Memory As Politics: Narratives of Communism and the Shape of a Community

Memory as Politics: Narratives of Communism and the Shape of a Community by Katarzyna Korycki A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science University of Toronto © Copyright by Katarzyna Korycki 2017 Memory as Poltics: Narratives of Communism and the Shape of a Community Katarzyna Korycki Doctor of Philosophy Department of Poltical Science University of Toronto 2017 Abstract This work traces how the past is politicized in post-transition spaces, how it enters the political language, and what effects it produces. Expanding the framework of collective memory literature and anchoring the story in Poland, I argue that the narratives of past communism structure political competition and affect the present-day imaginary of common belonging - that is, they determine political positions of players and they reveal who is included in and excluded from the conception of the ‘we.’ First, I develop the concept of mnemonic capital - a politically productive symbolic resource that accrues to political players based on their turn to, and judgment of, the past - and demonstrate how the distribution of that capital results in sharply differentiated political identities. (I identify four positions generalizable to other post-transition settings.) Second, I trace how narratives of the past constitute the boundary of the ‘we’. I find that in their approaches and judgments of communism, the current political elites conflate communism and Jewishness. In doing so, they elevate the nation and narrow its meaning to ascriptive, religion-inflected, ethnicity. Third, I argue that the field of politics and the field of belonging interact and do not simply exist on parallel planes. I develop a concept of a mnemonic procedure - a patterned and relational way of narrating the past - to show how the narrative techniques performed for present-day political payoffs, constrain the vision of a polity. The ii concepts of mnemonic capital and mnemonic procedure intervene in the literature on transitions to democracy in that they help to apprehend how a politics contines to be organized by the repudiated ancien régime, now inserted into the political space as a productive symbolic trope. In other words, the concepts explain how the past continues to haunt and affect the quality of post- transition democracy and post-transition belonging. iii Acknowledgements … and here I find that young artists can badly deceive themselves: … they can fail to realize that the purpose of scanning contemporary art is to use its articulations for the purpose of realization of their own work. As a carpenter might reach out for a newly invented saw, the work of other artists may suggest techniques or solutions. But the essential struggle is private and bears no relations to anyone else’s. It is of necessity a solitary and lonely endeavor to explore one’s own sensibility, to discover how it works and to implement honestly its manifestations. Anne Truitt (Daybook: The Journal of an Artist. 1982, 63) Dissertation is borne of loneliness, but it is a fruit of a collective. At some basic level, it seems, it is a process which brings one to place where one can hold two contradictory sensations steady, and be at peace with both. Such was the process for me: lonely and hard, joyful and rich. Different people guided, supported, and held me. I want to thank them most deeply. Courtney Jung, my dissertation supervisor, brought me to the field of knowledge that constitutes my enduring scholarly and normative preoccupation. She was patient guiding my progress. She read the murky chapters in their many iterations, she fed me lunches listening to frantic stories of the fieldwork, she asked good questions. She cut through the haze to the one idea worth keeping, she insisted on a good story, and she pushed to have the ideas match the execution (what is lacking in the work is of course mine). She shaped and created a Jungian. Patrick Macklem and Ron Levi, the dissertation committee members, stayed with the project through its dramatic changes. I only wish that I could have had more of their wisdom, as their questions, comments and encouragement opened doors and shone light on dark corners. Jan Tomasz Gross and Ed Schatz, my extraordinary examiners, read deeply and offered generous and heartwarming endorsement. They made me pause and rethink. I thank them all deeply, for their kindness, impeccable critique and suggestions. Fieldwork is one of the most exciting and difficult of moments in the scholarly project. Here it was made all the more rewarding by the overwhelming generosity of my guides and respondents in Poland. Peter Solomon and Piotr Wróbel sent me off with good thoughts, books, and letters iv that opened doors. Krzysztof and Agnieszka Jasiewicz eased my landing and the first moments of disorientation. Kasia Wichrowska supplied a warm harbour and most ingenious contacts. Ania Zawadzka offered a space in which I could breathe. My nephews and family fed me and let me rest. Kasia Dębska proved to be an assistant extraordinaire. Agata Tuszyńska marshaled Warsaw’s glitterati to my cause. Just as generously, Andrzej Górski sent me well recommended into the circles of old and grizzled oppositionist printers and “foot soldiers.” And with long- practiced skill he evaded all my attempts to interview him, or at least repay his kindness with vodka or cake. Robert Krzysztoń from the Stowarzyszenie Wolnego Słowa, with his humour, passion for round-the-clock human rights work, and cigarettes, transported me to Poland of 1980s. Joanna Tokarska-Bakir peeled a kilogram of carrots in Princeton, as we were falling into a whirlwind of a five-hour-long conversation… I met and interviewed one hundred and fifty people in Poland, and later in the US. In time, I felt as if I had met everybody. This was of course not true, but with the possible exception of businessman and priests, I entered every professional and class milieu: from the Supreme Court justices to anarchist squatters, from politicians to writers, from academics to shopkeepers. I found their readiness to share their homes, time and thoughts generous and overwhelming. I hope that some felt repaid by the richness of our conversations. Janice Stein has been a good spirit of my entire graduate experience - her unstinting support and belief in me, buoyed me often. Robert Austin welcomed me to the Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies with boisterous good humour and trust in my ability to guide his students to knowledge. Andrea Williams from the Writing Instruction for TAs program, and Beth Fisher from Woodsworth College were great mentors and friends - their pedagogical guidance and many kindnesses were much appreciated. Ruth Marshall and Antoinette Handley lent their sympathetic and wise ears in moments of doubt. Carolina de Miguel Moyer offered thoughtful reading of my emerging ideas. Carolynn Branton and Louis Tentsos, from the Political Science Graduate office were most patient and understanding of helpers. Dragana Bodružić, Joe MacKay, Kate Banks, and most especially Edith Klein, generously and patiently edited my work - whatever errors remain are all mine. v In addition to scholarly and emotional support, my research has been made possible by generous financial contributions from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ontario government, Department of Political Science, School of Graduate Studies, Polish Ministry of Culture and International Cultural Centre (MCK) in Kraków, and my partner, Kate Banks. Friends and family of many species shared in this project and in all the living that happened while I was thinking and writing. Sara Dezalay, Luke Melchiorre and Melissa Levin restored me, enlarged my intellectual horizons and brought much joy. Ania Zawadzka sparked the deepest introspection: our conversations resulted in the profound tilling of habitus that lies at the base of this project. Dragana Bodružić, Kara Santokie, Omar Sirri, Olga Kesarchuk, Nikola Milicic, Christine Korte, Ethel Tungohan, Shelly Ghai, Carmen Ho, Joe MacKay and Izabela Steflja were essential fellow travelers, and more, who nourished me with invaluable conversation, good company and stories of shared pain. Most of them, as well as Özlem Aslan, Jaby Mathews, Alex Paquin-Pelletier, Igor Shoikhedbrod, Elliott Storm, Andrea Cassatella, and Adrian Atanasescu were my “radical” comrades, who helped me find my political feet while we fought, striked and lost together. My large family: Joan Atkins, Andrea Bilokrely, Anne Fleet, Monica Viera, Carol Alsop and Aino Lokk, as well as James Devine, Andrea Swanson, Liz Earley and Anne Hines believed in me, suffered my writer’s weirdness, and offered good cheer and love. They all made my life better and richer. Lastly, my little family - Kate Banks, Cedar Avarell and now Sophie and Pete - who endured much, and whose love, cooking, silliness and laughter sustained me daily. This is for them. vi Table of Contents ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................IV TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................................................................VII LIST OF FIGURES.....................................................................................................................................IX

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