Rebellious Satellite ─ Poland 1956

In 1956, Poland experienced an anti-Stalinist mass movement that, unlike the concurrent uprising in Hungary, was not put down by Soviet military force and instead led to the coming to power of reform-minded forces. Machcewicz (Institute of Political Studies, Poland) explores these events as a case study in social movements. He argues that Poland's social movements of 1956 were characterized by a rejection of Stalinism, terror, Sovietization, and Russification of all aspects of life, but that this rejection was not accompanied by any unifying political program. This determined the strength and the weakness of the mass movement, which was able to mobilize large masses to force the rulers to institute reforms more far-reaching than other countries in the Communist bloc, but failed to achieve the longevity needed to fully challenge the political monopoly of the Polish United Workers' Party. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)