Keywords
the common
anti-capitalism
hegemony
Polish politics
How to Cite
Abstract
The subject of the article is the recent rise in significance of anti-communist discourses on the example of Polish anti-communism. The aim of the article is twofold. Firstly, to test the limits of usefulness of the theory of hegemony in the critique of anti-communism. I claim that it remains operative as an analytic tool to track practical uses of anti-communism in political rivalry, but it is unable to conceptualize more systemic and non-apparent operations of anti-communist logics in the machinery of contemporary capitalism. I propose an alternative interpretation of anti-communism, drawing mostly on post-operaist Marxism of the common and acknowledging its theoretical assumptions with recent research on the Polish popular classes and their bottom-up social practices. Secondly, I present a hypothesis, according to which proper understanding of the particular example of Polish anti-communism could be helpful to understand the functioning of universal anti-communism as a reaction to the struggles to institute the common.References
Bayer, Lili. 2018. “The New Communists”. https://www.politico.eu/article/new-communists-hungary-poland-viktor-orban-jaroslaw-kaczynski/.
Bobako, Monika. 2017. Islamofobia jako technologia władzy: Studium z antropologii politycznej. Kraków: Universitas.
Buden, Boris. 2012. Strefa przejścia: O końcu postkomunizmu. Trans. Michał Sutowski. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej.
Ceplair, Larry. 2011. Anti-communism in Twentieth-Century America: A Critical History. Denver–Oxford–Santa Barbara: Praeger.
Cienski, Jan. 2017. “Polish conservative’s PR pushback”, https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-nato-bases-germany-pis-waszczykowski-commission/.
Czerniak, Maciej. 2013. “Ksiądz Oko w Bydgoszczy: Genderyzm jest jak marksizm”. https://pomorska.pl/ksiadz-dariusz-oko-w-bydgoszczy-genderyzm-jest-jak-marksizm/ar/7422761.
De Angelis, Massimo. 2001. “Marx and Primitive Accumulation: The Continuous Character of Capital’s ‘Enclosures’”. The Commoner 2.
Dean, Jodi. 2019. “Anti-communism is all around us”. Praktyka Teoretyczna 1(31).
Derrida, Jacques. 1994. Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International. Trans. Peggy Kamuf. London–New York: Routledge.
Dockx, Nico and Pascal Gielen (eds.). 2018. Commonism: A New Aesthetics of the Real. Antwerp: valiz.
Drozda, Łukasz. 2015. Lewactwo: Historia dyskursu o polskiej lewicy radykalnej. Warszawa: Książka i Prasa.
Durman, Natalia. 2018. “Burza po słowach Donalda Tuska o ‘bolszewikach’: Tak się tłumaczy”. https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/burza-po-slowach-donalda-tuska-o-bolszewikach-tak-sie-tlumaczy-6316145891067521a.
Fidelis, Małgorzata. 2014. Women, Communism and Industrialization in Postwar Poland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gerrits, André. 2009. The Myth of Jewish Communism: A Historical Interpretation. New York: Lang.
Golinczak, Michalina. 2019. “Communism as General Crime: An Attempt At Analysing Anti-Communist Discourse in Contemporary Poland”. Praktyka Teoretyczna 1(31).
Grabowska, Małgorzata. 2018. Zerwana genealogia: Działalność społeczna i polityczna kobiet po 1945 roku a współczesny polski ruch kobiecy. Warszawa: Scholar.
Gross, Jan Tomasz. 2007. Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz. New York: Random House.
Grzymski, Jan. 2016. Powrót do Europy – polski dyskurs: Wyznaczanie perspektywy krytycznej. Warszawa: Oficyna Wydawnicza Uczelni Łazarskiego.
Hardt, Michael and Antonio Negri. 2009. Commonwealth. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Hardy, Jane. 2009. Poland’s New Capitalism. London: Pluto Press.
Harvey, David. 2010. The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism. New York–Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Holubec, Stanislav and Agnieszka Mrozik. 2018. “Introduction: Historical Memory of European Communisms Before and After 1989”. In Historical Memory of Central and East European Communism, eds. Stanislav Holubec and Agnieszka Mrozik. New York–Oxon: Routledge.
Judt, Tony. 2011. A Grand Illusion? An Essay on Europe. New York–London: New York University Press.
Kenney, Padraic. 1997. Rebuilding Poland: Workers and Communists, 1945-1950. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Klein, Naomi. 2007. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Kłoszewski, Jakub. 2017. “Kaczyński: obowiązującą Konstytucję można nazwać postkomunistyczną”. https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/kaczynski-obowiazujaca-konstytucje-mozna-nazwac-postkomunistyczna-6108010390714497a.
Koć, Justyna. 2018. “Dr Marek Migalski: To wobec własnego obozu Kaczyński mógłby dziś krzyczeć ‘komuniści i złodzieje’”. https://wiadomo.co/dr-marek-migalski-to-wobec-wlasnego-obozu-kaczynski-moglby-dzis-krzyczec-komunisci-i-zlodzieje/.
Kowalewski, Mariusz. 2018. “Portal tvp.info ujawnia: Będzie dezubekizacja w szkolnictwie wyższym”. https://www.tvp.info/35692716/portal-tvpinfo-ujawnia-bedzie-dezubekizacja-w-szkolnictwie-wyzszym.
Kowalik, Tadeusz. 2012. From Solidarity to Sellout: The Restoration of Capitalism in Poland. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Kowalska, Dorota. 2013. “Giertych: PiS to formacja wręcz postkomunistyczna. Kaczyński wraca do cytatów z Marksa i Lenina”.
Laclau, Ernesto. 2000a. “Identity and Hegemony: The Role of Universality in the Constitution of Political Logics”. In Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Žižek. Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues on the Left. London–New York: Verso.
Laclau, Ernesto. 2000b. “Structure, History and the Political”. In Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Žižek. Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues on the Left. London–New York: Verso.
Laclau, Ernesto. 2007. Emancipation(s). London–New York: Verso.
Laclau, Ernesto and Chantal Mouffe. 2001. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. London–New York: Verso.
Lefort, Claude. 1988. Democracy and Political Theory. Trans. David Macey. Cambridge–Oxford: Polity Press.
Leszczyński, Adam. 2018. “Czy Marks ‘zachęcał do rewolucyjnego holokaustu’? Anatomia pewnej manipulacji”. https://oko.press/czy-marks-zachecal-do-rewolucyjnego-holokaustu-anatomia-pewnej-manipulacji/.
Liebman, Marcel and Ralph Miliband. 1984. “Reflections on Anti-Communism”. Socialist Register 21.
Luxmoore, Matthew. 2018. “Poles Apart: The Bitter Conflict over a Nation’s Communist History”. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jul/13/poles-apart-the-bitter-conflict-over-a-nations-history-poland-monuments-communism-soviet-union.
Majewska, Ewa. 2018. Kontrpubliczności ludowe i feministyczne: Wczesna “Solidarność” i Czarne Protesty. Warszawa: Książka i Prasa.
Majmurek, Jakub and Piotr Szumlewicz. 2010. “Fakty i mity o PRL-u”. In PRL bez uprzedzeń, eds. Jakub Majmurek and Piotr Szumlewicz. Warszawa: Instytut Wydawniczy Książka i Prasa.
Majmurek, Jakub, Kuba Mikurda and Jan Sowa. 2011. Un événement dans la glacière: Le Carnaval de Solidarnosc (1980-81) comme jaillissement de l’imagination politique. In L’idee du communisme 2, eds. Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek. Paris: Éditions Lignes.
Marzec, Wiktor. 2016. Rebelia i reakcja: Rewolucja 1905 roku i plebejskie doświadczenie polityczne. Kraków: Universitas.
Mezzadra, Sandro and Brett Neilson. 2017. “On the Multiple Frontiers of Extraction: Excavating Contemporary Capitalism”. Cultural Studies 31(2–3).
Millard, Frances. 2010. Democratic Elections in Poland, 1991–2007. New York–Oxon: Routledge.
Mouffe, Chantal. 2005. On the Political. Abingdon–New York: Routledge.
Mrozik, Agnieszka. 2014. “Poza nawiasem historii (kobiet), czyli po co nam dziś komunistki”. Wakat On-line 3.
Negri, Antonio. 2008. Goodbye Mr Socialism. New York: Seven Stories Press.
Niemitz, Dorota. 2016. “Poland Adopts New Anti-Communist Law”. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/05/14/pola-m14.html.
Olech, Michał. 2018. “Arłukowicz: Tusk nie przekroczył absolutnie żadnej granicy w wypowiedzi o bolszewikach”. http://300polityka.pl/live/2018/11/11/arlukowicz-tusk-nie-przekroczyl-absolutnie-zadnej-granicy-w-wypowiedzi-o-bolszewikach/.
Ost, David. 2005. Defeat of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Pielużek, Marcin. 2016. “Identity and Values of the Polish and British Extreme Right”. In There’s More to Fear than Fear Itself: Fears and Anxieties in the 21st Century, eds. Selina Doran, Michael Bethan and Izabela Dixon. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press.
Prozorov, Sergei. 2011. “The other as past and present: Beyond the logic of ‘temporal othering’ in IR theory”. Review of International Studies 37(3).
Rae, Gavin. 2008. Poland’s Return to Capitalism: From the Socialist Bloc to the European Union. London and New York: Tauris Academic Studies.
Shields, Stuart. 2012. “Opposing Neoliberalism? Poland’s renewed populism and post-communist transition”. Third World Quarterly 33(2).
Siermiński, Michał. 2016. Dekada przełomu. Polska lewica opozycyjna 1968-1980: Od demokracji robotniczej do narodowego paternalizmu. Warszawa: Książka i Prasa.
Sowa, Jan. 2015. Inna Rzeczpospolita jest możliwa! Widma przeszłości, wizje przyszłości. Warszawa: W.A.B.
Sowa, Jan. 2018. “Do Algorithms Dream of Social Strike? Review of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt’s Assembly”. Praktyka Teoretyczna 1(27).
Staniszkis, Jadwiga. 1991. The Dynamics of Breakthrough in Eastern Europe: The Polish Experience. Transl. Chester A. Kisiel. Berkeley–Los Angeles–Oxford: University of California Press.
Szczęśniak. Agata. 2017. “Petru wyklucza Razem, bo to komuniści: Zandberg grozi Petru sądem: ‘Jesteśmy z tradycji socjalistycznej’”. https://oko.press/petru-wyklucza-komunistow-zandberg-grozi-petru-sadem/.
Szopa, Katarzyna. 2019. “Roses or Bread? Anti-Communist Narration in Feminist Readings of Anna Świrszczyńska’s Poetry”. Praktyka Teoretyczna 1(31).
Tazbir, Janusz. 2014. Polska przedmurzem Europy. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Książkowe Twój Styl.
Thomas, Peter D. 2009. The Gramscian Moment: Philosophy, Hegemony and Marxism. London–Boston: Brill.
Tischner, Józef. 1992. Etyka Solidarności i Homo Sovieticus. Kraków: Społeczny Instytut Wydawniczy Znak.
Traverso, Enzo. 2016. Left-Wing Melancholia: Marxism, History and Memory. New York: Columbia University Press.
Walicki, Andrzej. 2005. “Nieporozumienia wokół antykomunizmu”. http://www.omp.org.pl/stareomp/index835e.html?module=subjects&func=viewpage&pageid=258.
Wielgosz, Przemysław. 2017. “Konsens antykomunistyczny”. http://lewica.pl/?id=31739&tytul=Przemys%B3aw-Wielgosz:-Konsens-antykomunistyczny.
Wielgosz, Przemysław. 2019. “From Anti-Communist Consensus to Anti-anti-communism”. Praktyka Teoretyczna 1(31).
Woods, Jeff R. 2004. Black Struggle, Red Scare: Segregation and Anti-Communism in the South, 1948–1968. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
Van Dongen, Luc, Stéphanie Roulin and Giles-Scott-Smith. 2014. Transnational Anti-Communism and the Cold War: Agents, Activities and Network. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Zysiak, Agata. 2016. Punkty za pochodzenie: Powojenna modernizacja i uniwersytet w robotniczym mieście. Warszawa: Nomos.
Žižek, Slavoj. 2000. “Class Struggle or Postmodernism? Yes, please!”. In Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Žižek. Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues on the Left. London and New York: Verso.
Žižek, Slavoj. 2009. “Post-Wall”. London Review of Books 31(22).
License
“Theoretical Practice” seeks to put into practice the idea of open access to knowledge and broadening the domain of the commons. It serves the development of science, thinking and critical reflection. The journal is published in open-access mode under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license (detail available here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). Articles published in the journal may be freely distributed, stored, printed and utilized for academic and teaching purposes without restrictions.
They should not be, however, used for any commercial purposes or be reconstructed into derivative creations. Access to the journal may not be limited or offered for a fee by any third party.
Prospective authors are obliged to fill in, sign and send back the publishing contract compliant with the CC licencing. [PL.pdf, PL.doc, EN.pdf,EN.doc].
According to this contract, authors grant the journal a non-exclusive right to publish their work under the creative commons license (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0) without any financial obligation on both sides of the contract.
Before submission authors should make sure that derivative materials they use are not protected by copyright preventing their non-commercial publication. Authors are responsible for any respective copyright violations.