Wartości a interesy. Kilka uwag o tożsamości lewicy

• Authors: Bohdan Kaczmarek
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

An identity of a political group is a multidimensional phenomenon and cannot be reduced to axiological declarations. The Left is going through a crisis of identity, not only in Poland. The symptoms are, among others, the ideological and intellectual surrender in face of the neoliberal narrative or accepting the one-sided, negative interpretation of the history of the Left, including the experience of socialism. The identity of a political group on the one hand requires permanent reconstruction, but on the other it needs to be defended. In the case of the Left what is visibly lacking is the defense of its traditional values, which are positively verified by the current crisis of capitalism. The values are not separate from the social and political practice or social interests. They can be interpreted as a generalization, an essential synthesis of social interests on various levels of the organization of social life. Values and interests are not merely the motivational side of politics. They also form an analytic category, allowing for unveiling the functional aspect of social phenomena. Similarly, leftism is not only a moral stand or a type of social sensitivity. It is a cognitive disposition too. The debate about the identity of the Left, just like the analysis carried out in the field of political sciences, should not refrain from the class paradigm in explaining various phenomena. Especially today it seems that the usefulness of class-related explications of social and political contradictions is growing, even more so, if we consider their global context.

Keywords

PL

wartości,; interesy,; tożsamość,; lewica

• Publisher: Instytut Nauk Politycznych Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
• Journal: Studia Politologiczne
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 14
• Pages: 52-69

Contributors

author

Bohdan Kaczmarek