Manchester University Press
12 Meanings of 1989
Abstract
Complaints about the lack of a revolutionary moment in Polish politics had already been voiced before the presidential and parliamentary elections of 1990 and 1991. The Solidarity camp became internally divided over the question of how to deal with the non-democratic past and its representatives. This division and subsequent dissolution of the movement opened the way for the formation of right-wing parties. This chapter analyses the different discursive strategies adopted in the struggle to define the three key categories which have constituted the collective political memory of 1989: the Round Table, Magdalenka and the 'thick line'. It presents four problems, with a set of corresponding questions, which serve as a matrix to analyse the public statements of right-wing politicians in Poland between 1990 and 2000.
Abstract
Complaints about the lack of a revolutionary moment in Polish politics had already been voiced before the presidential and parliamentary elections of 1990 and 1991. The Solidarity camp became internally divided over the question of how to deal with the non-democratic past and its representatives. This division and subsequent dissolution of the movement opened the way for the formation of right-wing parties. This chapter analyses the different discursive strategies adopted in the struggle to define the three key categories which have constituted the collective political memory of 1989: the Round Table, Magdalenka and the 'thick line'. It presents four problems, with a set of corresponding questions, which serve as a matrix to analyse the public statements of right-wing politicians in Poland between 1990 and 2000.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Acknowledgements x
- List of abbreviations and glossary of terms xi
- Timeline xiv
- Leaders of East European and Soviet communist parties, 1945–91 xvii
- East European communist parties and their post-communist successors xix
- 1 The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe 1
-
Part I The historical longue duree
- 2 Echoes and precedents 33
-
Part II The 'Gorbachev factor'
- 3 The multifaceted external Soviet role in processes towards unanticipated revolutions 55
- 4 ‘When your neighbour changes his wallpaper’ 73
-
Part III The East European revolutions: internal and external perspectives
- 5 The demise of communism in Poland 95
- 6 The international context of Hungarian transition, 1989 113
- 7 Creating security from below 136
- 8 The demise of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, 1987–89 154
- 9 Discourse and power 172
- 10 A revolution in two stages 192
-
Part IV Then and now: continuity and change in the academic and cultural perceptions of the communist era and its aftermath
- 11 A hopeless case of optimism? 213
- 12 Meanings of 1989 235
- 13 From the ‘thirst for change’ and ‘hunger for truth’ to a ‘revolution that hardly happened’ 253
- Afterword 271
- Select bibliography 285
- Index 289
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Acknowledgements x
- List of abbreviations and glossary of terms xi
- Timeline xiv
- Leaders of East European and Soviet communist parties, 1945–91 xvii
- East European communist parties and their post-communist successors xix
- 1 The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe 1
-
Part I The historical longue duree
- 2 Echoes and precedents 33
-
Part II The 'Gorbachev factor'
- 3 The multifaceted external Soviet role in processes towards unanticipated revolutions 55
- 4 ‘When your neighbour changes his wallpaper’ 73
-
Part III The East European revolutions: internal and external perspectives
- 5 The demise of communism in Poland 95
- 6 The international context of Hungarian transition, 1989 113
- 7 Creating security from below 136
- 8 The demise of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, 1987–89 154
- 9 Discourse and power 172
- 10 A revolution in two stages 192
-
Part IV Then and now: continuity and change in the academic and cultural perceptions of the communist era and its aftermath
- 11 A hopeless case of optimism? 213
- 12 Meanings of 1989 235
- 13 From the ‘thirst for change’ and ‘hunger for truth’ to a ‘revolution that hardly happened’ 253
- Afterword 271
- Select bibliography 285
- Index 289
