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The article constitutes an attempt to initiate research on the attitude of the Toruń community towards the political authorities after the martial law, the basic subject of which is not the opposition but a broad cross-section of society. The aim of the article is to examine the moods and behavior of the personnel of Toruń’s enterprises, with special emphasis on employees not belonging to the political opposition. The files of the archival collection of the Provincial Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party in Toruń and selected underground magazines were used for the research. The conclusions reveal the ambiguous and variable, if not radical, attitude of Toruń’s workers to the authorities in the discussed period, and the fact that dissatisfaction was based mainly on the economic grounds.
More...Relacje i analizy polityczne
The purpose of the presented article is to indicate to what an extent and how the most opinion-forming dailies and weeklies in Germany reported events taking place on the Polish coast in December 1970. The workers’ revolt, which ended with a bloody suppression by the army and militia, took place only a week after the agreement between the People’s Republic of Poland and West Germany had been concluded. Analyzing this issue, research questions can be asked, both about the number and size of articles as well as their nature. Were they predominantly accounts of the course of events or were commentaries also popular? Was, and if so, to what an extent social unrest in the People’s Republic of Poland and the removal of Władysław Gomułka from power perceived as a threat to the just initiated process of rapprochement on the Warsaw–Bonn line? To what an extent did the publications in dailies and weeklies differ from each other? Finally, the question is whether the press appearing in the Federal Republic of Germany published information on reactions of the public of this country, acts of solidarity, or voices of condemnation addressed to the authorities in Warsaw? The study undertook a critical analysis of texts describing the events of December 1970, establishing the chronology of these events. This analysis was also comparative in nature, as the content of the articles was compared with the former researchers’ findings on the course of individual days of the December tragedy. No less important for this text was the linguistic analysis, aimed at indicating to what an extent reports and columns regarding the situation in Poland were emotionally loaded, and to what an extent they constituted substantive, emotionless political analyzes. The next research method used in the presented research was the quantitative method. Its application made it possible to determine the number of articles referring to events in Poland and to indicate specific days when they had appeared in individual dailies and weeklies. The results of the query and analysis of press articles indicate that, despite the information blockade, journalists managed to map, with a high degree of vagueness, the real course of workers’ protests, especially their causes and the actions of the authorities leading to the brutal suppression. From the point of view of the West German editors, reports obtained from journalists from Scandinavia who had managed to get to Szczecin and Słupsk played a significant role here. In this way, the descriptions of events from both cities quickly obscured the dramatic situation in Gdańsk and Gdynia, including the symbol of December 1970 – an episode related to the death of Zbyszek Godlewski (“Janek Wiśniewski”), which hardly appeared in the media in Germany. A separate research problem to which special attention should be paid are the numerous social and economic analyzes of the situation in Poland published in West German press in December 1970. They pointed to the economic premises as the main reasons for the outbreak of protests, while criticizing the policy of Gomułka, which had led Poland to the economic stagnation. A similar position was taken by the government of Chancellor Willy Brandt, who at first took an expectant attitude, and then, through the words of the government’s spokesman Conrad Ahlers, drew attention to the chronic economic problems of the so-called Eastern Bloc. Despite some anxiety, journalists calmly accepted events in Poland, especially the removal of Gomułka from power and him being replaced by Edward Gierek. It was anticipated that the new Polish leader would continue the policy of rapprochement with Germany, and more broadly with the West.
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Nagy Mihály Zoltán – Denisa Bodeanu: (Le)hallgatásra ítélve. Márton Áron püspök lehallgatási jegyzőkönyvei (1957–1960). Fordítók: Codău Annamária, Kovács Mária, Kuszálik Eszter, Rigán Lóránd. Lector Kiadó – Varadinum Alapítvány Kiadó – Iskola Alapítvány Kiadó, Marosvásárhely–Nagyvárad–Kolozsvár 2019, ISBN 978-606-8957-11-1, 566 old. (Bányai László)
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The article describes the course of assault and liquidation of all male monasteries in Czechoslovakia in April 1950. This joint act of the National Security Corps, the State Secret Security and the Communist Party fighters, called People’s Militias, was referred to by the Communists as “Action K”. The author presents the broader context of this act, from intimidation of Church superiors and believers, death by torture of parish priest Josef Toufar, through monstrous trials with male religious superiors, to the ultimate elimination of the influence of orders on the society.
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The article deals with transformation of relations between Soviet Russia and the USSR on the one side and the Holy See on the other from the Bolshevik Revolution in November 1917 until the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. It presents important personalities, milestones and friction areas of mutual contacts. It is based on extensive materials from the Historical Archive of the State Secretariat of the Holy See, as well as numerous foreign liter The death of bishop of České Budějovice Josef Hlouch, is described in many different colourful reports, most often motivated by “devotional endeavour” not unlike the imagination of authors of legends about the life of martyrs from the early Christianity. The author documents true story of the end of life of the bishop, who was confessor of faith and bloodless martyr, based on archival sources and unpublished testimonies of witnesses. A quotation from his 1947 initial shepherd’s letter that the happiest hearts are those that have been exhausted by love characterizes the bishop’s death most aptly.atures, especially English, Italian and German.
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Review of: Ignác Antonín Hrdina: P. Vladimír Matějka, kněz královéhradecké diecéze; Královská kanonie premonstrátů na Strahově, Praha, 2018, 224 s., ISBN 978-80-88009-12-2.
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This article is an attempt to describe the ways in which the past – the especially Polish People’s Republic (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa – PRL) – performs in the memory of the protagonists of Dorota Terakowska’s novel Ono. Teresa, Jan and Irena vary in both perceiving those realities and passing these memories on to their descendants. After discussing different types of the memory of PRL and describing them using the concept of trauma the author focuses on Ewa – the main protagonist of the book in question. She has to deal with her own trauma, which is a consequence of rape. Shedding light on this motif enables one to see that Terakowska used fictional situations to voice some serious observations concerning the real problem of sexual assault and its social perception. Those remarks are supplemented with autobiographical element provided by parallel reading of Ono and Guma do żucia (Terakowska’s autobiographical quasi‑political text).
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In Romania, unfortunately in ’89, there were special conditions, and the ouster of the oldregime could not be done peacefully, through a velvet revolution. As a consequence the change wasdone using violent ways that lead to death and casualties. The army was brought to maintain order, tocalm down the rebellious crowd using force, which overflowed the streets like a volcanic lava.Within the context of these events that took place in December ’89,there arose the ‘slaughter’ at themost important airoport of the country – Otopeni International Airport from Bucharest. At the dawn ofDecember 23, ’89, a subunit of the security troops from the Intercommunication centre in Campinaboarded in three trucks, covered with canvas, as a result of an outrage diversion, some enlisted manalong with their fellows from the Army, that were on the airport duty to strengthen the guard, due to the‘terrorist danger’, they were welcomed with a strong fire executed with all the subsidy equipment, firethat was executed by surprise, without being given the validation password, being a killing fire, withouta warning.The platform in front of the airport was covered with wounded and deceased; the wounded onereceived late medical assistance, and those who had the change to remain alive were arrested andpresented to the press as terrorists. Ironically, naively or irrationally, or malevolence, because theenlisted men form Campina were perceived as enemies, hardly the M. Ap.N enlisted men realised thatthey were the ones that slaughter the crowds and not the terrorists, but their own comrades that came todefend the airport.There was a lawsuit against the commanders, a trial that lasted until 2003. During the lawsuit,the guilty tried to exonerate, several ‘subterfuges’ were tried, a real and profound research not beingallowed – during the lawsuit the statement was that it had been fired by mistake and other ....
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Istoria țăranilor chiaburi este o dimensiune centrală în procesul de colectivizare a agriculturii, care implică un trecut dramatic descris prin deportări, arestări, închisoare, regimul de colectare a produselor agricole, confiscarea proprietăților.Prezentul studiu se concentrează pe satul transilvănean Romos, dorind să scoată la lumină aspecte ale vieții țăranilor chiaburi Construită pe documente de arhivă, istorie orală și literatură, cercetarea prezintă modul în care, chiar și în spațiul investigat, motivele politice, economice și sociale ale regimului comunist au perturbat și au distrus viața unui sat laic în numele transformării socialiste a agriculturii. Relațiile dintre țărani, criteriile după care au fost clasificați în clase sociale distincte, reținerea și umilința la care au fost supuși țăranii kulak, ilustrează abundent implicațiile colectivizării agriculturii la Romos, în perioada 1949-1962.
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The present study analyzes the way of carrying out the verifications and exclusions of the party members from the local organization PMR Târgu-Neamț, in the period 1948-1950. The action included the verification of the approximately 300 members from the 7 organizations, verification carried out by the county subcommittee no. 5. Following the verifications, the opportunistic elements were excluded, those with reactionary activity, the petty bourgeois exploiters, those with serious deviations on the party line, former legionnaires, immoral characters who contravened the party line. 54 party members were excluded, the results of the verifications were analyzed during the Plenary CC of the PMR in July 1950 which decided to significantly improve the social structure of the party in a few years, ie 60% of the members to be workers, which it never happened. Although the plenary decided to resume the reception of new members, receptions suspended during the verifications, this will not happen until 1952.
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By exploring a wealth of archival sources, writings from the period and the memories of some direct witnesses of the event, the present article describes the unfolding of the last Romanian-Hungarian historiographical controversy which took place during the communist regime, in the late 1980s. Far from being an authentic scientific debate, into which the historians engaged should have been animated by the desire to reach a consensus or a common understanding of the past, the controversy I analyze bears the heavy imprint of the political factor, which perceived history as a state business, and historians nothing more than a group of soldiers employed on the “ideological front”.
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In the context of modern industrial capitalism and the expansion of wage labor, the consumption of alcohol has gradually increased since the 18th century. This growth was present, both in Eastern and Western Europe, also in restructured state-socialist systems after the World War II, like in Romania. The present study analyzes the dynamics of alcohol consumption in the state-socialist period, using as a starting point the alcohol policies of that period. Three phases can be distinguished: alcohol, as considered a stable state income (due to increasing consumption), expanding access as an indicator of prosperity (increasing consumption), the third phase is on restraining consumption opportunities, consequently consumption too.
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In April 1954, reports of the Chairman of the Committee for State Security of the Latvian SSR to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the LSSR mentioned for the first time information about anti-Soviet leaflets found in the territory of the LSSR. Up to the end of 1954, there were another ten reports of found leaflets sent here by balloon. The peculiarity of these leaflets was that most often their text was in Czech, Hungarian and German languages, which most people of the LSSR did not know. It was evident that leaflets found had entered Latvian territory as a result of erroneous forecasting of climatic conditions. However this mistake also made the LSSR territory an arena for a “Balloon campaign” implemented by Western countries. It provides a good opportunity to compare content of leaflets prepared for different countries. The most relevant difference between the leaflets was that those in Hungarian, Czech and German detailed practical requirements, while those in Russian consisted of general theoretical reflections. In turn, what almost all leaflets had in common was an emphasis on so-called feedback, or in other words, on a desire for proof that the leaflets found their target addressees.
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In the context of current discussions about changes in the political systems of new democracies in Central Europe and the strengthening of nationalist or authoritarian tendencies in present Hungary, the issue of shaping new political systems after the end of Second World War is also being updated. It is at least useful to rethink the reasons why the vision of a new, so called “popular democracy”, originally positively perceived by both the domestic and foreign public, eventually ended not only unsuccessfully , but even by building a new, non democratic, or even totalitarian regime.This study analyzes the process of forming a new political and economic system in Czechoslovakia and Hungary after the Second World War. The contribution will be, on the one hand, a historical analysis that respects the contemporary internal political and international political contexts that existed in both countries in 1945. At the same time, the contribution will be a political analysis comparing the similarities and differences of development in both countries. It will focus on the transformation of political elites in both countries as a result of the Second World War, as well as the fundamental transformation of the institutional framework in which the events took place. At the theoretical level, the study is based on the use of the concept of so called hybrid democracy by L. Gilbert and P. Mohseni, where we will verify the presence and role of the so called "guardianship institutions" in both post war regimes. At the same time, t he study is also based on the theoretical concept of the typology of political change by A. Stepan. The results show how he played a negative experience with the pre-war political economic order and the transformation of the mentality of both national societies during Second World War as a significant argument in the radical changes in the political and economic system in both countries. Attention will also be paid to factors that have failed in both countries to attempt to build a "new type" of post war democracy in these countries.
More...Social Reactions in Western Pomerania in Response to the Workers’ Revolt of 1970/1971 in Szczecin
The text is an analysis of the socio-political situation in Western Pomerania during the political crisis in the Polish People’s Republic at the turn of 1971. Szczecin lay in the heart of the workers’ protests, however, it was the events in Gdańsk that received the most spotlight at that time and later on. The article aims to gather and analyse information from primary sources on how the inhabitants of the country learned about social unrest in big cities, how they interpreted and commented on it, and how it all translated into social sentiments. Such an approach to the problem also provides an opportunity to carry out an analysis based on the dichotomy between the ‘core’ and ‘peripheral’ areas. This is possible due to the accessibility of appropriate primary sources, which in the examined cases are constituted mostly by the documentation gathered by the Security Service, so far used to a small extent. It should also be stressed that the documents on the events of December 1970 in the context of the country in Western Pomerania were rather scant. The analysis of the documentation demonstrates how important Szczecin and Gdańsk were for social sentiments in 1970 and 1971. The incidents in ‘core’ cities were closely observed, and the patterns of protesting were then copied by the country. The scale of those ‘peripheral’ protests was smaller, and they usually did not turn into street fights, but their impact was felt, heard and seen. The methods of protesting in the country involved distributing leaflets, making inscriptions, conversing on related topics and, above all, sharing a desire to bring about a socio-political change expressed by strikes and public protests. These occurrences showed how much the ‘peripheral’ areas were inspired by the ‘core’ ones. There is no doubt that December 1970 left a lasting mark on the memory of the inhabitants of the country in Western Pomerania.
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Very few historical moments are inevitable. However, the generalized war that shook the foundations of Europe again, represented, apparently paradoxically, the favorable context for some people to fully realize that everyday experience – regardless of the rhythm of their lives – only makes sense if it shapes them spiritually. Among them was also Sandu Tudor, who, at the end of the Second World War, sharpened his need to consolidate the contents of the assimilated orthodox mystical tradition, which was, in his vision, an efficient way of preserving humanity. It is well-known that the proclamation of the Romanian communist state was equivalent to the introduction of the new wave of repression against the Orthodox believers and, in particular, the mystics, so that in 1948 it resulted in the arrest of many members of the Rugul Aprins (The Burning Bush), especially among the students. In these circumstances, wishing to keep them from the roll of the anticipated communist oppression, Patriarch Justinian ordered, after 1948, the removal of Fathers Benedict Ghiuș, Sofian Boghiu and Arsenie Papacioc, but also of the founder of the Rugul Aprins – Sandu Tudor, a fact which did not escaped the watchful eye of the Securitatea (Security). In this context, as the world became more and more feared because the atheist communist offensive against the Church slowly became visible, Monk Agaton Tudor, becoming the abbot of the Crasna Monastery, continued his spiritual mission, credibly pleading (hence the popularity) for a doctrine other than the accepted one (communist ideology).
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The article discusses the development of sci-fi landscape painting in late Soviet art. The article is based on an analysis of the popular science magazine, “Technics for the Youth”, contributed by participants from USSR and other socialistic countries. The genre is a synthesis of official communist ideology with its utopian technocratism and some ideas of the philosophy of cosmism, representing the anticipation of the imminent future of humanity as it is characterized by overcoming the spontaneous forces of nature and the arrangement of man’s earthly and extraterrestrial environment. The methodological approach of G. Durand allows us to interpret this cultural phenomenon of imaginary landscapes in line with the “diurnal” mode of imagination.
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On the basis of unpublished sources from the archives of the communist parties of Yugoslavia and Italy (Arhiv Jugoslavije, Belgrade; Archivio del Partito comunista italiano, Rome), this article analyzes the relations between these two parties during the early sixties. In a few very significant and crucial years for their interparty relations, the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) and the Italian Communist Party (PCI)managed to reestablish their relations, and to elevate them to a level of a strategic alliance. The aim of this article is to analyze that process, which was the foundation of a closer friendship and alliance of the LCY and PCI in the following decades.
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