Доротея Добрева. Трудова дейност в колектива. Официална норма и действително поведение в едно планинско село през 50-те години
Working on the Collective Farm. Official Norms and Actual Behavior in a Bulgarian Mountain Village in the 1950’s

Summary/Abstract: This article investigates the work relations on a collective farm (TKZS) in the village of Raduil – relations that were characterized by a conflict between the system of central planning and control by the Party and the socialist state, and the actual everyday behavior, norms and value orientations of the villagers. The empirical basis of the analysis are prescriptive documents as well as archive materials and numerous interviews. The discrepancy between the imposed norm and everyday reality is demonstrated in three areas of conflict: I. the propagated principle of voluntary cooperation in the collectivization process in contrast to the mounting economic and political pressure and the coercive measures taken by the state to achieve the “complete collectivization of the soil” (masovizatsiya); 2. the goals, tasks, and norms for work and behavior laid down in the “model statute” of the cooperative farm in conflict with the actual financial situation, the wages, the work relations and work motivation (which was often close to apathy); 3. the socialist and collectivist attitudes and demands of the Party colliding with the views of the peasants who preferred to invest their energy in the private economic sector. Strategies like “dodging” and “withdrawal” were typical everyday reactions among the simple workers on the collective farm as well as among the functionaries and the local elites. One of the consequences of these counter-strategies was the continuous and gradual adaptation of the official policies to the needs and interests of the villagers which eventually, in the 1980’s, led to agricultural reforms in Bulgaria.

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