The Influence of Socialist Ideology on Soj
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIALIST IDEOLOGY ON SOJ\/lE ASPECTS OF EDUCATION IN POLAND CHRISTINE NASH Master of Education 1975. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my gratitude to all those people who encouraged me to study for my Master of Education Degree. I would also like to express my appreciation to Professor L.M. Brown, Dr. Rae Boyd, Professor Jerzy Zubrzycki, Dr. J.J. Smolicz, Professor George Z. Bereday and to all those people both in Australia and Poland who wish to remain nameless but who gave me invaluable help in the course of my research. Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to my parents, husband and friends for their devotion and patience. (ii) SUMMARY The hypothesis posed in this work is that discrimination exists in the Polish socialist system of education. In the early chapters it is shown that all through the ages discrimination of one kind or another always assailed the Poles. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it is demonstrated that due to the partition of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austria the Poles suffered discrimination on national grounds in varying degrees. It is pointed out that the Poles' aversion to anything Russian stems from this period. With the coming of World War II and the "liberation" from Germany by Russia, Poland embarked on a new political system - that of socialism. Under this system there were promises of equality for all, which in effect meant the downgrading of the intelligentsia, the bourgeoisie and the gentry and the upgrading of the working and peasant classes. It is true that no longer is there any discrimination on nationalistic grounds but class discrimination in educat ion continues to the present day only the roles have been reversed. Limited religious practice is permitted but policies of this nature can always be changed. (iii) The purpose of the educational system in Poland is to build the model socialist man and to this end, certain beliefs, values, traditions and principles are sacrificed. Nevertheless the Polish spirit of individualism cannot be stifled and the policy of sovietization has yet to be a total success. ******************* (iv) TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE NO. Introduction 1-6 CHAPTER ONE Historical Influences on Education 7-18 CHAPTER TWO The Rise and Development of Socialism 19-27 CHAPTER THREE Socialist Ideology and Education 28-41 CHAPTER FOUR System of Education - 1945-1970 42-65 CHAPTER FIVE Secondary Education - Citizenship Training.. .. 66-89 CHAPTER SIX Discrimination in Education - 1950-1974 .. 90-111 CHAPTER SEVEN Reforms and the Future 112-127 CONCLUSION 128-132 REFERENCE LIST SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ( V) LIST OF TABLES PAGE NO. TABLE 1. Development of school network in Polish Territories 1944-1948 .. 45 TABLE 2. Schools in Poland 1937/38-1970/71 48 TABLE 3. Pupils and Students 1937/38-1970/71 .. 49 TABLE 4. Growth in the numbers of children of school-age 50 TABLE 5. Leavers and graduates 1937/38-1970/71 51 TABLE 6. Curriculum of Secondary Vocational schools .. 86-86a TABLE..1,. Students of basic vocational school, general education secondary schools, secondary vocational and technical schools and institutes of higher education according to their social origin. .. 106 (vi) INTRODUCTION Among Australian students of comparative education there has recently been an awakening to the educational problems existing in the socialist countries. It is very difficult to maintain and develop an interest and enthusiasm in the face of such a dearth of literature on this subject in countries such as Poland, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and others. It was hoped that by undertaking this study into the educational scene in Poland some small contribution could be made to the knowledge or lack of it, available to most Australian students. The writer was privileged to have access to books and other documents which would be meaningless to Australian students unless they had some knowledge of the Polish language. The writer hopes to share the benefit of her knowledge by presenting translated excerpts from documents, books and magazines (not to be found on Australian library shelves) in the following chapters. What do we actually mean by socialist education? One could simply answer that it is the type of education given within a socialist system, which of course leads us onto the next question as to what we mean by a socialist system. In defining this it is necessary to point out that there are about as many definitions of socialism as there are countries calling themselves socialist and in- -2- deed there are real differences between each and every one of these. Thus the definition offered herein can only apply to Poland as it is peculiar to the Polish system. There seems little point in treading the well-worn path and going over the historical description of the various phases of socialist construction as Marx and Engels and later Lenin saw it. Rather let us examine what the socialist system means in Poland to-day. It is, to start with, a misnomer to speak about the socialist system in Poland. There are in fact three co-existing economic systems there. The dominant one is the socialist system but alongside this are two others: the small producer system and the capitalist system. The socialist system is based on the nationalisation of property which can be divided into two types: state property and co-operative property. The former came into being as a result of the nationalisation of all industrial enterprise, banks, communication systems and those estates which were not parceled out to the peasants. The co operative property is a result of the union of individual proprietors who pool their individual means of production for their common good and work collectively. The various trade and artisan collectives still exist but the coll ectivisation of farming was a miserable failure in Poland. Only ten percent of the land still remains in collectives, -3- the rest is privately owned. This brings us to the second economic system that of the small producer. Here although workshops and farms are privately owned they are not allowed to employ wage earners so that there does not exist the exploitation of labour which was one of the principal causes or at least the catch cry of the revolutionaries. However there appears to be an increas ing tendency to turn a blind eye on the part of the government to private shops, factories and farms employing labour. The third system in Poland is the capitalist system, which refers to the existence of larger peasant farms, private trade enterprises and small industrial enterprises. Initially between 1948-56 there was a definite effort to stamp this system out but when Gomulka came to power he realised that it is necessary to maintain at least some degree of it to raise the standard of living. (1) With the coming to power of Gierek in 1970 there has been a further revival of it, as there exists the realisation that people achieve and work best when doing it for their own selfish good. It is this selfishness which Suchodolski. hopes will be overcome in the future socialist society and which Szczepanski hopes will be combated by his education al reforms which should result in the model socialist man. The question what is socialist education still needs to be answered. In a brochure published by the Red Pen Publications, Sydney, the following is given as the socialist ideal of education. Although the publication -4- is Australian, the model it provides very closely resembles that put forward by the Polish pedagogues: "A socialist education system would play an essential part in building socialist society and would reinforce its values." The Poles also have faith in the power of education to build up a new socialist society. The author of the aforementioned brochure continues: "It would promote: direct control by the people over their own environment and over the direction in which their society is to develop; abolition of all forms of exploitation so that the economy will serve human needs, not profits; co-operation between people in place of anti-social competition; respect for human dignity and both the right and obligatim to perform socially necessary work; maximum development of the individual's potential, sensitivity and taste, free of narrow job training and commercialisation; social involvement as against isolation and loneliness. -5- Further it would encourage ability to apply critical analyses to traditions and ideas and to challenge bureaucratic tendencies. As such education would be continuous throughout life. Education would have changed its nature from one of conditioning human beings for restricted roles into one of freeing people to realise themselves in co-operation with their fellows."(2) Professor Jan Szczepanski in an article entitled "Reflections on Education" sees education as teaching "the art of effective living" in which the school, family, place of work and the media all must co-operate if the system of education is to be truly effective in the development both of the personality of the Socialist Man and final shape of society as a whole. He concludes by making this important proviso: "In building a socio-political system one is not permitted to introduce divergences between the educational ideal of socialism and the practical activity of socialist institutions; the ideal that the school implants in youth should also be a directive for practical activity in collective life. I consider this to be a basic condition for success of the educational process of Man in a Socialist system." (3) It is difficult to criticize the theory which is nothing if not praiseworthy but it is precisely because -6- divergences between theory and practice in the Polish educational system and the reality of the Polish socio-economic politic81 system do exist, that thus far this moulding of the socialist man has been less than successful.