Socialist realism in Polish literature
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Socialist realism in Poland ( pl, socrealizm) was a socio-political and aesthetic doctrine enforced by the pro-Soviet communist government in the process of
Stalinization Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...
of the post-war
Polish People’s Republic The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million near ...
. The official policy was introduced in 1949 by a decree of the Polish United Workers' Party minister (later, Minister of Culture and Art)
Włodzimierz Sokorski Włodzimierz Sokorski (2 July 1908, Oleksandrivsk – 2 May 1999, Warsaw) was a Polish communist official, writer, military journalist and a brigadier general in the People's Republic of Poland. He was the Minister of Culture and Art responsible ...
. As in all Soviet-dominated
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
countries, Socialist realism became the main instrument of political control in the building of totalitarianism in Poland. However, the trend never became truly dominant. Following Stalin's death on March 5, 1953, and the subsequent
De-Stalinization De-Stalinization (russian: десталинизация, translit=destalinizatsiya) comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the thaw brought about by ascension ...
of all People's Republics, Polish artists, writers and architects started abandoning it around 1955. The De-Stalinization process peaked during the Polish October.


History

The policy was enforced in Poland between 1949 and 1956 amidst the wave of human rights abuses committed by the Ministry of Public Security (secret police/intelligence). It involved all domains of cultural politics including visual, music and literary arts, though its most spectacular achievements were made in the field of architecture. The objectives of this new trend were explained in a 1949 resolution of the National Council of Party Architects. Architecture was declared a key weapon in the creation of a new social order. It was intended to help spread the communist ideology by influencing citizens' consciousness as well as their outlook on life. During this massive undertaking, a crucial role fell to designers perceived not as merely architects creating streets and edifices, but rather as "
engineers of the human soul "Engineers of the human soul" was a term applied to writers and other cultural workers by Joseph Stalin. In the Soviet Union The phrase was apparently coined by Yury Olesha. Viktor Shklovsky said that Olesha used it in a meeting with Stalin a ...
". The idea extended beyond aesthetics and into principles of urban design meant to express grandiose expectations and arouse feelings of stability and political power monopoly in
Stalinist Poland Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...
.


Local characteristics

Since the style of the Renaissance was generally regarded as the most revered in old Polish architecture, it was to become Poland's socialist national format. However, in the course of incorporating these principles into new ideology, major changes were also introduced. One of these was to more closely reflect Soviet architecture, which resulted in the majority of new buildings blending into one another. The all-encompassing Stalinist vision propagated by the Soviet Union was best exemplified by the new Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science (''Pałac Kultury i Nauki imienia Józefa Stalina'') constructed in Warsaw between 1952 and 1955. Its design was based on similar skyscrapers built in the USSR at that time. The 3,500 builders were brought in directly from the Soviet Union with their own blueprints, and housed in a suburban shantytown. The monumental form disseminated by the Communist Government reached its apogee with the construction of an entire new town near Kraków along with a
steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finish ...
soon to become the biggest in Poland. Nowa Huta was centrally planned as a major new centre of heavy industry, against substantial resistance from middle-class Cracovians. Its Main Square (''Plac Centralny'') was surrounded by huge blocks of flats populated by a new class of industrial workers employed at the Lenin Steelworks. Notably, the socrealist centre of Nowa Huta is currently considered a monument of architecture. Other prominent examples of urban design included Marszałkowska Housing Estate (MDM) in Warsaw, Kościuszkowska Housing Estate (KDM) in Wrocław, Main Station
Gdynia Główna Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...
, a housing estate in Kowary, and the Palace of Coal-Basin Culture in Dąbrowa Górnicza.


Painting and sculpture

Socialist
realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...
in
Polish art Art in Poland refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with Poland. Nineteenth century Polish art has often reflected European trends while maintaining its unique character. The Kraków school of history painting developed by Ja ...
was confined to portraits of party leaders and various depictions of muscular labourers and battle scenes, with special attention paid to popular taste. Formally inspired by
Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...
as well as the local folk art, socrealism served strictly political and pro-Soviet propaganda purposes; however, its most notable artists, such as Wojciech Weiss and Włodzimierz Zakrzewski were educated before Stalinism and inadvertently adhered to traditional Western techniques and technologies. Some of the most blatantly socrealist paintings were: "Pass-on the brick" (''Podaj cegłę''
pictured here
by
Aleksander Kobzdej Aleksander Kobzdej (1920–1972) was a Polish painter. He was born in, what was then, Ukraine. Kobzdej is best known for being one of the most prominent representatives of the Polish Social Realist group, and for being the creator of unique Poli ...
, and "Thank you tractor operator" (''Podziękowanie traktorzyście''
pictured here
as well as "Comrade
Bierut Bierut is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bolesław Bierut (1892–1956), Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish desc ...
among labourers" (''Towarzysz Bierut wśród robotników'') by Helena and Juliusz Krajewski. In sculpture, there was a trend toward stone-carved allegories elevating the common worker, used mainly for architectural purposes, such as those surrounding the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, including mostly plaster busts of communist
apparatchik __NOTOC__ An apparatchik (; russian: аппара́тчик ) was a full-time, professional functionary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union or the Soviet government ''apparat'' ( аппарат, apparatus), someone who held any position ...
s. The collection of Polish socrealist sculpture is exhibited at Kozłówka Palace near
Lubartów Lubartów () is a town in eastern Poland, with 23,000 inhabitants (2004), situated in Lublin Voivodeship. It is the capital of Lubartów County and the Lubartów Commune. Historically it belongs to Lesser Poland. Lubartów was established in 154 ...
.


Film and music

While the socialist realism doctrine in Soviet cinema originated around the time of the Bolshevik Revolution ( Eisenstein, Dovzhenko,
Pudovkin Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin ( rus, Всеволод Илларионович Пудовкин, p=ˈfsʲevələt ɪlərʲɪˈonəvʲɪtɕ pʊˈdofkʲɪn; 16 February 1893 – 30 June 1953) was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwrite ...
) and reached its peak in the 1930s, it did not have sufficient time to develop in postwar Poland. Therefore, the cult of the communist party remained alien to the local film industry. Among the more creative
Polish films List of films produced in the Cinema of Poland. For an A-Z list of films currently covered on Wikipedia see Polish films. Interwar * List of films made in Poland in the Interwar Period 1902–1929 * List of Polish films pre 1930 1930s * List o ...
loosely adhering to principles of socialist realism were ''Celuloza'' by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, ''Pokolenie'' by Andrzej Wajda and ''Piątka z ulicy Barskiej'' by
Aleksander Ford Aleksander Ford (born Mosze Lifszyc; 24 November 1908 in Kiev, Russian Empire – 4 April 1980 in Naples, Florida, United States, U.S.) was a Polish film director; and head of the Polish People's Army of Poland, People's Army Film Crew in the Sov ...
. The ideological stereotype gave birth to some inferior productions as well, such as ''Uczta Baltazara'' by Jerzy Zarzycki and Jerzy Passendorfer. In music, the trend was limited to art song, film soundtrack, and pop-song based on local folk tradition. Communist ideals were glorified in lyrics. Among the prominent composers were Jan Maklakiewicz: "Śląsk pracuje i śpiewa" (''Silesia Works and Sings''), Alfred Gradstein: "Na prawo most, na lewo most" (''A Bridge on the Right, and a Bridge on the Left''), and Andrzej Panufnik: "Symfonia Pokoju" (''The Symphony to Peace''). Widely promoted popular songs included "O Nowej to Hucie piosenka" (''This Song is about Nowa Huta''
featured here with the video
The song is still well remembered by most Polish people of the older generation. Following Stalin's death, and especially from 1953 on, critical opinions were heard with increasing frequency. Finally, as part of the Gomułka political thaw from within the Polish United Workers' Party, the entire doctrine was officially given up in 1956.Kimball King (2007),
Western Drama Through the Ages
' Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 232.


See also

* '' Real socialism'' concept of the Brezhnev era


References


Further reading


Socrealism - history, theory, list of publications, references and legal documents.
* Paweł Chmielewski

in the
People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...

Ideological literary front of socrealism:
Broniewski, Mayakovsky,
Pasternak Pasternak or Pasternack (Cyrillic: Пастернак, ) means parsnip, ''Pastinaca sativa'', in Polish, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Yiddish. Notable people with the last name "Pasternak" include: * Anne Pasternak (born 1964), A ...
. * *
Polish Music Center, University of Southern California: Jan Maklakiewicz, biography.
See also


External links



at Marxists.org
Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw

Palace of Coal-Basin Culture
in Dąbrowa Górnicza
Wojciech Weiss Muzeum Foundation

Top 10 Socialist Realist Architectural Sculptures in Warsaw
{{History of the People's Republic of Poland Cultural history of Poland Poland Polish People's Republic Stalinism in Poland