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Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2022. 18(4) Copyright © 2022 by Cherkas Global University
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Media Education ( Mediaobrazovanie )
E-ISSN 1994-4195
2022. 18(4): 624-633
DOI: 10.13187/me.2022.4.624 https://me.cherkasgu.press
Ideological Format of the Children's First Reader/Alphabet Book
Lyudmila Seliverstova a , *, Lyudmila Buzinova b, Anastasia Levitskaya c
a Southern Federal University, Moscow International University, Russian Federation b Moscow International University, Russian Federation c Taganrog Institute of Management and Economics, Russian Federation
This article about ideological format of the children's first reader/alphabet book (on the material of the Russian-language textbooks).The article elaborates upon the role of ideologemes in the first textbooks that teach literacy to children. The stable verbal compounds as well as visual means in educational texts can act as representatives of ideological attitudes. The empirical research embraces the selection of ABC books (primers, alphabet books) and first readers published in Russian in pre-revolutionary, Soviet and post-Soviet Russia in the period from 1903 to the present. The authors conclude that the basic universal values actualized by ideologemes do not undergo significant changes over time, while the socio-political artificially formed (phantom) ones transform or disappear.
Keywords: ideology, ideologeme, alphabet book, ABC book, primer, first reader, education, upbringing, elementary school.
1. Introduction
The modern concept of the educational process assumes a tandem of education and moral upbringing. Starting from preschool and continuing in the first grade, the foundations of patriotism, morality and kindness are being incorporated in children's education. The first school book as the first teacher plays a big role in a child's life. Learning to read and write, children are above all spiritually, morally, and socially educated. The change of the social paradigm presupposes the change of the educational one, which entails the formatting of all spheres of public life, including the change of the ideological format within the educational system. Social attitudes are always reflected on the pages of textbooks. In this regard, the consideration of the primer (or alphabet book) as the first textbook for teaching literacy to younger schoolchildren presents the research interest.
The ideology of the power institutions, represented by the Ministry of Education, plays a decisive role in this, as this government agency by issuing orders, directives, recommendations, directly affects the field of education. The ideological aspect in the teaching discourse can be interpreted in line with the formation of the ideology of the state establishment. The system of views in the field of public policy has a significant impact on education in general and the school environment in particular. Stable verbal compounds as well as visual means in educational publications can act as representatives of ideological attitudes.
The relevance of the research is determined by the fact that the concept of "ideology" expands its horizons beyond political discourse, acquiring an axiological mode. Value meanings
* Corresponding author
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (L. Seliverstova)
624
Abstract
characterized by national specificity, dynamism, and pragmatism find expression in manipulative verbal and nonverbal units - ideologemes.
2. Materials and methods
The research material comprises the selection of ABC books (primers, alphabet books) and first readers published in Russian in pre-revolutionary, Soviet and post-Soviet Russia in the period from 1903 to the present.
Experts emphasize the diversity of semantic load, ideology and the multifunctional nature of the primer (Barannikova, Bezrogova, 2010: 4-6). The primer is considered as "the first in the life of a child recommended to him by the state and pedagogy science, the first dictionary of commonly used concepts of modern culture, society, value orientations of everyday life, ways of interacting with the world" (Barannikova, Bezrogova, 2010: 4). On the pages of the primer, adults tell the child about the realities of the surrounding world in accordance with their understanding of how this world should be perceived and interacted with by the child. In this regard, of particular importance is the operational and ideological load of simple, but at the same time extremely important short texts and pictures in alphabet books/first readers (Byundyugova et al., 2021), which display the simplest and most significant ideas for the future citizen and person. The polyfunctionality of the primer is manifested in the fact that "it is designed not only to teach reading and writing, but also cultural and political literacy" (Barannikova, Bezrogova, 2010: 5).
In accordance with the purpose and objectives of the study, the method of direct observation, descriptive, and contextual-interpretative analysis were used as the main research methods.
3. Discussion
Being a rather controversial category in most humanities, in particular in linguistics, the concept of "ideology" is used in diverse senses. A large number of studies of this phenomenon testifies to its multidimensional and multifaceted nature. The term "ideology" was coined at the end of the XVIII century by the French researcher A. Destutt de Tracy, meaning "the science of ideas, preferences of certain social groups in concrete historical conditions" (Tracy de, 2013: 311). Initially, this doctrine was not supported in scientific circles, only a century later, German scientists K. Marx and F. Engels revisited the phenomenon. From that time on, by and large, ideology acquired a political connotation, correlating with the concept of "truth". In K. Duncker's theory, ideology is seen as a system of ways of representation that covertly or openly claim to be the absolute truth. The author notes that ideology is most often spoken about in the political aspect, but there are many types of it, including social, epistemological (scientific), ethical, etc. (Duncker, 2006). T. Van Dijk explains ideology as the basis of the social representations of a group, its functions in terms of social relations between groups, and its reproduction as enacted by discourse (Dijk, 1998: 8). R. Barthes defines it as a "modern metalanguage myth", a "connotative system" (Barthes, Strauss, et al. 2000: 18). Over time, ideology has acquired other contexts of functioning. In different periods of society's development, the ideological approach to social phenomena changes. The values and norms underlying these ideologies "claimed total significance, regulated social relationships and everyday interactions of individuals" (Muhaev, 2000: 283).
Having considered some of the main approaches to the interpretation of ideology, we can conclude that its definition may be interpreted differently. In a broad sense, it denotes a set of political ideas, referring us to the political context. In a narrow sense, it can be considered as a system of views and values, as a worldview of a representative of society, which finds its embodiment in a discourse of the appropriate type. For current research objectives we are going to consider the ideological format (ideology) as determined by a set of ideas, beliefs and attitudes focused on the formation of socio-political and universal values through school textsbooks, in particular, ABC books. In other words, it is a set of ideas about what is "good" and what is "bad" at a certain stage of the development of society, purposefully formed by the state establishment.
In the linguistic tradition, the connection between language and ideology is realized at the lexical level through ideologically colored vocabulary. The term ideologeme is used as a verbal representative of the ideological aspect in this study. Many researchers gave him a scientific justification (Gusejnov, 2003; Klushina 2014; Kupina, 2006; Malysheva, 2009), which provoked a variety of approaches to the interpretation of the definition.
The term itself is associated with the name of the Russian literary critic M.M. Bahtin, who uses it to designate the key ideologically colored words of the novel character with an ideological
motive (Bahtin, 1975). Gradually, the term penetrates into the linguistic paradigm, initially in N.A. Kupina's research on totalitarian language. The researcher considers the ideologeme as a verbal unit, a word "directly related to the ideological denotation" (Kupina 2005: 91). A cognitively oriented approach to the study of the ideologeme is argued by E.G. Malysheva, and N.I. Klushina, who define it as a "concept" (Malysheva, 2009), as "a complex cognitive-stylistic phenomenon through which the mass, collective and individual consciousness of a particular society is formed" (Klushina 2014: 57). The purposeful use of ideologies is considered as an effective means of manipulating mass consciousness. G. Huseynov sees the semiotic nature in the ideologeme. In his theory, an ideologeme can be viewed as a sign or a set of signs "that direct communication participants to "correct" thinking and impeccable behavior and warn them against what is illegal" (Gusejnov 2003: 5). Researchers agree about the national specificity of the ideologeme, dynamism, axiology, frequency and variety of ways of its representation by signs of various semiotic systems, including language. To some extent, we share their opinion, defining the ideology as an explication, as a way of representing socio-political and universal values in a certain period of time. Cultural, historical, sociological, linguistic studies prove that even phenomena that are neither directly nor indirectly related to the spheres of politics, state, government, ideology, at one time or another happen to be ideologized (Shkajderova, 2007: 19). The use of verbal markers of the ideologeme -keywords, clichés, trite metaphors, etc. - is one of the ways of its language implementation.
4. Results
The analysis made it possible to outline the circle of ideologemes and trace their transformation in a diachronic aspect. It should be emphasized that Russia has been quite an ideologized country throughout its history. From "holy Russia" - the country of Orthodoxy, the true faith, through the period of "socialism", to "democracy", trying to create an open society with a list of freedoms. Under the conditions of changes in the political structure and socioeconomic relations, ideological markers have been changing. In our opinion, it is possible to distinguish some universal ideologemes, humane (ethical) and socio-political ones. The humane are fundamental ideologemes, while the socio-political are artificially created (phantom), which are embedded in the humane ones and transformed in the course of social development according to the realities of the historical period. The fundamental ideologies remain unchanged. We will demonstrate this thesis by the example of three universal ideologemes: Motherland, labor, faith. Table 1.
Patriotic education of children and youth has been a relevant issue at all times. The basic categories of patriotic education (love for Motherland, civic duty, responsibility, etc.) form the core and moral basis of an individual. "Patriotism" is developed in the position of an educational institution, which is implemented in the ideological orientation of the state - the need to educate the future generation "for the good of the Motherland", with a state-patriotic worldview, the ability to solve professional tasks based on this priority. This is a complex process that includes a variety of interrelated elements of organizational, substantive and conceptual plan.
The universal ideologeme Motherland includes the basic ones: family, relatives, native home, native land, native/home country. Reflecting on Motherland, the first line of M. Matusovsky's famous song comes to mind: "Where does the Motherland begin?" The answer is obvious: in the family, from parents and relatives.
In the absolute majority of the analyzed textbooks, mom/mama is mentioned first among other family members: "Oh, Mama. Wah, Mama" (Lukashevich, 1915: 3). Russian Alphabet Book of 1903 provides the children with an idea of the correct relations in the family with the poem "Tanyusha": "Tanyusha grew up in her little house, Dad loves her, Mom fondles her" (Russkaya azbuka, 1903: 28). The forms of nouns with diminutive-hypocoristic suffixes like "-shka", "-chek", etc.: grandmother - "babushka", grandson - "vnuchek", etc. testify to the tenderness of family relations. In the ABC book of 1915 there is a lexeme "mother" (not "mom"): "Mother is our friend" (Lukashevich, 1915: 21); "Mother went to work" (Lukashevich, 1915: 58). The image of caring parents is present in all publications: "Breadwinner father. Nursing mother" (Tihomirov, 1914: 20); "Sing, my dear dad. Sing to us about the bunny" (Vahterov, 1922: 31); "We are Daddy's babies" (Zhukova, 2014: 37).
In subsequent editions of the primers, the content component of the ideologemes father and mother is significantly expanded. Mother is represented primarily as a housewife, she takes care of the children: "Mom washed Lusha with soap" (Vahterov, 1922: 13); goes shopping: "Mom, buy an
onion" (Golovin, 1937: 17), "Mom bought boots" (Golovin, 1937: 25), feeds the children: " Mom, cook the soup", "Mom gave them soup and porridge" (Golovin, 1937: 23). Father and mother are hard workers: "Dad is busy" (Vahterov, 1922: 23); "My mother works at a factory. At the factory, my mother knits stockings" (Golovin, 1937: 34); "My mom has the award. She was awarded for her hard work" (Goreckij, 1977: 75).
Table 1. Selected ideologemes in children's ABC books from 1903 to 2020
Ideologemes
U
Universal
U
Mother -land
f
U
Basic
/Fundamental
U
Phantom
U
Mom as a housewife
Mom as a working woman
Mom as a worker hero
Dad as a hard working man
Das as a family man
Dad as a worker hero
Dad as a war hero
Family
Home
Native land
V
Faith J
Native country
Mercy, Kindness
the USSR, the Soviet Union
Faith in God
Faith in Leader
Belief in oneself
Labour
Diligence, bread
4
Individual work
Collective work
The "father-breadwinner" is supplemented by the ideologeme "father-mentor", in the context of communication with sons: "That's how you, my children: if you live in harmony, no one will defeat you; and if you quarrel, everyone will offend you" (Vahterov, 1922: 85); A catalyst for the
ideological background of the statement is Father's educational mission: "Dad explained to me that in our country the Soviet government opened the doors of schools to all children of workers and peasants, and this had not happened before" (Golovin, 1937: 59). In post-war reading textbooks, the ideologeme "father is a war hero" appears: "There was a severe battle. My dad is a hero. He was wounded in the war" (Voskresenskaya, 1952: 53) and "father is a professional": "My dad is not a simple craftsman - my dad is a brilliant builder" (Voskresenskaya, 1959: 88); "Seryozha's dad makes airplanes" (Arhangel'skaya, 1973: 71). Of course, in addition to parents, other relatives are represented on the pages of the ABC books and first readers, for example, caring grandmothers, wise grandfathers, etc., but to a lesser extent.
In most of the analyzed primers, the basic ideologeme "family" is verbalized. In the Soviet period, as a rule, an exemplary family is a large family in which the father works, the mother is a housewife, the older brother serves in the army or works with his father, the sister is certainly a teacher, and the younger children go to school and kindergarten. The idea of the Soviet family is often given to children in the form of short texts, for example: "We have a big family. Dad and brother Ilya work at the factory. Mom runs the household. Sister Tatiana is a teacher. I go to school. Younger brothers go to kindergarten (Golovin, 1944: 46).
Since the family is often depicted in the cozy domestic setting, it is logical to include the basic ideologeme Home in the universal ideologeme Motherland. Ideas about Home change over time from a village hut to an apartment in a multi-storey building, a country summer house with a garden and a vegetable garden. The fact of the family being at home and the atmosphere of home warmth and comfort remains unchanged: "The native hut is more beautiful than the huge house" (Tihomirov, 1914: 17); "The native hut is shabby but lovely" (Tihomirov, 1914: 21), "Both the man, and the beast, and the bird are warm and free in their native corner. Native home is like mom" (Tihomirov, 1914: 47). Short texts convey the atmosphere of home idyll: "It's evening. Dad, mom, grandpa, grandma and the kids are at home. Dad is reading the newspaper. Grandma is mending socks. Vera is doing her homework. Grandpa is sitting by the stove. He's warm. Dima is playing near his grandfather. Mom is washing the cups. We've been drinking tea" (Voskresenskaya, 1952: 55).
In the collective consciousness of the nation, Home is located in the native land, where a person was born and grew up, where he certainly wants to return to. The poem "Childhood" goes: "Here is my village, here is my native home ..." (Golovin, 1944: 58); "How beautiful is my dear native land!" (Vahterov, 1922: 38); the story "To the native shores": "Our ship... goes to its native shores... Here lit up in the distance ... a lighthouse. It shows the way home to the ship. The fleet is going to its native land. The flag is on every ship." (Arhangel'skaya, 1973: 81), the "Song": "What do we call the Motherland? The land where you and me are growing up" (Stepanov, 2017:79).
The universal ideologeme Motherland includes the basic one Native country. In the historical perspective, one name is replaced by another, it reflects the state ideology, for example: "R.S.F.S.R. Proletarians of all countries unite!" (Vahterov, 1922: 1), "My and your Motherland is the USSR. Our native country is beautiful!" (Goreckij, 1977: 50), the idea of universal equality: "The USSR is a Country of Soviets, in our country, everyone is equal. Great and beautiful is the Country of the Soviets! Glory to the land of the Soviets!" (Goreckij, 1982: 54).
The idea of the Motherland as a country of high achievements is being formed. Thus the story "Our Homeland" teaches: "We have factories. In the factories there are machines. We have collective farms. There are machines on collective farms. In collective farms there is arable land, mowing, gardens. Steamboats are passing through the canals. Our people are for peace. Our Motherland is good!" (Redozubov, 1961: 47). After 20 years, the ideological format remains the same, only the level of achievements is growing: "The native country is beautiful! Fields, forests, seas and rivers! New factories are being built. Tractors plow the fields. Trains and cars are rushing by. Ships are sailing, high, high in the sky fly the swift-winged "Ils", "TUs", 'Yaks", "ANs". The USSR is a country of peace and labor" (Goreckij, 1982: 77).
Children are explained that their Motherland is the best: "... The children have a good Motherland, and there is no better one!" (Redozubov, 1961: 92), that it needs protection: "We defended our Motherland in battles at the front..." (Redozubov, 1961: 93); "The military college teaches future commanders. They are defenders of the Motherland" (Aksenova, 2017: 62).
It is noteworthy that in some modern ABC books, for example in N.S. Zhukova's 2014 primer, the ideologeme Motherland as well as the lexeme "native" are absent.
Let's consider the universal ideologeme Labor, which includes the basic ideologemes -"diligence", "bread" - and socio-political - individual work, collective work, professional work, etc.
(Egorova, 2021). In the ABC books of the early twentieth century, when working, a person is praying to God, for example, in the "Plowman's Song":
"I eat with a quiet prayer. I'll plow, I'll sow. Provide me, God! bread is my wealth!" (Russkaya azbuka, 1903 : 3).
The above assumption is confirmed by more examples: "God helps the one who gets up early" (Russkaya azbuka, 1903: 39). "Believe, pray and work" (Lukashevich, 1915: 21). Gradually, the emphasis shifts from God's patronage to the tool of labor: "The plow feeds the plowman" (Lukashevich, 1915: 29), and then to the worker himself: "The plow does not plow, the plowman does. It's not a hammer, it's a man" (Vahterov, 1922: 40) "It's not a needle that sews, hands sew" (Vahterov, 1922: 62). In the early 1930s, the period of collectivization led to the transition from work for the benefit of the individual to work for the benefit of the collective and the state, which was reflected on the pages of the Soviet period's ABC books and first reading books. The collective is based on the values of interpersonal relations, mutual support and mutual understanding, readiness to cooperate for the realization of common goals and objectives. The main values of the collectivistic culture include traditions, obedience, and a sense of duty, which contribute to the preservation of the unity of the group. Group norms are a more important regulator of behavior than social attitudes. Individual peasant farms were united into collective farms. In N.M.Golovin's 1937 primer, the text "Our collective farm" appears, in which "fishermen catch fish .., give them to collective farmers and take them to the market" (Golovin, 1937: 35), in the 1944 edition, collective farmers catch fish independently (Golovin, 1944: 37). A prosperous life on the collective farm is also narrated in the postwar period textbooks: "There is a nursery on the collective farm... Children are happy in the nursery" (Kostin, 1947: 79); "There is a farm on the collective farm. There are a lot of chickens, ducks and geese on the farm" (Kostin, 1947: 92); "We have a cinema and radio on the collective farm. From the collective farm there is a road to the city, they write about us in the newspapers" (Voskresenskaya, 1952: 76). Soviet workers have all the conditions for good work not only in collective farms, but also in factories and plants: "Father and brother Foma work in a factory. It's clean and bright. There are lanterns around the factory" (Voskresenskaya, 1952: 70); "Six minutes - and the plant produces a new car... Earlier, this would have been a miracle. and now they work like this in our factories and plants" (Voskresenskaya, 1952: 90).
The principles of collective work are being explained to children while they are learning to read: "The collective farmers cheerfully harvested a rich harvest from the fields. They handed over part of the harvest to the state. The other part was put aside for sowing and in reserve. The collective farmers divided the rest of the bread among themselves according to their workdays" (Voskresenskaya, 1952: 89).
Imbuing the desire for highly productive work also occupies an important place in the primer. Thus, in the edition of A.I. Voskresenskaya, Stakhanov's movement, which began in 1935 and was aimed at increasing the production efficiency, is mentioned: "Father works in a factory. He is a Stakhanovite," and in general, "There are many Stakhanovites at the factory," and not only at the factory, but also on the collective farm there is a place for selfless, hard work, for example, "Here is the smithery. A collective farm blacksmith works there. Our blacksmith works very well. He is a Stakhanovite" (Voskresenskaya, 1952: 68-71). Half a century later, work is still in high esteem, the father works in the forge: "He is a blacksmith... My father works well". This time, he does not have to be a Stakhanovite, "He is doing a good job" (Voronkova, 1996: 118).
The basic ideologeme Diligence is directly related to prosperity, well-being: "Bread is my wealth!" (Russkaya azbuka, 1903: 3); "Work till sweat, and you'll eat with appetite" (Lukashevich, 1915: 59); "What you sow, you reap" (Vahterov, 1919: 13); "Labor feeds, but laziness spoils" (Golovin, 1937: 39) and even happiness:
- "Tell me, Father, how can one achieve happiness?"
- "There's no better way than to work hard physically and mentally" (Lukashevich, 1915: 68).
Bread is a symbol of prosperity:
"We sing a song to bread,
We honor it.
Glory forever and ever, glory!" (Nikiforov, 2013)
Bread continues to be glorified in the first childrent's textbooks of the late 70s -early 80s:
Glory to peace on earth!
Glory to the bread on the table!
Glory to those who grew bread,
Spared no effort! (Goreckij, 1977 : 77; 1982: 103).
In N.S. Zhukova's primer, little attention is paid to the ideologeme Diligence. It is actualized only in the chores around the farmhouse: "Zakhar is mowing. And Sima is feedig the goat", (Zhukova, 2014: 41); or housework: "Mom has a hot iron. Dad has a heavy cart. Grandma bakes warm rolls" (Zhukova, 2014: 83). In the contemporary primers by other authors, this ideologeme is widely represented, including proverbs and sayings: "If you want to eat rolls, don't lie on the stove." (Andrianova, 2011: 92) (English equivalent - "No sweat, no sweat"), "As is the workman, so is his work"(Andrianova, 2011: 60), "Work feeds the man, but laziness ruins him"(Andrianova, 2011: 64).
Verbal and nonverbal markers of the ideologeme Labor on the pages of the primers of the studied period allow us to trace the course of technological development of society due to the change of tools, types of labor activity, and the jobs: from a sickle, a harrow, a spinning wheel to a combine harvester; from a mower, a reaper, a plowman and a coachman to a builder, a steelworker, an airplane pilot, an astronaut.
A special place in a selection of ideologemes examined in the course of the study is occupied by Faith and includes universal ideologemes: mercy, kindness and phantom ones: faith in God's protection, faith in the leader, faith in state leadership. In the early 20th century, religion was a significant part of human daily activities. In the ABC books of the 1910s, and early 1920s, there are enough markers of the ideologeme Faith in God: "Pray and believe. Pray and work" (Lukashevich, 1915: 21), "To live is to serve God"(Lukashevich, 1915: 35), "The temple is built on the mountain. Go to the temple and pray. Christ is our Savior, our Lord"(Lukashevich, 1915: 29), "Mom prayed to God and went to bed..." (Vahterov, 1919: 24); "The voice of the people is the voice of God" (Vahterov, 1922: 63). In the Tihomirovs' alphabet book of 1914, a whole section is devoted to stories from the Bible, giving children an idea of the basic provisions of the Orthodox faith, and prayers (Tihomirov, Tihomirova,1914: 67-94), and in the Alphabet book published a year later, there is the Blessing of Jesus Christ for children (Lukashevich, 1915: 57).
Faith is directly related to one of the most important Christian virtues - mercy. In all the analyzed primers there is a basic ideologeme of "mercy". Meanwhile it is not only about God's mercy as a model of spiritual behavior of a person: "God feeds a bird in the field and sprinkles a flower with dew, God will not leave a homeless orphan either" (Vahterov, 1919: 27), but also the concrete and practical side of every person's behavior, for example, kind, tolerant attitude towards the poor and those in need. In the books of the pre- and post-revolutionary period, children are offered a poem by A. Pleshcheyev's "The Poor", which contains such advice: "There are many poor and orphans in the world... If you happen to meet such people, you, children, should treat them like brothers" (Russkaya azbuka, 1903: 36), as well as K. Peterson's "Orphan", Ya. Polonsky's "Good Beggar" (Cit. by: Vahterov, 1919: 27-28) and others. In the modern primer, the ideologeme Mercy is actualized, for example, by a set of rules recommended for memorization: "All living things, like us, feel pain. Don't hit a dog or a cat! Whoever is weaker than you, have pity on him. Think about how you can help the weak" (Zhukova, 2014: 83).
Since mercy is a manifestation of goodness, the ideologeme Goodness is also expressed on the pages of the primer: "It is bad for someone who does not do good to anyone" (Tihomirov, 1914: 18); "Good people do good" (Stepanov, 2017: 44).
In the atheistic Soviet state, the ideologeme of "faith in God" is replaced by "faith in the leader and in state power." According to the ABC books, you can trace the change of leadership in the USSR. In short texts about party leaders, information is provided about the importance of the person for the people, for the country. At the same time, portraits are placed on the pages of the primer, since children should "know by sight" those who need to be honored, respected and to whom to be grateful: "... and we sing thanks to Stalin in our songs" (Golovin, 1944: 49).
The portrait of V.I. Lenin as "The great leader of the October Revolution", "The Leader of workers and peasants" (Gorobec, 1924: 112), "a friend of the working people, a friend of children" (Fridlyand, Shalyt, 1924: 34) was the first to appear in the primaries of 1924. Later, next to the portrait of V.I. Lenin, a portrait of I.V. Stalin "Lenin's best student, the leader of the CPSU (b)" appears (Shcherbakova, 1931: 79). In N.M. Golovin's 1937 primer, V.I. Lenin looks with approval at I.V. Stalin, the latter's gaze is turned to the student reader. Herewith, V.I. Lenin is a "good comrade", he is affectionately called Volodya Ulyanov, they emphasize his excellent education: "Volodya Ulyanov studied at the gymnasium... He knows everything," and his friendly qualities: "Volodya explained.. he came to the gymnasium before the classes start to help his comrades." His party is "The Bolshevik Party! The Lenin-Stalin Party" made "our country happy, our life
joyful." And "Comrade Stalin is the leader and teacher of the peoples of the USSR and the working people of the whole world... Our enemies hate him and the working people of the whole world love him dearly" (Golovin, 1937: 46-47). By the end of the Second World War, among other things, the "great commander of the valiant Red Army" was added to the information about Stalin (Golovin, 1944: 49), and after that the title "Generalissimo of the Soviet Union" (Voskresenskaya, 1952: 93).
In addition to I.V. Stalin, in the ABC books there is a portrait of another "faithful disciple of Lenin, friend and assistant of Stalin" - V.M. Molotov, whom "children know and love" because he "takes care of them" (Voskresenskaya, 1952: 94). V.M. Molotov visits children on vacation and makes them happy: "In the summer, Mitya rested in Artek," because he is a "pioneer" and an "excellent student."... Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov came to Artek. He talked and joked with the children for a long time, he patted Mitya on the head. How happy our Mitya is!" (Golovin, 1944: 68).
After the debunking of Stalin's personality cult at the XX Congress of the CPSU in 1956, information about I.V. Stalin and his associates disappeared from the pages of the primers, only the portrait of V.I. Lenin remained. However now Lenin is depicted in a circle of children-pupils of the orphanage, to whom he personally brought gifts for the new year (Voskresenskaya, 1963: 93). In the same edition, the story about Lenin "The Christmas Tree in Sokolniki" is preceded by a portrait of N.S. Khrushchev, "the great fighter for peace"(Voskresenskaya, 1963: 91). N.S. Khrushchev was replaced by L.I. Brezhnev, about whom a dry status certificate was given in the primer as "General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR" (Goreckij, 1982: 126).
In modern ABC books, the ideologeme "belief in the leader" is replaced by "belief in myself", in my own strength: "Mom, I'll go to bed by myself!" (Aksenova, 2017: 54), "I wear clothes myself. I dry them myself" (Aksenova, 2017: 77), "Anton sewed himself" (Aksenova, 2017: 101); "The children came home from fishing... Lena, cook the fish soup. And you, Gena, fry the fish" (Zhukova, 2014: 65); "We are not just children anymore. Nothing ever comes out by itself... The poem itself will not be written. We have to do all this ourselves - with our heads and our hands!" (Andrianova, 2011: 4). Self-belief is formed through developing the independence.
It is noteworthy that in a contemporary N.S. Zhukova's primer, recommended by the Ministry of General and Vocational Education of the Russian Federation as a textbook, only one universal ideologeme Family is presented. In our opinion, the range of universal basic ideologemes could be significantly expanded, since the formation of moral values in primary school is as relevant as at other levels of education. In the analyzed textbooks for teaching reading skills of the post-Soviet period, there is no ideologeme Russia. In our opinion, this is an obvious omission of the authors, since patriotic education in primary school does not begin, but continues. The topic of patriotic education is currently receiving a lot of attention. The Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation is implementing the Federal project "Patriotic Education", according to the plans of which clear quantitative indicators are provided, such as the percentage of citizens involved in the system of patriotic education, the expected number of patriotic-oriented events and their participants. All these activities are certainly important. But it would be possible to start small, for example, to give a first grader an opportunity in his first textbook - a primer, an ABC book - to correctly add syllables and read and spell the name of his country, his Motherland.
The thoughts expressed in the article do not exhaust all the possibilities available today for covering this problem, they are presented here as an invitation to discussion.
5. Conclusion
The ideological format is a set of ideas focused on the arrangement of both universal and sociopolitical values. The ideologeme, which is actualized by the signs of various semiotic systems on the pages of teaching manuals and textbooks, acts as an instrument for ensuring the ideological format.
In the format of pedagogical activity, the purposeful use of ideologies is an effective means of manipulating mass consciousness. The ideologeme, as a mental unit, is characterized by national specifics, dynamic semantics, amplified axiology, frequency and variety of ways of representation by signs of various semiotic systems, including the language.
The research findings allow us to conclude that the basic universal values actualized by ideologemes do not undergo significant changes over time, while the socio-political artificially formed (phantom) ones, according to political attitudes, transform or disappear.
Based on the results of the analysis, we consider it necessary to pay attention to the absence or poor representation of basic universal ideologemes in modern ABC books, which could be effectively used as a tool for educating elementary school pupils.
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