За потребностите, потреблението и консумацията при социализма
About Needs and Consumption during Socialism

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the use of the terms "consumption" and "needs" in official documents, literature influenced by party ideology, and in everyday life during socialism. The language at the time employed two terms for consumption: "konsumazia" - of Latin origin, and "potreblenie" - of Bulgarian. The two terms, being perfect synonyms in their literal meaning, suggested differences in different social and ideological contexts. Consumption as "potreblenie" was used as a general term for satisfying the basic needs of the population in official documents. "Konsumazia" implied an ideological nuance in texts criticizing capitalist consumerism.The article argues that the practice of socialism did not promote stable market behavior of consuming goods and services but rather hazardous buying or acquiring things or receiving favors. Thus everyday language avoided the term "consumption" in its most immediate sense as utilization of economic goods for satisfying needs. Instead, economic terms turned into euphemisms pointing out the way products were acquired.

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