The aim of this article is to illustrate the specificity of the functioning of power mechanisms in non-democratic systems, with particular emphasis on the relations between entities of a cratic structure, i.e., the person exercising the highest power in the hierarchy of a socio-political system vs the ruling elite, the ruling elite vs the ruling class, and the ruling class vs social masses. Moreover, based on current research in the area of governance in authoritarian and totalitarian systems, conceptualisation was performed on anti-transformational leadership, which is a theoretical category reflecting in the fullest possible way the essence of relations of domination and subordination between the ruling and the ruled in regimes with a permanent deficit of legitimation, whose constitutive feature consists in the desire to ensure absolute obedience of particular subjects of the socio-political hierarchy. Furthermore, an exemplification of the indicated relationship was provided by reference to the erosion of totalitarian leadership in the political system of the Polish People’s Republic.

W pracy podjęto się zagadnienia analizy propagandowego ujęcia postaci Edwarda Gierka na łamach dziennika „Trybuna Ludu”. Na podstawie analizy przekazów prasowych „Trybuny Ludu” z okresu rządów I Sekretarza Komitetu Centralnego Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej w latach 1970–1980 r. dokonano analizy treści dotyczącej kształtowania propagandowego wizerunku E. Gierka na płaszczyźnie działań na rzecz m.in. polityki gospodarczej Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej oraz ewolucji na polu polityki wizerunkowej na tle innych I Sekretarzy KC PZPR. Problemem badawczym przyjętym na potrzeby niniejszego artykułu były pytania: jakimi metodami propagowano postać Edwarda Gierka na łamach „Trybuny Ludu”? W jaki sposób kreowano postać Edwarda Gierka jako I sekretarza KC PZPR? Ponadto autor zaprezentował krótką charakterystykę Edwarda Gierka oraz jego działalność polityczną w PRL w latach 70. XX w. W niniejszym artykule zastosowano metodę analizy treści, którą autor uznał za najefektywniejszą metodę badawczą do podjętej tematyki, w tym zwłaszcza przedstawienia mechanizmów propagandy oraz działalności politycznej Edwarda Gierka jako I Sekretarza KC PZPR w latach 70. XX w.

Opposition activity and socio-political concepts of Jan Lityński

The purpose of this article is to introduce Jan Lityński, Polish oppositionist active from late ‘60s to 1989 and to describe his beliefs and opinions about politics, society and his environment. Lityński became an oppositionist against communist government as a student at University of Warsaw and was involved in events known as “March 1968” which led to his imprisonment and made continuing his education impossible. But despite this, Lityński remained in the opposition until the collapse of the communist regime in Poland. He collaborated with the most prominent members of the opposition and wrote texts on political and social issues for various periodicals published in the illegal circulation. As a member of KOR and “Solidarność”, he lost his freedom many times but never let himself be broken or to betray his beliefs. In 1989 he took part in Polish Round Table Agreements that led to the change of the political system. This article was written based on Lityński’s publications from the 1980s and things he wrote and said years after those events. Other sources of information were interviews conducted with Lityński and statements made about him by associates from the opposition period.

Book on the Film Convention in Wisła ’49. Edition of sources with studies

In 2024, the Polish Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute (FINA) has published an impressive volume entitled „The Film Convention in Wisła 1949. Sources – Comments – Studies”. The authors of the academic studies and compilation are Barbara Giza and Adam Wyżyński. It is the first book entirely devoted to the Filmmakers’ Convention in Wisła which took place from 17–20 November. As a result, full convention transcripts have been published for the first time. Part one of the book, entitled „Introduction”, contains three articles by Rafał Habielski, Grzegorz Wołowiec and Piotr Zwierzchowski, presenting the political context of the Convention. The second, main part of the publication contains a transcript of the Convention in Wisła. The great merit of this edition is the thorough editing of the source text and the inclusion of numerous footnotes containing explanations, biographical and film notes, etc. Part three of the book contains „Other source material” relating to the Convention. Also of great value is a set of photographs from the Convention included in the volume; they are an important source material in themselves. The last part contains four articles (by Barbara Giza and Adam Wyżyński, Mariusz Mazur, Piotr Śmiałowski and Jarosław Grzechowiak) which provide commentary on the source batch. The volume devoted to the Convention in Wisła is a well and carefully published, superbly researched item. There is no doubt that the publication will become a must for anyone interested in Polish cinematography, post-war Polish history, or Polish culture.