Powstania czy rewolty? W kręgu terminologii
Risings or Revolts? Within the Sphere of Terminology

Summary/Abstract: The author analyzes various terms used for denoting the tragic events of 1956 in Poznan´. The term ‘‘revolt’’, as opposed to ‘‘rising’’ which carries distinct historical connotations, belongs to ahistorical concepts in the methodologically positive sense of the word. The adequacy of the term ‘‘revolt’’ can be seen especially clearly against the backdrop of the tendency to relinquish the term ‘‘rising’’ also with reference to other events that had so far consistently been called in this way. The omission or perfunctory treatment of workers demonstrations violently suppressed by the authorities in studies aspiring to a historical synthesis indicates that the meaning of this type of social conflicts for the reconstruction of social processes continues to be underestimated. Each of such cases provides unique evidence of the contradictions that weigh down on the society, and intersect on various planes. The knowledge about these contradictions gained from the analysis of the origin, course and effects of workers demonstrations can be projected onto wider dimensions, exceeding the territorial and all the more so the chronological scope of workers protests.

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