Popularization of science and education by the Znanie Society in the TASSR (1947–1975)

Abstract

This article examines the All-Union Znanie Society’s work on communicating scientific knowledge to the general public in the Tatar ASSR. After the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union was committed to reviving the destroyed sectors of education and research. Thus, from 1955 onward, the popularization of science and technology rose to a top state-level priority, with the Znanie Society as one of the most ambitious projects to achieve this aim. It played an important role in retaining and raising professional qualifications of researchers, increasing productive capacity, and promoting new technological developments and rationalization proposals. Higher levels of education helped increase labor productivity and encouraged political literacy of the target audience. The Znanie Society reached the public through many ways, but lectures were the most common and accessible option. All lectures were carefully planned according to the instructions on the topics that were covered. Each topic was assigned to a lecturer responsible for it. The analysis, based on materials of the Znanie Society congresses and documents from the State Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan, outlines the main concepts, forms, and methods of knowledge propaganda used by the Znanie Society in its work as part of the broader development of educational organizations in the USSR.