Halkevleri ve Gündelik Hayat

Abstract

The People’s Houses were established in 1932 as the cultural branch of the Republican People's Party (RPP) in order to make the people adopt the principles of the revolution that started with the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. The People’s Houses, which were closed in 1951, not only made the people adopt the principles of the revolution, but also worked to meet some of the cultural and material needs of the people. It can be said that the People’s Houses show the reflections of the revolution in daily life, as they enable the revolution and RPP to establish direct relations with the public. Therefore, there is a need to research the People’s Houses in order to understand what the revolution changed in Turkey and how it was experienced in practice. It can be said that the most efficient resources to carry out this research are the inspection reports in the Political Parties Fund of the Republican Archives of the State Archives Directorate. Through these reports written by RPP inspectors, it is possible to see the difference between the purpose of establishment of the People’s Houses and their practical functioning, as well as to have information about the daily life that took shape in Turkey during the Early Republican Period. The purpose of this study is try to understand the 19-year People’s Houses experience holistically, by using inspection reports as the main primary source and also benefiting from various primary and secondary sources on the subject.