Jan Skórzynski on the realism of the 1968 generation

The 1968 movements in Western and Eastern Europe had little in common, Polish journalist Jan Skórzynski writes in an essay: "Unlike in the West, in 1968 the generation gap played a secondary role in Poland. ... During a demonstration at the University of Warsaw the student movement turned into a mass movement. ... The demand for the abolishment of censorship was one of the first political slogans of the unrest in Poland in March 1968. Calls for freedom of assembly and association followed. At this point it's important to note that the protestors were not demanding free elections. In this respect they were realists. What they did demand was a certain degree of control over the authorities in the political as well as the economic sphere. ... After 1968 the students gradually became integrated in the political and intellectual establishment of their respective countries. Polish dissidents met up with each other again either in prison or in exile."

» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Social movements, » History, » Poland, » Eastern Europe
All available articles from » Jan Skórzynski

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, March 11, 2008