Anthropos 56 (1): 79–95 | issn0587-5161 | e-issn2630-4082 ‘Revolution is Learned Faster than Culture’:ą On the Amateur-Professional Relationship in the Artistic Legacies of the People’s Liberation Struggle Ana Hofman Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Slovenia hofman.ana@gmail.com ©2024Ana Hofman Abstract. This article focuses on the discourses and debates that sur­rounded the building of the new organizational model of artistic pro­duction during thePeople’sLiberationStruggle(pls), which soughtto bringaboutaprofoundtransformationofsocial relations.Drawingon the historical sources, I show how the reconfiguration of the amateur-professional nexus was central to these strivings. Those reconfigura­tions uncover the complex processes of dealing with the bourgeoise canon of art, the class-based notion of expertise and aesthetic value. Moreover, the legacies of artistic production in theplsquestion the exclusive theorization of amateurism as a practice ‘from below’ that serves as a corrective to professionalized art, but instead reveals the complex encounters and the profound reconfigurations of these two fields. This historical look, I argue, points to the longstanding dilem­masandchallengesthatstillhauntthecontemporarydebatesaboutthe artistic production as the field of transformingthe capitalist modes of production and social relations. KeyWords: amateur-professionalrelationship,thepls,artisticproduc­tion, active masses »Revolucijeseucimo hitreje kot kulture«:orazmerju med amaterizmom in profesionalizmom v umetniški dedišcini narodnoosvobodilnega boja Povzetek. Clanek se osredotoca na diskurze in razprave, ki so obkro­žale vzpostavitev novega organizacijskega modela umetniške produk­cijevcasunarodnoosvobodilnegaboja(nob),kijeskušalizpeljatiglo­boko preobrazbo družbenih odnosov. Na podlagi zgodovinskih virov ą ‘Revolucija se, eto, brže uci nego kultura’ (Colic 1981, 316). https://doi.org/10.26493/2630-4082.56.79-95 pokažem, kako je bilo preoblikovanje razmerja med amaterizmom in profesionalizmom osrednjega pomena za ta prizadevanja. Ta preobli­kovanja razkrivajo kompleksne procese soocanja z mešcanskim kano­nom umetnosti ter razrednim pojmovanjem strokovnosti in estetske vrednosti. Poleg tega zapušcina umetniške produkcije vnobpostavlja podvprašajizkljucnoteoretizacijoamaterizmakotprakse»odspodaj«, kislužikotkorektivprofesionaliziraniumetnosti,namestotegaparaz­kriva kompleksnasrecanjain temeljnapreoblikovanja obeh podrocij. Menim,datazgodovinskipogledkaženadilemeinizzive,ki še vedno obvladujejo sodobne razprave o umetniški produkciji kot polju trans-formacije kapitalisticnih nacinov produkcije in družbenih odnosov. Kljucne besede: razmerje med amaterizmom in profesionalizmom, nob, umetniška produkcija, aktivne množice The development of culture and art in the Republic of Užice shows that they merged with the People’s Liberation Struggle and that the goal of the revolution and of art was the same: not only the social liberationofahuman,buttheliberationofherunsuspectedcreative possibilities [Glišic 1986, 179]˛ In histalk OnMusic (‘Omuzici’)atthe FirstCongressofthe Cultural Workersof Croatia in Topuskoin 1944, Yugoslav composer and partisan fighter Miroslav Špiler gave a comprehensive overview of the new role of musical activities in the building of socialist society. Musical life can­ not be monopolized by artistic ‘elites’ who are detached from the wider massesandtheirmusicalactivities,especiallytheexploitedandoppressed peasants and urban proletariat. What he sees as the radical moment in layingthefoundationsforthenew‘overallartisticlifeofthepeople’(serb.­ cro. zajednicki opcenarodni glasbeni život) is toallow unrecognized artis­ tic talents fromall socialstrata to develop their artistic capacitiesin both productive and reproductive musical activities (Špiler 1976, 108). This short excerpt from Špiler’s talk gives an insight into the ambi­ tiousgoalsoftheYugoslavPeople’sLiberationStruggle(pls)inachieving transformation in the cultural sphere, which focused on two main as­ pects: the activeinvolvementofthewidermassesinartistic activitiesand ˛ ‘Razvoj kulture i umetnosti u Užickoj republici pokazuje da su one srasle sa narod­nooslobodilackom borbom i da je cilj revolucije i umetnosti bio isti: ne samo soci­jalnooslobodenjecovekavecoslobodenjeinjegovihneslucenihstvaralackihmogucnosti’ (Glišic 1986, 179). the dismantling of the division between the institution of art and other spheresoflife.BotharebasedonMarxistthoughtaboutculturaltransfor­mation as inherent to revolutionary transformation.ł In his writings on culture and arts, Leninargues that culture shouldupliftthe massesin or­dertopreparethemfortheroleofkeyactorsinthecreationofthenewso­cialist socialrelations. This process entails making up for what the work-ingclassincapitalismhasbeendeprivedof,beingcompletelyenslavedby ‘thenarrowspecializationofthemodesofproduction’(Ziherl1958,969).4 The masses are not simplythe recipients of art; their (self-)emancipation toward active political subjects relies on the ‘releasing’ of their creative capacities.The more the widersocialstrata are engaged withculture, the more ready they are to take a political destiny into their own hands. In otherwords,therevolutionarysubjectshouldnolongerbe‘guided’bythe professionals, especially in the case of peasants and exploited workers, as a way to change the material conditions of artistic engagement, which, togetherwithotherfieldsofsociallife,wouldcontributetotheformation of a new socialist society. This fully supports the claim that the Yugoslav socialist revolutionary strivings aimed not only to ‘reshape the internal structure of culture, but also revolutionize the position of the “cultural sphere” in the social structure’ (Mocnik 2005). Theorizing the Amateur-Professional Nexus through the Lenses of Yugoslav Socialist Revolutionary Legacies By focusing my examination on the attempts ‘to awaken and develop artists in the masses’ (Lenin 1950, 124–125) during thepls, I aim to ad- dresstheamateur-professionalrelationshipasessentialforthebuildingof the new organizational model of artistic production that sought to bring about the profound transformation in all spheres of life which was the key to socialist revolutionary strivings. Focusing on the discourses and debates that surrounded such transformation, I argue, reveals the dilem­ mas and challenges that still haunt our contemporary approaches to the political potential of art. My intention here is not so muchto establish a direct relationbetween ł The common thesispertainingto Marxistthought about thekeyroleof culturalemanci­ pation of the working class as the basis of its the overall emancipation. For employment of this thesis in the Yugoslav context, see e.g. Jakopovic (1976, 21) and Sklevicky (1996, 26). 4 See also Lenin’s writings on culture and arts (1950). thehistoricalexperienceoftheplsandthecurrentmoment,butratherto explore how these legacies contribute to the contemporary theorization ofartisticengagementsasaninterventioninthesocialrelationsgoverned by the capitalist mode of production. This examination is motivated by the increasing interest in non-professional or anti-professional activities in various scholarly fields and the need to rethink the modes of artistic productionbasedonexpertiseandtheprofessionalizedrealitythatdomi­natesthesocial,economic,politicalandacademiclifeofglobalcapitalism (Merrifield2018).Practitionersandscholarsinthefieldsofmusic,theatre and visual arts have revitalized long-standing discourses on amateurism as a means of democratizing participation in cultural and artistic activi­ties across the class spectrum and as a counter-response to commodified leisure (for an overview, see Bryan-Wilson and Piekut 2020). They focus on the power relations behind knowledge production in the artistic field and the unquestionable authority of trained, vocational, or professional artists. As a category unbound to the notions of skill or expertise, his­torically associated with vernacular and ‘low’ cultural production, ama­teurismhelpstounmasktherelationsofinequalityinknowledgeproduc-tionbasedongender,race,class,education,geopoliticalcontext,accessto resources, etc. and reveals professionalismas strongly rootedin the capi­talist Global North/the Anglophone world (Ochoa Gautier 2014). While the amateur andprofessionalspheres often overlap – as non-professional artistic engagement canbejustaseffective in terms of innovation,pro­ductivity or approaching the aesthetic goals of professional(ized) art – the authorsargue for the gesture of ‘distancing’ fromthe professionalized sphere of artistic production. What LuciaVodanovic calls the manifesta­tion of a distance, ‘a separation but also an engagement with this distant relationship’(2013,173),revealsartisticexpressionnotsimplyastherealm of the gifted and trained, but of the privileged who have access and the opportunity to develop their talent through formalized training. This article aims to contribute to the ongoing conversations about the boundaries between ‘professional’ and ‘amateur’ as politically charged, revealing the hierarchies in knowledge production as embedded in the material conditions of life and the modes of production. The historical trajectories of the amateur-professional nexus in the Yugoslav socialist revolutionary context gives us insight into the historical knowledge and experience that is often missing in the contemporary debates. As a dis-tinctmomentinhistory,theplslaidthegroundworkforchangingthere­alizationofthepre-warcommunistculturalandartistictendenciestodis­ mantle the modesofartistic engagementbased onthe capitalistexploita­ tive social and economic conditions. This transformation had a strong class dimension, which presupposed an active participation of all work­ ing people in cultural activities, regardless of their social background or levelofeducation.5 Theplsthusenabledthecloseinteractionbetweenes­ tablishedartistsandculturalworkersandthe ‘ordinary’ people,including uneducated and illiterate peasants, the working classes or women, youth and minorities, who were denied access to ‘art’ (as conceptualized by the bourgeois canon). The intersection between the professional and ama­ teur fields formed the basis for the ‘artistic production’ (serb.-cro. umet­ nicko stvaralaštvo) thatwas deeply embeddedinthe revolutionarymo­ ment (MileticandRadovanovic2016, 51).Thishistoricalmomentuntan­ gles the exclusive theorization of amateur art as a practice ‘from below’ that serves as a corrective to professionalized art, and instead reveals the complex strategies and organizational models not only of the encounter, but also of the profound reconfigurations of these two fields.6 Muchhasbeenwrittenabouttheanonymous masses asthe main bear­ ers of partisan art that signalled a radical break with artistic production based on class stratification.7 Little attention, however, has been paid to the mechanisms and strategies that allowed such interactions to emerge, and more importantly, to be sustained. The mass participation in artistic activities aimed at challenging the professionalized framework of art and artistic expertise relying on the hierarchical relationship between ‘high’ and ‘low’ cultural expression.8 Realizing such strivings on the ground, however, was a complex process saturated by an array of tensions and contradictions. One of the main stumbling blocks was the unsettling co­ 5 Among many others, see Petranovic (1988), Mocnik (2005), Komelj (2009), and Kirn (2020). 6 Thishasbeenpartlyexploredbythestudiesfocusedontheroleofamateurmusicalactiv- itiesinbuildingthepublicculturalinfrastructureinthevillages(Hofman2011b),therole of amateur music making in the negotiation of gender roles (Hofman 2011c), and on the cultural activitiesin the socialist factories and bigger enterprises (Koroman 2016; Vaseva 2018; Petrovic 2021). 7 For more aboutthetransitionfrom individual tocollectiveauthorship asone ofthemost important characteristics of the self-emancipatory process of the working masses in the Yugoslavrevolution,seeNedeljkovic(1962a;1962b;1963),andHofman(2008).Onanony­ mous authorship andhowitisrelatedto the concept of thecommunity tocome, seeKirn (2020). 8 My intention is not to reopen the question of the autonomy of art that was one of the long-standing concerns of the intellectual circles of that time. existence between the persisting dominance of the bourgeois institution and understandings of art and the goal of building new artistic life based on its rejection. This further raises the question of the self-taught or self-grown artist and their role in the reconfiguration of the very categories of artist and artistic production. This process concerned the intersection betweeninstitutionalregimesofartsandthepracticesontheground,for­malandinformalorganization,thequestionofculturalvaluesandrecog­nition, and knowledge production, all related to the building of the so­cialist social relations. We can follow the lively debates among the political leadership, intel­lectuals and cultural workers about the need for a democratization of the artistic field, which should bring about the transformation of the very recognition of what art is and the equality of different forms of expres­sive practices, especially folk expression. The material I analyse consists of the reports on cultural activities, memoirs (both the ones made dur­ing theplsand during the socialist period), discussions, and papers pre­sented during the congresses of cultural workers.. Iamfully aware that each artistic field has its own peculiarities in the understanding and use of the terms ‘amateur’ and ‘professional,’ a prime example of this being the field of popular music, where the lack of institutionalized training madeself-taughtmusiciansintoprofessionalswholivefrommakingmu­sic.ą° While a focus on the specificities has its own advantages in tracing how the amateur-professional relationship figured across different artis­tic fields, I pursue a view that includes a wide range of artistic activities to provide an important insight into the general tendencies. Liberation of People’s ‘Natural’ Artistic Capacities Another participant at the 1944 Topusko Congress of Cultural Workers, general Ivan Gornjak,saidthat‘we arewitnessinganextraordinary mo­ . My initial aim was to search through the memoirs of partisan fighters that reflected the everydayexperiencesof thepls,lookingfortheaccountsthatcapture artisticengage­ment as it unfolded within the broader context of partisan and revolutionary struggle. My attempt was not successful, however, as the cultural activities were usually described very briefly,only in a few sentencesas part of the description of other events. WhileI use some of this material in this article, I eventually turned to the sources that focus on cul­ture, primarily the reports of the congresses of Slovenian and Croatian cultural workers in Semic and Topusko in 1944. ą° Ethnomusicologists argue that amateur music is ‘rather a label than a distinction’ (Finnegan2007,18),whiletheamateur–professionalrelationshipisacomplexcontinuum thatcan alsoinvolve making an emotional claim and a political statement (see Finnegan 2007; Baily 2016). ment in this region as once semi-literate and illiterate people are now participating in writing either wall newspapers or pocket newspapers’ and ‘are activeparticipants and creators ofabetter reality’ (Gošnjak1976, 30). He emphasized the cultural-educational work (serb.-cro. kulturno­prosvetni rad) as essential for increasing the intellectual and artistic ca­pacities of partisan fighters. The cultural-propagandistic or educational-propagandistic committees (often called cultural groups or cultural sec­tions) in the partisan units were responsible for improvement of their literacy and organization of cultural activities. Yugoslav intellectual and partisan fighter Moša Pijade recalled the full dedication to the organiza­tion of cultural events (mitinzi, priredbe), which consisted of theatrical performances, poetry, and choral singing, most of them produced by the partisan fighters themselves (1976, 32). The workofthe cultural-educationalcommitteesdidnotconcern only thepartisanunits,butextendedtotheorganizationofculturaleventsand activitiesforthe peopleintheliberated territories orinthe areas the par-tisanunitspassedthrough.Mobilizingthelocalpopulationtotakeanac­tivepart in artistic activitieswasademanding task of systematicallyrais­ing their awareness of the importance of artistic activities for a better life forall.For this reason, assoonasthe partisan unitsliberated certain ter­ritory, they established the alternative cultural infrastructure. Ivan Cace, writerandpainter,notesthattheyfirstsearchedfortalentedpeasantswho would engage in writing and painting, if possible, ‘in every village, and collect and publish the peasants’ works, while giving feedback for those whose works still need polishing’ (1976, 94). Writing inmoredetail aboutthe organizationin the cultural fieldafter the foundation of the Republic of Užice (Užicka republika), the first lib­erated territory in Europe in 1941, Milutin Colic (1981, 313) notes that the artistic unit of the Užice partisan brigadeąą initially consisted of twenty ‘fighters –“artists”’(hisemphasis).Themajorityofthemwerenottrained artists,buthadanaspirationoratalentforsinging,acting,playing,danc­ing, or writing music and poetry (Đuric 1981, 321), many of whom were activeinthepre-wwiiworkers’ culturalsocieties.ą˛ Accordingtothe tes­timonies,theuntrainedbuttalentedindividualswerethemainbearersof the cultural life in the Užice Republic, although with the significant help of the professionals. In only two months, they established three choirs – ąą Also called artistic section or artistic theatre (Colic 1981, 313). ą˛ Sources alsonote thatthesearch for ‘talents’ wasnot always successfuland report on the constant lack of people who could be engaged in the cultural activities. men’s, women’s and mixed, and even four orchestras: symphonic, wind, folk and pop (serb.-cro. narodni and zabavni) (Glišic 1986, 169). The ac-tivitiesofthose ensembleswerenotlimitedtothetownofUžiceonly,but they regularly performed in the surrounding villages.ął The active participation of ‘ordinary’ people, peasants and workers, in the cultural activities was essential for the reconfiguration of relations of production in the artistic field. Reflecting on how class conscious­ness was deeply connected to amateur music-making activities during thepls, Dragutin Cvetko wrote: ‘All those who had talent or were will­ing to learn basicmusicalskills, but who weredeprived ofeducational or performance opportunities before the war, were able to develop and re­alize their talent during the war’ (in Križnar 1992, 10 ).ą4 Ivan Cace uses theterm ‘the self-activistartists’ (serb.-cro. umetnicisamoaktivisti)tode-note ‘an army of fighters and background workers – men and women – who write poems, sketches, plays (igrokaze) and the like; who paint, edit magazines, give lectures and generally engage in cultural work; who, so to speak, have started from scratch’ (1976, 96). This statement fully illus­trates the rhetoric of the ‘deep democratization’ of people’s cultural life, in which the masses are both the object and the subject of emancipation (Gabric 1991, 492). Achievingthisinpracticemeantaconstantefforttoovercomethefixed positionsof producers, reproducers andconsumers established by the pre-World War ii bourgeois canon of art. While these positions remained, they were no longer reserved for a certain group of people according to theirprofession,education,orexpertise.Špiler(1976,113)wrotethatatthe beginning of World Warii,the widermasses weremainly involved in the reproductive musical activities (serb.-cro. reproduktivna glasbena djelat­nost), which continued to be the main form of their artistic engagement in thepls. In this way, the division between those who can ‘produce’ art and those who can just reproduce it, maintains the stratifications based on expertise and thus stands in the way of revolutionary strivings. The next step, therefore, would be to give people from different social strata a voice in all aspects of musicalproduction, reproduction and consump­tion (p. 114). To understand his stance, we have to be aware that it de- ął For thecondensedhistoryof theculturalactivitiesintheUžiceRepublic, seeMileticand Radovanovic(2016,61–102).On musical lifein thepls,see Pejovic(1965),Hercigonja (1972), Tomašek (1982), Križnar(1992), and Hofman (2008; 2011a). ą4 See also Hrovatin (1961) and Kalan (1975). rivesfromtheWesternartmusicparadigm,ą5 whichneglectstheproduc­tiverelations in other fields of musicactivities,primarily folk expression, something I will return to in the next section. The specific conditions oftheplsand the guerrilla mode offighting opened up the possibilities for transgressing the established divisions of roles in artistic production, often out of necessity: due to the precarious conditions,theconstantmovement,andthelackofpeopleandresources, trained individuals were no longer the only creators of artistic content. Written sources indicate the constant lack and fluctuation of people as the main problem in maintaining cultural groups or making them more structured and organized. For example, the constant lack of musicians (instrumentalists)ą6 orsheetmusic,lyrics,andready-madedramatictexts requiredtotake onnew,oftenmultiplerolesinwriting,performing,con­ducting, and acting (Vojvodic 1987, 64). However, we cannot say that this was only a result of the exceptional-ity of the war and revolutionary moment. The agenda of ‘educational and liberating ideological and political work with the people’ (serb.­cro. prosvetni odgojni-obrazovni i oslobodilacki idejno-politicki rad u nar­odu) meant the continuous agitation of the importance of culture on the ground. Members ofthe culturegroups organized extensive debates with the audience after the cultural events, visited people in their homes and used every possible opportunity to explain the importance of culture for buildingnewsocialrelations. Allthis oughttopromotethe ideaof ‘active masses’ against the position of masses as the passive consumers of the ‘given’ cultural offer.ą7 In the efforts to encourage cultural expressionamong all working peo­ple –betheypeasants,workers,orintelligentsia–theplssetupnewways ą5 The folk expression does not support the thesis of separated phases of production and reproduction. The oral transmission is based not only on anonymous authorship, but on a process of creation as a process of reproduction: in the case of folk songs, they were constantly (re)created through new variants. ą6 Vojvodic (1987, 13) reports that in 1942 there was no single instrumentalist – accordion player – in the whole of Lika. ą7 In my previous work, I have written extensivelyabout how culturalactivities in Yugoslav villageshadastrongself-organizedandparticipatorydimension,astheyweresupported byarobustculturalinfrastructurethataimedtoinvolvemarginalizedsocialgroups,such as women and ethnic minorities, in cultural activities as part of a discourse of socialist modernization.Ishowhowthisfosteredcollaborationbetweentheorganizersofcultural activities, people from local communities and writers, ethnologists, composers, journal­ists, and local authorities and party administrators (Hofman 2011c, 35–37). of artistic knowledge transmission.The artistic units tried to instilconfi­dence in people to start writing, painting, and composing. Special atten­tion was paid to the ‘beginners,’ who should be less concerned about the ‘quality’oftheir works,butshouldconcentrate ondevelopingtheirskills. The most successful amateurs were automatically given new tasks and a leading role in ‘training’ new cadres and organizing the cultural activi­tiesandnewlyformedculturalgroups,regardlessofgenerational,gender, ethnic,socialbackground,educationalandotherdifferences.Thismeant an important shift in the process of knowledge transmission, which now took place outside of the formal framework of schools and academies, in the improvised setting of quick coursesą8 and the interactions between professionals, newly trained people and the ones completely inexperi­enced. Illustrative examples of this can be found in partisan testimonies, in which uneducated peasants, who were transformed from ‘just’ the au­dience orlisteners intoauthors,composers,orconductorsinthepartisan units, acquired diplomas or master’s degrees in composition or conduct­ing after the war. For instance, Avdo Smailovic confessed that he could nothaveobtainedauniversityeducationwithoutthe radicaltransforma­tionofsocialrelationsbroughtaboutbythesocialistrevolution(Tomašek 1982, 313). Destabilization of the seemingly fixed positions of producers, repro­ducersandconsumers/receiverspavedthewayforchallengingtheneces­sity of formal knowledge as a requirement for being active in the artistic field. Theprimetoolforthetransformationwasthepeople’s(self-)aware­ness that they were not limited to the role of consumers of the cultural offer created by someone trained or skilled. One such breakthrough came in 1945, when the members of the An­ton Cesarec partisan theatre group attended a professional theatre per­formance in Trieste for the first time: ‘For almost three years, we have beenthe bearers ofa part ofculturein theentire territory ofCroatia,and most of the members of the August Cesarec theatre group are entering a real theatre for the first time. For the first time, they are seeing a real theatrical performance, with professional, trained actors’ (Vojvodic 1987, 97–98). Yet to what extent did this enable the reconfiguration of artistic knowledge productionand the value associatedwiththe particular types of artistic expression? ą8 The informal educationduring theplsis atopic inofitselfanddeservesprofound exam­ination. Artistic (Self-)Emancipation between ‘Liberation’ and ‘Cultivation’ The strivings to establish the new material conditions of artistic produc­tion based on the close interaction between professionals and amateurs were constantly faced with the difficulties of overcoming the values as-signedtocertaingenres,formsandpracticesandthepositionof(artistic) authority.Asfarasmusicalactivitiesareconcerned,theambitiousgoalof establishingthepeople’smusicallife,assimultaneouslydistantfromboth national and ‘high’ culture and based on ‘natural artistic instinct without regard to the conventions of music theory’ (Žganec 1962, 15), demanded dealing with a deeply rooted and internalized values associated with a certain type of training or knowledge necessarily for music-making. Themainstumblingblockwas thehierarchies basedonformaleduca­tion and expertise: renowned artists were the main authority in direct­ing and organizing musical activities. Due to their position of authority, prominentfigureswerestillinvitedtoassessthequalityoftheprogramme andofferadvice for itsimprovement. ‘It is notthatthe artistshaveonly changed their halls or elite cultural spaces with the open wooden stages andpartisancamps. Theartistisnowapoliticianandapedagogue,’states Miroslav Špiler (1976, 113). Therefore, we cannot ignore the fact that the foundation of the new canon of people’s musical life could not completely dismantle the es­tablished forms of knowledge production and transmission based on the Western art music paradigm as the universal framework for music-making. Forexample,apart fromfightingilliteracy, oneof the maingoals of people’s emancipation during theplswas also eradicating ‘musical il­literacy’ (serb.-cro. muzicki analfabetizam), learning of Western musical notation. Thisaimedatraisingthe levelofunderstanding ofmusic,espe­ciallyforyoungtalentedpeoplewhodidnothaveaccesstoformalmusical education. Through the exposure to this content, the lower classes of il­literate peasants and workers would gain agency needed to change the internal hierarchies in the field of artistic production. Still, such an ap­proach reinforced the long-standing unequal status of oral culture (folk­lore) in relation to written culture, the former playing a key role in the enlightenment of the masses.ą. ą. Inherresearchofethnographicrecordsof partisansongs,JelkaVukobratovic (forthcom­ing)notesthatsongsbasedonthelocalfolkloreidiom(inparticularlyuntamperedscales) did not enterthe writtensongbooks, in particulartheones createdafterwwii. About the folk expression in theplsand the partisan songs, see Hrovatin (1960), Hercigonja and As a result of this, introducing the Western art music idiom to the masses was a challenge. I found several notes about the behaviour of the audience at the cultural events, who often needed to be ‘educated’ about the proper way of listening to the concert performance. In a vi­gnette about the concert performance of mixed and men’s choirs in 1941 in Užice, Milutin Colic describes how the conductor Dragoljub Jovaše­vic, who was conducting in front of 2000 people, reacted to the audience who, instead of waiting patiently for the end of the performance, started talking and making noise (serb.-cro. galamiti). He turned to them and complained that they should be ashamed of disrespecting Smetana, but he immediately added how they, as partisan fighters should know that (Colic 1981, 316). The recollection of Stanka Vrinjanin, a pre-World Wariipianistand partisan fighter, of the musical activities during theplsis particularly telling.Atrained musicianwithadegreeinpianofromtheMusicAcade-my in Zagreb, she was assigned the task of teaching music and establish-ingthe children’schoirinthetownofGlinainCroatia. Sherecollectsthat even the selection of children for the choir was a difficult task, as most of themweresounfamiliarwiththe12-toneequaltemperamentmusicscale thatshewasunabletoassesstheirsingingabilitiesonthepiano.Musically attunedtothefolkidiomofthearea,thechildrencouldnoteasilyadaptto thepostulatesofWesternartmusicandalthoughsheinvestedaconsider­ableeffortin‘tuning’theirsinging,theycontinuedsingingspontaneously in the folk manner, refusing to reproduce the melody and be guided by the conductor. Eventually, she managed to put together a repertoire con­sisting of various pieces (including folk songs), which they performed in the partisan units and at cultural events (in Tomašek 1982, 347). Thisvignetteportraystheconstraintsofdealingwiththevalueassigned to the Western art music canon. It also raises the question about where and how the emancipation through artistic engagement can unfold. The debates of the time were not blind to these constraints and the inequal­ities deriving from artistic competence. The real transformation might happen,IvanCace(1976,99)explains,‘whentheself-taughtartistisgiven the opportunity to be “developed” into a cultural worker, to take respon­sibility forthe importanttask inthe development ofthe new society.’ In further elaborating on this, he adds that the main contribution to the Danon (1962), and Hofman (2004; 2008). For the more general relation between oral and written culture through the concept of aurality, see Ochoa Gautier (2014). struggle against the ‘old’ patterns of artistic productionis not simplyglo­rifyingpeasant’snaďveart.Inthepre-wwiiperiod,theartisticelitestarted criticizing peasant artists when they did not conform to the expectations of the unpolished, ‘childishly primitive’ and ‘sweetly naďve’ amateur aes­thetic, but begantodepictthe realityofpeasant lives; they were accused ofbeing‘contaminated’bythemoderntendenciesortheprofessionalized ‘school’ (p.95). Inother words, the value of self-taughtartistic worksis sustained only when it aligns with the expectations of the ‘position’ that was assigned to them within the bourgeois norms of artistic production. For the experts, peasants’ works lost their ‘artistic value’ when they came closer to professional or trained aesthetics. This reflection shows how artistic engagement became disruptive not when non-professionals met the expectations of the self-taught, amateur aesthetic, but when they refused the clear boundaries between ‘high art’ and ‘folk art’ and a class division attached to it. Therefore, an important part of the overall emancipation of people in theplswas the recognition of the value of non-professional forms of artistic engagement, but with­outglorifyingthedifferenceorkeepingthemisolatedintheirmarginality or exceptionality. The main target of transformation was the class strat­ifications that are at the core of artistic production in capitalism. There-fore,thepeasantpopulation’sartisticactivitiesshouldnotbedelimitedby their (identitarian) position, but the new coordinates of artistic produc­tion nurtured embracing various forms and practices of artistic engage­ment. The same counted for the formally educated composers, perform­ers or conductors who werewidelyexposedto folkmusic.˛° Itisprecisely these encounters thatmakeitpossibletochallengethe bourgeoisnotions of the artist, of artistic production. Conclusion The quotation from the beginning of this article summarizes the cen­tral concern of the cultural policy debates during thepls: to what extent the immediate goals of the socialist revolution are in line with the trans­formation of the cultural field. Numerous debates at the time dealt with the tension between the mass participation of people and the ‘quality’ of artistic expression or, in other words, the attempts to elevate the people’s ˛° About the intersection between folk music and Western art music in the works of com­posers, see the introduction to The Collection of Partisan Folk Songs (Hercigonja and Danon 1962) and Atanasovski(2011). capacitiesandtheneedtosticktotheformsadjustedtothewidermasses. Navigatingthe twooften resulted in the practice where prominent artists and cultural workers were called upon to evaluate and improve the qual­ity of the cultural activities, which meant that the ‘more developed’ ex­pressive forms were widely disseminated across the social spectrum. With regards to music in particular, while official discourses empha­sized the importance of folk music expression, this does not diminish the value of Western art musical practices as the ‘highest’ form of artistic expression. I arguethatwehave to becareful in ourcritiqueofthese constraintsas itcanconformthelong-standingdiscoursesoftheharmfulconsequences ofthe ‘forced’ socialistmodernization that ‘erased’ the ‘authentic’ folkex­pression by imposing the West-European ‘elite’ modes of cultural pro­duction onthe masses.Lately, such viewshavebeenreinforcedby the decolonialturn and the increased interest in the ‘peasant’ or ‘indigenous’ artistic knowledge and practices as marginalized or suppressed. AsLucia Vodanovic demonstrates, the works of the self-taught artists have been praised for their ‘unpolished’ aesthetics that presumes sincerity, imme­diacy, a sense of ‘naturalness,’ and an unusual use of new artistic means (2013, 171) from the perspective of the ‘oppressed’ subject – whether in­digenous people, uneducated peasants, migrants or people from unpriv­ileged social backgrounds. The Yugoslav revolutionary legacies of the reconfiguration of the am-ateur-professional relationship, in contrast, remind us about the short­comingsofupliftingunderprivilegedindividualsandcommunitieswithin the existing field of artistic production informed by the capitalist modes of production and class division. The historical lesson of theplsbrings totheforethetransformationoftheamateur-professionalrelationshipas inherentinthetransformationofthatverysystem,inwhichbothamateur and professional transcend the particular class position attached to the particular style or aesthetic practices (such as ‘folk’ or ‘elite/high’ expres­sion). Itinvites the focus on the agencyofanamateur in reconfiguring themodesofartisticproductionthatispartofthebroadersocio-political transformation toward dismantling the capitalist modes of artistic pro­duction. References Atanasovski,Srdan. 2011. ‘Nikola Hercigonja i proizvodenje jugoslovenske na­ cionalne teritorije.’ In Nikola Hercigonja: (1911–2000): covek, delo, vreme; povodim 100 godina od njegovog rodenja, edited by Mirjana Veselinovic­ Hofman and Melita Milin, 133–151. Beograd: Muzikološko društvo Srbije. Baily, John. 2016. War, Exileand theMusic of Afghanistan: TheEthnographer’s Tale.soasMusicology Series. London and New York: Routledge. Bryan-Wilson, Julia, and Benjamin Piekut. 2020. ‘Amateurism.’ Third Text 34 (1): 1–21. Cace, Ivan.1976. ‘Narodni samoaktivizam u umetnosti.’ In Prvi kongres kul­turnih radnika Hrvatske, Topusko, 25–27. vi. 1944.: grada, edited by Ivan Jelic,SavkaKalinic,andLjiljanaModric,93–99.Zagreb:Institutzahistoriju radnickog pokreta Hrvatske. Colic, Milutin.1981. ‘Umetnici»odvolje«i vojnicirevolucije.’In Užicka repub­lika, zapisiisecanja, editedbyŽivotaMarkovic,313–317. TitovoUžice:Nar­odni muzej. Đuric, Milenko. 1981. ‘Kulturno-umetnicka ceta u Užicu.’ In Užicka republika, zapisiisecanja, editedbyŽivota Markovic, 321–324. TitovoUžice:Narodni muzej. Finnegan, Ruth. 2007. The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town. Middletown,ct: Wesleyan University Press. Gabric, Aleš. 1991. Slovenska agitpropovska kulturna politika: 1945–1952. Ljubl­jana: Mladika. Glišic, Venceslav. 1986. Užicka republika. Beograd: Nolit. Gošnjak, Ivan. 1976. ‘Stenografski zapisnik Prvog kongresa kulturnih i javnih radnikaHrvatskeodržanognaoslobodenomteritoriju.’InPrvikongreskul­turnih radnika Hrvatske, Topusko, 25–27. vi. 1944.: grada, edited by Ivan Jelic, Savka Kalinic, and Ljiljana Modric, 30. Zagreb: Institut za historiju radnickog pokreta Hrvatske. Hercigonja, Nikola. 1972. Napisi o muzici. Belgrade: Umetnicka akademija u Beogradu. Hercigonja, Nikola, and Oskar Danon, eds. 1962. Zbornik partizanskih narod­nih napeva. Belgrade: Nolit. Hofman,Ana.2004.‘Partizanskepesme:ulogaukreiranjudruštvenogsistema.’ Master’s Thesis, Univerzitetumetnosti u Beogradu. ———. 2008.‘Musicof“WorkingPeople”:Musical Folklore and the Creation of Yugoslav Identity.’ In Musical Folklore as a Vehicle, edited by Mirjana Veselinovic, 59–67. Belgrade: Faculty of Music. ———. 2011a. ‘Folklore between the Past and the Future: Partisan Songs and the Canon of Yugoslav Folklore.’ Traditiones 40 (3): 99–112. ———. 2011b. ‘Questioning Socialist Folklorization: Beltinci Folklore Festi­val in the Slovenian Borderland of Prekmurje.’ In Audiovisual Media and Identity Issues in Southeastern Europe, edited by Eckehard Pistrick, Nicola Scaldaferri, and Gretel Schworer, 238–257. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ———. 2011c. Staging Socialist Femininity: Gender Politics and Folklore Perfor­mance in Serbia. Balkan StudiesLibrary. Leiden and Boston,ma: Brill. Hrovatin,Radoslav. 1960. ‘Slovenskapartizanskapesemkotpredmetznanosti.’ In Rad kongresa folklorista Jugoslavije 6,255–259.Ljubljana:SavezUdruže­nja folklorista Jugoslavije. ———.1961.‘Partizanskapeseminznanostoljudskikulturi.’ Slovenskietnograf 14:7–14. ———. 1965–1966. ‘Partizanska pesem: predmet znanosti o ljudski kulturi.’ Slovenski etnograf 18/19:73–80. Jakopovic, Ivan. 1976. Radnici, kultura, revolucija: razgovori s radnicima. Za­greb: Zavod za kulturu Hrvatske. Kalan, Filip. 1975. Partizanska umetnost. Ljubljana: Delavska enotnost. Kirn, Gal. 2020. The Partisan Counter-Archive: Retracing the Ruptures of Art and Memory in the Yugoslav People’s Liberation Struggle. Media and Cul­turalMemory 27. Berlin: De Gruyter. Komelj,Miklavž.2009. Kako misliti partizansko umetnost? Ljubljana: Založba /*cf. Koroman, Boris. 2016. ‘Radnicki tisak i problemi koncepta samoupravljanja u kulturi u Hrvatskoj 70-ih i 80-ih godinama 20. stoljeca.’ Acta Histriae 24 (3): 615–642. Križnar, Franc. 1992. Slovenska glasba v narodnoosvobodilnem boju. Ljubljana: Znanstveni inštitut Filozofske fakultete. Lenin, Vladimir Ilic. 1950. Okulturi in umetnosti. Translated by Josip Vidmar. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba. Merrifield, Andy. 2018. The Amateur: The Pleasures of Doing What You Love. London and New York: Verso. Miletic, Miloš, and Mirjana Radovanovic. 2016. ‘Lekcije o odbrani: prilozi za analizu kulturne delatnosti nop-a.’ In Lekcije o odbrani: prilozi za anal-izu kulturne delatnosti nop-a, edited by Mirjana Dragoslavljevic, Miloš Miletic, and Mirjana Radovanovic, 40–152. Belgrade:kurs. Mocnik, Rastko. 2005. ‘Partizanska simbolicka politika.’ Zarez, 22 September. http://www.zarez.hr/clanci/partizanska-simbolicka-politika. Nedeljkovic, Dušan. 1962a. ‘Prva etapa prelaženja kolektivnog u individualno i obratno u narodnom stvaralaštvu i kriterijum ovog prelaženja.’ Narodno stvaralaštvo – Folklor (2): 98–108. ———. 1962b. ‘Druga etapa prelaženja kolektivnog u individualno i obratno u narodnom stvaralaštvu i kriterijum ovog prelaženja.’ Narodno stvaralaštvo – Folklor (3–4): 186–197. ———. 1963. ‘Treca etapa prelaženja kolektivnog u individualno i obratno u narodnom stvaralaštvu i kriterijum ovog prelaženja.’ Narodno stvaralaštvo – Folklor (5): 328–343. Ochoa Gautier, Ana María. 2014. Aurality: Listening and Knowledge in Nine-teenth-Century Colombia. Durham,nc: Duke University Press. Pejovic,Roksanda.1965. ‘Uticajfolkloranob-a naumetnickostvaralaštvo.’ Pro musica (7–8): 29. Petranovic, Branko. 1988. Istorija Jugoslavije: 1918-1988. Vol. 2, Narodnooslo­bodilacki rad i revolucija. Beograd: Nolit. Petrovic, Tanja. 2021. ‘Workers, Culture, Infrastructure.’ In Tanja Petrovic, On Factories and Workers: Industrial Heritage of Serbia, 46–69. Belgrade: Muzej nauke i tehnike: Muzej Jugoslavije. Pijade, Moša. 1976. ‘Stenografski zapisnik Prvog kongresa kulturnih i javnih radnikaHrvatskeodržanognaoslobodenomteritoriju.’InPrvikongreskul­turnih radnika Hrvatske, Topusko, 25–27. vi. 1944.: grada, edited by Ivan Jelic,SavkaKalinic,andLjiljanaModric,32–33.Zagreb:Institutzahistoriju radnickog pokreta Hrvatske. Sklevicky, Lydia.1996. Konji, žene, ratovi. Edited by Dunja RihtmanAuguštin. Zagreb: Ženska infoteka. Špiler, Miroslav. 1976. ‘O glazbi.’ In Prvi kongres kulturnih radnika Hrvatske, Topusko, 25–27. vi. 1944.: grada, edited by Ivan Jelic, Savka Kalinic, and Ljiljana Modric, 104–115. Zagreb: Institut za historiju radnickog pokreta Hrvatske. Tomašek, Andrija, ed. 1982. Muzika i muzicari unob: zbornik secanja. Bel­grade: Savez organizacija kompozitora Jugoslavije, Savez udruženja muz-ickih umetnika Jugoslavije, Savez udruženja muzickih pedagoga Jugoslav­ije, Savez udruženja orkestarskih umetnika Jugoslavije, and Savez organi­zacija radnika estradnih umetnosti Jugoslavije. Vaseva,Ivana.2018. ‘“Red is OurFlag ThatProudly Flutters in theWind”: The Cultural Emancipation of the Workers and the Labour Culture in “Astibo” FashionIndustry inŠtipinthe 1960suntil the 1980s.’ In We Have Built Cities for You: On the Contradictions of Yugoslav Socialism, edited by Vida Kneževic and Marko Miletic, 169–186.Belgrade:czkd. Vodanovic, Lucia. 2013. ‘The New Art of Being Amateur: Distance as Partici­pation.’ Journal of Visual Art Practice 12 (2): 169–179. Vojvodic, Duško, 1987. Partizanski kazališki dnevnik: sjecanja i dokumenti o djelovanju Centralne kazališne družine »August Cesarec« u tokunor-a od 1942. do 1945. godine. Zagreb: Radnicke novine. Vukobratovic, Jelka. Forthcoming. ‘Pjesme otpora i partizanske pjesme na prostoru Hrvatske – pregled pjesmarica i pisanih izvora.’ In zbornik praksaaktivistickogpjevanja, editedby Ana Hofman and Lada Durkako­vic. Pula: Sveucilište Jurja Dobrile; Ljubljana: Založbazrc. Žganec,Vinko.1962.Muzickifolklor:uvodnetemeitonskeosnove.Zagreb:Self-published. Ziherl, Boris.1958. ‘Leninoknjiževnostiinumetnosti.’ Naša sodobnost 60(11): 961–976.