The "Down with Illiteracy" Society existed from September 2, 1923 to February 27, 1936. The Communist Party attached great importance to this organization. Among the first 93 members of the society were V.I. Lenin, M.I. Kalinin, N.K. Krupskaya, N.I. Podvoisky, A.V. Lunacharsky, M.N. Pokrovsky, and A.S. Bubnov. M.I. Kalinin served as the permanent chairman of the ODN Central Board.
At the 2nd All-Russian Congress on the Elimination of Illiteracy, held on May 20-24, 1923, Ilyich was awarded the title of Red Eliminator of Illiteracy. At this congress, a resolution was adopted to eliminate illiteracy among the USSR population aged 18 to 25 by the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. One clause of the resolution stated that, first of all, illiteracy should be eliminated among members of the Party, the Komsomol, delegates of the women's departments, members of the Soviets, members of trade unions, and pre-conscripts.
In the early 1930s, as illiteracy among the population was being eliminated, the society began to scale back its activities, modifying its original functions. On February 27, 1936, Pravda published a resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Council of People's Commissars, "On work to teach the literate and the illiterate."
It noted successes in eliminating mass illiteracy and semi-literacy. Under city, district, and rural Soviets, sections were established to guide the work of literacy centers and schools for the semi-literate. It went on to say that ODN had largely fulfilled its tasks. Therefore, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the government found it possible to dissolve the society, instructing the named sections under local Soviets to carry the literacy campaign through to completion.