Retoryka i ideologia w hasłach politycznych Polski XX i XXI wieku
Rhetoric and Ideology in Polish Political Slogans of the 20th and 21st Centuries)

Summary/Abstract: The paper is devoted to Marta Śleziak’s monograph „Głosuj, broń, wybieraj. Polskie hasła polityczne z lat 1918–2020“, which represents one of the most comprehensive and interdisciplinary studies of the development of political language in Poland. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the significance of this publication for current research on political communication, public rhetoric, and the linguistic and ideological mechanisms involved in constructing symbolic communities. Śleziak’s monograph offers a diachronic analysis of Polish political slogans spanning more than a century: from the restoration of independence in 1918 to the age of digital media. The interdisciplinary character of Śleziak’s study is particularly noteworthy: it combines linguistic, rhetorical, semiotic, and cultural perspectives into a coherent model for interpreting political language. The author shows that the political slogan is not merely a linguistic form but also a performative act and a carrier of ideology – a space in which language, emotion, and power interact dynamically. In her work, Śleziak distinguishes three fundamental stages in the development of Polish political slogans. During the period of the Second Republic (1918–1939), slogans fulfilled a state-building and mobilizing function, serving national integration and the strengthening of civic identity. In the People’s Republic of Poland (1945–1989), they evolved into elements of a ritualized propaganda language, characterized by syntactic symmetry and depersonalization, which reinforced the official ideological discourse. After 1989, political slogans became increasingly commercialized and personalized, transforming into instruments of political marketing focused on emotion, image-building, and media visibility. Śleziak’s monograph constitutes an important point of reference for contemporary research on political language and ideological discourse in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Poland. At the same time, it inspires further reflection on the role of language in shaping social consciousness and national identity, as well as on the interrelations between communication, emotion, and power in a mediatized democracy.

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