“Labour Is Our Song!”: Deaf in the Bulgarian Socialist Work Utopia

Silence is the official periodical of the Bulgarian Union of the Deaf. Its first issue was published in 1957. At this relatively early stage of state socialism, the Union was virtually the single space of representation of deafness in Bulgaria. Although established in the 1930s, predominantly thanks to the efforts of several deaf activists,1 during the socialist era the Union functioned largely as a state and Party extension. Thus, the representation of deafness may be considered as pertaining to and informed by the official ideology; as an imposed framing which creates peculiar moral economy and “cultural opportunity structure” (Noonan 85). Certainly, from this it does not follow that the mundane orchestration of everyday life of deaf Bulgarians is entirely governed by this representation, but it still deserves attention since it is a key factor, defining the scope of meanings and imageries which could be attached to deafness, publicly as well as in the (quasi) activist aspirations and identity-building. My reflections, which I briefly share in this piece, rest on a content analysis of the issues of Silence from 1957 until the early 1970s, when a shift in the ideology can be observed towards certain diversification of the cultural repertoire. Thus I focus on the early socialist period, which creates one markedly labourobsessed symbolic universe. I read the issues against the background of additional textual materials, focusing on disability assessment and especially on the organized state effort and official disability policy to (re)insert as many disabled people as possible in the work-based system, unburdening in this way the need-based system (Stone 15). In this context, labour is conceptualized and acclaimed as a curative and prophylactic activity, beneficial for the physical and emotional well-being of disabled people. However, it is mainly defined as a fundamental moral duty, which is community-oriented since it contributes