According to Wikipedia, Soviet Russia promoted literacy specifically to make propaganda more effective
> After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Anatoly Lunachersky, the Soviet People's Commissariat for Education made a conscious effort to introduce political propaganda into Soviet schools, particularly the labour schools that had been established in 1918 under the Statute on the Uniform Labour School.[20] These propaganda pamphlets, required texts, and posters artistically embodied the core values[21] of the Soviet push for literacy in both rural and urban settings, namely the concept espoused by Lenin that "Without literacy, there can be no politics, there can only be rumors, gossip and prejudice."[22] This concept, the Soviet valuing of literacy, was later echoed in works like Trotsky's 1924 Literature and Revolution, in which Trotsky describes literature and reading as driving forces in the forging of a New Soviet Man.[23]
Soviet Russia also obviously killed people in large numbers if they disagreed with the party line, starting immediately after the revolution. If you kill people who disagree with you while promoting specific state-approved propaganda then literacy is indeed not enough.
That's why free speech and in particular the freedom to criticize and disagree with the government is fundamental.
What matters is that (1) people are able to read, (2) people are free to read what they want, and (3) people have access to cheap nonfiction reading material that is likely to be true and accurate. You can attack at any of these points and reduce the ability of literacy to prevent dictatorship.
According to Wikipedia, Soviet Russia promoted literacy specifically to make propaganda more effective
> After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Anatoly Lunachersky, the Soviet People's Commissariat for Education made a conscious effort to introduce political propaganda into Soviet schools, particularly the labour schools that had been established in 1918 under the Statute on the Uniform Labour School.[20] These propaganda pamphlets, required texts, and posters artistically embodied the core values[21] of the Soviet push for literacy in both rural and urban settings, namely the concept espoused by Lenin that "Without literacy, there can be no politics, there can only be rumors, gossip and prejudice."[22] This concept, the Soviet valuing of literacy, was later echoed in works like Trotsky's 1924 Literature and Revolution, in which Trotsky describes literature and reading as driving forces in the forging of a New Soviet Man.[23]
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likbez
Soviet Russia also obviously killed people in large numbers if they disagreed with the party line, starting immediately after the revolution. If you kill people who disagree with you while promoting specific state-approved propaganda then literacy is indeed not enough.
That's why free speech and in particular the freedom to criticize and disagree with the government is fundamental.
What matters is that (1) people are able to read, (2) people are free to read what they want, and (3) people have access to cheap nonfiction reading material that is likely to be true and accurate. You can attack at any of these points and reduce the ability of literacy to prevent dictatorship.
A bit of clarification, this isn't according to Wikipedia, but to those sources cited in the references [20], [21], etc.
Wikipedia isn't a source in and of itself, but a good Wikipedia article will be well sourced.
yes fair enough, thanks
A followup: If literacy is key, how to explain the democracies in Ancient Greece and Rome?
Count me a skeptic of this reductionist article.