most vulnerable and needy of its society. Results With the October 1917 Revolution, governmental standards regarding what was considered "literate" also changed. Although all army personnel in the tsarist period eligible for conscription were required to be functionally literate, most men who could simply read the alphabet and their own name were deemed as fully literate. Although census takers were given rather strict orders on what was deemed fully literate and even semi-literate, in remote provinces and parts of Central Asia standards were somewhat laxer than in locations with a closer proximity to Moscow. The campaign was not the success the Bolsheviks had originally envisioned mainly because it lacked teacher volunteers, funding, and organization. The likbez campaign was most effective for people between the ages of 9 and 35. For anyone over 35, the Bolsheviks believed they were utterly unreachable. In 1926, however, only 51% of the population over the age of 10 had achieved literacy. Male literacy was at 66.5 while female literacy lagged behind at 37.2. By 1939, however, male literacy was at 90.8 and female literacy had increased to 72.5%. According to the 1939 Soviet Census, literate people were 89.7% (RSFSR, ages 9–49). During the 1950s, the Soviet Union had become a country of nearly 100% literacy. Campaign for non-Russian speakers In non-Russian speaking areas of the Soviet population, Narkompros promoted the policy of Korenizatsiya (literally "putting down the roots") within the separate autonomous regions and republics to the extent that teaching Russian was considered a counter-revolutionary crime. For the separate nationalities, the ABCD Hierarchy, a system which ranked the 120 languages of the Soviet Union according their communicable significance, charted out a specific plan for each nationality's achievement of literacy. In 1924 textbooks were printed in only 25 languages of the Soviet Union. However, by 1934 they were printed in 104 languages. See also Cultural Revolution (USSR) Education in the Soviet Union Likbez Media References Sources Soviet phraseology Propaganda in the Soviet Union Soviet culture Education in the Soviet Union 1920s in the Soviet Union 1930s in the Soviet Union Literacy