From Utopia to Dummy: the Movement "The Hero is Always in Line" in Communist Bulgaria (1970s – 1980s)

Abstract

The so-called „patronage movement“„The Hero is always in our lines” was designed as a state initiative in the 1970s. It was part of the ideological scenarios of the late communism illustrating the attempts for establishment of state control over the cultur-al memory in a radical manner. The Bulgarian version of „The Hero is always in our lines” was a response to the similar Soviet model „For That Lad” (Za togo parnia). The basic idea of the campaign was that a team of workers had to choose fallen com-munist „heroes as their „patrons” in order to sustain their memory. The heroes were enlisted in the payroll and work brigades fulfilled additional work assignment on their behalf and received their wages.