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Masters of Indoctrination: What We Can Learn from Our Enemies

I grew up in communist Bulgaria and went through the full programme of indoctrination and brain washing—believing that there was no better social system. The communist regime collapsed one year after my high school graduation (1989), and the bad and good practices of an evil regime were swept away with it. I say evil, because the right of free choice and different opinion was denied and a society without God was promoted. Well then, "What was good about it?" some of you may ask. Here are just a few things: a good national health system, many social benefits for everybody, and wellstructured and organised school youth work.

Then, at the age of 21, I became a Christian and this was the beginning of my involvement in Christian youth work in Bulgaria. Without realising, for those seven years as a national youth worker for the Baptist Union, I always had a positive example of the things I had been through at school. Subconsciously, I couldn't help comparing the Christian youth work with the communist. In a broader sense, the aim of both is to develop a holistic person; the communists talked about a "well-rounded, moral young person," who would be able to face life with all its ups and downs. However, it must be emphasised that the important distinction between the Christian and the communist youth work is, namely, the source of why we should be moral. The communists propagated a moral society because the communist party required it. It was an easier way to obedience and loyalty without deep foundations. Whereas, we, as Christians, believe that the true source of love and good morals is solely God.

The communist youth work was designed to form a young person with a particular identity who was ready to serve the Party by taking on responsibilities along the line of carrying out the big commission of the party. The school years were divided into three stages with special rites of passage. When I was in the first grade, I was accepted into the ranks of the youngsters' organisation named after the revolutionary leader Chavdar. There was a brilliantly conducted celebration with music, reciting rhymes and slogans, and pledging our faithfulness to the Motherland and the party. The whole celebration ended with us receiving a blue neck scarf symbolising the strife to freedom. All this was in the presence of our parents and the older pioneers.

The scarf was a part of our school uniform until the time we went onto the next stage of being admitted into the pioneers' ranks when we got our red neck scarf. Red stands for the blood shed for the freedom of Bulgaria. And again, there was another big celebration with passing on banners of the particular school, much patriotic music, and solemnity mixed with the feeling of being part of our long past and present. To the salute "Be ready" (to serve your country) we as pioneers used to answer in one voice "Always ready."

Being a pioneer came with more responsibilities in the social life of the school and the city. To some extent it resembles the work of the scouts' organisation. I remember that at the end of the school year we had to make a promise, which had to be executed during the summer holidays. Some of the good works I promised to do were to collect 10 kg of scrap paper or metal for recycling, to read at least three novels, to plant a new tree, to help an elderly person with her garden, and to collect herbs. We didn't have time or reason to be bored!

The final stage of becoming an adult citizen was the Comsomol organisation. The entry, at the age of 14, was a very serious testing of what one knew of the constitution of the Comsomol, which was similar to that of the ruling communist party. We were examined one by one on how well we knew the basic doctrines. I still remember the relief after that exam and how proud I was that I had made it. Those who didn't get in for one reason or another were ashamed and ostracised; even their future careers could be jeopardised.

Great hopes and expectations were laid on our shoulders for the "bright communist future" of Bulgaria. And we believed we would be the future heroes and heroines of our country. I grew up thinking that I would be part of doing great things for my country. Sounds naïve, but the generation before mine were those young people full of hope and enthusiasm who built bridges, roads, and mountain passes in the '50s and the '60s in Bulgaria. The communists knew how to exploit our greatest urge to be part of something grand and to commit our lives to something bigger than ourselves.

So, there were these well-rounded young people at the age of 18 leaving high school and heading to factories or universities. In my case, it was the technical university. I was ready to leave my family and home and pursue my career, when the Lord called me. I didn't see that coming and didn't have a choice but to submit and become God's. Now I can sit back and reflect on my old beliefs about life and God.

Lessons Learned

Generations of young people were instructed in the new ideas and values adopted by the communists. The success of their political and economic system was dependent on passing the new communist worldview onto the next generation. Whatever your judgment on the communist regime, one thing is sure, they knew how to indoctrinate and put the structures, events, and necessary people in place to form the identity of a faithful communist follower. Of course, the similarities are so numerous that we cannot overlook the fact that the communist regime was based on a type of "religious" system where the central role of God was replaced by the autocratic dominion of the Communist Party. They used the available resources to bring about a sense of direction and belonging to something big. The rituals were in place to initiate a new stage in one's life development, turning the child into a responsible individual by emphasising that "the child ‘belongs' not just to the family but to the larger group of kin or societal members," he/she belongs to the party. Do we manage to do that as Christians? Do we emphasise the fact that each of us belongs not only to our own family but to the church as the broader family of believers?

Looking back critically, wearing my Christian spectacles, I can see what the communists did right in their youth work. They made room, took time, and allocated recourses to train their young people in the proper way, according to their beliefs. They had a solid indoctrinating system, but they didn't stop there. It wouldn't have worked if they hadn't complimented it with opportunities for the beliefs to be put into practice—with work, military and recreational camps, and countless school initiatives. They also created rituals, which were one of the elements for the emerging unique, communist culture. To a certain extent, all these rituals— marching parades, school and history celebrations, etc.—were a key to keeping the people busy and submissive to the party. However, I doubt how much the school rituals, which marked one's passage into a new stage in his/her development, would've helped without the given responsibilities and the higher hopes and expectations the society had of its young people.

After my conversion, I was in the position of a pioneer— ironically the same word used by the communists—and I was about to learn its other meaning . After the fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria my colleagues and I, as the first Christian youth workers, had to establish Christian youth work—an unknown, since it had never been done before. We had to start from scratch with the help of missionaries from Western Europe and North America. Deeply convinced that growth comes with more responsibilities, this has been one of the guiding principles in my youth work. So the Bible is taught so that beliefs and direction are provided, which goes hand in hand with gradually increasing responsibilities for applying what someone believes in daily life. Maturing is not only learning new information and believing it, but also living it out. One without the other is incomplete. Therefore, we, as youth workers, have to create and look for real opportunities for hands-on projects for our young people where they can deal with real-life issues and are given responsibilities.

Moreover, I'd argue that having rites and rituals isn't necessary for our youth work. Appeasing the sociologists or just bringing more excitement and colour into our work isn't the vital motivation. What is vital is providing responsibilities that lead to a new social status for young people that can be marked by rites and rituals, which also gives the older generations a public acknowledgment of that new status.

Let us take a moment and look at the church as an example. How many times have you heard prayers and talks about our young people being the future of the church? Is that really accurate? To me this is a sign of a weak congregation that's relegating our youth to the future. Young people are here and now in church life, therefore they're a part of the present church. The future is allusive. We have to be grounded in the present; that's what the communists grasped about their young people and put to good service. Our young people offer a great resource that must be harnessed here and now, which in return prepares them for the future.

But then, in a new democracy like Bulgaria, is Christian youth work marked by mere denial of the old communist way of using indoctrination, rites, and rituals? This year the Baptist Youth Organisation of Bulgaria celebrates the 15th anniversary of its founding and what we've learned in this short period of time is that the Bible can be trusted for direction on all matters, such as doctrines and practices (which includes rites and rituals) . In 2 Timothy 3:14-17 the apostle Paul instructs Timothy to continue living according to the Scripture, because all Scripture "is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." This leads to God's people being equipped for good work and in this number, surely, the young people are included so that they would mature in their faith. Thus, we must not stop at just teaching our young people, but we must seek to give them opportunities for being involved in practical projects— good works—because their faith will be sharpened and affirmed by that.

Diyana Zheleva Swingler earned a B.A. in Applied Theology (Youth and Community Work) from Moorlands College in the U.K. and a Certificate of Excellence in Youth Ministry by the Board of Youth Ministry Educators in the U.S. She became a Christian in the autumn of 1991 in Varna, Bulgaria. From 1994 till 2001, she held the position of general youth secretary for the Bulgarian Baptist Union. Her experience includes setting up the national structure of the Bulgarian Baptist Youth Work and overseeing it. At the moment she is living in the U.K. and taking her sabbatical before starting on her masters.