Politics of the past: the use and abuse of history - Socialists ...

Historical Bias in Poland: Lustration
as a Political Instrument
105
Andrzej Friszke
By its very nature, history, and especially recent history, is a very
particular branch of learning. It exists in an uneasy relationship with
the memories of those involved in the events concerned. It can play
an important role in either legitimising or challenging a contemporary
state, its regime and ruling class. History played all those roles
during the inter-war period and then throughout the lifetime of the
People’s Republic of Poland. It continues to play those roles today,
although the contemporary situation has its own specific characteristics.
For the last sixty years, history has been involved in ideological and
political disputes in Poland. That the state and regime of the
People’s Republic of Poland have generally been perceived as negative
is not disputed. The nature of the condemnation of the state
and of the individuals involved is the focus of the dispute. Other
factors in the dispute are the extent to which changes of opinion
and circumstances are taken into account. Criticism of the communist
regime can be so severe that it often overlooks the international
context, the economic and social situation and other people’s
attitudes.
Before moving on to comment on the contemporary situation, I
would like to consider the specific features of the Polish left in the
country’s history over the past decade. Until 1945, leftist ideology
was espoused by the Polish Socialist Party; established in 1892,
it aspired to regain independence and to gradually form a socialist
regime. In the decades that followed, and in particular in 1918, the
Andrzej Friszke is Professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the
Polish Academy of Science in Warsaw. Before 1989, Friszke was active
in underground publications. He is an author of scientific works
on the history of pre-1945 Polish political thought. During the recent
years, he studied various aspects of the history of the Polish People’s
Republic. In 1994, he defended his doctoral thesis entitled “Formation
of Pre-Solidarity Opposition 1968-1980.” In 1999, Friszke was
chosen to serve on the Council of the Institute of National
Remembrance.