Children’s collectives are understood to be not only a pedagogical fact, but also a full-value component of socialist society; these collectives realise the dialectics of society and individuals well as the dialectics of preparation for the future and simultaneously children’s activities which are rich in experiences and socially valuable. Bourgeois educationists distort the socialist concept of the collective by claiming that the collective, being a ≫mass≪ or ≫crowd≪ formation, suppress the development of the individual. They confront in with their own concept of pupils’ self-government. Various forms of self-government in West European and American schools as well as in Czechoslovak pre-war schools are criticised for their incorrect assessment of children’s independence for educational formalism, activities alien to children’s interests, separation of school from the life of society, but especially for their endeavour to perpetuate the superiority of the children of the ruling classes.