EN
The author attempts to answer the question, what basic hindrances deter researching the issue of readership in Poland during the period 1948–1956, and how these obstacles can be overcome. In his opinion these difficulties encompass: (1) Acquiring the knowledge how to look for and gather primary sources. The successful researcher needs to transcend methodological barriers, which derive from the habits of historians and book-studies specialists, who tend to work on different kinds of documentation. (2) The character of the sources, which are utilized for reconstructing the Stalinist-era reality. One must never forget that Stalinist-era sources necessitate particularly detailed and careful criticism. They are permeated by ideology to the degree unprecedented in Polish history, and never encountered afterwards. This applies especially to all official publications. Moreover, unlike in later times, for the Stalinist period we have no sociological analyses of readership. (3) Hence, official materials acquire special significance. These were chiefly reports, prepared in accordance with the bureaucratic pragmatism characteristic for the Stalinist institutions – their content reacting immediately, even to minor changes in the political conditioning. The author demonstrates his points on the materials related to the reading competitions prepared for the peasant milieus.