AUTHORITARIANISM AND THE POLITICAL CHOICES OF POLISH WORKERS (1945-1948)

• Authors: Chuminski J.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Only to a slight degree did industrial workers in post-war Poland constitute a sequel to their prewar predecessors. Due to the influx of representatives of other social groups, the workers differed amongst themselves as regards their social origin, job seniority, education, political and world outlook orientations, and the internalisation of traditional working-class values. The key question involves the political choices made by assorted segments of the working class. The article examines the correlation between such bio-social features as territorial and environmental origin, the level of education, prewar professional experience, the age and gender structure as well as party affiliation. The analysis was based on data from workers' files at four enterprises in Cracow and Wroclaw (two each in the metal and clothing industries). We have at our disposal information about a total of 7 271 employees who started working in 1945-1948, including 2 186 members of the Polish Workers' Party (PPR) and 1 119 members of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS). These samples may be regarded as relatively representative in view of the fact that we possess data about almost 1 % of all PPR members employed in industry, and 0,7 % of PPS members. The data obtained by the author indicate that socially weak groups constituted a much higher percentage among communist party members than among the socialists. PPR members were worse educated and frequently came from villages and small towns; they were relatively younger, professionally less experienced, and their percentage was higher in those branches which were dominated by women and in those workplaces where the employees were prone to disintegration. Within this context, it appears highly justified to propose a hypothesis claiming that PPR membership was not so much the outcome of workers' self-identification with the ideology and targets of the regime as the result of their increasingly intensified authoritarian attitudes. In the light of cognitive theories, support for radical and anti-democratic parties is expressed mainly by environments disadvantaged as regards their education and material situation.

Keywords

EN

AUTHORITARIANISM; POLISH WORKERS

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN w Warszawie
• Journal: Dzieje Najnowsze
• Year: 2006
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 89-106
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Chuminski J.

• J. Chuminski, Akademia Ekonomiczna im. Oskara Langego we Wroclawiu, ul. Komandorska 118/120, 53-345 Wroclaw, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

06PLAAAA01252860