In January 2002, a survey conducted by a popular television program revealed that 25 percent of young Italians held a favorable opinion of Fascism and Dictator Benito Mussolini. Shortly thereafter, Italy’s most prominent scholar of Fascism, Emilio Gentile, warned of a “retroactive de-fascistization” in Italian society: the widespread tendency to cast fascism in a benevolent light forgetting, or softening, its repressive and brutal features. For many Italians, Fascism was very diff erent from Nazism and Communist Totalitarianism — it might have been an authoritarian regime but it was not a bloody one. This assessment was no doubt further conditioned by the politics of memory promoted at that time by Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right government. However the origins of this watered-down interpretation go back much further. The idea that Italian Fascism was not on a par with other totalitarian regimes took root in the collective conscience following the end of World War II, as Italy attempted to rehabilitate its reputation in the eyes of the world, hoping to be spared harsh judgment and punishment on the international stage. Its cornerstone was the contrast between Italian Fascism and German National Socialism. On one side, the brutality and ideological fanaticism of the Nazis and on the other, the Italian Fascists, who according to the narrative were over-bearing but not so criminal This distinction between Fascism and Nazism has permeated Italian public opinion throughout the history of the Italian Republic. It was shared by historian Renzo De Felice and pervasive from the 1980s onward in mass media which were inspired by the new wave of revisionism. Over the last twenty years, the ‘dark pages’ of Italian Fascism — from the regime’s anti-Semitic policies to crimes committed in the colonies and Balkan territories occupied during the Second World War — have been thoroughly investigated in the historiography. Broad sectors of the public still however consider Fascism a mild dictatorship not without its merits. The country that invented Fascism, therefore, is still struggling to come to terms with the legacy of its Fascist past.
This essay considers a historical novel of recent times in revisionist terms, Kevin McCarthy’s debut novel of 2010, Peeler. In doing so, I also address the limitations that the novel exposes within Irish revisionism. I propose that McCarthy’s novel should be regarded more properly as a post-revisionist work of literature. A piece of detective fiction that is set during the Irish War of Independence from 1919 to 1921, Peeler challenges the romantic nationalist understanding of the War as one of heroic struggle by focusing its attention on a Catholic member of the Royal Irish Constabulary. In considering the circumstances in which Sergeant Seán O’Keefe finds himself as a policeman serving a community within which support for the IRA campaign against British rule is strong, the novel sheds sympathetic light on the experience of Catholic men who were members of the Royal Irish Constabulary until the force was eventually disbanded in 1922. At the same time, it demonstrates that the ambivalence in Sergeant O’Keefe’s attitudes ultimately proves unsustainable, thereby challenging the value that Irish revisionism has laid upon the ambivalent nature of political and cultural circumstances in Ireland with regard to Irish-British relations. In the process, I draw attention to important connections that McCarthy’s Peeler carries to Elizabeth Bowen’s celebrated novel of life in Anglo-Irish society in County Cork during the period of the Irish War of Independence: The Last September of 1929.
The aim of the paper is to present up-to-date critics of the model of the causes of the French Revolution present in the orthodox (Marxist) school’s syntheses (regarding prominent historians, such as: A. Mathiez, G. Lefebvre and A. Soboul). The paper discusses the role of the noblesse, bourgeoisie in relation with the role of the public opinion before the French Revolution. It also indicates some internal inconsistencies of the described critics. The work is based mainly on the syntheses and papers delivered by William Doyle.
Marxism, as any social ideology, contains many conflicting motives. They represent the potential of various political doctrines. The aim of the article was to show the sources, content and consequences of the ideological conflict between the two Marxists, precursors of conflicting political ideologies. Vladimir Lenin, with his monopolistic rights to the interpretation of Marxism, the army-like organization of the party and the recognition of his opponents as enemies, became the forerunner of the totalitarian system. Eduard Bernstein, touted as the creator of revisionism, has verified Marxism, rejected the ved that the socialist party should participate in a democratic system dogma of the class struggle, claimed the proletarian revolution being irrational and belie, using its mechanisms for achieving the objectives of the working class. In this way Bernstein became one of the promoters of democracy. The article discussed the main ideological and political consequences of the gap between the two ideological movements.
My article centres on the intricate intertwining of gender, sexuality, identity and writing in the first quarter of the 17th century, dealing with Aemilia Lanyer’s most famous work Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (1611) a cornerstone in the construction of female readership, offering at the same time an example of a collaborative rather than competitive model for literary creation, advancing the plea for a female genealogy.
In the middle of the 1960s Bauman indicated two ways of interpretation of Karl Marx’ thought. The former he defined as “mechanistic”, the latter as “activistic”. He stated that the representatives of the mechanistic one emphasise the concept of historical necessity. They aim at exploring the direction of social processes and making people conscious of it. The representatives of the activistic version of Marxism concentrate on the role of human praxis. They emphasise the role of individual initiative in making history. The typology made by Bauman is useful not only in making research of Marxist thought, but in outlining the evolution of his own very early sociology as well. When he began his academic career in Poland he had strongly believed in the laws of history and had anticipated the quick “leap to the Kingdom of Freedom”. However, in the course of time his view on this subject had changed. Short before his expulsion from Poland he accepted the “activistic” interpretation of Marxism, based on the indeterministic vision of society. In this paper I present this evolution and indicate the social and political factors that contributed to it. Another aim of this article is to evaluate the very early Marxist thought of Zygmunt Bauman.
The article examines the evolution of Imre Nagy’s views during his first term as Prime minister of Hungary (1953-1955) and during the 1956 uprising. The emphasis is on his vision of the need for reforming and democratizing the socialist system, as well as practical political activity at the head of the popular uprising. The author notes that Imre Nagy was opposed to forced collectivization, accelerated industrialization, which undermined the national economy, destroyed the market system, violated the economic and political ties between urban and rural areas.
The events in Czechoslovakia referred to as the Prague Spring were not about overthrowing the system but were agenuine attempt to introduce a“socialism with ahuman face”. The aim of the article is to examine the history and ideas (especially the idea of freedom) that constituted the foundations of the Prague Spring. The authors do this, taking into account several research perspectives relating to doctrine, political-legal solutions and civic engagement. In addition, they analyse the ideological documents behind these events, i.e. the programme of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, the Two Thousand Words manifesto and documents of the 14th Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
The specific content of the work of Czechoslovak diplomats in the USA in the first years of the existence of the Republic of Czechoslovakia was also adequate acquisition of information about the revisionist activities of Hungary, which questioned the Versailles system. The Czechoslovak diplomats in the USA for this reason also mapped and responded to the visits of the Hungarian political leaders and their comments on Czechoslovakia, which were carried by the American press. From 1922, the number of reports on Hungarian propaganda in the reports of diplomats in the USA declined in connection with the adoption of the Act on the dethroning of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine in Hungary as well as for reason of signature of the, so-called, Treaty of Lány between the representatives of the Republic of Czechoslovakia and Austria and accession of Hungary to the United Nations.
In the article the author describes theoretical reasons that stood behind Kołakowski's transition from being an orthodox Marxist to become an actual leader of the polish revisionist movement. His intention is to concentrate on those aspects of Kołakowski's thought that have not changed, apart from any biographical and psychological reasons. (1) First of those features is Kołakowski's inability of completability, the anti-code disposition. (2) The second trait is the moral attitude, an intention to influence on people's morality by convincing them that social and internal (necessarily bound with social) changes are desirable; that an existential calm demolishes morality. (3) Third feature concerns the fact that Kołakowski did not attempt to create his own philosophy, he was rather a historian of ideas, a skeptic, and a critic
PL
W artykule zestawione zostają dwa pierwsze etapy twórczości Leszka Kołakowskiego: marksistowski oraz rewizjonistyczny. Wychodząc naprzeciw pracom, które dotychczas poruszały tę problematykę, autor skupia się na tych przekonaniach polskiego myśliciela, które pozostały niezmienne dla każdego z obu okresów, więcej nawet – które wydały się leżeć u podstaw porzucenia przezeń marksistowskiej dogmatyki. Są to kolejno: (1) systemowa niezakończoność filozofii, jej antykodeksowe nastawienie; (2) potrzeba zaangażowania, związana z pomysłem, że do podstawowych zadań filozofii należy wpływanie na postawy moralne oraz ich odpowiednie kształtowanie; (3) antytetyczność podejścia Kołakowskiego, znajdująca istotny wyraz w przyjmowaniu pozycji błazna, a także konsekwentne nastawienie na negację zastanych propozycji światopoglądowych (tak tradycyjnych jak współczesnych polskiemu myślicielowi).
The article deals with the relation of the Social Democratic Czechoslavonic party in Austria to the consumer cooperative movement. This relation developed from rejection at the very beginning (as a result of Marxism and negative experiences from the past), to being accepted as a part of the party in year 1907. The central role in this process was played by the changes in the political thinking as a result of strengthening Revisionism, and also unofficial cooperation between consumer cooperatives and local socialist organizations at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century
The article depicts the personage of Karol Modzelewski (1937–2019) the outstanding activist for freedom of Poland, long-term political prisoner, prominent medievalist historian and full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The article focuses on the stream of the historical study of Russian and Soviet history labelled as revisionism in Western historiography, where it pays special attention to the research of the October Revolution in 1917. It discusses the circumstances of the rise of revisionism in American historiography from the end of the 1960s to the mid-1980s. In the second part, selected starting points of revision are compared and distinguished in terms of ideal type from the previous totalitarian interpretation. The text points to differences in approaches and interpretations by revisionists, but at the same time emphasizes their unifying interest in the neglected social and economic conflicts in Russian society since the beginning of the 20th century and the interaction of social groups, political parties and state power. It also reminds us of the revisionist thesis that we cannot understand the events of October only through the ideological influence of the Bolsheviks or their allegedly conspiratorial efforts to acquire power. The revisionists, through archival research, have shown that the Bolsheviks gained greater and authentic support from the Petrograd masses before the overthrow of the Provisional Government than has been admitted until now.
For more than one hundred years Marxism-Leninism has been the foundation of modern ideologies, not only Soviet-dogmatic, but also anthropocentricrevised. However, in the opinion of an excellent sovietologist, Józef Maria Bocheński, a common cosmocentric view allows a possibility of philosophical dialogue between Thomism and Marxism. But for the last 50 years the Christian philosophy has retired also from the cosmocentric point of view. It appears, that a new place of a possible meeting is in the sphere of thanatology, which is an interdisciplinary study that permits to give new answers in „the body of science”, no more ideological threatened, because in the face of death all ideologies fall back.
At the source of revisionist attempts to modify socialist thought lied the conviction of the need to improve or even adapt Marxism to the changing reality. That is why, out of many possible research perspectives (political, historical, doctrinal or legal), revisionism may also be treated as a manifestation of the rationalization of socialist thought. The article presents the main historical and doctrinal aspects of revisionism of Marxism using the example of the achievements of representatives of political-legal thought from such countries as Poland, Hungary, former Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Attempts to rationalize socialism in these countries were based on similar ideological assumptions. Therefore, a redefinition of the relations of these countries with the USSR, democratization of social and political life and economic reforms aimed at ensuring the efficiency of the economies of these countries were postulated. The article also points out that the essence of revisionism was the search for ways to make the system functioning on its foundations more rational within the official Marxist doctrine. The reflection of these efforts was the slogan of creating “socialism with a human face”.
PL
U źródeł rewizjonistycznych prób modyfikacji myśli socjalistycznej leżało przekonanie o potrzebie usprawnienia czy też przystosowania marksizmu do zmieniającej się rzeczywistości. Dlatego, spośród wielu możliwych perspektyw badawczych (politycznej, historycznej, doktrynalnej czy prawnej), rewizjonizm może być traktowany także jako przejaw racjonalizacji myśli socjalistycznej. W artykule przedstawiono główne historyczne i doktrynalne aspekty rewizjonizmu marksizmu na przykładzie dorobku przedstawicieli myśli polityczno-prawnej z takich krajów, jak: Polska, Węgry, Czechosłowacja, Jugosławia. Próby racjonalizowania socjalizmu w tych krajach opierały się bowiem na podobnych założeniach ideowych. Postulowano zatem redefinicję relacji tych krajów z ZSRR, demokratyzację życia społecznego i politycznego oraz reformy ekonomiczne mające zapewnić zwiększenie efektywności gospodarek tych krajów. W opracowaniu również wskazano, iż istotą rewizjonizmu było szukanie dróg, aby w ramach oficjalnej marksistowskiej doktryny funkcjonujący na jej podstawach ustrój uczynić bardziej racjonalnym. Odzwierciedleniem tych wysiłków było hasło tworzenia „socjalizmu z ludzką twarzą”.
The main aim of the article is to present the views of M. F. Rakowski on multidimensional German problem existing in the Polish People's Republic in the years 1945-1989. The author's intention is to present the evolution of the views of the long-time editor of the Polityka weekly on the German issue in the years 1957-1977. Based on the formulated research problem and the analysis of available sources, the following hypotheses can be formulated: - in the initial period of the development of the political career of M. F. Rakowski, his attitude to German issues was influenced by personal experiences, - at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, M. F. Rakowski associated the rapid economic and political reconstruction of West Germany with Germany’s aggressive intentions to gain influence in Central and Eastern Europe and German efforts to revise the Yalta-Potsdam agreements, - after reaching the next levels of power in the party-state leadership of the Polish People’s Republic (PRL), M. F. Rakowski’s perspective of the assessment of Polish-West German relations underwent changes as evidenced by his activities. According to the author, M. F. Rakowski’s position on German issues evolved from reluctance to fascination. The article uses the historical method, analysis of sources and press content. The following methods also turned out to be useful: institutional and legal, comparative, behavioral and decision-making method.
Krzysztof Pomian’s works on history are one of the most interesting theoretical achievements of contemporary humanities. Being one of the prominent revisionists, Pomian took part in an important period of Polish history. Revisionist movement has also played an important role in shaping some basic ideas of Pomian’s later work. Article shows the meaning of revisionism in Polish tradition concerning historiography, and more specifically the meaning of Pomian’s ideas on historiography
PL
Prace Krzysztofa Pomiana dotyczące historii są jednym z najciekawszych osiągnięć współczesnej humanistyki. Pomian, będąc tak zwanym rewizjonistą, brał udział w ważnych wydarzeniach w historii Polski powojennej. Jednocześnie sam ruch rewizjonistyczny wpłynął znacząco na kształt podstawowych wątków w późniejszej działalności naukowej Pomiana. Niniejszy artykuł pragnie ukazać znaczenie rewizjonizmu w Polskiej tradycji historiograficznej, a w szczególności w poglądach Pomiana na historiografię.
In my article I intend to analyze L. Kołakowski’s departure from Marxism. I will conduct my reflections in the context of his relationship with Adam Schaff. It is precisely this that A. Schaff was the promoter of the dissertation of Master and Candidate (PhD) Leszek Kołakowski.Both these philosophers in the sixties of thetwentieth century revisited their views on Marxism by entering into a current called revisionism. Leszek Kołakowski, however, criticized Marxism and became his leading critic, while Adam Schaff attempted to reform it by enriching the existing ideology of man’s philosophy. The views of both philosophers differed from the official version of Marxism. While Kolakowski had completely escaped from Marxism, Schaff triedto defend him. Schaff did not particularly approve the assessment of Marxism embodied in Mainstream Marxism of Kołakowski. It is not by chance, therefore, that both philosophers can be regarded as the most outstanding representatives of Marxism before 1968 in Poland.Their views were not always contradictory, but they were often similar because Schaff approached Kolakowski talking about ecumenical Marxism - and therefore their antagonism was primarily personal and less philosophical.
PL
W swoim artykule zamierzam przeanalizować proces odchodzenia L. Kołakowskiego od marksizmu. Swoje rozważania przeprowadzę w kontekście jego relacji z Adamem Schaffem. Właśnie to A. Schaff był promotorem rozprawy magisterskiej oraz kandydackiej (doktorskiej) Leszka Kołakowskiego. Obaj ci filozofowie w latach sześćdziesiątych XX wieku zrewidowali swoje poglądy na marksizm wpisując się w nurt zwany rewizjonizmem. Leszek Kołakowskie jednak zarzucił marksizm i stał się jego czołowym krytykiem, natomiast Adam Schaff starał się go zreformować wzbogacając dotychczasową ideologię o filozofię człowieka. Poglądy obu filozofów odbiegały zatem od oficjalnej wersji marksizmu. O ile Kołakowski odszedł całkowicie od marksizmu, to Schaff starał się go bronić. Schaff nie aprobował zwłaszcza oceny marksizmu zawartej w Głównych nurtach marksizmu Kołakowskiego. Nie przypadkiem, zatem to właśnie obaj filozofowie mogą być uznani za najwybitniejszych przedstawicieli marksizmu w Polsce. Ich poglądy były nie raz sprzeczne, ale równie często były zbliżone(marksizmu ekumeniczny Schaffa) – a zatem ich antagonizm miał charakter przede wszystkim osobisty, a mniej dotyczył sfery poglądów filozoficznych.
Design and implementation of tasks PRL religious policy required many specific actions and supporting the work of the Office for Religious Affairs, the security apparatus and specialized agencies of the PZPR. ~e article discusses the work of the Passport Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as an institution supporting centers of power system operations. Presented source material relates to the observation of behavior West “religious tourists” coming to Polish in the mid-70s of the last century. Conclusions formulated by the Passport Office led to increased surveillance Polish religious organizations and individuals representing them if there were any signs of their interaction with the citizens of Germany. ~ey also led to a negative perception of the People’s Republic of total foreign makers of religious organizations. In these circumstances, lasting ended a period of nearly 20 years of government policy to support the expansion of Polish actors confessional contacts with their foreign partners.
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