Popular Education and Cultural Policy in the First Half of the 1950s. An Analysis of the Periodicals Művelt Nép (Educated People, 1950–1956) and Népművelési Híradó (Popular Education Bulletin, 1949–1953)

Vámos, Gabriella (2024) Popular Education and Cultural Policy in the First Half of the 1950s. An Analysis of the Periodicals Művelt Nép (Educated People, 1950–1956) and Népművelési Híradó (Popular Education Bulletin, 1949–1953). ACTA ETHNOGRAPHICA HUNGARICA, 69 (1). pp. 113-138. ISSN 1216-9803

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Abstract

The most important objective of the MDP (Magyar Dolgozók Pártja, Hungarian Working People's Party), which came to power after the communist takeover (1947–1949), was to implement the cultural revolution, which was seen as part of a comprehensive social transformation. The principles and directions of the cultural revolution were formulated by József Révai as a popular education program. He stressed that all institutional and extra-institutional means must be used to master the socialist worldview. After the MDP came to power, the framework of out-of-school education and culture changed, with new paths being charted through the Ministry of Popular Culture, established in 1949. This included the socialist reform of theaters, cinemas, newspaper and book publishing, the creation of a new holiday structure, but also the construction of a network of cultural centers, the development of themes and topics for educational presentations, and the organization of cultural competitions. My study focuses on discussing the latter three topics, which I will do by analyzing the content of articles published in the journals of the Ministry of Popular Culture, Népművelési Híradó (Popular Education Bulletin, 1949–1953) and Művelt Nép (Educated People, 1950–1956). These periodicals are contemporary propaganda materials that give us an insight into the diverse world of the various branches of centralized culture.

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