Urodzeni w PRL. Wychowanie socjalistyczne i jego efekty

Abstract

Most of today's adult Poles grew up in the People's Republic of Poland (PRP) and they were subjected to socialist upbringing. They were inculcated with socialist patriotism, internationalism (love to the Soviet Union in particular), so-called scientific worldview, that is atheism. The 'new man' raised in a socialist way should be politically aware, socially concerned, dedicated to work and he or she should conform to a group interest. Socialist achievements in the field of economics, science, technology and social studies compared to failures and weakness of capitalism and western democracies were to convince to socialism. The school and youth organisations were supposed to bring up the young towards socialism and reduce the influence of family relations. They organized ideological training, special assemblies, evening meetings, exhibitions and excursions. The entire activity was completed by media, youth literature and film. However, the message was artificial and aggressive, and therefore it was unreliable. Socialist upbringing appeared to be a complete failure - in 1989 the system collapsed, and nobody defended it. Nevertheless, life in the PRP have influenced current attitude, but it is the result of the conditions of existence rather than planned activity. The mentality of homo sovieticus, passivity, conformity, distrust and bypassing the law, this is the heritage of that time.