"We Are Building Socialism" in the pherypheries Cover Image

“Budujemy Socjalizm” na peryferiach
"We Are Building Socialism" in the pherypheries

Author(s): Monika Golonka-Czajkowska
Subject(s): Anthropology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Nowa Huta; socrealistic publicity; socialist city; anthropology of policy

Summary/Abstract: “We Are Building Socialism” was the first newspaper, which came out in Nowa Huta in 1950-1956. From the perspective of discourse analysis, we can look at it as a kind of the guide on the new, socialist world. This vision was created specifically for a particular type of readers, which were workers arriving for the construction of a new city and in majority came from rural milieu. Therefore the way of writing, based on rigid rules of newspeak Stalinist period, have to be adapted to the perceptual capabilities of potential readers – mainly young people, who were in fact not used to reading the press. At the same time, the newspaper also includes a description of the world “here and now” in its local dimension. So if we know the principles of newspeak and we are able to decode it, we can also go behind the scenes of “The Great Construction” and look at everyday life.

  • Issue Year: 2012
  • Issue No: 40
  • Page Range: 11-25
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish