherland and loved ones. Maybe that’s why, in order not to forget our first textbook, we first-graders were photographed with the primer on the desk or in our hands. Many people probably have such photos. And many years later, I accidentally came across this book. After looking through the primer, I shed a tear from the surging nostalgia. Seeing illustrations remembered from childhood in a textbook, the associations with which they are associated emerge in my memory. On this page, I read a poem about mittens to the whole class, syllable by syllable, and looking at the picture of cheerful children sliding down the slide, I wanted classes to end soon and run to the frozen in ice pond ride down a huge slide. You may also, after viewing the primer, recall some memories of your childhood and school years.

In the Land of Soviets, education was very high level and at the same time (it’s hard to believe now) free. Every Soviet schoolchild knew that by focusing only on one’s own knowledge, one could enter higher education. educational institution without a bribe or a “hairy” hand. Therefore, many children strived to graduate from school with honors. Where did a schoolchild’s education begin? Of course, from him - from “ Primer»!

Now almost all children are sent to school from the age of six. At the same time, teachers require that the child already be able to read fluently and master counting. Nowadays, kids are simply forced to grow up early, and not because their childhood was deprived balloons and toys, but because children’s serene carefreeness ends exactly at the age of five, when “hopeless” studies begin preparatory courses... But this was not the case in the Union: they assigned fewer lessons and had enough time for sports and yard games. I remember that we went to first grade from the age of seven or eight, without knowing how to read or count. And we were given fewer lessons than now. For example, my first-grader, after serving seven years in school! lessons, brings home “mountains” homework in writing, mathematics, natural history, English, labor...

So I keep grumbling, probably because even honey seemed sweeter in childhood. I still remember with a joyful feeling my first call, my first teacher Lidia Ivanovna, how she, standing at the blackboard, held the Primer in her hands and solemnly said: “this is the most general ledger in your life, with it you will begin your journey into the world of knowledge...” Thinking like this, I was clearing out the bookshelves for my first-grader’s new books and in the very corner I found, believe it or not, “A Primer”! Hello old friend! I open the first page... oh yes Lidiya Ivanovna... she borrowed her speech from there, she just forgot to add that “thanks to the Primer, you will learn to write your first words “mother”, “Motherland” and “Lenin”!” And somewhere, from the depths of my memory, a memory emerges that there was such a tradition: all first-graders were seated at their desks with an “ABC book” in their hands for a photo. Probably everyone Soviet schoolboy there was a photograph that I then proudly signed for back side“September 1, 1969. Vanya." Do you remember the joke: “mother washed the frame, and the frame washed mother”? So, it turns out that the sentence “mom washed the frame” was only in the 1959 Primer. And, returning to my schoolboy son, in his modern “ABC” by Zhukova there is the phrase “Vova is washing the frame.” Is it clear where the legs come from?

In general, I began to wonder, how many “Primers” were published in the Union, who was the author? Come on, old friend of my Red Banner childhood, tell me your secrets. Officially, in the Country of Soviets, the “Primer” was “born” in 1937, under the authorship of the honored teacher Nikolai Golovin. People immediately “joked” at his expense: the whole country taught children according to Golovin’s “Primer.” Then, this publication was revised and supplemented with new examples, copybooks, pictures from folk tales about “Kolobok”, “The Ryaba Hen”, “Turnip” and so on. Moreover, only pictures were given in order to develop the child’s oral speech (he had to, looking at the textbook, tell the given fairy tale by heart). I remember how we told the story “About the Goldfish” to the whole class, one by one, one sentence at a time. The story was a little funny and not always believable. Moreover, it was quite easy for children to navigate the “ABC”: vowels were indicated by a red rectangle, consonants – by a green rectangle. There were also socially useful images: here is a girl watering flowers, and here she is leading her grandmother across the road. There was always a page with a portrait of Lenin and a description of how he takes care of children (no matter how many times I looked through the first textbooks, I never found a portrait of Stalin). There was always a section “about the Motherland”: a picture with a map of the Union and images of children in national costumes.

So, the Primer was published in Moscow, by the Prosveshchenie publishing house. The editorial board took a very responsible approach to the book’s illustrations. The expert commission reviewed the Primer's drawings in detail: they should not be overloaded with details. They must have a positive educational and expressive character, because it was believed that the child’s psyche is very vulnerable and has a figurative, not logical thinking. Therefore, it is not surprising that experienced, even famous artists were involved in painting the Primer, for example V. Ezhkova, V. Bogdanov, T. Nikulina. The Primer was published in 1943, 1945, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1959, 1962,1963, 1967, 1970, 1983, 1987. As a rule, each edition of the textbook was created by a team of authors. However, the most famous in this area were: Golovin N. (“Primer” 1937-44), Voskresenskaya A. (“Primer” 1952, 9th edition and “Primer” 1959, 16th edition), Arkhangelskaya N. (1967 and 1970 5th edition), Svadkovsky I. (1962 10th edition), Gorbushina A. (1983 23rd edition), Goretsky V. 1987 (7th edition). I just want to say “thank you!” with love! for this first book in my life and for the yellowed photo of that curly-haired first-grader from 1970, who smiles so proudly in her arms with her ABC book. And we all know where the Motherland begins!

Download "Primer"

Primer 1937. Author: Golovin N. M. Publisher: Uchpedgiz Year: 1937 Format: PDF Size: 171.6 MB Number of pages: 72 « »

Primer 1946. Author: Redozubov S. P. Publisher: Uchpedgiz Year: 1946 Format: DjVu + program for viewing .djvu files Language: Russian (pre-reform) Number of pages: 98 Size: 2.72 MB

Download Soviet textbook

Study! Study! And study again!

V.I.Lenin

Approved by the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR

© " Pillumination" Moscow 1987

Format: PDF, File size: 5.35 MB

Today you begin your journey to a wonderful, extraordinary country - the Land of Knowledge! You will learn to read and write, for the first time you will write the words that are dearest and closest to all of us: mom. Motherland, .

The school will help you become a competent and hardworking citizen of our great Motherland - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

We congratulate you on the start of your studies and give you your first school book- Primer. Take care of him! He will open the door to a new world for you, interesting books. From it you will learn how great and beautiful our Motherland is, how much they do soviet people so that there will always be peace on the whole Earth!..

Be diligent and hardworking.

Good luck, dear friend!

Download the USSR textbook - Primer 1987

Cm. Excerpt from the textbook...

For pilots in flight - For those in the sky At work!

For those at the stoves - No hot work!

To the tractor driver -

Glory in the field

And your job is at school.

Your work is also visible.

Honest work!

Goats and wolf.

Once upon a time there lived a goat. She had seven children. She made herself a hut in the forest. Every day the goat went into the forest for food. She leaves on her own, and tells the children to lock themselves tightly and not open the doors to anyone...

When the dog approaches the swamp, the lapwing flies off the nest and lures the dog with it. He runs in front of the dog. The dog rushes after him, wants to catch him. And the lapwing takes the dog away from its nest.

Friendly guys, they read and draw, play and sing, and live happily.

Yura and Yulia play chess:

And I know another game!

Learned son.

The son came from the city to his father in the village. The father said: “Today it’s mowing, take a rake and let’s go, help me.” But my son didn’t want to work, so he said: “I studied science, but forgot all the peasant words. What is a rake? As soon as he walked across the yard, he stepped on a rake. He grabbed his forehead and said: “And who threw the rake here?”

Let's play echo.

When you walked in the forest or to the river in the evening, you heard an echo. You screamed, but the echo answered you, and you only heard the end of the word.

Let's try to play this game.

The car is a tire.

Laughter is meh.

Scythe - wasp.

Screen - faucet.

Deer is lazy.

Across the river here and there

Someone is wandering through the bushes.

Echo, echo, is that you?

The echo answers: - You.

Where did you have lunch, sparrow?

Where did you have lunch, sparrow?

At the zoo with the animals. I had lunch first

Behind bars by a lion. Took some refreshment from the fox.

I drank some water at the walrus's. I ate carrots from an elephant.

I ate millet with the crane.

Stayed with a rhinoceros

I ate a little bran.

I went to the feast

In tailed kangaroos.

I was at a festive dinner

At the shaggy bear.

A toothy crocodile

Almost swallowed me.

The old man was planting apple trees.

They told him:

Why do you need these apple trees? It will take a long time to wait for fruit from these apple trees, and you will not eat an apple from them.

The old man said:

I won’t eat it, others will eat it and they’ll thank me.

One is pouring, another is drinking, the third is growing.

They grow in summer, fall in autumn.

December ends the year, winter begins.

Winter guests.

Fields, forests, parks, gardens were empty. The first snow flutters like fluff. The finches left their native places.

They are cold and hungry.

Winter guests will soon appear - red-breasted bullfinches.

The children went up the mountain, took a sled, and sat astride it. The mountain was very slippery. The sled went very fast, hit other sleds and knocked out all the guys.

A. S. Pushkin.

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is a great Russian writer. The whole world knows the name of Pushkin and reads his works. A.S. Pushkin is the glory and pride of our Motherland.

Do you know which Pushkin fairy tale these lines are from:

The squirrel sings songs

Yes, he keeps nibbling on nuts,

And nuts are not simple,

All the shells are golden...

The wind blows on the sea

And the boat speeds up;

He runs in the waves

With full sails...

Publications in the Literature section

Primer for educational purposes

On October 10, 1918, the decree “On the introduction of a new spelling” was signed, which excluded the letters Ѣ, Ѳ, I from the alphabet, abolished the spelling of Ъ at the end of words - and in general brought Russian spelling to the form in which we know it today. "Kultura.RF" talks about the main post-revolutionary primers of different years.

“ABC” by Vladimir Konashevich, 1918

The ABC of Vladimir Konashevich (cover). St. Petersburg, publishing house of the Partnership of R. Golike and A. Vilborg. 1918

ABC of Vladimir Konashevich. St. Petersburg, publishing house of the Partnership of R. Golike and A. Vilborg. 1918

The illustrated “ABC” by Soviet artist Vladimir Konashevich became one of the first manuals of the new spelling (without the letter “yat”). The idea for the book was born during the artist’s correspondence with his family, who were stuck on a land cut off by Kolchak’s army. Soviet republic Ural. “Dad wrote letters to mom, and sent me pictures for each letter of the alphabet, recalled Konashevich’s daughter Olga Chaiko. - I was already four years old, and, obviously, he believed that it was time to know the letters.". Later, Konashevich, on the advice of friends, decided to publish these drawings - and in 1918, “ABC” was published. It included 36 pictures painted in watercolors. Objects and phenomena in the ABC were very different, from animals and plants to vehicles and toys. They were depicted simply, without perspective distortions, since Vladimir Konashevich believed that “a child should understand the picture at first sight.”

Vladimir Mayakovsky. Soviet alphabet (cover). Moscow, 1919

Vladimir Mayakovsky. Soviet alphabet. Moscow, 1919

“An intellectual does not like risk. / And moderately red, like a radish"- and so on from “A” to “Z”. This topical alphabet was first published in 1919, and Vladimir Mayakovsky was the author of not only its epigrams, but also cartoon illustrations for each of the letters of the alphabet.

The main audience of this primer were Red Army soldiers, whom Mayakovsky wanted to accustom to poetic language with the help of such a satirical publication. “There were such jokes that were not very suitable for the salon, but which went very well in the trenches”, he recalled. Mayakovsky personally colored about five thousand copies of the alphabet, printed in the empty Stroganov printing house when Tsentropechat refused to publish the book for the poet. Later, Mayakovsky transferred many couplets from the “Soviet ABC” to the iconic “ROSTA Windows”.

"Down with Illiteracy", 1920

Dora Elkina. Down with illiteracy! (A primer for adults). Moscow, Extracurricular department of MONO, 1920

Dora Elkina. Down with illiteracy! (A primer for adults). Moscow, Extracurricular department of MONO, 1920

Under this name, in 1919–1920, the first editions of the Soviet primer for adults, developed by Dora Elkina and a team of co-authors, were published. These manuals taught the basics of reading and writing based on political slogans: for example, students had to read syllable by syllable the phrases “Councils of the alarm of the people,” “We bring freedom to the world,” and the famous palindrome “We are not slaves, slaves are not us.” Illustrations of the first Soviet alphabet bright propaganda posters and scenes from the life of the proletariat served.

A few years later, the “Down with Illiteracy” society was created, the goal of which was to eliminate mass illiteracy. His work was supervised by large statesmen: Mikhail Kalinin, Nadezhda Krupskaya, Anatoly Lunacharsky. Under the leadership of the society, not only teaching aids, but also cultural and educational magazines such as “Kultpohod” and “Let’s Increase Literacy.” According to historians, over the 13 years of its existence, the “Down with Illiteracy” society educated about 5 million Soviet citizens.

Primer "Pioneer", 1925

Ivan Sverchkov. Pioneer. Children's ABC book (cover and front page). Leningrad, GIZ, 1925

Ivan Sverchkov. Pioneer. Children's ABC book. Leningrad, GIZ, 1925

The purpose of this manual was to teach schoolchildren not only the basics of literacy, but also the structure of the world around them and Soviet life. “Pioneer” told young readers about life in cities and villages, about various proletarian professions, about domestic and wild animals, about measurements of length, weight and time using illustrations in an engraving style. Of course, the book’s ideological component was also strong. One of the main images of the primer were October Revolution and Vladimir Lenin: many poems in the primer were dedicated to them.

And “Pioneer” inextricably linked childhood itself in the young Soviet country with the concept of “ours”: kindergartens, schools, camps and even the revolution were depicted as common.

“Primer” by Nikolai Golovin, 1937

Nikolai Golovin. Primer (cover). Moscow, Uchpedgiz, 1937

Nikolai Golovin. Primer. Moscow, Uchpedgiz, 1937

“The whole country taught children / According to Golovin’s ABC book”, they said in the Soviet Union, and not without exaggeration. Perhaps there was no school in the late 1930s - early 1940s where they did not read this textbook, compiled by Honored Teacher of the RSFSR Nikolai Golovin. The material in the book ranged from simple to complex: from reading syllables to copybooks, from short stories about ordinary children's activities to poems dedicated to Lenin and Stalin, with obvious political overtones.

A distinctive feature of the Primer were its illustrations, for which the editorial board had special requirements. The images were bright, positive and simple, not overloaded with details, and also had a very clear didactic and educational tone, showing readers patterns of correct behavior.

“Primer” by Alexandra Voskresenskaya, 1944

Alexandra Voskresenskaya. Primer (cover). Moscow, Uchpedgiz, 1956

Alexandra Voskresenskaya. Primer. Moscow, Uchpedgiz, 1956

“The Primer,” authored by methodologist and teacher of the Russian language Alexandra Voskresenskaya, was one of the most successful manuals for junior school: It was reprinted twenty times. The secret to the success of the primer was a successful combination of tasks to develop memory, imagination and train writing and reading skills. The material in the manual became more complex smoothly and gradually: from a combination of sounds to syllables, from them to short words, small phrases, and so on. The main motif of the illustrations in the book was a measured and happy village life (initially, according to Voskresenskaya’s “Primer,” they studied in rural schools).

Alexandra Voskresenskaya also paid special attention to preparing for teaching preschoolers and created the famous “ABC with a stork” for teaching children in the family.

“Primer” by Sergei Redozubov, 1945

Sergey Redozubov. Primer (cover). Moscow, Uchpedgiz, 1946

Sergey Redozubov. Primer (cover). Moscow, Uchpedgiz, 1956

Sergey Redozubov. Primer. Moscow, Uchpedgiz, 1950

The post-war primer was illustrated with scenes of peaceful work and leisure: young pioneers were depicted extracurricular reading, games, sports and cleaning. By describing these pictures and relying on auxiliary ones, schoolchildren learned to invent short stories for every lesson. Towards the end of the Primer there were poems and stories for reading, including revised Russian ones folk tales. True, the manual was difficult for children: it did not always follow the gradual complication of phrases and texts for analysis, and each page was overloaded with columns of words with the same or similar syllables.

Vseslav Goretsky. Primer. Moscow, publishing house "Prosveshchenie", 1993

Doctor pedagogical sciences Vseslav Goretsky built his primer not according to the alphabet, but according to the frequency of use of letters in speech and writing: they opened the book with “a” and “o”, and closed it with “b” and “b”. It was also the first primer that was published along with copybooks and didactic material.

The special feature of the Primer was its game uniform. Popular characters shared the journey to the “land of knowledge” with the students: Pinocchio, Dunno and Murzilka, and the tasks were often funny riddles and puzzles. The book also contained many easy-to-memorize poems, including those by Alexander Pushkin, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Korney Chukovsky and Samuil Marshak.

Goretsky’s “Primer Book” turned out to be so popular and beloved among children that it continued to be published and reprinted for 30 years, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

I was sorting through old books and came across my old school primer from 1984. I skimmed through it and, to be honest, I was stunned. This children's book, from which children should learn to read with joy and pleasure, turned out to be so densely saturated with communist propaganda that it is even surprising how we, born in the USSR, managed to avoid final and irrevocable zombification.

The trash starts from the very first page. I quote: “Today you begin your journey to a wonderful, extraordinary country - the Land of knowledge. You will learn to read and write, for the first time you will write the words that are dearest and closest to all of us: mother, Motherland, Lenin.”

Further - more. Lenin, the party, the Great October Revolution, the USSR - the best country in the world, veterans, the Second World War, and - a rather persistent push for the idea of ​​becoming an astronaut. It seems that the USSR was planning a large-scale space expansion.

So don’t be surprised by the amount of cotton wool in the brains of your compatriots. Rather, one should be surprised that even with such grandiose and systematic efforts of state propaganda normal people remained.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin gave his strength to the struggle for the happiness of the people. Lenin created the Communist Party. The party continues the work of Lenin. She leads our people to a bright, happy life.

Lenin always cared about children. That’s why the October kids are called Lenin’s grandchildren.

There is a portrait of our daughter.

In the portrait, Lenin is reading late, sitting at the table.

It's time for my daughter to go to bed. Night is coming.

Mom, will Lenin go to bed soon? - asks the daughter.

You will fall asleep, and Lenin will lie down, - my mother will answer her.

You will get up,” Lenin reads again: he gets up at first light.

My daughter is sleeping. But the light does not go out in that portrait: Lenin reads and reads at the table.

The snow is spinning

the snow is falling.

Snow! Snow! Snow!

The beast and the bird are glad to see the snow,

and, of course, a person!

Snow fell - frost fell!

The cat washes its nose with snow.

The puppy has a black back

White snowflakes are melting.

The sidewalks were covered in snow.

Everything around is white and white!

Snow-snow-snowfall!

Enough work for shovels,

for shovels and scrapers,

for large trucks.

Shell fragment.

Misha and dad were walking in the forest.

Dad, look, it's a piece of iron.

How old and rusty it is!

No, Misha, this is not a piece of iron.

This is a shell fragment.

There was a war a long time ago.

There was a battle in this forest.

Many of our soldiers died here.

I was wounded in the chest.

With this very projectile?

Maybe this is it. I don't know.

Dad, will there be no more war?

We don't want war, Misha.

We will do everything to prevent it from happening.

Now in all countries people are fighting for peace. There are a lot of peace fighters.

No one can defeat them.

Are you also a peace fighter, dad?

Of course, Misha. In our country, all people are fighting for peace.

Icebreaker "LENIN".

In the north the sea is covered with thick ice. There are ice fields and ice mountains everywhere. How will the ships get through here?

The ice won't let them in.

But what is it? What is this mighty ship? On its side the golden letters glitter: LENIN. He goes first and breaks the ice! And ships follow him on clear water.

What force drives this wonderful icebreaker?

This is the power of the atom.

Auom can be formidable.

An atom can be kind and peaceful.

Our country, our party are fighting for the atom to be a friend of people.

The Tale of the Red Ball.

Lena got up early. The window was open. And a red ball flew into the room.

Sharik, whose are you? - Lena asked.

“I’m nobody’s,” said the ball.

And he sang a song to Lena:

I'm flying, flying, flying,

I want to fly around the world.

And that’s right, the ball on the string has a white leaf. Lena took it and read:

Hello children all over the world!

My name is Kwesi. I live in hot Africa. Anyone who wants to be friends with me should write me a letter.

Lena wrote the answer:

Hello Kwesi!

I also want to be friends with all the guys. I live in Moscow. It's winter here. It's snowing outside. We play snowballs. I'm waiting for an answer.

Your new friend Lena.

Lena tied the letter to the balloon.

And the ball flew out the window.

The red ball flew over fields, forests, mountains. And suddenly he got caught on the balcony of an old house. The sea was blue in the distance. This was the country of Italy. And the boy Gianni lived in the house.

Where are you from, ball? And where are you flying? - he asked. And the ball sang a song to him:

I'm flying, flying, flying, I want to fly around the whole world.

I have letters and postcards on my thread.

Gianni was upset and said:

But I don't know how to write yet. Red ball, please tell the guys my words:

World. Friendship. Gianni.

This is very good words. “I will definitely pass them on,” the ball said and flew on.

The red ball flew to hot Africa. He sat on a palm tree near the house where Kwesi lived. But Kwesi was at school.

The tall giraffe took the ball from the palm tree. And the striped zebra took him straight to school.

This is the answer to my letter! - Kwesi shouted. And all the guys began to read the letter. And then everyone wrote the answer together:

Hello, Lena!

We are very glad that we have a friend in the Soviet Union. Write to us how you are doing. And also write to us what snow is. We never have snow in Africa.

Your new friends.

Then they tied the letter to a thread. And the ball flew back. He flew, without getting tired, all the way to Moscow and sang:

I'm flying, flying, flying,

I want to fly around the world,

so that all over the planet

the children became friends.

Space explorers.

The rocket flies higher and higher.

So she rushed through the clouds. Even higher, even faster. blue sky becomes dark.

Rocket in space.

Birds don't fly here.

Airplanes cannot fly here.

The sky here is completely black.

And in the black sky, the astronaut sees the sun, the stars, and the moon at once. Like in a fairy tale! The astronaut opens the rocket hatch.

The astronaut wears a reliable spacesuit. For the first time a man goes into space.

This is a Soviet man.

Soviet people are space conquerors!

A Russian guy took off in a rocket,

I saw the whole earth from above.

Gagarin was the first in space...

What score will you be?

Our rocket.

The radio announced a new flight into space.

Natasha screamed:

Dad! Listen! Listen! And dad smiled and said:

This is our rocket!

Whose rocket? - Natasha was surprised.

Mine and my comrades.

But you're not an astronaut, dad. An astronaut flies in a rocket. And you are here in the room.

Yes, I'm not an astronaut. I'm a steelworker.

I welded the steel for this rocket.

Engineers made drawings. Scientists have come up with wonderful devices. Many, many people did a good job.

And so the rocket flew into space.

And today each of these people can say:

This is our rocket!

At the parade.

Dad took Volodya to the parade.

Dad put Volodya on his shoulder. Volodya is glad. He is now taller than everyone else.

He can see everything.

The sun is shining brightly.

Troops are marching along Red Square.

The border guards are walking in an even formation. They are the ones who guard the borders of our Motherland.

Here come the brave sailors. They protect the blue waves of our seas.

Motorized infantry is coming. Yes, yes, the infantry is coming! This is the new infantry.

Tanks are crawling across the square with a roar. They are led by fearless tank crews.

When will there be rockets? - Volodya is worried.

And now the rockets are coming to Red Square. First small, then bigger. And then the biggest rockets appeared.

Wow! - Volodya shouts: - These missiles will probably fly wherever you want!

Yes. Our army is strong and strong. She reliably protects our peaceful work.

The best gift.

It was Katya's birthday.

Uncle Yura brought her a big ball. Mom gave me a doll. And my dad gave me the book “Russian Folk Tales.”

Katya played with the ball and threw it.

She played with the doll and put her to sleep.

Katya, go and drink tea! - Mom calls.

Wait, mommy! Let me finish reading the story. There's a little left!

What was the best gift Katya received?

ABC holiday.

I take the ABC book,

For the last time

I'm carrying an ABC book

into a spacious classroom.

And dear

I speak:

Thank you

There are many in the world

there are books.

All books