Liberalism and the Construction of the Democratic Subject in Postcommunism: The Case of Poland

Slavic Review ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine P. Holc
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
The Ideal

In the summer of 1994, political parties in Poland debated yet again the content and form of Poland’s first new constitution since the end of Communist Party rule. These arguments continued a process that had begun in 1989 and would continue until the ratification of a final document in May 1997. During the 1994 debate, each party offered its own version of a constitution, which was closely tied to its particular vision of the ideal new Polish republic. One of these groups was NSZZ Solidarity, the trade union successor to the social movement that had dominated opposition politics in the 1980s. In Solidarity’s version of the constitution, the state’s legitimacy was based on a community of Poles unified by a shared Catholic tradition. Political commentators who supported Solidarity’s constitution described it as follows: “Under the NSZZ Solidarity and presidential drafts [of the constitution] the Republic is the commonweal of the citizens.

Book review: Wiesława Kozek: NSZZ „SOLIDARNOŚĆ” IN THE FRONT OF NEW CHALLENGES SINCE 1989

2021 ◽  
Vol 562 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-32
Author(s):  
Dariusz Zalewski
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Unique Character ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Simultaneous Use ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
Empirical Material

The analysis is based on interviews with four leaders of the Solidarity Trade Union (Lech Wałęsa, Marian Krzaklewski, Janusz Śniadek and Piotr Duda) with the simultaneous use of extensive research achievements on the trade union movement, also co-created by the author, The basic hypotheses that were examined concern the rooting of "Solidarity" "In the popular Catholic tradition and anti-communism, which, according to the author, significantly influenced the process of the evolution of" Solidarity "as a social movement and was / is an obstacle in its functioning as a trade union. The book's empirical material is unique, and the possibility of comparing the opinions and interpretations of various events related to the history and the present of the Association, presented by the interviewees, gives the book a unique character.

Pressure Groups

1942 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Earhart Dillon
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
American People ◽  
Pressure Group ◽  
American Government ◽  
Democratic Government ◽  
Political Literature ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Ideal

In recent political literature, pressure groups have frequently been condemned as a deleterious element in American government. One scholar in the field of political parties writes: “In the economy of democratic government the pressure group is definitely a parasite on the wastage of power exercised by the sovereign majority.” Another scholar uses the following harsh language: “There exist socially created constraints which emanate from less sanctioned or less responsible sources, informal and opportunistic in their operation; they fluctuate incessantly in intensity and direction. These constraints may be called social pressures…. In R. E. Park's comment: ‘The pressure group is not an army which seeks to win battles by frontal attacks on hostile positions; it is, rather, a body of sharp-shooters which pick off its enemies one by one.’” Another student of politics, in a denunciation of pressure groups, says: “It is a testimonial to the faith, the tenacity, or the credulity of the American people that after 150 years they still cling to the forms—without the substance—of democratic government. Since the founding of the Republic the democratic process has been perverted to a greater or less degree by cunning and powerful minorities bent on serving their own interests. The ideal of rule by the majority for the good of the many has been illusory from the start.”

scholarly journals Mark Sandle, Igor Cașu, Leonid Brezhnev in Moldavia, 1950-52: the making of a GenSek?

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-139
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Republic Of Moldova ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact

This is the first article dealing specifically with Brezhnev in Soviet Moldavia. The article draws mainly on recently disclosed files from the Archive of the Social-Political Organizations of the Republic of Moldova, the former archive of the Central Committee of Communist Party of Moldavia. The authors are trying to understand the importance of the period when Brezhnev served as First Secretary of Central Committee of Moldavia from 1950 to 1952 for his subsequent career. In order to understand better the results of Brezhnev’s rule in Moldavian SSR and the impact on his leadership style, the authors discuss the previous career of Brezhnev as well as the activity of the previous First Secretaries in Soviet Moldavia. One of the main results of Brezhnev period in Moldavia was the consolidation of kolkhozes. In a broader sense, since this period at least, Brezhnev favoured quantity over quality.

scholarly journals Social situation and environment of the legal “left” opposition in the modern Russia (on the material of political parties)

2021 ◽  
pp. 102-111
Author(s):  
M.S. Kozyrev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Social Position ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Russian Federation

The purpose of this study is to determine the social status and environment of the counter-elite groups of the legal left opposition, represented by such political parties as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and A Just Russia. The study is based on the relationship between social reality and ideology. The latter is not only a cover or justification by certain social groups of their momentary interests (private ideology), but also a reflection of the social position they occupy (total ideology). Some elements of self-positioning of the left legal elite, its social position and environment, attitude to the socio-economic formation existing in modern Russia, as well as a number of other nuances of the social structure of the Russian Federation are determined. In particular, it was established that Party representatives are not associated with the business elite; the desire to increase the number of supporters of left-wing parties should explain the refusal to focus on any particular social class and the active use of national identity (primarily Russians) in their ideological self-positioning; the circle of social contacts of the leaders of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and “Fair Russia” is limited to groups of the bureaucratic and economic elite, as well as the sub-elite “expert” community (they do not enter into direct social contacts with other social groups); the social position of representatives of the two parties of the legal left opposition is generally similar.

scholarly journals Strajk sierpniowy i Solidarność (1980–1981) widziane z gdańskich męskich domów zakonnych

2020 ◽  
Vol 11-12 ◽  
pp. 35-55
Author(s):  
Leszek Molendowski
Keyword(s):  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Catholic Church

Strajk robotników w Stoczni Gdańskiej im. Lenina w sierpniu 1980 roku oprócz znacznego poparcia społecznego spotkał się z uznaniem, wsparciem oraz pomocą ze strony jedynej niezależnej od władz komunistycznych organizacji w PRL, Kościoła katolickiego. Wśród jego przedstawicieli nie zabrakło duchownych „zza klasztornej furty” – zakonników, których na terytorium diecezji gdańskiej nie brakowało. Gdańscy dominikanie, franciszkanie konwentualni, jezuici, pallotyni, reformaci, oblaci i wielu innych w różnym zakresie oraz stopniu zaangażowania włączyli się w działania na rzecz NSZZ „Solidarność”. Działania te dotyczyły związku zawodowego oraz rodzącego się przy Solidarności ruchu społecznego. Związek i ruch otrzymały wsparcie zakonników nie tylko poprzez opiekę duszpasterską, ale również przez organizowane na ich rzecz zbiórki pieniężne, współudział oraz organizację niezależnego życia artystycznego, pisarskiego, wydawniczego czy pomoc represjonowanym członkom Solidarności i ich rodzinom. Abstract Apart from considerable public support, the workers’ strike at the Lenin Gdańsk Shipyard in August 1980 received recognition and help from the only organization independent of the communist authorities in the Polish People’s Republic: the Catholic Church. Among its representatives there were some monastery clergymen – monks, of whom there were quite a few in the Gdańsk diocese. Dominican friars of Gdańsk, Conventual Franciscans, Jesuits, Pallottines, Reformists, Oblates and many others joined the activities of NSZZ (Independent Self-Governing Trade Union) “Solidarity” and were involved in one way or another. Their activities concentrated on the trade union and the social movement that was emerging around “Solidarity”. The union and the movement received the support of the monks not only through pastoral care, but also through fundraising, organization, and participation in independent artistic, writing and publishing life, as well as through the help given to the repressed members of “Solidarity” and their families.

Continuity or Politikwechsel? The First Federal Red-Green Coalition

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Richter
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Federal Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
First Time ◽  
Party State

In October 1998 the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens1formed a coalition government, the first ever between these parties atthe federal level. In more ways than one, this new coalition marked awatershed in Germany’s post-1945 development. Since 1945, Germanyhad been a democracy in which political parties hold an especiallyprivileged position. This “party-state” has operated almostexclusively through the three major “Bonn” parties, which for nearlya half-century had governed through shifting coalitions. The Greensarose as a social movement challenging this hegemony; yet, only fifteenyears after they first entered the Bundestag, they forged a federalcoalition with one of the established parties they had once attacked.For the first time since 1957, a coalition had been formed thatinvolved not only a party other than the three “Bonn” parties but alsoone not linked to the Federal Republic’s creation. It was, furthermore,the first coalition ever to have resulted unambiguously fromthe wishes of voters.

scholarly journals About an Honorary Citizen and Happy Mother: The Evolution of the Image of Soviet Woman in the 1930s

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 300-309
Author(s):  
Elena V. Bolotova
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Soviet Power ◽  
Double Burden ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Healthy Mother ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
The Ideal

The images constructed in the Soviet period occupy a special place in contemporary Russian culture. Our culture retains links with them whether they continue to exist or attempts are made to deny or overcome them. The article is devoted to the formation of the concept of “Soviet man”, which is often interpreted in a generalized sense in modern Humanities. The novelty of the research is that it focuses on the ima­ge of “Soviet woman”, a gender stereotype introduced by all power of propaganda machine. The work recorded the enrichment of the “working woman” ima­ge with new meanings of “socially active mother”, which appeared in the 1930s. According to the author, this change of the power discourse is based on the implementation of the “social motherhood” project. As a result, the constructed image of the woman “libera­ted from domestic slavery and working socially active mother” became a model and broadcasted by propaganda during the next two decades. In fact, “liberation and equality” declared in the 1920s turned into excuse of the double burden. Remaining a shock worker and social acti­vist, she should comply with ideal of a healthy mother with a healthy child. This is how the ideal Soviet woman appeared, who does everything and is able to do everything, achieves everything herself and actively realizes the opportunities provided by the Soviet power.The sources of the study were articles, letters, reports and illustrations published in 1930—1935 in the magazine “Rabotnitsa”, issued by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks. The author chose this magazine because it had a targeted gender audience, a considerable circulation (about 350,000 copies) and was published three times a month. 

From internationalism to the European Union: An ideological change in the Polish post-communist party?

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Zioło
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
The European Union ◽  
High Ranking ◽  
Party Members ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Ideological Change ◽  
Political Scene ◽  
Made In

The Polish post-communist party Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland (Socjal-demokracja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, SDRP) which survived almost unchanged in the dynamic Polish political scene of the 1990s was one of the leading political parties after 1989. This paper will attempt to explain the ideological journey, which has been taken by the former high-ranking Polish United Workers’ Party members after 1989. Their journey seems to start at the point of internationalism and socialism and ends in the victorious battle to join the European Union. Was this a simple modernized adjustment of the internationalist ideology or an opportunistic choice made in order to survive in the new political and social circumstances? Was choosing a pro-EU policy a choice or a necessity? This analysis will attempt to answer the above questions and describe this phenomenon of change or may be just an ideological continuity.

scholarly journals The Democratic Revolution in the USSR: Can the System Cope with Pluralism?

1992 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 27-49
Author(s):  
Donald R. Kelley
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Democratic Revolution ◽  
The Republic

Gorbachev's democratic revolution in the former Soviet Union fundamentally reshaped not only the political process of his nation but redefined the very nature of the nation itself. Begun as an attempt to implement guided reforms and to develop a political formula that would undercut conservative opposition, the interlocking policies of perestroika, glasnost, and demokratizatsiia acquired a life of their own, setting loose political and social forces that escaped the control of leadership at all levels. The abolition of the monopoly role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the creation of democratically elected legislatures at all levels, and the proliferation of political parties and interest groups have created a truly pluralistic political system. But with such pluralism comes the need to develop mechanisms that will mediate among newly empowered political forces, finding some common ground of compromise and adjustment. In the Soviet context, four such sources of mediational activity are possible: (1) a reformed Communist Party might transform itself into a broad pro-reform coalition; (2) the newly formed political parties and groups might form broad coalitions; (3) the legislature(s) might develop mechanisms fostering the emergence of consensus; and (4) coordination might be provided by the all-union and republic presidencies. Yet even before the coup attempt, little progress had been made in finding widespread consensus, and the post-coup dispersal of power to the republic level has made the system even less likely to produce such agreement.

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