Dealing with the Stalinist Past in Contemporary Poland

Nearly 28 years ago on the 4 th of June 1989, a Polish TV presenter declared that the communism in Poland was over. This blunt declaration was cheered by most of the Polish population and the democratic opposition. The Polish People's Republic (PRL) was over. The history of the PRL can be easily divided on the four main periods. The first and most painful period in the history of the PRL was the strongly totalitarian Stalinist regime. This regime faced organized political and military opposition from forces loyal to the political movements and parties of the Second Polish Republic. The years between 1944 and 1956 witnessed full scale insurrection against the communist order; which was enforced by Soviet forces and maintained by their presence ever since. Even now the history of the armed struggle of “cursed soldiers” against the foreign oppressors and their local collaborators causes an uncrossable gap between the right wing and left wing movements. The former sees it as another glorious example of a Polish uprising against oppressive foreign regimes, for the latter it is nothing more than a disciplinary campaign against armed groups of bandits. The narrative used by the communist propaganda, to hide the crimes committed against their political opponents, is now in the core of how the “new left” thinks of post-war history. As the division between the right and left is not always an easy task, I propose in the case of contemporary Poland to look not at the economic and political programs, but instead on their attitude towards the “Transformation”. In this case, right wing movements tend to contest the process of “Transformation”, as the betrayal of the anti-communist principles of Solidarity; a betrayal symbolized by the compromise at the Round Table. The left on the other hand, prize themselves on the successful and bloodless transition to democracy. The Polish Third Republic under both left and right wing governments persuaded a strong patriotic education. The history of the Kingdom of Poland, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, romantic uprisings of the XIXth century and the horrors of the first half of the XXth century are taught throughout all levels of public education. Yet the crimes of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s were systematically omitted by the dominant left wing elites. In my presentation, I want to show how the state policies towards the Stalinist past have changed since the domination of the left wing elites was challenged on the political, historical and cultural grounds, by the right wing counter-elites. I also wish to focus attention on the different ways, in which the historical policies were handled and disseminated by both sides of the political spectrum.