Realizm polityczny „Tygodnika Powszechnego” (1945-1989)

Abstract

The political realism of ,,Tygodnik Powszechny” (1945-1989)

In the history of „Tygodnik Powszechny” under the administration of the communist government, I distinguish four periods – each one characterized by a different attitude of its environment to communism. The first one (1945‑1948) was dominated by the aim to create an ideological alternative towards the new power; the second one (1949‑1953) in which the goal of survival, in the face of communism’s inevitable victory, prevailed; the third one (1956/7-1976), characterized by willingness to cohabitate and limited collaboration; and the fourth one (1977‑1989), which saw the exit from People’s Republic of Poland communist system. Glancing on this history through the prism of political realism, one can establish, that „Tygodnik” disregarded its guidelines in the first period (1945‑1948), tried to fulfill them – in a very original way nonetheless – in the second period (1949‑1953), and finally became its eulogist, having created its own doctrine of catholic political realism in the actuality of a communist state, in the third one (1956/7‑1976). The fourth period (1977‑1989), however, is difficult to classify in this aspect.