This paper discusses the activities of the Fatherland Front in communist Bulgaria. The Fatherland Front evolved from the communist-led anti-fascist coalition, which had taken power in 1944, into the largest mass organization in socialist Bulgaria, though without real political power. Since the late 1950s, its primary goal was the creation of the “socialist way of life,” which would signal the triumph of communist ideology in all walks of life. Propaganda campaigns, lobbying efforts, and the peculiar institution of “Comrade Courts” were employed by the Front in its struggle for rendering everyday life socialist. The analysis, which is based on archival records and published texts, elucidates some of the party-state's strategies to establish cultural hegemony. The activities of the Fatherland Front also reveal which popular practices and consequences of social change were considered problematic by the communist regime, and how they were addressed.
Gerald W. Creed, Domesticating Revolution: From Socialist Reform to Ambivalent Transition in a Bulgarian Village (University Park, PA. : Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998), 3.
6.
Ilija Iliev, “ Familie, Ideologie und Politik: Die Großmutter in der städtischen Familie seit 1945,” In Ulf Brunnbauer and Karl Kaser, eds., Vom Nutzen der Verwandten: Soziale Netzwerke in Bulgarien (19. und 20. Jahrhundert) (Vienna, Cologne, and Weimar: Böhlau, 2001), 89—112.
7.
Doroteja Dobreva , “Zeitrhythmen und Umgang mit Zeit. Arbeitsalltag des sozialistischen Dorfes,” Ethnologia Balkanica4 (2000): 67—90; Doroteja Dobreva and Gabriele Wolf, “Arbeiten in einer landwirtschaftlichen Produktionsgenossenschaft (TKZS) in Bulgarien ,” In Klaus Roth, ed., Arbeit im Sozialismus—Arbeit im Postsozialismus: Erkundungen zum Arbeitsleben im östlichen Europa (Münster: Lit , 2004), 71—90; Gabriele Wolf, “`Mangelwaren.' Konsumerwartungen und `Beziehungen.' Einkaufen in der sozialistischen Konsumgenossenschaft ,” Ethnologia Balkanica4 (2000): 91—116, Petŭr Petrov, “Sozialistische Arbeitsfeiern im Betrieb: Konzept und Umsetzung,” In Roth, Arbeit im Sozialismus , 147—66; Klaus Roth and Juliana Roth, “ The System of Socialist Holidays and Rituals in Bulgaria,” Ethnologia Europaea20 (1990): 107—20; Milena Benovska-Săbkova , “Socialism as Modernization: Observations on Bulgaria,” In Klaus Roth, ed., Arbeitswelt—Lebenswelt: Facetten einer spannungsreichen Beziehung im östlichen Europa (Münster: Lit, 2006), 25—42. Cf. the contributions in Radost Ivanova, Ana Luleva, and Rachko Popov, eds., Sotsializmŭt: realnost i iliuzii. Etnologichni aspekti na vsekidnevnata kultura (Sofia: AEIM, 2003).
8.
Karin Taylor, Let's Twist Again: Youth and Leisure in SocialistBulgaria (Münster: Lit-Verlag, 2006).
9.
Daniela Koleva, Biografiia i normalnost (Sofia: Lik, 2002).
10.
Anelia Kasabova-Dintcheva , “Neue alte Normen: Die versuchte Normierung der Sexualität im sozialistischen Bulgarien,” Ethnologia Balkanica8 (2004): 155—78.
11.
Ivailo Dichev , “Usiadaneto na nomadskiia komunizŭm: Sotsialisticheskata urbanizatsiia i krŭgovete na grazhdanstvo,” Sotsiologicheski problemi35:3—4 (2003): 33—63.
12.
Mila Mineva , “Razkazi i obrazi na sotsialisticheskoto potreblenie,” Sotsiologicheski problemi35:1—2 (2003): 143—65; Rossitza Guentcheva, “Sounds and Noise in Socialist Bulgaria,” In John R. Lampe and Mark Mazower, eds., Ideologies and National Identities: The Case of Twentieth-Century Southeastern Europe (Budapest and New York: CEU Press, 2004), 211—34.
13.
Ulf Brunnbauer , “Die sozialistische Lebensweise”: Ideologie, Gesellschaft, Familie und Politik in Bulgarien (1944—1989) (Vienna, Cologne and Weimar: Böhlau, 2007).
14.
For a critical discussion of the private-public and state-society dichotomy with respect to socialist societies, see Susan Gal and Gail Kligman, The Politics of Gender after Socialism. A Comparative-Historical Essay ( Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000), 50—51; Alexei Yurchak, “Soviet Hegemony of Form: Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More,” Comparative Studies in Society and History45:3 (2003): 482—84. A concise version of the view that socialist systems were characterized by the colonization of the private by the state can be found in Marc Garcelon, “The Shadow of the Leviathan: Public and Private in Communist and Post-Communist Society”, In Jeff Weintraub and Krishan Kumar, eds., Public and Private in Thought and Practice: Perspectives on a Grand Dichotomy (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press , 1997), 303—32.
15.
David L. Hoffmann, Stalinist Values : The Cultural Norms of Soviet Modernity, 1917—1941 ( Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2003).
16.
Cf. Richard Stites, Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution (New York and Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1989); Stefan Plaggenborg, Revolutionskultur: Menschenbilder und kulturelle Praxis in Sowjetrussland zwischen Oktoberrevolution und Stalinismus (Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna: Böhlau, 1996).
17.
Lev Davidovich Trotskii, Voprosy byta: Epoha `kulturnichestva' i ee zadachi (Moscow , 1923).
18.
Ibid., 20; cf. Victor Buchli, An Archaeology of Socialism ( Oxford and New York: Berg, 2000).
19.
Hoffmann, Stalinist Values , 8.
20.
P. Damianova, Otechestveniiat front v borbata za izkoreniavane fashisticheskite ostatŭtsi v Bŭlgariia 1944—1948 (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1967).
21.
Kiril Vasilev , “Moralniiat oblik na noviia chovek u nas ,” Novo vreme28:1 (1952): 29—48; cf. Iliiana Marcheva, “Bŭlgarskiiat pŭt kŭm Evropa prez vtorata polovina na XX vek. Sotsialnoikonomicheski shtrihi,” Istoricheski pregled56:5—6 ( 2000): 155.
22.
Zsuzsa Ferge , A Society in the Making: Hungarian Social and Societal Policy 1945—75 (Harmondsworth: Pinguin, 1979), 307.
23.
Ulf Brunnbauer : “`The Town of the Youth.' Dimitrovgrad and Bulgarian Socialism,” Ethnologia Balkanica9 (2005): 91—114.
24.
Todor Zhivkov , Otcheten doklad na Tsentralniia komitet na Bŭlgarskata komunisticheska partiia pred VII kongres na partiiata, 2 iuni 1958 (Sofia: BKP, 1958), 85-86.
25.
Geno Tsonkov , Za nov, sotsialisticheski bit (v pomosht na propagandista na Otechestveniia front) (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1965), 4.
26.
Raina Pesheva , “Tsŭrkovniiat obred pri braka—otzhivelitsa ot minaloto,” In Semeistvoto v sotsialisticheskoto obshtestvo (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1964), 30.
27.
Todor Shiwkow, Grundrichtungen der weiteren Entwicklung des Systems der Leitung unserer Gesellschaft (Sofia: Sofia Press, 1968), 126.
28.
Za sotsialisticheski bit i kultura (v pomosht na propagandistite na Otechestveniia front) (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1967), 18.
29.
Shiwkow, Grundrichtungen der weiteren Entwicklung, 118-19.
30.
Vladimir Bonev , Za ediniia, narodniia i otechestveniia front (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1971), 112.
31.
Ibid., 235; Kalinova and Baeva, Bŭlgarskite prehodi, 71.
32.
Cola Dragojcheva , Doklad pred I kongres na Otechestvenija front (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1945), 57.
33.
Kalinova and Baeva, Bŭlgarskite prehodi, 66 and 70.
34.
Ibid., 54.
35.
Ibid., 71.
36.
Vŭlko Chervenkov, “Otechestveniiat front i negovite predstoiashti zadachi. Doklad pred tretiia kongres na Otechestveniia front, iznesen na 28 mai 1952 godina,” Novo vreme28:6 (1951): 1—49.
37.
Bonev, Za ediniia, narodniia i otechestveniia front, 328.
38.
Sava Dŭlbokov , Otechestveniiat front—zhiznena neobhodimost za Bŭlgariia (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1982), 83; Tsentralen dŭrzhaven arhiv (TsDA) [Central State Archive, Sofia], fond (f.) 1, opis (op.) 5, arhivna edinitsa (a.e.) 250.
39.
Donka Ivanova , Chetirideset godini Otechestven front (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1982), 10 and 52.
40.
Quoted in Dŭlbokov, Otechestveniiat front, 119.
41.
Peti kongres na Otechestveniia front, 14—16 mart 1963 ( Sofia: Otechestven front, 1963), 80—81; Bonev, Za ediniia, narodniia i otechestveniia front, 342; TsDA, f. 28, op. 22, a.e. 7, 111; Dŭlbokov, Otechestveniiat front, 183.
42.
Sedmi kongres na Otechestveniia front (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1972), 73.
43.
Filip Genov and Rumiana Marincheva , Psihologicheskiiat Klimatŭt v kvartala (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1974), 6.
44.
Wages accounted for by far the biggest share of the Front's expenditures. TsDA, f. 28, op. 20, a.e. 12, 12-7; ibid., a.e. 1; TsDA, f. 28, op. 16, a.e. 50, 401.
45.
Bonev, Za ediniia, narodniia i otechestveniia front, 361; Dŭlbokov, Otechestveniiat front, 172.
Richtlinien des VIII, Parteitages der Bulgarischen Kommunistischen Partei für die Entwicklung der Volksrepublik Bulgarien in den Jahren 1961 bis 1980 (Sofia: Fremdsprachenverlag, 1963), 36—37.
51.
See Damianova, Otechestveniiat front v borbata za izkoreniavane; Tsonkov , Za nov, sotsialisticheski bit.
52.
Robert N. Taaffe , “Population Structure,” In Klaus-Detlev Grothusen, ed., Südosteuropa-Handbuch, vol. 6: Bulgarien (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1990), 434 and 445.
Zhenia Pimpireva , “Domovete za sotsialisticheski bit i kultura i bŭlgarskite praznitsi,” In Ivanova, Luleva and Popov, eds., Sotsializmŭt: realnost i iliuzii, 231—32; Roth and Roth, “ The System of Socialist Holidays and Rituals in Bulgaria,” 110.
57.
Pesheva, Religiozni zabludi , 42.
58.
Jordan Nikolov , “Deinostta na Otechestveniia front za utvŭrzhdavane na sotsialisticheskiia bit i kultura—obekt na etnografiiata na sŭvremenostta,” In Bŭlgarska akademiia na naukite, ed., Etnografiia i sŭvremennost (Sofia: BAN, 1976), 268; Pimpireva, “Domovete za sotsialisticheski bit i kultura,” 233; Arhiv na etnografskiia institut s muzei (AEIM) [Archive of the Ethnographic Institute with Museum, Sofia], 1010-II, 3—4.
59.
Roth and Roth, “The System of Socialist Holidays,” 116—17.
60.
Raina Pesheva , Da sŭzdadem novi bitovi traditsii (Sofia, 1963), 21; Veselin Hadzhinikolov, “Sotsialisticheskata praznichna-obredna sistema i dushevnostta na sŭvremenniia bŭlgarin,” In Iordan Nikolov, Orlin Zagorov, and Boris Tumangelov, eds., Problemi na sotsialisticheskata semeina praznichno-obredna sistema (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1984), 15.
61.
AEIM, 1010-II (1983), 8.
62.
TsDA, f. 28, op. 24, a.e. 450, 45.
63.
Donka Ivanova, The Ideological and EducativeActivity of the Fatherland Front in Bulgaria (Sofia: Sofia Press, 1988), 107.
64.
Dŭlbokov, Otechestveniiat front, 178.
65.
Peti kongres na Otechestveniia front, 205; TsDA, f. 28, op. 18, a.e. 47; TsDA, f. 28, op. 17, a.e. 50, 205. According to data from the Fatherland Front, each year thousands of Muslim women attended these courses.
66.
For the twists and turns of the Bulgarian Communists' policy towards the Muslim (and especially the Turkish) minorities, see: Valeri Stoianov, Turskoto naselenie v Bŭlgariia mezhdu poliusite na etnicheskata politika (Sofia: Lik, 1998), 94-214; Ulrich Bjuksenshjuts [Büchsenschütz], Maltsinstvenata politika v Bŭlgariia: Politikata na BKP kŭm evrei, romi, pomatsi i turtsi, 1944-1989 (Sofia: IMIR, 2000).
TsDA, f. 28, op. 24, a.e. 450, 1 and 67. A telling case happened in the Pomak village of Draganovo. The local chairman of the Fatherland Front was beaten by four men because he had informed the state authorities that a man was to come to make circumcisions. The chairman knew who had attacked him, but did not dare speak out.
69.
TsDA, f. 28, op. 24, a.e. 460, 14.
70.
Aleksandŭr Kirkov, “ Alkoholŭt—vrag na sotsialisticheskoto semeistvo,” In Semeistvoto v sotsialisticheskoto obshtestvo ( Sofia: Otechestven front, 1964), 135-50.
71.
TsDA, f. 28, op. 24, a.e. 401, 1—2 and 62—63.
72.
TsDA, f. 28, op. 24, a.e. 4431, 34.
73.
Okrŭzhen dŭrzhaven arhiv Sofia (ODA Sofia) [District State Archive, Sofia], f. 934, op. 3, a.e. 10.
74.
TsDA, f. 28, op. 24, a.e. 429, 66.
75.
E.g., Pencho Kubadinski , Dŭlgŭt na semeistvoto i obshtestvoto (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1983).
76.
Ana Bŭlgaranova, Rabotata na otechestveniia front sred zhenite v Sofia ( Sofia: Otechestven front, 1960), 3; Otechestveniiat front i zhenite (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1967).
77.
Ulf Brunnbauer and Karin Taylor, “` Creating a Socialist Way of Life': Family and Reproduction Policies in SocialistBulgaria (1944—1989),” Continuity and Change19:2 (2004): 283—312.
78.
E.g, Semeistvoto i komunisticheskoto vŭzpitanie (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1968).
79.
Boris Kostov , Estetiko-vŭzpitatelna rabota po mestozhiveene (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1986), 14 passim.
80.
“Programa na B.K.P,” In Bŭlgarska komunisticheska partiia, Deseti kongres na B.K.P. Stenografski protokol (Sofia: BKP, 1971), 744. The popularity of “aesthetic education” was tied to the influence of Liudmila Zhivkova, daughter of the party leader, who was president of the Committee for Cultural Affairs (a position akin to that of minister of culture) between 1975 and 1981. In 1979, she became full member of the Politburo. Zhivkova wrote extensively about the “beautification” of life and the “perfection of man and society”; Liudmila Zhivkova, Za usŭvŭrshentstvuvane na choveka i obshtestvoto (Sofia, 1980 ); English edition: Perfecting man and society ( Sofia: Sofia Press, 1980); Lyudmila Zhivkova, Forming the world and man according to the laws of beauty ( Sofia: Sofia Press, 1978); ibid., According to the laws of beauty (Amsterdam: Gruner, 1981 ). On her, see Ivanka Nedeva Atanasova, “Lyudmila Zhivkova and the Paradox of Ideology and Identity in Communist Bulgaria,” East European Politics and Societies18:2 (2004): 278—315.
81.
Roliata na esteticheskoto vŭzpitanie v sferata na bita—Materiali ot nauchno-prakticheskata konferentsiia, provedena vŭv Veliko Tŭrnovo na 7.2.1979 g. (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1979), 77; Za sotsialisticheski bit i kultura, 11.
82.
Geno Tsonkov , “Otzhivelitsi ot minaloto v bita na horata ,” In Za sotsialisticheski bit (v pomosht na propagandistite na Otechestveniia front) (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1965), 48. On the policing of consumption in socialist Bulgaria see Mineva, “ Razkazi i obrazi na sotsialisticheskoto potreblenie.”
83.
Cf. Iliiana Marcheva, “Nachaloto na kraia na sotsializma v Bŭlgariia prez pŭrvata polovina na 80-te godini,” Istoricheski pregled60:3—4 (2004): 89—114; ibid., “ Bŭlgarskiiat pŭt kŭm Evropa,” 165.
84.
Hristo Totev , Deniat ne svŭrshva s vecherta. Iz dnevnika na predsedatelia na 170-ta organizatsiia na Otechestveniia front. Leninski raion—Sofia (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1965), 8; Genov and Marincheva, Psihologicheskiiat klimat v kvartala , 10.
85.
Geno Conkov, Ideologicheski problemi na bita i rabotata na otechestveniia front. Metodologicheski problemi (Sofia: Otechestven front , 1988), 47.
86.
Tsonkov, “ Otzhivelitsi ot minaloto,” 49—50; Pesheva , “Bitŭt i sotsialisticheskoto semeistvo ,” In Za sotsialisticheski bit, 87; Asen Kartalov, Niakoi problemi na semeinoto vŭzpitanie i roliata na otechestveniia front za tiahnoto reshavane ( Sofia: Otechestven front, 1982), 29.
87.
Mariia Dinkova , Sŭvremennoto bŭlgarsko semeistvo (Sofia: Otechestven front, 1976), 117; Biudzhet na vremeto na naselenieto na NR Bŭlgariia (Sofia : Nauka i izkustvo, 1973), 10.
88.
Cveta Vasileva , Realen sotsializŭm i nachin na zhivot (Sofia: Profizdat1979), 152.
89.
See Brunnbauer and Taylor, “` Creating a Socialist Way of Life'”; Robert McIntyre, “Pronatalist Programmes in Eastern Europe,” Soviet Studies27:3 ( 1975): 366—80.
90.
See, for example, Kubadinski's speech on the demographic development of Bulgaria at the joint session of the Politburo and the Central Committee of the BKP in December, 1967 (TsDA, f. 1, op. 34, a.e. 89, 39); Kubadinski, Dŭlgŭt na semeistvoto , 49; ibid., Za sotsialisticheskoto semeistvo ( Sofia: Otechestven front, 1986), 8.
91.
E.g., ODA Sofia, f. 936, op. 3, a.e. 76 and a.e. 11.
92.
These complaints and petitions are kept in the archive of the Fatherland Front: TsDA, f. 28, op. 24, a.e. 403-26 (1956—1989).
93.
Enterprises often complained about the loss of labor due to the “voluntary” mobilization of their employees for material production or help in farming (TsDA, f. 28, op. 28, a.e. 54). The “voluntary work in production” was regulated by a Ministerial Council decree of 1958, which “allowed” managers and white collar workers to work for up to fifty days (men) or thirty days (women) in material production (TsDA, f. 28, op. 16, a.e. 50, 275).
94.
TsDA, f. 28, op. 34, a.e. 431 and a.e. 432.
95.
ODA Sofia, f. 2072, op. 3, a.e. 16, 8-9.
96.
S.V. Anosova, “ Tovarishcheskie sudy v Narodnoi respublike Bolgarii,” In Obshchestvennye sudy v evropeiskih sotsialisticheskih stranah ( Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Moskovskogo Universiteta, 1968), 10; Panaiot Ivanov, Otechestveniiat front i drugarskite sŭdilishta ( Sofia: Otechestven front, 1973), 13.
97.
Tsvetan Dankin, Drugarskite sŭdilishta (Sofia: Profizdat, 1961), 35. Similar courts, with various powers, existed also in other socialist countries. See Obshchestvennye sudy v evropeiskih sotsialisticheskih stranah (Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Moskovskogo Universiteta , 1968).
98.
Zakon za drugarskite sŭdilishta ( Sofia: Nauka i izkustvo, 1961), 3 (§ 1); Ivanov , Otechestveniiat front i drugarskite sŭdilishta , 3 passim.
99.
Stefan Pavlov , Drugarskite sŭdilishta v N.R.B (Sofia: BAN, 1964), 41—42.
100.
Zakon za drugarskite sŭdilishta, 5—7 (§ 3).
101.
Ibid., 8 (§ 4).
102.
ODA Sofia, f. 2068, op. 2, a.e. 17, 1.
103.
Vasil Popov et al., eds., Drugarskite sŭdilishta—rolia, deinost, problemi ( Sofia: Profizdat, 1980), 62—65.
104.
This is shown by documents in the archive of the party's Central Control and Revision Commission, to which punished party members could appeal (TsDA, f. 224).
105.
TsDA, f. 28, op. 24, a.e. 124, 51; Ivanov, Otechestveniiat front i drugarskite sŭdilishta, 44.
In 1964 in the town of Kostenets (Sofia county), for example, the Comrade Court held the trial against a resident of the town, whom his neighbor accused of poisoning his chicken, and in the small town of Zlatitsa in 1968, a female resident took a male fellow citizen to the court because his dog had allegedly drowned her four chickens (ODA Sofia, f. 2072, op. 1, a.e. 15, 16-17; ODA Sofia, f. 2068, op. 1, a.e. 1, 7).
116.
Otdel ideino vŭzpitatelna rabota na TsS na BSP, Roliata na drugarskite sŭdilishta, 50; TsDA, f. 28, op. 24, a.e. 433; ODA Sofia, f. 936, op. 3, a.e. 12, 42—51.
117.
DA Sofia, f. 352, op. 1, a.e. 319; ibid., op. 3, a.e. 352.
118.
Tsentralen komitet (CK) na BKP, Niakoi aspekti na obshtestvenata zaetost i obshtestvenopoliticheskata aktivnost na naselenieto na NRB (unpublished confidential report, July 1983), 55. I found a copy of this report in library of the research centre of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions, KNSB.
119.
Lilia Dimova, Obshtestveno mnenie za profsuiuzite v usloviiata na preustroistvoto (unpublished confidential report of the Georgi-Dimitrov Scientific Institute for the Study of Trade-Union Problems, Sofia, November 1987). This report is kept in the research centre of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions, KNSB.
120.
Totev, Deniat ne svŭrshva s vecherta, 8.
121.
See Garcelon, “The Shadow of the Leviathan”; Oleg Kharkhodin, “Reveal and Dissimulate: A Genealogy of Private Life in Soviet Russia,” In Jeff Weintraub and Krishan Kumar, eds., Public and Private in Thought and Practice (Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press, 1997), 333—63.
122.
A valuable starting point for the comparison of the strategies of capitalist and socialist states to create legitimacy and to reconfigure the private sphere is provided by Pierre Bourdieu, Practical reason: On the Theory of Action (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998).
123.
See Katherine Verdery , What was Socialism, and What Comes Next? (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), 23.
124.
E.g., for Southeastern Europe: Creed, Domesticating Revolution, 184-218; David Kideckel, The Solitude of Collectivism: Romanian Villagers to the Revolution and Beyond (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1993), 4.
125.
Verdery, What was Socialism, and What Comes Next, 8.
126.
John Borneman, Belonging in the Two Berlins. Kin, State, Nation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 79.
127.
Stephen Kotkin, Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1995), 21.
128.
Opinion polls since the early 1990s point to growing positive assessments of the socialist period by large parts of the population; Andrei Raichev and Kŭncho Stojchev, Kakvo se sluchiŭ. Razkaz za prehoda v Bŭlgariia 1989—2004 (Sofia: Iztok-Zapad, 2004), 192.
