Pioneer Homes and Towns: Places of Extracurricular Education of the Socialist Youth

Ovaj diplomski rad bavi se načinom na koji su djeca u socijalističkoj Jugoslaviji odgajana u duhu socijalističkog patriotizma. Konkretno, kako je taj odgoj implementiran na najnižim razinama u jednoj od republika kroz dvije institucije. Pionirski grad u Zagrebu i Pionirski dom Sisak osnovani su u svrhu implementacije planiranog odgoja pionira u nove socijalističke ljude. Pionirski grad u Zagrebu, osnovan i izgrađen odmah po završetku Drugog svjetskog rata, djelovao je kao eksperimentalna osnovna škola u kojoj su pola školske godine provodili najbolji pioniri, gdje su se trebale osmišljavati i iskušavati najmodernije nastavne metode kojima bi zatim kroz Centar za usavršavanje nastavnika poučavali učitelje iz cijele zemlje. Pionirski dom Sisak izgrađen je 1960-ih godina, kada su prilike u zemlji bile drugačije te je stoga i odgoj koji se u njemu odvijao bio raznovrsniji. Za razliku od Pionirskog grada, Pionirski dom osnovan je kao institucija isključivo za odgoj za vrijeme slobodnog vremena, a kroz razna predavanja, predstave, natjecanja, manifestacije, literarne grupe i radionice. Velik naglasak stavljao se na zabavu pionira, ali sadržaj tih aktivnosti, kao i dječjeg lista Kurir, koji je izdavao Pionirski dom, otkrivaju da je odgoj u takvim institucijama bio vrlo ideologiziran. Konkretno, bazirao se na promoviranju pet postavki na kojima se temeljio jugoslavenski socijalistički poredak: kulta ličnosti druga Tita, bratstva i jedinstva, Narodnooslobodilačke borbe, samoupravljanja i Pokreta nesvrstanih.This master's thesis investigates the way children were educated in the spirit of socialist patriotism in Socialist Yugoslavia. It researches into the way this education was implemented on grassroots level in two different institutions: Pioneer City in Zagreb and Pioneer House in Sisak, which were founded to help implement planned education of young pioneers to make them new socialist citizens. Pioneer City in Zagreb, founded and built right after the end of World War Two, functioned as an experimental elementary school where the best young pioneers spent half of the academic year and where teachers were supposed to create and test the best educational techniques. After that, those techniques were supposed to be promoted among the teachers from all over the country at seminars organized for them in the City. Pioneer House in Sisak was built during the 1960s, when the situation in the country was different, which made education in this institution more varied. Unlike Pioneer City, Pioneer House was founded as an institution for organizing young pioneers’ free time through various lectures, theatre plays, competitions, manifestations, literary sections and workshops. Fun was an important aspect of all those activities, but they and the children’s magazine Kurir published by Pioneer House reveal that the education in those institutions was swamped with ideology. It was based on promoting five pillars which the Yugoslav socialist society rested on: Josip Broz Tito’s personality cult, brotherhood and unity, national liberation struggle, self-management and the Non-Aligned Movement