From state monopoly to a free market of ideas? Censorship in Poland, 1976-1989

Bates, J. (2004) From state monopoly to a free market of ideas? Censorship in Poland, 1976-1989. Critical Studies: Censorship and Cultural Regulation in the Modern Age, 27, pp. 141-167.

Abstract

The present chapter examines the functioning of official censorship in Poland during the final fourteen years of communist rule. 1976 saw the creation of an underground publishing network, the 'second circulation', which constituted an increasingly serious challenge to the party-state monopoly on information. It is argued, however, that the relationship of state/official to unofficial publishing should not be seen simply as a binary opposition, but that occasionally a 'symbiotic' relationship obtained between the two circulations, as shown by the publication of Czes aw Mi osz's and others' works in the 1980s. The rise of Solidarity in August 1980 led directly to the partial dismantling of official censorship through the July 1981 law, which partly restrained the arbitrariness that had characterized censorship operations hitherto, although a situation of pseudo-legality prevailed. The opposition also demonstrated certain restrictive practices, albeit based on collectivist assumptions, whose consequences can still be felt in post-communist Poland.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Bates, Dr John
• Authors: Bates, J.
• Subjects: Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > Z004 Books. Writing. Paleography; D History General and Old World > DJ Netherlands (Holland) > DJK Eastern Europe
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > Slavonic Studies
• Journal Name: Critical Studies: Censorship and Cultural Regulation in the Modern Age
• Publisher: Rodopi
• ISSN: 0923-411X