The essay deals with the transformation of society and culture in totalitarianism with the example of the Czech folklore revival movement between 1948 and 1989. The text reflects the results of research that used the method of oral history in combination with the study of official and unofficial written and pictorial sources. While describing the principal objectives of the Communist cultural policy, the essay observes the reasons for the mass development of folk ensembles in the 1950s and the

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... radual transformations of their activity's philosophy. The degree of cooperation between folk ensembles and political power, and their exploitation for the propagation of Communist regime was varied. Politically engaged performances as well as participation in the events organized by the totalitarian state apparatus -all that has resulted in the negative attitude that a part of the Czech public has adopted towards the folklore revival movement as a whole. Yet it is currently obvious that most members of folk ensembles were not politically motivated, and for many of them this leisure activity was an escape from reality to the romantically viewed world of folk culture and its ethos.