Magazine / History / Narrating the Nation / Article | 06/05/2008

Communism in eastern central European national histories, by Attila Pók

« back . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4

Poland: the Christ among nations

As a result of the two World Wars, Hungary lost about two thirds of its territory. More than one third of all Hungarians became national minorities in other states. In spite of indescribable sufferings, Poland by contrast was able to end both wars as a victor. After the Second World War there was a huge gap, in a country exhausted by civil war, between the Communists' propaganda about liberation and the daily experiences of the masses. Thus the national self-image of Poland as the crucified Christ among people, which had originated in the age of Romanticism when Poland was divided and incorporated into the territory of three different empires, was able to survive almost untouched in the popular collective memory.

There was an important interface between the forced official view of history and the one held by most people. In the apt words of Claudia Kraft: "The Communist theoreticians of Poland's shift to the West linked together (geo-) political and socio-economic ideas in their arguments: they said that the new territorial order after the war corresponded to the conception of Polish history of the Piastic dukes, which was said to have the advantage that it freed the country from the minorities problem which had burdened the Second Republic. In addition, it gave Poland a safe strategic situation against the German aggressor, and opened up the prospect of peaceful coexistence with Poland's Eastern neighbours. Just as, according to this interpretation, the Jagiellonian kings' conception of Poland, which extended far into the East, was supported by the "exploiter class” of Polish landowners, so Piastic Poland was presented as the predecessor of the "People's Poland”, serving the interests of the population at large. [1]

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and of the Communist regime in Poland, and especially after Poland joined the EU on 1st May 1944, this view has become anachronistic. In spite of the long intellectual and political tradition of anti-Communism in the country, and in spite of the triumph of the opposition against the Communist party in 1989, there is still no clear historical discourse about the role of Communism in the national history of Poland. The party political struggles are heavily influenced by the different positions taken on this question. The Social Democrats, many of whom came from the old Communist Party (the Polish United Workers' Party, PZPR) emphasise that the incorporation of Poland into the Soviet bloc represented the only realistic alternative for the reconstruction of the state after the Second World War. The Communists are thereby presented as defenders of the national interest; without their collaboration with the Soviets, Poland would not have been able to resist German imperialism. The division of Poland between Hitler and Stalin in 1939 is usually glossed over.

The thesis that the decades of Communist power have had an exceptionally deep influence on society, and that in this sense all Poles are to some extent "post-Communists”, has been propagated with some success. On the right wing of the political spectrum, it is assumed the Communist state was confronted by a society, the overwhelming majority of the population, which defended traditional national values and the idea of the simultaneous struggle against both the Eastern and Western enemies of the Poles. Seen from this perspective, the former Party bureaucrats and other holders of power under Communism count as traitors to the Polish national interest who should be judicially and morally condemned.[2]

Outlook

The long years of theoretical and political effort by Communist ideologues and those in power did not succeed in their attempt to fuse Communist ideas with national ideologies in East Central European societies. It proved impossible to convince those societies that the internationalism of "all proletarians of the world” could be harmonised with the defence of national interests. Practical experience has shown the opposite.

The experience of the system change in East Central Europe, and the process of European integration do, however, show that after the grandiose collapse of Communist internationalism, intellectuals in East Central Europe should not be spared the challenge of developing supranational identities.

« back . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4

Further articles on the subject » History, » Weltanschauung, » Europe
More from the press review on the subject » History, » Weltanschauung, » Europe