JAVNA OKUPLJANA U SARAJEVU 1945-1948.
PUBLIC GATHERINGS IN SARAJEVO 1945-1948

Summary/Abstract: Public gatherings had a great success with the aim of connecting all the sectors in the post-war society and providing support for the new government. We should not go any further than the numbers (even though they were exaggerated)which show the number of people on certain meetings in order to conclude that public gatherings had effect on the people of the time. The concept of public gathering which was elaborated in the Soviet Federation but had common features with the public gatherings in all communist regimes, found a fertile soil for its manifestation in Bosnia and Herzegovina for many reasons. First of all, the population was uneducated and therefore it was easier attracted to these events. The last, but not least important reason was that the new government had the aureole of a winner over the forces of fascism which was constantly emphasised. Besides, we should also stress the need of a post war man to reconstruct social connections torn during the war and the need to get back to daily life and communication with other people. In a certain way, these public gatherings were a testimony that the life returned to pre war values and therefore they were visited by ordinary people who saw in them the return to freedom, integration and the anew start of building a better future. The mission of public gatherings can be considered a successful agitation and propaganda activity which was used as a mean of legitimization of the new government or as a way for attracting of the labour force for the Five-Year Plan. The press regularly wrote about the competition of working collectives organized on the occasions of the 1st May or the arrival of important guests to the capital. Everything was aimed to create the atmosphere of progress. On public gatherings, the speakers always emphasised the importance of development of the country and the contribution of the ordinary man in this development. Even though public gatherings were a form of manipulation over people, it should be stated that they contributed to the reconstruction of cultural and social life and the strengthening of social government in Bosnia and Herzegovina immediately after the Second World War.

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