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

The right’s criticism of the method adapted to transition from communism
is particularly harsh. The criticism relates to the Round
Table process; portrayed as an alliance between so-called Reds,
people with a communist past, and so-called Pinks, people with
liberal left-wing views and links with Solidarność. Accordingly, the
history of the opposition movement is also criticised, both by seeking
evidence of alleged treason and by attempting to create an alternative
version of history. Obviously, particularly strong criticism
is addressed at the nature of the Polish transition and at the Third
Republic’s system of government, described as the Round Table
Pact. It is alleged that public debate was dominated by a so-called
dictatorship of the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and Adam Michnik.
There is also criticism of the alleged desire to inject liberalism
into Poland after 1989, particularly in relation to social behaviour,
and the lack of a sufficiently emotional and uniform approach to
Poland’s past, weak anti-communism, a subservient foreign policy
and the introduction of obstacles preventing inadequate expression
of genuine grassroots national feelings.
The right resorted to all these tactics as it turned to the social
groups adversely affected by the economic change of the 1990s,
the working class included, whose perceived material and social
deterioration was exploited. The concerns of pensioners and the
preoccupations of areas that felt condemned to lag behind the
major provincial centres were also exploited. The trade unions either
allowed themselves to be dominated by post-communists or
sought alliances with the ideological right.
In these circumstances, meaningful reference to left-wing values
and left-wing heritage is impossible. Major entities within the trade
union movement are either pinning their hopes on the right and
adopting its approach or, alternatively, are moving towards the then
influential post-communist party. The ideological anti-communism
of the right has brought a range of groups previously linked to the
Polish United Workers’ Party and its social organisations closer together.
In the current context, recourse to leftist economic projects
is unviable and would certainly be ineffective. Left-wing social
causes such as feminism and the environment remain on the
agenda, but there is no proper understanding or tradition of these
issues in Poland. The fact that the average citizen equates the left
with communism creates a further obstacle.
109 Andrzej Friszke