How the Old Bolshevik Loncharsky fought against the Cyrillic alphabet. The alphabet revolution: how the Soviet Union wanted to change the Russian alphabet to the Latin alphabet Loncharsky, almost from the first day of Soviet rule, proposed to switch to a truly international alphabet, used by all enlightened nations. If the project of romanticizing the Russian alphabet was implemented, we would hardly be able to read books published in Cyrillic. In the fall of 1929, the Galbanuka Committee under the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR began work on a project to translate the Russian language from Cyrillic to Latin. The main ideologue of the transition was the People's Commissar of Education Anatoly Loncharsky, who referred to Lenin's own wishes. By then, almost 70 nations inhabiting the Soviet Union had switched to the Latin language. By winter, the project was completed and sent to the Politburo for approval. Latin of the Peoples of the Soviet Union Many influential Bolsheviks were prejudiced against the Cyrillic alphabet. They believed it was the same sign of "backwardness" as the Julian calendar and the Russian system of measurements (sazen, arshin, pound). Immediately after coming to power, the Bolsheviks switched to the Gregorian calendar and the metric system. As for the language, in this case they limited themselves to spelling reform. To the most radical of them, this reform seemed half-hearted and incomplete. However, there was not enough power and resources for more. The gradual Latinization of the peoples of the Soviet Union began under Lenin. Some of them didn't really have a written language; Most Muslims used Arabic script. In order to simplify the process of publishing the books, it was decided to bring them all to a common denominator. The Cyrillic alphabet did not fit in this case for political reasons, as it was considered by the Bolsheviks "the language of the colonialists, missionaries and oppressors". As a result, the Latin alphabet was taken as the basis. The Azerbaijanis were the first to receive a new language; This happened during Lenin's lifetime. After that, the process slowed down and reached an accelerated pace already under Stalin, starting in 1926.

How the Old Bolshevik Loncharsky fought against the Cyrillic alphabet. The alphabet revolution: how the Soviet Union wanted to change the Russian alphabet to the Latin alphabet Loncharsky, almost from the first day of Soviet rule, proposed to switch to a truly international alphabet, used by all enlightened nations. If the project of romanticizing the Russian alphabet was implemented, we would hardly be able to read books published in Cyrillic. In the fall of 1929, the Galbanuka Committee under the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR began work on a project to translate the Russian language from Cyrillic to Latin. The main ideologue of the transition was the People's Commissar of Education Anatoly Loncharsky, who referred to Lenin's own wishes. By then, almost 70 nations inhabiting the Soviet Union had switched to the Latin language. By winter, the project was completed and sent to the Politburo for approval. Latin of the Peoples of the Soviet Union Many influential Bolsheviks were prejudiced against the Cyrillic alphabet. They believed it was the same sign of "backwardness" as the Julian calendar and the Russian system of measurements (sazen, arshin, pound). Immediately after coming to power, the Bolsheviks switched to the Gregorian calendar and the metric system. As for the language, in this case they limited themselves to spelling reform. To the most radical of them, this reform seemed half-hearted and incomplete. However, there was not enough power and resources for more. The gradual Latinization of the peoples of the Soviet Union began under Lenin. Some of them didn't really have a written language; Most Muslims used Arabic script. In order to simplify the process of publishing the books, it was decided to bring them all to a common denominator. The Cyrillic alphabet did not fit in this case for political reasons, as it was considered by the Bolsheviks "the language of the colonialists, missionaries and oppressors". As a result, the Latin alphabet was taken as the basis. The Azerbaijanis were the first to receive a new language; This happened during Lenin's lifetime. After that, the process slowed down and reached an accelerated pace already under Stalin, starting in 1926.