Was it the Year of the Carnival? A Testimony to the Variety of Strategies of Influence Within “Solidarity” Sauerland’s text is concerned with the difference in the aspirations and dreams of influence in “Solidarity” on the subjective transformations of the country. The text is a testimony and a clear demonstration of a dramatic collision of the network and the self-government strategy which was taken into consideration at some point and the range of the social mobilization of „Solidarity” in Poland, as well as the need to create a new model of the state, as related to the drama of the model which eventually dominated the Polish transformation, with particular attention paid to the role and influence of Lech Wałęsa. The author considers the phenomenon of “Solidarity” as a process and a real change-oriented action heading towards self-government. He uses his own observations, experiences and notes from participation in these processes, for example in the context of planning reforms of higher education. He asks a crucial question concerning “Solidarity”: was it a carnival or a revolution? If it was a revolution, was it more like the French, the Russian, or the American one? He emphasizes that only Hanna Arendt understood not only the historical, but also the “futuristic” sense of the American revolution. Leadership is different in carnival and in revolution, with completely different contexts of action, and the American version is even more significant. The author analyzes the tragic position of Lech Wałęsa, suggesting the existence of a lost alternative for the scenario of influence which was eventually accepted under the influence of Wałęsa and his supporters, even though their domination weakened the final effects of the initialized actions and processes.
The author deals with the journey of Georg Forster from Kassel through Vienna to Vilnius in 1784 and Forster's impression from his stay in Poland, as well as with his activity as professor of natural history in Vilnius in 1784-1787. What is important is the question what intellectual milieu Forster might have found in Vilnius. His most important intellectual partner was probably Marcin Poczobut, a very well known astronomer and the rector of the university being built at that time. The author objects to the view that Forster was in isolation on his own fault, and that this isolation was the reason why he knew almost nothing about Poland and saw the country as depressing.
In his reflections, the author asks what were the reasons of the anti-Semitic witch-hunt in 1968. Was this really only an inner-party struggle, in which for the first time supporters of Moczar were triumphant? Is it really the case that March 1968 is so closely connected to the Six-Day War and its consequences, as is usually claimed? Or maybe is the more and more visible economic stagnation of the time to blame? The analyses of the Polish March 1968 are lacking the reflection on the ideological crisis, into which the then power delved. Those in power felt the crisis also because the representatives of the ex-Marxist intelligentsia turned away from the party. Intelligentsia was not only escaping but it started to organize itself and called, along with the representatives of other liberal leanings, the socialist system into question.
Autor opisując humboldtowski model nauczania, przekonuje czytelnika, że idea partnerskiej wspólnoty uczących i uczących się, którzy poszukują odpowiedzi na dręczące współczesnych badaczy pytania, nie stracił na aktualności. W polskich warunkach może być stosowany szczególnie na drugim stopniu nauczania uniwersyteckiego.
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