Communist Propaganda at School: The World of the Reading Primers from the Soviet Bloc, 1949–1989

161 Pages·2021·1.919 MB·English

by  Joanna Wojdon

Communist Propaganda at School
Communist Propaganda at School is based on an analysis of reading primers
from the Soviet bloc and re-creates the world as presented to the youngest
schoolchildren who started their education between 1949 and 1989 across the nine
Eastern European countries. The author argues that those first textbooks, from
their first to last pages, were heavily laden with communist propaganda, and that
they share similar concepts, techniques and even contents, even if some national
specificities can be observed.
This volume reconstructs the image of the world presented to schoolchildren
in the first books they were required to read in their school life, and argues that
the image was charged with communist propaganda. The book is based on the
analysis of over 60 reading primers from nine countries of the Soviet bloc:
Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary,
Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia from the period.
Written with simplicity and straightforwardness, this book will be a valuable
resource, not only to international academics dealing with the issues of propaganda,
censorship, education, childhood and everyday life under communism in Eastern
and Central Europe, but also to academics dealing with education under communism
or with the content of primary education. It also brings educational experiences of
the Soviet bloc to international researchers, in particular to researchers of education
under totalitarian and authoritarian regimes.
Joanna Wojdon, born in 1973, is Associate Professor at the Institute of History,
University of Wrocław, and chair of the Department of Methodology of Teaching
History and Civic Education. Her research interest includes also the history of
the Polish Americans and public history. She has authored an award-winning
White and Red Umbrella: Polish American Congress in the Cold War Era (1944–
1988) (Helena History Press, 2015), and Textbooks as Propaganda. Poland under
Communist Rule, 1944–1989 (Routledge, 2018).
Routledge Histories of Central and Eastern Europe
The nations of Central and Eastern Europe experienced a time of momentous
change in the period following the Second World War. The vast majority were
subject to Communism and central planning while events such as the Hungarian
uprising and Prague Spring stood out as key watershed moments against a dis-
tinct social, cultural and political backcloth. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ger-
man reunification and the break-up of the Soviet Union, changes from the 1990s
onwards have also been momentous with countries adjusting to various capitalist
realities. The volumes in this series will help shine a light on the experiences of
this key geopolitical zone with many lessons to be learned for the future.
Historicizing Roma in Central Europe
Between Critical Whiteness and Epistemic Injustice
Victoria Shmidt and Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky
The Macedonian Question and the Macedonians
A History
Alexis Heraclides
Milan Rastislav Štefánik
The Slovak National Hero and Co-Founder of Czechoslovakia
Michal Kšiňan
Politics and the Slavic Languages
Tomasz Kamusella
Communist Propaganda at School
The World of the Reading Primers from the Soviet Bloc, 1949–1989
Joanna Wojdon
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Histories-of-Central-and-Eastern-Europe/book-series/CEE
Communist Propaganda
at School
The World of the Reading Primers
from the Soviet Bloc, 1949–1989
Joanna Wojdon
First published 2021
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2021 Joanna Wojdon
The right of Joanna Wojdon to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
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registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First published in Polish in 2015 with the title Świat elementarzy.
Obraz rzeczywistości w podręcznikach do nauki czytania w krajach
bloku radzieckiego by the publisher Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. The
English version of the book was financially supported by the Excellence
Initiative – Research University (IDUB) program for the University of
Wroclaw, Poland. Translated by Agnieszka Szyjkowska.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-74063-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-74064-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-15595-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
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Contents
Introduction: why reading primers? Why politics? 1
1 The wide world—the homeland: between patriotism and
communism 13
2 The wide world—the development of technology and
civilizational transformations 44
3 The world a little closer—adults 63
4 The world closest to children—school 83
5 Children in private life 104
6 Holidays 123
Conclusion 131
Bibliography 136
Index 149

Introduction
Why reading primers? Why politics?
Reading primers, that is, textbooks for the teaching of reading, are specific books.
At the least, a few factors make them enjoyed by a group of enthusiasts among
both researchers and collectors.
This is so, first of all because of the sentiment evoked by the primer as the first
unassisted piece of reading or the first personal textbook we encounter. In Poland,
it may be confirmed by the success of the recently published reprints of primers
from the times of the Polish People’s Republic. In Russia, the crowdfunding pro-
ject to reprint the reading primer from the mid-twentieth century was overfunded
by more than 150%.1 In Portugal, the reading primer of the 1950s is presented in
the blog titled “Santa Nostalgia.”2
The precedence effect makes the readings, illustrations, characters and situa-
tions from the primers well remembered. In Poland, some elements of the books,
such as the main protagonist, a girl named Ala, or Bambo, the black boy from a
poem included in the final pages, have entered into collective memory and mass
culture. This “memory effect” is often strengthened by the fact that the youngest
readers are very uncritical and gullible, and therefore particularly susceptible to
influence3, most probably taking at face value everything that is presented in the
words addressed to them,4 especially if supported by the authority of the school
institution and the teacher.5 According to developmental psychology, at this age
school becomes the basic environment in which the children live and whose expec-
tations they try to meet.6 It puts great temptation in the way of authors, publishers,
adult society in general and authorities, when implementing reading techniques to
present students with an image of the world corresponding to adult views.
History shows that under totalitarian regimes, where textbooks were approved
by the state (ministry and censorship), the authorities did not hesitate to influence
the substantive content of the school readings.7 In the Central Archives of Modern
Records (AAN) in Warsaw, one can find minutes of meetings of the committee
evaluating Marian Falski’s reading primer of 1948. They confirm the importance
attached by the authorities to this book and document the struggle for almost
every single passage and detail. For instance, one can read:
The text on page 130 which describes where foodstuffs come from is focused
too much on the small production of farmers (butter is made by a house-
wife . . .). It is necessary to concentrate on the issues of mass processing in
2 Introduction
cooperatives, on rational economy, and not to keep revolving around cottage
industry. The text lacks elements of collaboration and cooperation.8
Communist regimes were by no means the first to employ the reding primers
for the indoctrination of the young generation. The primers of the interwar dic-
tatorships were also strongly ideologized in António de Oliveira Salazar’s Portu-
gal, Francisco Franco’s Spain, Adolf Hitler’s Germany or Joseph Stalin’s Soviet
Union. And going further into the past, attempts were made to instill certain
beliefs and values in children from the very beginning of reading primers. Intro-
ductions to catechisms, dating back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
are several pages long and are regarded as the first primers.9 The Reading Primers
Special Interest Group of the International Society for Historical and Systematic
Research on Schoolbooks already in its first declaration stated that primers teach
not only the reading of texts, but also the reading of the world.10
The special position of the primers is reinforced by the fact that students are
very likely to be assisted by their parents while reading. Thus, the parents, too,
become addressees of the content contained therein, including propaganda con-
tent,11 as in the case of today’s animated movies, apparently addressed to children,
but communicating deeper messages comprehensible only to adults. The Polish
pedagogue, Romuald Grzybowski, on the other hand, notes that in the communist
system, all children from all backgrounds, social classes and strata, regardless of
their parents’ worldviews or attitudes, were subjected to identical “processing”
at school.12 The primers could therefore affect the children, irrespective of their
parents or even against them.
Anna Landau-Czajka, in her studies of the contents of Polish textbooks, has
pointed out that, especially in earlier times, primers (or more broadly, the first
textbooks) were not only the first, but often the only books students had in their
entire lives. This was the reason why some of the texts were deliberately intended
for grown-up readers.13 It seems that for the post-war period this observation
ceased to be valid and the textbooks were designed for children, but as Darko
Leitner-Stojanov states, in the case of Macedonia, they “addressed not only pupils
but potential soldiers” (or, following this approach: potential workers, farmers,
housewives, etc.).14 Robin Richardson observed, in turn, that the first recipients of
textbooks are usually teachers, that is, adults who discover from these books what
they are to convey to the children.15
Another assertion by Landau-Czajka on the hidden contents of textbooks is
worth taking into consideration.16 While the primer aims to create an ideal world
consistent with the values and models desired by the decision-makers (whoever
they may be), they are unintentionally permeated by elements of the reality in
which the books are created, including the less glorious ones. To some extent,
they can therefore be seen as a reflection of the real world.
Thus, the primer is an important book for both readers and decision-makers
owing to the power of both its educational and ideological influence.17 It is a meet-
ing place for the created world, the one which decision-makers would like to show
to children,18 as well as the real world in which the primer is created.19
Introduction 3
Primers are complemented by the simplicity of the message—simple language,
short texts or even single sentences or words, as well as an abundance of illustra-
tions. For some researchers, these are shortcomings that make it difficult to elicit
the full educational message of a given system of education, better reflected in
readings for older audiences who are not limited by, for example, unfamiliarity
with some letters.20 In the case of this study, however, it was an undeniable advan-
tage, enabling us relatively easily to become familiar with sources from different
countries and in various languages.
My interest in the topic originated from the research project on political prop-
aganda in textbooks for primary schools in the Polish People’s Republic.21 There
naturally arose questions as to how the situation in Polish schools appeared in
comparison with other countries of the Soviet bloc. A partial answer was pro-
vided by the work of John Rodden, who analyzed East German textbooks.22
His findings were very similar to mine. Nonetheless, a comprehensive study of
textbooks, publications for teachers and archives from all the countries of the
Soviet bloc—in the analogous scope that I conducted for Polish m aterials—
would exceed the capabilities of a single researcher (due to language barriers,
availability of materials and travel costs). As I did not find an opportunity to
carry out a major international project, I decided to concentrate on more lim-
ited material and for the reasons mentioned earlier I chose reading primers,
with the results first published in Polish in 2015. This English edition includes
several bibliographical updates and has been adjusted slightly for international
audiences.
Research on reading primers
Until the 1980s, research into the political role of textbooks focused primarily on
books for history and civics.23 Thereafter, other subjects were also noted. Some
researchers believe that the whole of school education has (not necessarily delib-
erately) a political and ideological dimension, and that messages of this type are
present in lessons (and textbooks) of all subjects.24 Researchers indicate that cen-
sorship of textbooks is also in place in democratic countries. In some cases, it does
not take an institutionalized form, but in order for a textbook to sell well, it must
be in line with the opinions of various pressure groups, opinion-forming bodies or
the principles of political correctness, which are reflected in the content and may
make the textbooks boring and insignificant.25 It is not the intention of authors
who try in various ways to draw and keep the young reader’s attention to sway
their views, attitudes and behaviors. As observed by Danuta Konieczka-Śliwińska
in her work on the rhetoric of contemporary Polish history textbooks, “the fulfil-
ment of the functions imposed on the textbook is inseparably connected with the
process of convincing the student, i.e. with persuasion.”26 The issues of the con-
vergence between education and persuasion and propaganda/indoctrination are
addressed in the recently published Oxford Textbook of Propaganda Studies.27
The texts found in primers (and in other textbooks) may be referred to analyses of
the language of communist newspeak.28