The Politicization of Social Divisions in Post-War Poland

261 Pages·2023·2.902 MB·English

by  Piotr Borowiec

The Politicization
of Social Divisions
in Post-War Poland
Piotr Borowiec
The Politicization of Social Divisions in Post-War
Poland
Piotr Borowiec
The Politicization
of Social Divisions
in Post-War Poland
Piotr Borowiec
Institute of Political Science
and International Relations
Jagiellonian University
Kraków, Poland
ISBN 978-3-031-26529-7 ISBN 978-3-031-26530-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26530-3
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To my daughter Alicja
Acknowledgements
Many people contributed to my writing of this book, including my
colleagues from the Institute of Political Science and International Rela-
tions at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. I would like to thank all of
them. In particular, I would like to extend my gratitude to Piotr Obacz,
Ph.D., for the inspiration provided by his monograph entitled Podział
“Polska solidarna—Polska liberalna” w ´swietle wybranych koncepcji plural-
izmu politycznego. (2018). It helped me consider many issues related
to divisions. Even if I provide different answers to some of the ques-
tions he asked, they would not have been formulated had it not been
for his paper. I would also like to thank the students of the Political
Studies Faculty of the Jagiellonian University, to whom I presented an
approach to social divisions and the theory of practices of repartition
during political sociology lectures. I am profoundly thankful to them for
their critique, patience and inquisitiveness.
Kraków, Poland Piotr Borowiec
December 2022
vii
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 The First Structural Experiment: Communist-Era
Homogenisation 11
3 Consequences of the Experiment: The Division
Between Society and the nomenklatura 57
4 The Second Experiment: The Differentiation
of the Social Structure 105
5 Consequences of the Second Experiment: The
“Winners”–“Losers” Division 151
6 The Formation of Social Divisions and the Theory
of Practices of Repartition 197
7 Conclusion 245
Index 253
ix
Abbreviations
CBOS Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej—Centre for Public Opinion
Research
GUS Główny Urza˛d Statystyczny—Central Statistical Office
KPN Konfederacja Polski Niepodległej—The Confederation of Independent
Poland
PGR Pan ´stwowe Gospodarstwo Rolne—State Agricultural Farm
PKWN Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego—Polish Committee of
National Liberation
PPR Polska Partia Robotnicza—Polish Workers’ Party
PPS Polska Partia Socjalistyczna—Polish Socialist Party
PRL Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa—Polish People’s Republic
PZPR Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza—Polish United Workers’ Party
RP Rzeczpospolita Polska—The Republic of Poland
SLD Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej—The Democratic Left Alliance
UB Urza˛d Bezpiecze n´stwa—Security Office
UE Unia Europejska—European Union
ZMP Zwia˛zek Młodziez˙y Polskiej—Union of Polish Youth
xi
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Two observations formed the basis of my interest in the formation and
politicization of social divisions in Poland. Both are seemingly different
and perhaps exceptionally trivial but, in practice, they are related to each
other, inspire me and bring about scientific research.
The first consisted in me realising my growing irritation caused by
another passionate statement of a certain public opinion leader in the
media, claiming that Polish society was deeply “divided in half” and that
this caused negative consequences suffered, in particular, by the author
of these words and which were unbearable for him. He considered those
divisions and splits to be a burden weighing him down and leading to
his permanent discomfort of living. His additional words did not lead
to anything sensible. Often, he was not even able to define the sides of
this division, its genesis or the causes behind the formation of related
distances, and yet he noticed it and made it socially significant, seem-
ingly considering himself a messenger of some sort. In the later part of
his argumentation, he warned against further divisions and condemned
those causing divisions and fuelling the “Polish-Polish war”. As expected,
he only counted politicians who did not share his worldview among the
dividers. It was them who he considered the source of those divisions. He
had no second thoughts about expressing his negative opinion of them.
Elated, he was convinced that he was the truth-bearer, failing to notice
that suddenly he joined the dividers (in reference to the notion above).
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1
Switzerland AG 2023
P. Borowiec, The Politicization of Social Divisions in Post-War Poland,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26530-3_1
2 P. BOROWIEC
He divided politicians into those who reportedly cause divisions due to
employing dividing as a strategy and those who reportedly abstain from
doing it (at least in his opinion). In other words, into those worthy and
unworthy of trust, not equal to himself. Some he considered superior,
others inferior. The whole of his statement showed disdain for politics, a
wish for the need for unity and universal harmony, but built solely based
on his own vision of order and proper living—which is an expectation
that shocks with its totality and is partially a legacy of communism and its
doctrine of “moral and political unity” (S´wida-Ziemba, 1998, p. 291).
The second observation is related to a statement by Adam Michnik—
a person symbolic of the Polish fight for freedom—from early 2015. It
was a statement anchored in politics and practically opened that [politi-
cally important] year when presidential and parliamentary elections were
held. Michnik made a division “into an authoritarian Poland wanting
to build a police state, and a democratic Poland” (Adam, 2015). The
above statement is clearly significant because both Michnik and the
circles centred around him were reluctant to employ such polarisations.
It cannot be interpreted only as a mechanical attempt at supporting
one of the parties to a political dispute with his own authority and,
therefore, as an instrumental and demagogic strategy. It would consti-
tute a simplification unfair to the source of this concept, very likely
untrue. Therefore, there must be something more in those dichoto-
mous, discursive juxtapositions—hereinafter referred to as practices of
repartition.
These observations and attempts at answering the question of what
the actual reasons for the appearance of social divisions and application of
repartitions—those that lie deeper than the ones suggested by common
sense, political discourse conditions and available scientific knowledge on
divisions, often referred to as the “classic knowledge on the matter”—
are constituted as the basis for the decision to begin research on the
phenomena mentioned above.
The main substantive assumption of this paper is a reflection on the
role of the ideas of justice and equality in Polish social order. The
introduction of the first version of these ideals in 1945, following the
communist distribution ideology, resulted in a permanent revolution of
the social structure and the destruction of existing divisions, differences
and inequalities. The consequences of those processes are still being
felt today. It is necessary to remember that the egalitarian perspec-
tive situates inequalities mainly in the structure, within perspectives of