07SzoroIlona

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57 
Social Activity of Teachers  
in the Non-governmental Organisations 
of Agrarian Areas, in the 1940-ies 
© Ilona SZÓRÓ  
Hungarian Library Supply Nonprofit Ltd., Budapest, Hungary 
[EMAIL]  
 
In the first half of the 20th century, close connec tion had been 
formed between the non-governmental associations of  the agrarian 
society and the teachers of local schools. Reading circles established 
in the country side in towns, little villages, and the region of farms 
had a leading role in organising the community, in the cultural life, 
adult education, and providing library services. Te achers had similar 
functions, since a school ensured not only studies to children, but 
also (mainly at outskirts) manifested the centre of  local education. It 
provided venue to cultural events, state and church  celebrations, and 
offered informative lectures and courses for the ad ults, too. The 
school and the reading circle efficiently supplemented each other. The 
teacher and the members of the non-governmental associations could 
fulfil their functions effectively by relying on an d mutually supporting 
each other. The teacher had a very important role i n the actual 
implementation of the co-operation. It was the teac her who made 
rapport between the two institutions, who synchroni sed the two 
parties’ efforts, who organised the joint programs (Szathmáry, 
1947:542-546; Pogány, 2003:57).  
In the first half of the 20th century, especially in smaller villages, 
there were few qualified people. Consequently, in m ost of the 
places, teachers were considered to be active membe rs of the 
community, who agreed to fulfil several social and public life 
functions. Teachers fostered the establishment of l ocal non-
governmental associations in order to join forces o f village or 
outskirt population, to enhance their general and e conomic 
knowledge, and to create opportunities for civilize d entertainment. 
At several places, farmers being uninformed in offi cial matters 
requested advices and co-operation from the teacher  in creating 
the organisational structure and the rules of opera tion, and in 
documenting their activity. Their first discussions  and meetings 
were held in the building of the school (Szarvas,1995:121; Herczeg 
& Kruzslicz, 2000:160). 
Teachers had an important function in compiling the  statutes 
defining the associations’ internal life and activi ties. The statutes

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58 
always reflected the members’ values, and endeavour s. However, in 
the course of its compilation, particular statutory  rules had to be 
taken into consideration, since a specialised minis ter’s approval was 
required to the operation of reading circles. There fore the 
management of the establishing associations general ly requested the 
teacher to prepare the document. They discussed their ideas with him 
and he compiled the statutes in an appropriate form . Even later on, 
the organisations often turned to the local teacher  to ask for help in 
writing their reports and applications to be sent t o various official 
organs. When recognising the opportunities inherent  in the non-
governmental associations, teachers frequently lobbied for their sake. 
They applied for financial support from the cultura l authorities to 
build clubhouses for reading circles, and they also urged for supplying 
the associations with larger libraries (Nagy, 1975:381).  
Consequently, non-governmental organisations and lo cal teachers 
directly collaborated right from the beginning. In smaller villages and 
in the outskirts, in addition to the pub, the only hall that was suitable 
for accepting a larger group of people was in the s chool. Thus it was 
quite usual that until the reading circle or the fa rmers’ society could 
not build or purchase its own clubhouse, their meet ings were held in 
the building of the school. In the 1920-ies, in one  part of the more 
than 2000 farm schools established by Kuno Klebelsb erg minister of 
education and religious affairs, a separate club ha ll was also built, 
which was used by the established non-governmental association or 
youth organisation. This specific design of the sch ool building also 
meant that supporting the non-governmental organisa tions operating 
there was regarded to be the task of the teacher, t oo (Rostás, 
1994:3). 
Having accomplished the building of clubhouses for reading circles, 
it was quite frequent that the non-governmental ass ociations helped 
the teacher by providing temporary venue for school education. When  
- due to any reason  - the building of the school b ecame unsuited for 
teaching  - e.g. due to the lack of fuel for winter , damages caused by 
flood or inland waters or destructions during World War II.  - teaching 
was continued in the association’s clubhouse. Helpf ulness of reading 
circles was not only due to the principle of communal solidarity. There 
were also personal relationships between the two in stitutions: the 
children and grandchildren of the association’s members attended the 
local school. The fact that the school work and the  programs of the 
reading circles did not interfere with each other p layed also an 
important role. Teaching took place mainly in the m orning, when the 
members of the association worked. School lessons g ot finished by 
the time of the afternoon or evening meetings (Beck , 1985:240; G. 
Tóth, 1987:290).  
Non-governmental associations regarded it as one of  their key 
functions to patronise local schools. This was also  included in their

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statutes in the cases of most of the organisations.  Reading circles 
made their libraries available for teachers and stu dents. They 
frequently also supported the local school by donat ions, purchase 
of educational tools or by providing food and fuel.  Smaller 
maintenance and repair works were performed by the members of 
the associations. Children living farther from scho ol were often 
taken to school by volunteers by horse-drawn carria ges. The 
statutes of most of the reading circles ordered tha t upon its break-
up, the association’s assets should be used for sup porting the local 
school (Hajdú, 1977:22).  
In most of the places, co-operation of teachers and  reading 
circles was characterised by close and manifold rel ationship. 
Despite this fact, it was not typical that teachers  would join the 
association and undertake any managerial functions there. It was 
because the teachers were allocated to a town or vi llage centrally. 
Associations always represented the endeavours of a  local 
community, in which the new teacher allocated there  from another 
region was not automatically involved. Members of t he 
organisations elected the management from among the  persons 
who they had known well for long and who had alread y proved 
their aptitude. It required a longer period of time  to regard a 
teacher appointed there ex officio as „one of them” . In addition to 
the varied school and public educational tasks, eve n the teachers 
were not inclined to undertake any position requiri ng constant 
engagement. If despite this fact they became member s of the 
management of an organisation, they  - in accordanc e with their 
capabilities  - undertook or were mainly appointed to be a notary, a 
librarian, a financial controller or a secretary of  culture. It was an 
exceptional case, when a teacher held the post of a n association 
president (Nagy, 1975:388; Beck, 1985:262).  
One of the important tasks of the agrarian society’ s associations 
was to improve culture and enhance the know-how of farming. In 
the field of adult training, teachers played an out standingly 
important role. On the one hand, they organised var ious general 
knowledge or farming related lectures, and courses,  while on the 
other hand, they were also involved in training. It  was a basic 
prerequisite of launching various training programs  that the head 
of the course should have had at least secondary qu alifications. 
That was why without the collaboration of local tea chers it would 
not have been possible to organise adult training courses in villages 
and in the region of farms and ranches (Leléné Erdé lyi, 1996:261; 
Szabó, 2007:90-92). 
Non-governmental associations generally organised 6 -8 
informative lectures per year, but at larger associations there could 
be even 10-15 lectures held. Most of the reading ci rcles launched 
some kind of a course every year or every other yea r. Even

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associations with the least financial funds created  opportunity for 
their members to train themselves. In 1946, all ove r the country, 
there were a total of 135,000 informative lectures held and non-
governmental associations launched 2,500 various co urses, in which 
approx. 31,000 lecturers were requested to collabor ate. A significant 
part of the training courses were organised by the reading circles or 
farmers’ societies. In their implementation, thousa nds of teachers 
took part (Hajdú, 1977:123; Simándi, 1943:19). 
Several associations joined the movement aiming at the winding up 
of illiteracy. It had great significance especially  between the world 
wars, but one part of the adult society were not ab le to read and 
write even after World War II. The government alloc ated the task to 
teach adults to read and write basically to schools . However, the 
members of the reading circles, especially the olde r ones, were often 
averse from sitting back into school desks. To go t o the place to 
study where their children and grandchildren are ta ught during the 
day. They were much happier to enrol to the course,  if it was 
organised by their associations in the clubhouses o f their reading 
circles. The courses for teaching basic skills were  organised in several 
forms. Acquiring reading and writing skills generally was embedded in 
a 60-hour training. If the training included counti ng and 
measurement materials, too, usually an 80 -100-hour  course was 
organised. Only certified teachers could hold the c ourses 
incorporating basic knowledge which were launched i n the 
associations. During the course, student books publ ished for 
elementary schools were used. The training ended wi th an official 
final exam that was held in the presence of a repre sentative assigned 
by the education authorities. Successful accomplish ment of the 
course was acknowledged by a certificate (Katona, 1941:59-60).  
Reading circles often organised 30 -60-hour general  knowledge 
courses for adults, which mainly served the purpose  of brushing up 
and updating the knowledge acquired in elementary school, as well as 
its adaptation to adult life. The training took place twice a week, after 
the daily work, in the evenings. The lecturers were  mostly local 
teachers. The other group of courses contained 150- 160-hour winter-
time general knowledge courses.  Their purpose was primarily  to 
widen and update the elementary school knowledge, t o enhance the 
general culture, which also prepared adult students  to further studies 
(Madácsy, 1947:53; Juhász, 1991:48).  
The educational authorities specified the system of  requirements 
and the main theme units of the courses. However, t he framework-
like curriculum requirements ensured relatively bro ad clearing for 
local organisers and lecturers. The lessons were he ld by local 
teachers, secondary school teachers of close towns,  and in the cases 
of particular topics by surgeons, lawyers, and offi ce-holders. In the 
course of the training, mainly elementary and secon dary school

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student books or materials especially compiled for such courses 
were used, which they received from the educational  authority. In 
addition to general knowledge training, there were farming courses 
of similar length also launched, where the professi onal subjects 
were taught by farming school teachers or more qual ified farmers. 
In this case, local teachers taught subjects covering general culture 
(Kaczián, 1990:40-41).  
In most of the places, teachers organised the imple mentation 
and the management of the courses. The teachers mad e the plans 
of the training programs jointly with the heads of the associations. 
This was always adjusted to the local community’s r equirements. 
In the case of the courses, the teachers filled wit h content the 
framework-like central curricula issued by the gove rnment. The 
structure of education was adjusted to mainly inclu de the topics 
being relevant and interesting for the people livin g there. 
Applicants were usually recruited by the associatio ns; they 
advertised the launch of the trainings in the local  press, as well as 
the conditions of the application. In particular ca ses, however, e.g. 
upon the organisation courses of winding up of illi teracy, even the 
teacher’s intercession was needed in order to encourage with all his 
weight the people concerned to enrol for the course . It was the 
teacher holding the course who prepared the trainin g plan, applied 
for the approval of the educational authorities, pe rformed the 
required administration during the training, and also it was him/her 
who compiled the report to the supervisory organs a fter the 
accomplishment of the course (Hajdú, 1977:123; Beck, 1985:255).  
Various entertaining evenings and amateur theatrica l 
performances comprised an important part of the lif e of reading 
circles. Teachers generally played a leading role i n their 
organisation and the preparation of the performers.  They had 
major tasks in the selection of the play, the motiv ation of the 
actors, the directing of the play, and managing the  rehearsals. In 
order to do this, they needed to have a particular awareness in 
literature, appropriate knowledge of human nature, adequate 
calibre, and authority to colligate the work. In sm aller villages or in 
the wide region of farms and ranches, mostly the te acher had such 
skills. Preparation involved high responsibility. In many places, only 
cultural programs organised by non-governmental ass ociations 
were available for local inhabitants. It was due to  reading circles 
and farmers’ societies that the inhabitants of real  estates at the 
outskirts, small villages or the suburbs could watc h theatrical 
performances and participate at entertaining evenin gs, folk music 
or folk dance shows. Common cultural events and ent ertainment 
had a significant community building role, and an i mportant 
socialising impact (Simándi, 1947:750-751; Kovalcsik, 2003:585).

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Preparation of entertaining evenings and theatrical  performances 
demanded a lot of time and serious preparation both  from the stage-
director and the performers. Performing a play usua lly required a 
start-up period of 2 weeks for reading the play, wh ich was followed 
by 2 -4 weeks rehearsal. The director often pre-act ed the role for the 
shy ones, showed how the character needed to be act ed out in his or 
her opinion. Rehearsals usually started after 6 p.m ., and sometimes 
lasted until late night. The role players always ma de efforts to 
prepare the best they could, since all the relative s, acquaintances, 
and the population of the whole vicinity were prese nt at the 
performance (Leléné Erdélyi, 1996:261; Beck, 1985: 248).  
Sometimes casting was not an easy task, since peopl e were not 
happy to act out a negative character, and there mi ght be debates 
about casting the couples for the play, too. In ord er to handle the 
arising conflicts appropriately, high pedagogical s ense was required. 
It was also a similarly important aspect to perform  plays with 
educative effect to demonstrate moral values in the  form of simple 
lessons. All this generally made it inevitable for the teacher to join in 
the amateur theatrical activities of non-government al associations. 
Naturally, a lot depended on the teacher’s personal  character, too. It 
happened that some teachers did not feel vocation t o it or did not 
want to accept the high amount of extra work incorp orated in 
preparation. In most of the places, however, teache rs actively 
participated in the preparation of entertaining pro grams of reading 
circles (Nagy, 1975:399-401).  
Reading circles acknowledged teachers’ work done fo r the sake of 
associations by regularly inviting the school’s stu dents to their events 
and entertaining performances. There were entertain ing programs, 
sports competitions, and fun quizzes especially ann ounced for the 
younger age groups. In other cases, they got free a ccess to an 
entertaining afternoon, folk song or folk dance per formance, or 
amateur theatrical performance compiled by the memb ers of non-
governmental associations. Primarily, in holiday se asons, there were 
family programs and afternoon tea parties organised  in several 
places, where smaller children could also enjoy the mselves. 
Schoolchildren often played roles in celebrations a nd upon 
anniversaries organised in the associations’ clubho uses. In such 
cases, children always got a treat. Naturally, all this again multiplied 
the teachers’ tasks by requiring special organisati on and preparation. 
However, it had an extraordinarily remarkable impac t on the 
community, as it strengthened its cohesion (Gregus,  1997:69; Baják, 
2001:176).  
One of the important areas of co-operation between teachers and 
associations was taking care of talents. The two in stitutions regarded 
it as a common affair to support gifted children li ving under poor 
circumstances. Teachers made efforts to find out th e options for

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further studies for the students, to make it happen  for them and to 
prepare them for that. On the other hand, the leade rs of the 
associations tried to convince the parents to let t heir children 
study. In order to achieve this, in the cases of a few students, they 
offered some small financial support despite their low financial 
resources. The associations’ supporting reference w as important 
from another point of view, too. Students were generally registered 
in the colleges operating all over the country base d on the 
reference of local non-governmental associations (S zathmáry, 
1947:543-544).  
In 1940-ies, in several villages and towns, teacher s were also 
involved in public administration functions. Office  space for the 
administrational activities was mainly provided by non-
governmental associations operating in the centrall y situated areas 
of the region of farms and ranches. Public administ ration 
authorities established branch offices in these clu bhouses of the 
reading circles. There was administration here for 1 -2 times a 
week, so that people living by could manage their m ost important 
official affairs locally. It means people did not n eed to go to the 
village or town offices in order to pay taxes and d ues, to get 
various permits, to certify sales, to register, and  to participate in 
any census, thus they did not lose much working tim e. In the 
associations’ clubhouses, administrative tasks were  performed by 
either appointed office-holders or local teachers, who were 
specifically prepared for this job and paid for it (Hollander, 
1980:79; Hajdú, 1977:104). 
In the middle of the 20th century, elementary and s econdary 
school teachers played an outstanding role in the l ife and activities 
of non-governmental associations operating in agrar ian regions. 
With their knowledge, organisational skills, and experience in public 
life they supported the operation of the organisati ons. They 
collaborated in adult training and holding entertai ning events. They 
acted for the sake of enforcing the interests of lo cal inhabitants, 
and also supported similar efforts made by reading circles. They 
synchronised the cultural and entertaining activiti es of the two 
cultural institutions of small villages and the reg ion of farms and 
ranches: the school and the non-governmental associ ation. Within 
the frames of non-governmental organisations, they were involved 
in various public life functions and administrative  tasks. With all 
this, they highly contributed to keeping together t he local 
community, and keeping them active, as well as to t he 
strengthening of co-operation, and enhancing the level of culture.

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64 
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