Vic, Catalunya, International Seminar, May 2019.

1. Commemoration, Propaganda and Political Indoctrination
Celebrating 1th of May in early 1950s’ Hungary
• Time (May 1st), Space (Stalin Square) and Power
• The communist system as a propaganda state: mass mobilisation,
primacy of the ideology (Kenez, 1985)
• Festivals, parades and processions: cultural and political practices,
rites, images and symbols; mandatory participation and common
identity; occupying the streets (Geldern, 1993; Rolf, 2013)
• Propaganda images (Dussel, 2018) construct their own reality:
socialist spaces (Crowley – Reid, 2002) and imagery
• Characteristics: actors, installations, statues – „theatre of display”
(Priem & Thyssen, 2013)
• Extension of the educational governance (Grosvenor & Rasmussen,
2018) through organising celebrations – related both to the adults
and children (see the term of the paternalist state: Pinfold, 2011)
1st May, 1955 (Source: Fortepan 84062)
„The (Communist) Party targets (…) to mobilise
the youth more intensively in building socialism
(…) this goals can be achieved only under direct
Party control…” (3rd May, 1950, Decree of the
Secretariat of Hungarian Workers’ Party)
Hungarian and Korean pioneers marching together. 1st May,
1952. The title on the table: Perish the imperialist mass
murderers, who spread plague and cholera! (Source: Szabad
Nép, People’s Freedom, 3 May, 1952, 3.)
The Grandstand of the celebration: the political representation, leaders of the country. The title is:
Our nation’s great and unified protest for peace, work, prosperity and progression.
(Source: Szabad Nép, People’s Freedom, 2 May, 1953, 1.)
In front of the Stalin Statue. (Source: Köznevelés,
Public Education, Cover, 1 May, 1953)
REFERENCES:
Crowley, David & Reid, Susan E.: Socialist Spaces: Sites of Everyday Life in the Eastern Bloc. Oxford-New York
(2002).
Dussel, Inés: Truth in Propagandistic Images. Reflections of an Enigmatic Corpus (Westerbork, 1944). Historia y
Memoria de la Educación, (2018): 8. 59–95.
Geldern, James von: Bolshevik Festivals, 1917–1920. Berkeley – Los Angeles – Oxford (1993).
Grosvenor, Ian & Rasmussen, Lisa Rosén: Making Education: Material School Design and Educational Governance.
Sprinegr (2018).
Kenez, Peter: The birth of the propaganda state. Soviet methods of mass mobilization, 1917–1929. Cambridge
(1985).
Pinfold, Debbie: ’Das Mündel will Vormund Sein’: The GDR State as Child. German Life and Letters, 64. (2011): 2.
283–304.
Priem, Karen & Thyssen, Geert (2013): Puppets on a string in a theatre of display? Paedagogica Historica, (2013):
6. 828-845.
Rolf, Malte: Soviet Mass Festivals, 1917–1991. Pittsburgh, PA (2013).
Lajos Somogyvári PhD., University of Pannonia, Hungary,
Veszprém (From propaganda to resistance. International
Seminar, 2-4 May, 2019, University of Vic, Spain)