The Higher School of Economics in Sopot and the Higher School of Pedagogy in Gdansk were universities established just after World War II and strongly ideologized in the 1950s. The purpose of this article is to reconstruct the events that took place during the October transition at both universities and also to identify the changes these events led to at party meetings. The introduction discusses the history of the WSE in Sopot and the WSE in Gdansk from the time of their establishment until 1956 and outlines the elements of ideological pressure applied to employees and students. An analysis of the minutes of university bodies (staff meetings, Senates) and party bodies at the universities (POP and KU PZPR) and above the universities (KM PZPR in Sopot, KW PZPR in Gdansk), memoirs of students and employees, and newspaper articles were used to achieve the goal. The changes that took place at the universities were primarily concerned with democratization, greater openness in discussion (while remaining faithful to broad Marxist ideology), changes in the conceptual instrumentarium and criticism of both the USSR and national and university authorities. Virtually all groups comprising the WSE and WSP academic community were involved in the 1956 changes, albeit to varying degrees and in different forms. Employees were more involved at meetings of university and party committees, while students were involved at rallies and in the forums of youth organizations.
The article is a source publication devoted to the still insuffi ciently recognized effects of the events of October 1956 in the Mazovia Province. After the introduction, in which the content of the published source materials and the rules of their publication are briefly discussed, the following five documents are edited, produced by the County Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party in Pułtusk in the period between October 1956 and January 1957. Records of intra-party discussions are an excellent historical source of learning about the views of the provincial activists on the functioning of the Polish United Workers’ Party and state administration, their opinions about the “mistakes and distortions” committed during the Stalinist period, and about the paths of development in the future. They also provide a lot of interesting information about the economic condition of the poviat.
PL
Artykuł jest publikacją źródłową poświęconą – wciąż niedostatecznie rozpoznanym – skutkom wydarzeń października 1956 r. na mazowieckiej prowincji. Po części wstępnej, w której w skrócie omówiono treść publikowanych materiałów źródłowych oraz zasady ich wydania, następuje edycja pięciu dokumentów wytworzonych przez Komitet Powiatowy Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej w Pułtusku w okresie październik 1956 r. – styczeń 1957 r. Zapisy wewnątrzpartyjnych dyskusji są doskonałym źródłem historycznym do poznania poglądów prowincjonalnego aktywu na funkcjonowanie PZPR i administracji państwowej, ich opinii o popełnionych „błędach i wypaczeniach” w okresie stalinizmu, jak i o drogach rozwoju w przyszłości. Dostarczają też wielu ciekawych informacji na temat stanu gospodarczego powiatu.
The text refers to the films of black series of Polish document and arising at the same time (1956–1957) etudes of students of the Lodz Film School, dedicated to social issues. Analysis of individual works led to several observation. First, the etudes, like movies of black series, reflecting the social movement of 1956, but their subject matter turned out to be partly different. Appeared in them, for example, political threads. Secondly, the etudes showed many similarities to the professional implementation of the WFD, but only films of Hoffman and Skórzewski can pass as a source of inspiration for students. More frequently students ideas appeared in the improved form in the films of young professionals. Thirdly, the weaker school productions were bolder.
PL
The text refers to the films of black series of Polish document and arising at the same time (1956–1957) etudes of students of the Lodz Film School, dedicated to social issues. Analysis of individual works led to several observation. First, the etudes, like movies of black series, reflecting the social movement of 1956, but their subject matter turned out to be partly different. Appeared in them, for example, political threads. Secondly, the etudes showed many similarities to the professional implementation of the WFD, but only films of Hoffman and Skórzewski can pass as a source of inspiration for students. More frequently students ideas appeared in the improved form in the films of young professionals. Thirdly, the weaker school productions were bolder.
Except for the Korean War and the Indochina conflict, during the Stalinist period, the non-European scene was of little interest to Warsaw. Political changes in Moscow and Warsaw in 1956 led to the political and economic opening of the PRL to non-communist Third World countries. It was considered a priority in Warsaw, in line with USSR policy, to develop good relations with India, Myanmar, Egypt and Afghanistan, followed by Syria and Indonesia. The rise in the international standing of PRL as a result of October 1956 facilitated Warsaw’s contacts with Third World countries, most of which were not interested in “building socialism” in its Soviet version, but wanted economic and military aid from the Kremlin. Support for national liberation movements in the colonies was one of the foreign policy goals of PRL. Władysław Gomułka, however, was pragmatic when it came to establishing contacts with countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa, and restrained in terms of providing them with economic aid.
PL
W okresie stalinowskim scena pozaeuropejska nie była przedmiotem większego zainteresowania Warszawy, poza wojną koreańską i konfliktem indochińskim. Zmiany polityczne w Moskwie i w Warszawie w 1956 r. przyniosły polityczne i gospodarcze otwarcie PRL na niekomunistyczne kraje Trzeciego Świata. Za priorytet uznano w Warszawie, zgodnie z polityką ZSRR, rozwijanie dobrych stosunków z Indiami, Birmą, Egiptem i Afganistanem, a w drugiej kolejności z Syrią i Indonezją. Wzrost pozycji międzynarodowej PRL w wyniku Października ’56 ułatwiał Warszawie kontakty z krajami Trzeciego Świata, które w większości nie były zainteresowane „budowaniem socjalizmu” w wydaniu sowieckim, natomiast chciały uzyskać od Kremla pomoc gospodarczą i wojskową. Wsparcie dla ruchów narodowowyzwoleńczych w koloniach było jednym z celów polityki zagranicznej PRL. Władysław Gomułka wykazywał się jednak pragmatyzmem, jeśli chodzi o nawiązywanie kontaktów z państwami Azji, Ameryki Łacińskiej i Afryki, był też powściągliwy w udzielaniu im pomocy gospodarczej.
In 1955–1956 the communist system underwent deep erosion, and one of the most important and evident signs of it was decreased control the party exercised over propaganda. This gave the press wide readership, and made some of journalists feel as representatives of the people. Władysław Gomułka’s coming to power began a process of consolidation of the system and regaining of stability – this applied to the whole system, including propaganda. The Press Committee of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party was meant as a concession to journalists: they were given a forum to formulate in which they could legally formulate their postulates for the price of loyalty to Gomułka. From the very beginning, however, the journalists who were members of the Press Committee and the party leaders had diverging interests. This made the actual activity of the Committee very limited. The political subjectivity of journalists was brutally challenged in the autumn of 1957, which was marked by a symbolic closure of the weekly Po Prostu. The Press Committee underwent a fundamental restructuring and its tasks changed. But a period of several months of its existence makes an important contribution to the political history of the press and propaganda in the Polish People’s Republic.
PL
Na podstawie obszernych kwerend archiwalnych przede wszystkim dokumentów KC PZPR i SDP autor przedstawia monograficzne ujęcie dziejów Komisji Prasowej KC PZPR w latach 1956–1957. Jej faktyczna aktywność była ściśle związana z bieżącą polityką wewnętrzną prowadzoną przez Władysława Gomułkę i stanowi ważny przyczynek do politycznej historii prasy i propagandy w PRL.
W artykule zestawione zostały dwie książki, będące próbą rozliczenia się polskiego środowiska literackiego ze stalinizmem: Rachunek pamięci pod redakcją Władysława Bieńkowskiego, Heleny Boguszewskiej, Pawła Jasienicy i Jerzego Kornackiego oraz Hańba domowa Jacka Trznadla. W tekście przedstawiono okoliczności powstania obu prac i ich recepcję. Przeanalizowano zamieszczone w nich wypowiedzi pisarzy pod kątem oceny literatury w czasach stalinowskich i ówczesnej atmosfery w środowisku literackim, stosunku do rozliczenia oraz czynników, które decydowały o poparciu dużej części środowiska dla ustroju komunistycznego w tym okresie.
EN
The article compares two books being an attempt of the Polish literary community to settle with Stalinism: Rachunek pamięci (An Examination of Remembrance) under the joint scientific editorship of Władysław Bieńkowski, Helena Boguszewska, Paweł Jasienica, and Jerzy Kornacki; and Jacek Trznadel’s Hańba domowa (Home Disgrace). The study presents the circumstances of the creation of these two books and their reception, together with an analysis of the statements and opinions of writers contained in the text in terms of assessing literature in Stalinist times and the atmosphere in the literary milieu at the time, their attitude to settling accounts with the past and to the factors that determined the support of a large part of the community for the communist system in the period.
Rok 1956 stanowił przełom w historii powojennej Polski i życiu mieszkańców Płocka. Jednak masowe demonstracje poparcia dla zmian demokratycznych do jakich doszło w dużych miastach, nie miały miejsca w Płocku. Wyszli z więzień i powrócili do normalnego życia więźniowie polityczni, działalność wznowiły inicjatywy społeczne jak np. Towarzystwo Naukowe Płockie, ukazało się wydawane do dziś czasopismo naukowe pn. „Notatki Płockie”. Doszło do rozruchów ulicznych i obrzucania komendy milicji obywatelskiej kamieniami. Miejscowy komitet PZPR nie wykazał żadnej inicjatywy w celu poparcia demokratycznych zmian.
EN
The year 1956 was a turning point in the history of post-war Poland and lives of the inhabitants of Płock. However, the mass demonstrations of support for the democratic changes that occurred in large cities, had no place in Płock. Political prisoners left prisons, social organizations such as Płock Scientific Society resumed their activities, a scientific journal „Notatki Płockie” which is being published till today was issued. Riots and pelting stones at the militia station took place. The local committee of PZPR did not show any initiative in support of democratic changes.
The article is a brief survey and evaluation of historical research on Poznań 1956 protests, the political change in October 1956, and the year in general. An important gap was filled by the publication of Piotr Grzelczak’s book on the long-term consequences of the Poznań protests, and the conflict over its remembrance between government representatives and local inhabitants of the region, since the protests were one of the defining moments in recent history of Poznań. The article also includes a summary of the controversy between historians over the importance of 1956 as a watershed in Polish history, with some historians arguing that a more liberal image of the communist system in Poland was formed in 1956, while others argued that the communist dictatorship was stabilized by winning wider social support. The author has indicated an increasing separation between narratives about the Poznań protests in June and the political transformations in October, which has consequences and threats related to polarized perception of history, leading to meagre and simplified understanding of social realities of the Polish People’s Republic after 1956.
PL
The article is a brief survey and evaluation of historical research on Poznań 1956 protests, the political change in October 1956, and the year in general. An important gap was filled by the publication of Piotr Grzelczak’s book on the long-term consequences of the Poznań protests, and the conflict over its remembrance between government representatives and local inhabitants of the region, since the protests were one of the defining moments in recent history of Poznań. The article also includes a summary of the controversy between historians over the importance of 1956 as a watershed in Polish history, with some historians arguing that a more liberal image of the communist system in Poland was formed in 1956, while others argued that the communist dictatorship was stabilized by winning wider social support. The author has indicated an increasing separation between narratives about the Poznań protests in June and the political transformations in October, which has consequences and threats related to polarized perception of history, leading to meagre and simplified understanding of social realities of the Polish People’s Republic after 1956.
Stefan Staszewski, born in 1906 in Warsaw as Gustaw Szuster, was an active member of the Young Communist League of Poland and the Communist Party of Poland, trained from 1926 to 1928 in the International Lenin School in Moscow. He was arrested three times in Poland for communist activity. In 1934, he fled to the USSR, where he was reprimanded for membership in M. Lampe’s group, and then expelled from the AUCP(b) and arrested by the NKVD. He was sentenced to 15 years in a Kolyma Gulag camp. He was released in 1945 thanks to Bolesław Bierut’s intervention, and after coming to Poland, he joined the Polish Workers’ Party (PPR) and changed his name to Stefan Staszewski. The Secretary of the PPR Central Committee dispatched him to Katowice to take the position of the secretary for industrial affairs. Soon, he became the editor-in-chief of Trybuna Robotnicza, which achieved considerable success under his management. In 1948, the party leadership gave him the very responsible post of the director of the Department of Press and Publications of the PUWP’s Central Committee. Staszewski changed radically the organizational system of the party press and of the publishing businesses’ activity, and contributed to the development of communist journalism. In 1954, he was dismissed from the post of the Department of Press and Publications’ head and moved to the Ministry of Agriculture. During the thaw, he became a critic of the former party leadership and began to actively aid supporters of reforms. As the First Secretary of the PUWP Warsaw Committee, in October 1956 he organized and supervised rallies at Warsaw universities and work places. During the Eighth Plenary Session of the PUWP Central Committee, he was attacked by activists belonging to the “Natolinian group”. His stance was violently criticised by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, which resulted in his dismissal from the post of secretary of the Warsaw party organization. Staszewski largely contributed to the success of the party reformers and to positive transformations initiated during the Eighth Plenary Session. Having left the PUWP Warsaw Committee, he worked for a short time in the Polish Press Agency. His relationship with new party authorities steadily became worse, which resulted in him being removed from the post of the assistant of the member of PUWP Central Committee. That is why he began to work for the State Scientific Publishers (PWN) in the editorial section of the Great Universal Encyclopaedia. In 1968, party propaganda presented him, together with Roman Zambrowski, as the most dangerous threat to the PRL’s constitutional order. In the 1970s, he maintained close relations with the Workers’ Defence Committee. Under martial law, his flat was searched by the Security Service.
This article attempts to present the attitudes of Warsaw workers between 1955 and 1957 and the functioning of party organisations in the industry during crisis time. The source base for the study, apart from the literature on the subject, was the archival material of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) of various levels, from factory units to voivodeship ones, mainly of ten large Warsaw factories (kept in the State Archives in Warsaw, branch at Milanówek). The subject of research was the behaviour and opinions of workers and the functioning of basic party cells and their evolution in the wake of the most important political events. The analysis also focused on the factors shaping the situation in Warsaw factories, the main stages of the crisis and the post-October ‘normalisation’ of workplace party cells, and the main models of attitudes of their members. The bottom-up perspective also made it possible to formulate conclusions about the sources of the crisis inside the PZPR, the course of factional fights, and the post-October PZPR leadership policy.
PL
Artykuł jest próbą przedstawienia postaw warszawskich robotników w latach 1955– 1957 oraz funkcjonowania organizacji partyjnych w przemyśle w momencie kryzysu. Podstawę źródłową badań, oprócz literatury przedmiotu, stanowiły materiały archiwalne PZPR różnych szczebli od zakładowego po wojewódzki, głównie dziesięciu dużych warszawskich przedsiębiorstw (są przechowywane w Archiwum Państwowym w Warszawie, ekspozytura w Milanówku). Przedmiotem badań były zachowania i opinie robotników oraz funkcjonowanie podstawowych organizacji partyjnych i ich ewolucja w rytm wyznaczany przez najważniejsze wydarzenia polityczne. Przedmiotem analizy były także czynniki kształtujące sytuację w warszawskich fabrykach, najważniejsze etapy kryzysu i popaździernikowej „normalizacji” zakładowych organizacji partyjnych, główne modele postaw ich członków. Oddolna perspektywa pozwoliła też na sformułowanie wniosków co do źródeł kryzysu wewnątrz PZPR, przebiegu walk frakcyjnych i polityki popaździernikowego kierownictwa PZPR.
Oparte o obszerne kwerendy archiwalne, prasowe i literaturę przedmiotu studium polityki prasowej partii komunistycznej i sytuacji w środowisku dziennikarskim w latach 1953– 1955/1956, uwzględniające odmienną perspektywę centrum i peryferii, na tle przemian politycznych i kulturalnych. W pierwszej fazie destalinizacji polityka prasowa PZPR była rezultatem bardziej pragmatycznego kursu wyznaczonego przez ZSRR w krajach bloku po 1953 r. Gdy „odwilż” w Polsce nabrała własnej dynamiki, rozdźwięk w elicie PZPR i niespójna polityka sprzyjała poszerzaniu marginesu swobody prasy, zwłaszcza w stolicy. U progu 1956 r. część środowiska dziennikarzy, głównie młodych, buntowała się przeciwko modelowi prasy dyspozycyjnej, ograniczonej do roli narzędzia partyjnej propagandy. History of a two-front fight. The authorities – the press – journalists 1953–55/56The main purpose of the article is to analyse the press policy conducted by the communist party and the relationship between the authorities and journalists in 1953– 55/56 against the background of political and cultural changes in Poland. The analysis is based on the broad research in archives and press releases as well as literature on the subject; the subject is presented both from the national and local perspective. In the first phase of changes after Stalin’s death the press policy of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PUWP) was a result of more pragmatic line set by the Soviet Union in the communist block after 1953. When, at the end of 1954, the Thaw in Poland found its own dynamic, a growing discrepancy in the Party’s elite and incoherent policy contributed to the expanding margin of freedom of journalists, especially in the capital city of Warsaw. The press policy of the PUWP was the fruit of difference of opinion between the Party’s leaders, the Political Bureau, and the Secretariat of the Central Committee. The Political Bureau was slamming the brakes. For the first time in April 1955, when in a letter to the central committees of voivodeships and districts they in fact reinterpreted the decisions of the post-Thaw Third Plenum of the Central Committee. For the second time, when at the end of 1955 they criticised the Trybuna Ludu (People’s Tribune) daily and Nowe Drogi (New Ways) monthly, and undertook a failed attempt to launch an ideological offensive. Jerzy Morawski, who was put in charge on behalf of the Central Committee Secretariat, represented this part of the Party’s elite who supported cautious changes and encouraged the press to criticize economic and social pathologies, regarding it as a necessary safety valve. An analysis of Morawski’s statements reveals that, in general, he supported the press in a role of critical observer. In January 1956 the Central Committee secretary explicitly distances himself from recent decisions of the Political Bureau on the Trybuna Ludu and presented himself as the advocate of liberalisation. Ambiguous signals from the centre of power fomented unrest and frustration of the journalist circles in Warsaw, who at the turn of 1956 in their large part rebelled against the model of press seen as a tool of party propaganda. On the other hand, however, signals sent from the centre exerted pressure and were resented by the central and local structures of the Stalinist party-state apparatus. Under these unstable circumstances the explosion was triggered by Moscow, where the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was beginning.
The article shows the role of the university’s party cell at the Warsaw University of Technology in the 1956 crisis. Although difficult to grasp in sources, it was noticeable due to the rallies in support of the new leadership of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) held at this university during the famous Eighth Plenum of the Party. The author tried to identify the political sympathies of University activists for the Party factions. The next part discusses the process of departure from the ‘56 October, which took place very quickly in the PZPR and manifested itself in the suppression of grassroots initiatives and departure from democratic principles for the election of authorities.
PL
W artykule pokazano rolę uczelnianej komórki partyjnej Politechniki Warszawskiej w kryzysie 1956 r. Chociaż trudno uchwytna w źródłach, była ona zauważalna, gdyż na tej uczelni odbywały się wiece poparcia dla nowego kierownictwa PZPR w trakcie słynnego VIII Plenum. Autor starał się rozpoznać sympatie polityczne działaczy Politechniki dla frakcji partyjnych. W dalszej części omówiono proces odchodzenia od Października, który w PZPR nastąpił bardzo szybko i przejawiał się w tłumieniu oddolnych inicjatyw oraz odejściu od demokratycznych zasad wyłaniania władz.
The experiences of Jewish emigrants from Poland after World War II can be categorised according to the appropriate migratory waves occurring following significant historical events. An example of this is the Gomułka Aliyah of the years 1956 to 1960 and emigration after the events of March 1968. This text concerns the narration of witnesses to history – Polish Jews – who left the country during one of these two waves and who settled permanently in Israel. Based on their oral history narratives, I describe their biographical trajectories, including points touching upon the narrative and the relationship of the interlocutors to Poland, as expressed in their memory of “their first homeland”, their cultural roots and their current activities connected with Poland. The declarations resulting from the narratives highlight the duality of the identity of witnesses to history: their identification with Jewishness and Polishness. However, the image of Poland, often sentimental and nostalgic, is firmly rooted in their experiences of their time in the country, both positive (personal relationships, places) and negative (antisemitism). This image is also influenced by contemporary events and visits to Poland.
PL
Doświadczenia żydowskich emigrantów z Polski po II wojnie światowej można przyporządkować odpowiednim falom migracyjnym, następującym po istotnych wydarzeniach historycznych. Przykładem tego jest alija gomułkowska z lat 1956–1960 oraz emigracja po wydarzeniach Marca 1968 r. Niniejszy tekst dotyczy narracji świadków historii – polskich Żydów, którzy opuści kraj w jednej z tych dwóch fal i osiadli na stałe w Izraelu. W oparciu o relacje historii mówionej odtwarzam ich trajektorie biograficzne, w tym punkty styczne narracji oraz stosunek rozmówców do Polski, wyrażający się w pamięci o „pierwszej ojczyźnie”, kulturowym zakorzenieniu oraz obecnej aktywności wobec Polski. Wynikające z narracji deklaracje uwypuklają dwoistość tożsamości świadków historii, ich identyfikacje z żydowskością oraz polskością. Natomiast obraz Polski, często sentymentalny i nostalgiczny, jest mocno zakorzeniony w doświadczeniach z okresu pobytu w kraju, zarówno tych pozytywnych (relacje międzyludzkie, miejsca), jak i negatywnych (antysemityzm). Wpływają na niego również współczesne wydarzenia oraz podróże do Polski.
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