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Anelia Kassabova
the school management was trying to broaden the students contact with the out¬
side world. Grancharov negotiated special agreements with the theatre in Pernik
and the Youth Centre in Radomir to provide the necessary props and clothes for
the school activities and tickets for productions at the theatres. In the summers,
Grancharov and his colleagues organized summer tent camps at the Black Sea.
Although the main contacts remained within the group of students and staff, there
were attempts to "demolish the barriers" and to overcome stigmatizing attitudes
towards the students.
Collectivism—Personality
The main objective of the LES system was the re-education of students. Following
the ideas of Makarenko, Grancharov introduced the principles of self-government
in the school. The students had to submit to specific leaders, called commanders,
selected by the pedagogical Council (i.e. the school staff of teachers and educators).
‘The juveniles were divided into detachments consisting of ten to twelve persons.
The detachments were expected to “take care” of their members while individuals
were expected to “take care” of the respective group. The commanders attended
a council, which made decisions on important matters. Some decisions were taken
at a general meeting at which all the inmates could meet. Different school com¬
mittees were formed—for cultural activities, for the learning process, for hygiene,
for economic issues etc. “Everyone assumes an obligation according to her taste,
strength and abilities, but once she assumed it she is obliged to observe it.”?!
In the “struggle against theft and lies”, a so-called student cooperative corner—
Kolektivna chest (‘Collective Honour’), a shop without a seller, was established.*
The comrades’ court was used both as a preventive and a corrective penal instru¬
ment. A main tool in the establishment of socialist discipline, its major function
was to encourage compliance with the leading social-political norms through the
use of the pressure of “public opinion”. It represented vertical collectivism, based
on hierarchical structures of power, that had to lead to moral and cultural con¬
formity. For Grancharov, “the meaning of the comrades’ court was a huge thing—
through it a sense of responsibility for ‘judging’, a desire for better understanding
the actions and deeds of their companions, and a fear of making mistakes when
condemning were cultivated. Condonation, efforts to argue, joy of forgiving oth¬
ers—this is what the Comrades’ court teaches.”** Through the system—a copy of an
imagined socialist order of society, with strict order and discipline, and severe limits
31 DA Pernik, E 705, op. 1, ae. 2: 17-18.
» DA Pernik, E 705, op. 1, ae. 1:5 gr.
5 DA Pernik, F. 705, op. 1, ae. 2: 18.