THE CANONS OF APPEARANCE AND ORGANISATION OF LEISURE FOR TEACHERS OF PROVINCIAL TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF THE UKRAINIAN SSR IN 1945–1980s

Abstract

Education system of the USSR gave the great opportunities for formation of a new type of person — Homo Sovieticus. So, the teacher was supposed to be an ideal of communist morality. The Communist Party has always followed the personal lives of teachers. Teacher’s appearance has always been clearly regulated. Clothing, hairstyle, make-up was canonically restrained. Leisure was focused on self-education or socially useful activity. The purpose of this publication is an illustration of Soviet teacher`s appearance (clothes, hairstyle, make-up, accessories) and leisure activities. So, the research is based on archival materials, memoirs and previous studies. Having analysed the memoirs and previous studies, the author makes the following conclusions. In the USSR, the appearance of the teacher was not assessed in terms of fashion or style, but in terms of purity, modesty and precision. In the first postwar years there was a big shortage of clothing. Male teachers continued to wear military uniforms. Women dressed simple dresses, mostly dark colours. Since the 1960s, when the fashion began to penetrate the USSR, teachers also followed the trends. It was possible to make a fashionable hairstyle, to wear fashionable clothes. Widespread form of leisure was the watching movies in the cinema. Widespread were also active holidays, sports, walks in parks, reading books and newspapers. Such aspects of the life of Soviet teachers as appearance and leisure are not studied enough. At the same time, this topic is promising. Scientific research can be supplemented with a large number of archival materials and photos. Besides, during the further study of this topic it should be used the method of oral
history.