The Politicization of Social Divisions in Post-War Poland Piotr Borowiec The Politicization of Social Divisions in Post-War Poland Piotr Borowiec The Politicization of Social Divisions in Post-War Poland Piotr Borowiec Institute of Political Science and International Relations Jagiellonian University Kraków, Poland ISBN 978-3-031-26529-7 ISBN 978-3-031-26530-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26530-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and informa- tion in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Marina Lohrbach_shutterstock.com This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To my daughter Alicja Acknowledgements Many people contributed to my writing of this book, including my colleagues from the Institute of Political Science and International Rela- tions at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. I would like to thank all of them. In particular, I would like to extend my gratitude to Piotr Obacz, Ph.D., for the inspiration provided by his monograph entitled Podział “Polska solidarna—Polska liberalna” w ´swietle wybranych koncepcji plural- izmu politycznego. (2018). It helped me consider many issues related to divisions. Even if I provide different answers to some of the ques- tions he asked, they would not have been formulated had it not been for his paper. I would also like to thank the students of the Political Studies Faculty of the Jagiellonian University, to whom I presented an approach to social divisions and the theory of practices of repartition during political sociology lectures. I am profoundly thankful to them for their critique, patience and inquisitiveness. Kraków, Poland Piotr Borowiec December 2022 vii Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 The First Structural Experiment: Communist-Era Homogenisation 11 3 Consequences of the Experiment: The Division Between Society and the nomenklatura 57 4 The Second Experiment: The Differentiation of the Social Structure 105 5 Consequences of the Second Experiment: The “Winners”–“Losers” Division 151 6 The Formation of Social Divisions and the Theory of Practices of Repartition 197 7 Conclusion 245 Index 253 ix Abbreviations CBOS Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej—Centre for Public Opinion Research GUS Główny Urza˛d Statystyczny—Central Statistical Office KPN Konfederacja Polski Niepodległej—The Confederation of Independent Poland PGR Pan ´stwowe Gospodarstwo Rolne—State Agricultural Farm PKWN Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego—Polish Committee of National Liberation PPR Polska Partia Robotnicza—Polish Workers’ Party PPS Polska Partia Socjalistyczna—Polish Socialist Party PRL Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa—Polish People’s Republic PZPR Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza—Polish United Workers’ Party RP Rzeczpospolita Polska—The Republic of Poland SLD Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej—The Democratic Left Alliance UB Urza˛d Bezpiecze n´stwa—Security Office UE Unia Europejska—European Union ZMP Zwia˛zek Młodziez˙y Polskiej—Union of Polish Youth xi CHAPTER 1 Introduction Two observations formed the basis of my interest in the formation and politicization of social divisions in Poland. Both are seemingly different and perhaps exceptionally trivial but, in practice, they are related to each other, inspire me and bring about scientific research. The first consisted in me realising my growing irritation caused by another passionate statement of a certain public opinion leader in the media, claiming that Polish society was deeply “divided in half” and that this caused negative consequences suffered, in particular, by the author of these words and which were unbearable for him. He considered those divisions and splits to be a burden weighing him down and leading to his permanent discomfort of living. His additional words did not lead to anything sensible. Often, he was not even able to define the sides of this division, its genesis or the causes behind the formation of related distances, and yet he noticed it and made it socially significant, seem- ingly considering himself a messenger of some sort. In the later part of his argumentation, he warned against further divisions and condemned those causing divisions and fuelling the “Polish-Polish war”. As expected, he only counted politicians who did not share his worldview among the dividers. It was them who he considered the source of those divisions. He had no second thoughts about expressing his negative opinion of them. Elated, he was convinced that he was the truth-bearer, failing to notice that suddenly he joined the dividers (in reference to the notion above). © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1 Switzerland AG 2023 P. Borowiec, The Politicization of Social Divisions in Post-War Poland, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26530-3_1 2 P. BOROWIEC He divided politicians into those who reportedly cause divisions due to employing dividing as a strategy and those who reportedly abstain from doing it (at least in his opinion). In other words, into those worthy and unworthy of trust, not equal to himself. Some he considered superior, others inferior. The whole of his statement showed disdain for politics, a wish for the need for unity and universal harmony, but built solely based on his own vision of order and proper living—which is an expectation that shocks with its totality and is partially a legacy of communism and its doctrine of “moral and political unity” (S´wida-Ziemba, 1998, p. 291). The second observation is related to a statement by Adam Michnik— a person symbolic of the Polish fight for freedom—from early 2015. It was a statement anchored in politics and practically opened that [politi- cally important] year when presidential and parliamentary elections were held. Michnik made a division “into an authoritarian Poland wanting to build a police state, and a democratic Poland” (Adam, 2015). The above statement is clearly significant because both Michnik and the circles centred around him were reluctant to employ such polarisations. It cannot be interpreted only as a mechanical attempt at supporting one of the parties to a political dispute with his own authority and, therefore, as an instrumental and demagogic strategy. It would consti- tute a simplification unfair to the source of this concept, very likely untrue. Therefore, there must be something more in those dichoto- mous, discursive juxtapositions—hereinafter referred to as practices of repartition. These observations and attempts at answering the question of what the actual reasons for the appearance of social divisions and application of repartitions—those that lie deeper than the ones suggested by common sense, political discourse conditions and available scientific knowledge on divisions, often referred to as the “classic knowledge on the matter”— are constituted as the basis for the decision to begin research on the phenomena mentioned above. The main substantive assumption of this paper is a reflection on the role of the ideas of justice and equality in Polish social order. The introduction of the first version of these ideals in 1945, following the communist distribution ideology, resulted in a permanent revolution of the social structure and the destruction of existing divisions, differences and inequalities. The consequences of those processes are still being felt today. It is necessary to remember that the egalitarian perspec- tive situates inequalities mainly in the structure, within perspectives of