The influence of the State Policy of Collectivization
on the Marginalization of the Traditional Peasant Family Values
in Poland in the Mid-Twentieth Century Cover Image

Wpływ kolektywizacyjnej polityki państwa na marginalizację tradycyjnych wartości rodziny w chłopskiej w Polsce w połowie XX wi
The influence of the State Policy of Collectivization on the Marginalization of the Traditional Peasant Family Values in Poland in the Mid-Twentieth Century

Author(s): Tomasz SKONIECZNY
Subject(s): History, Social Sciences, Sociology, Family and social welfare
Published by: Zakład Historii Edukacji w Instytucie Pedagogiki Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego
Keywords: village; the People’s Republic of Poland; the collectivization; authority

Summary/Abstract: Based on interviews, autobiographical materials, and archival documents from the mid-twentieth century, there is an attempt made to find answers to the question of how much the collectivization of agriculture in Poland broke young people’s emotional and economic ties with the family and their farms. The government’s decision on the necessity of making agriculture collective as soon as possible liberated the young from the previous obligation to inherit farms and allowed them to work outside agriculture without risking parental dissatisfaction. The establishment of production cooperatives enabled them to continue their studies in secondary school and made the dreams of those young people come true, namely to live in the city. It was much easier because the developing industries needed labour. This way the idea of patrimony, developed through outdecades as the sole basis of life of the peasant child was over thrown. Thus, with themove to the city such traditional peasant values as the authority of the father, piety, respect for bread faded away. The situation led to numerous conflicts with the family remaining in the countryside.

  • Issue Year: X/2014
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 55-76
  • Page Count: 22
  • Language: English, Polish