Socialist realism in Polish literature
Encyclopedia
Socialist realism was a political doctrine
enforced in Poland
by the Soviet-sponsored communists government soon after the end of World War II and the Soviet takeover
of the country. It was a considerably short period in the history of Polish literature
marked by public fear caused by the gross abuses of power by state security forces. The policy was introduced during the Polish Writers Association's 4th Congress, which took place in Szczecin
from 20th to 22 January 1949. From this point until the end of Stalinism
in the People's Republic
, Socialist realism was an official cultural policy of the country. Writers and poets created works glorifying Joseph Stalin
, the Communist doctrine
, and the Polish United Workers' Party
. Following Stalin's death, there were some critical opinions expressed about such literature, but Socialist realism was still being practised until the 1956 Polish October
, when the policy was finally given up.
who didn't want to glorify communism, so they were absent from cultural life. Others were blacklisted. But most of writers and poets obeyed the government's new cultural policies and were willing to describe the People's Republic of Poland
as a land of happiness and freedom living under the benign dispensations of the Communist Party.
There were two generations of authors. The first consisted of writers who had already made names for themselves before World War II
, publishing books in the interwar period or during the war. Some of them were fascinated by the new order, and genuinely believed that communism would help the workers, the farmers and the poor. Because of that they joined the Polish United Workers' Party and became political activists like Leon Kruczkowski
(playwright) who became a Member of Parliament, or the poet Julian Przyboś
- who entered diplomatic service and was posted to Switzerland
. Those writers who cooperated with the government wielded a strong influence over the entirety of cultural life in Poland. One writer and publicist, Jerzy Putrament
, was made a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party in recognition of his loyalty to the communist cause.
The second generation of writers was known as The Spotty-Faced (the origin of the nickname is a matter of dispute, with sources variously attributing its coinage to Julian Przyboś
, Jan Kott
or Zofia Nałkowska). Those were young authors convinced that communism was a fair social system who made their debuts believing that as writers and poets they should make all the people believe in the ideas of Karl Marx
and Vladimir Lenin
. Some of them, like Wiktor Woroszylski, Andrzej Braun and Witold Wirpsza, dominated literature and had a strong political impact locally, provoking a degree of anxiety in other writers because of their zeal and self-confidence. The Spotty-Faced" lost their influence after the Polish Thaw, and many slipped into literary oblivion.
There was also a small group of writers which included famous authors and emerging names who refused to write socialist realistic novels, and chose to remain silent. They published their books after the end of Bierut's era. Zbigniew Herbert and Miron Białoszewski debuted in 1955, Jerzy Zawieyski
, a Catholic writer and playwright (debuted in 1921) was denied publication. Such contrarian voices were often connected to the Catholic magazine Tygodnik Powszechny
.
: Janina Dziarnowska's Jesteśmy z Nowej Huty (We Are From Nowa Huta) or Początek opowieści (The Beginning of the Story) by Marian Brandys.
The story of the social realist novel is schematic and uncomplicated. The establishing opening often shows a factory ruined by war, operated by disheartened and corrupt staff. The future is shrouded with a sense of gloom. The only upright, positive characters are the local activists from the Polish United Workers' Party, but even they find themselves unable to convince the workers of the advantages of the Six-Year Plan
. There is always a positive character who tries to encourage the others to work better and to join the Party. He fails initially because of the machinations of the villain, but as time goes by the rest of the workforce is made to see the light and to embrace the ideas of the Six-Year Plan. The plant begins to prosper, and everyone's personal problems are also solved to arrive at the obligatory happy ending.
A typical positive character wants to be a fine worker, perhaps even an udarnik
. He is an idealist, a man of strong communist convictions who makes speeches in political rallies and spends a lot of time reading Marxist literature, especially Krótki kurs historii WKP(b) (A short story of All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks)) and Stalin's Zagadnienia leninizmu (Questions of leninism). He could be an experienced worker who had long believed in communism, or a young men imbued with fresh enthusiasm for the new times. The protagonist is kind, intelligent, devoted to the Party, and always willing to help. The factory owes every improvement and invention to him. His greatest dream is to play his part in the victory of communism. At the end of a socialist realist novel his efforts find recognition and, if he was a bachelor, he finds a true love.
The antagonist is a political adversary and a member of a hostile social class like the bourgeoisie. Never a mere criminal, he must be an actual enemy of the people
. He could be a former (pre-war) police officer, a factory owner or a sanation political operative. In some novels he is a spy from the United States, the United Kingdom, West Germany
or France
. The villain detests communism and hates the workers; he is typically a nasty, merciless piece of work, prepared to inflict unflinching harm on all around him, like committing acts of sabotage or conspiring against the hero. At the end of the novel he is unmasked (usually by the hero or by a member of the secret police) and imprisoned.
There are also supporting characters, such as the local leader of the Party. He is often portrayed as a wise, righteous man, mentoring the young hero and acting as his patron. He gives warnings to his young friend about the conspiring enemies, and advises him to be always on guard against the lurking dangers of imperialist forces. Another typical character is an old worker, engineer or craftman who remembers the pre-war days in Poland. He has no enthusiasm for communism, and even wants Poland to be liberated from the Soviet Union.
Especially noteworthy was the spate of lyrics on Joseph Stalin and other communist politicians. In Adam Ważyk's poem The River Stalin's wisdom is compared to a great river which circles the Earth, uniting people all over the world to bring them peace and joy. Władysław Broniewski wrote the lyric A few words about Stalin in which Stalin is described as the driver of "history's train".
In 1955 poet Adam Ważyk
(a member of the Polish United Workers' Party and a staunch supporter of Communism) published A Poem for Adults ("Poemat dla dorosłych"), which described postwar Poland in a critical way. Although Ważyk was a voice of Stalinism beforehand, he eventually rejected it, and criticised the results of it in the country, but only at the time of its impending disintegration. Ważyk was strongly criticised for this long poem which appeared in Nowa Kultura, an official publication of the Association of Polish Writers controlled by the Communists. It was a turning point in the wave of literary critiques of the Stalinist regime since 1956.
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
enforced in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
by the Soviet-sponsored communists government soon after the end of World War II and the Soviet takeover
History of Poland (1945–1989)
The history of Poland from 1945 to 1989 spans the period of Soviet Communist dominance imposed after the end of World War II over the People's Republic of Poland...
of the country. It was a considerably short period in the history of Polish literature
Polish literature
Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages, used in Poland over the centuries, have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Yiddish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German and...
marked by public fear caused by the gross abuses of power by state security forces. The policy was introduced during the Polish Writers Association's 4th Congress, which took place in Szczecin
Szczecin
Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
from 20th to 22 January 1949. From this point until the end of Stalinism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
in the People's Republic
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
, Socialist realism was an official cultural policy of the country. Writers and poets created works glorifying Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, the Communist doctrine
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, and the Polish United Workers' Party
Polish United Workers' Party
The Polish United Workers' Party was the Communist party which governed the People's Republic of Poland from 1948 to 1989. Ideologically it was based on the theories of Marxism-Leninism.- The Party's Program and Goals :...
. Following Stalin's death, there were some critical opinions expressed about such literature, but Socialist realism was still being practised until the 1956 Polish October
Polish October
Polish October, also known as October 1956, Polish thaw, or Gomułka's thaw, marked a change in the Polish internal political scene in the second half of 1956...
, when the policy was finally given up.
Authors
During Stalinism there were no independent publishers or newspapers. Writers and poets had to write books compatible with the official doctrine or they were denied publication. There were some authors like Zbigniew HerbertZbigniew Herbert
Zbigniew Herbert was an influential Polish poet, essayist, drama writer, author of plays, and moralist. A member of the Polish resistance movement – Home Army during World War II, he is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers...
who didn't want to glorify communism, so they were absent from cultural life. Others were blacklisted. But most of writers and poets obeyed the government's new cultural policies and were willing to describe the People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
as a land of happiness and freedom living under the benign dispensations of the Communist Party.
There were two generations of authors. The first consisted of writers who had already made names for themselves before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, publishing books in the interwar period or during the war. Some of them were fascinated by the new order, and genuinely believed that communism would help the workers, the farmers and the poor. Because of that they joined the Polish United Workers' Party and became political activists like Leon Kruczkowski
Leon Kruczkowski
Leon Kruczkowski was a Polish writer and publicist, and a prominent figure of the Polish theatre in the post-WWII period. He wrote books and dramas. His best known work is the drama "Niemcy" written in 1949....
(playwright) who became a Member of Parliament, or the poet Julian Przyboś
Julian Przybos
Julian Przyboś was a Polish poet, essayist and translator, one of the most important poets of Kraków Avantgarde....
- who entered diplomatic service and was posted to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Those writers who cooperated with the government wielded a strong influence over the entirety of cultural life in Poland. One writer and publicist, Jerzy Putrament
Jerzy Putrament
Jerzy Putrament was a Polish writer, poet, editor, publicist and politician.-Biography:Jerzy Putrament was born into a family with patriotic traditions...
, was made a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party in recognition of his loyalty to the communist cause.
The second generation of writers was known as The Spotty-Faced (the origin of the nickname is a matter of dispute, with sources variously attributing its coinage to Julian Przyboś
Julian Przybos
Julian Przyboś was a Polish poet, essayist and translator, one of the most important poets of Kraków Avantgarde....
, Jan Kott
Jan Kott
Jan Kott was a well-known Polish critic and theoretician of the theatre.Born in Warsaw in 1914, Kott moved to the United States in 1966 and lectured at Yale and Berkeley. A poet, translator, and critic, he was also one of the finest essayists of the Polish school...
or Zofia Nałkowska). Those were young authors convinced that communism was a fair social system who made their debuts believing that as writers and poets they should make all the people believe in the ideas of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
. Some of them, like Wiktor Woroszylski, Andrzej Braun and Witold Wirpsza, dominated literature and had a strong political impact locally, provoking a degree of anxiety in other writers because of their zeal and self-confidence. The Spotty-Faced" lost their influence after the Polish Thaw, and many slipped into literary oblivion.
There was also a small group of writers which included famous authors and emerging names who refused to write socialist realistic novels, and chose to remain silent. They published their books after the end of Bierut's era. Zbigniew Herbert and Miron Białoszewski debuted in 1955, Jerzy Zawieyski
Jerzy Zawieyski
Jerzy Zawieyski, born Henryk Nowicki, was a Polish playwright, prose writer, Catholic political activist and amateur stage actor...
, a Catholic writer and playwright (debuted in 1921) was denied publication. Such contrarian voices were often connected to the Catholic magazine Tygodnik Powszechny
Tygodnik Powszechny
Tygodnik Powszechny is a Polish Roman Catholic weekly magazine, focusing on social and cultural issues. Established in 1945 under the auspices of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, Jerzy Turowicz was its editor-in-chief until his death in 1999. He was succeeded by priest Adam Boniecki.-History:The...
.
Factory literature
Socialist realist writers aimed to portray ordinary people and their daily life. The plot of a typical socialist realist novel or short story was usually set in the workplace, so this kind of books is often referred to as factory literature (Polish: produkcyjniaki). Factories, coal mines, construction sites, small towns and villages were typical locations. Some novels depicted major communist construction projects like Nowa HutaNowa Huta
Nowa Huta - is the easternmost district of Kraków, Poland, . With more than 200,000 inhabitants it is one of the most populous areas of the city.- History :...
: Janina Dziarnowska's Jesteśmy z Nowej Huty (We Are From Nowa Huta) or Początek opowieści (The Beginning of the Story) by Marian Brandys.
The story of the social realist novel is schematic and uncomplicated. The establishing opening often shows a factory ruined by war, operated by disheartened and corrupt staff. The future is shrouded with a sense of gloom. The only upright, positive characters are the local activists from the Polish United Workers' Party, but even they find themselves unable to convince the workers of the advantages of the Six-Year Plan
Six-Year Plan
Six-Year Plan was the second - after the Three-Year Plan - centralized plan of the People's Republic of Poland. It concentrated on increasing the heavy industry sector. Interestingly, this six year plan has the distinction of covering only 5 years...
. There is always a positive character who tries to encourage the others to work better and to join the Party. He fails initially because of the machinations of the villain, but as time goes by the rest of the workforce is made to see the light and to embrace the ideas of the Six-Year Plan. The plant begins to prosper, and everyone's personal problems are also solved to arrive at the obligatory happy ending.
A typical positive character wants to be a fine worker, perhaps even an udarnik
Udarnik
Udarnik is a Russian, Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian term for a superproductive worker in the Soviet Union and ex-Yugoslavia. The term is derived from the expression "udarny trud" for "superproductive, enthusiastic labour", which is often translated as strike labour , and udarnik as strike worker,...
. He is an idealist, a man of strong communist convictions who makes speeches in political rallies and spends a lot of time reading Marxist literature, especially Krótki kurs historii WKP(b) (A short story of All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks)) and Stalin's Zagadnienia leninizmu (Questions of leninism). He could be an experienced worker who had long believed in communism, or a young men imbued with fresh enthusiasm for the new times. The protagonist is kind, intelligent, devoted to the Party, and always willing to help. The factory owes every improvement and invention to him. His greatest dream is to play his part in the victory of communism. At the end of a socialist realist novel his efforts find recognition and, if he was a bachelor, he finds a true love.
The antagonist is a political adversary and a member of a hostile social class like the bourgeoisie. Never a mere criminal, he must be an actual enemy of the people
Enemy of the people
The term enemy of the people is a fluid designation of political or class opponents of the group using the term. The term implies that the "enemies" in question are acting against society as a whole. It is similar to the notion of "enemy of the state". The term originated in Roman times as ,...
. He could be a former (pre-war) police officer, a factory owner or a sanation political operative. In some novels he is a spy from the United States, the United Kingdom, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
or France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The villain detests communism and hates the workers; he is typically a nasty, merciless piece of work, prepared to inflict unflinching harm on all around him, like committing acts of sabotage or conspiring against the hero. At the end of the novel he is unmasked (usually by the hero or by a member of the secret police) and imprisoned.
There are also supporting characters, such as the local leader of the Party. He is often portrayed as a wise, righteous man, mentoring the young hero and acting as his patron. He gives warnings to his young friend about the conspiring enemies, and advises him to be always on guard against the lurking dangers of imperialist forces. Another typical character is an old worker, engineer or craftman who remembers the pre-war days in Poland. He has no enthusiasm for communism, and even wants Poland to be liberated from the Soviet Union.
Poetry
Poetry was prized for its emotional potential to raise the flagging spirits and stir faith in the revolution. Socialist realist poetry focused on the beauty of the postwar world, the value of work and the general enthusiasm for the government. Socialist realist lyrics were similar to hymns and eulogies, and glorified factories, ships, coal and electricity.Especially noteworthy was the spate of lyrics on Joseph Stalin and other communist politicians. In Adam Ważyk's poem The River Stalin's wisdom is compared to a great river which circles the Earth, uniting people all over the world to bring them peace and joy. Władysław Broniewski wrote the lyric A few words about Stalin in which Stalin is described as the driver of "history's train".
In 1955 poet Adam Ważyk
Adam Wazyk
Adam Ważyk born Ajzyk Wagman was a Polish poet, essayist and writer born to a Jewish family in Warsaw. In his early career, he was associated with the Kraków avant-garde led by Tadeusz Peiper who published Zwrotnica monthly. Ważyk wrote several collections of poetry in the interwar years...
(a member of the Polish United Workers' Party and a staunch supporter of Communism) published A Poem for Adults ("Poemat dla dorosłych"), which described postwar Poland in a critical way. Although Ważyk was a voice of Stalinism beforehand, he eventually rejected it, and criticised the results of it in the country, but only at the time of its impending disintegration. Ważyk was strongly criticised for this long poem which appeared in Nowa Kultura, an official publication of the Association of Polish Writers controlled by the Communists. It was a turning point in the wave of literary critiques of the Stalinist regime since 1956.