Between the brown and the red : nationalism, Catholicism, and communism in twentieth-century Poland : the politics of Bolesław Piasecki / Mikołaj Stanisław Kunicki.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kunicki, Mikołaj Stanisław.

Series:

Ohio University Press Polish and Polish-American studies series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Piasecki, Bolesław.

Catholic Church--Poland--History--20th century.

Catholic Church.

Politicians--Poland--Biography.

Politicians.

Communism and Christianity.

History.

Poland.

Communism and Christianity--Poland.

Poland--Politics and government--1918-1945.

Politics and government.

Poland--Politics and government--1945-1980.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xv, 266 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Athens : Ohio University Press, [2012]

Summary:

Between the Brown and the lied probes the trajectories of the modern nationalist movement and political continuities in Poland and East Central Europe from the inter-war period to the end of the Cold War. Tracing the evolution of the Marxist party-state into a nationalist-populist regime, it also captures the multifaceted nature of church-state relations in communist Poland, relations that oscillated between mutual confrontation, accommodation, and dialogue. Ironically, under communism the bond between religion and nation in Poland grew stronger. This happened in spite of the fact that the government deployed nationalist themes in order to portray itself as more Polish than communist. Between the Brown and the Red also introduces to the reader one of the most fascinating figures in the history of twentieth-century Poland and the communist world.

In this study of the complex relationships between nationalism, communism, authoritarianism, and religion in twentieth century Poland, Mikolaj Kunicki shows the ways in which the country's communist rulers tried to adapt communism to local traditions, particularly ethnocentric nationalism and Catholicism, Focusing on the political career of Boleslaw Piasecki, a Polish nationalist politician who began his surprising bin illuminating journey as a fascist before the Second World War and ended it as a procommunist activist, Kunicki demonstrates that Polish communists reinforced an ethnocentric self-definition of Polishness and-as Piasecki's case demonstrates-thereby prolonged the existence of Poland's nationalist Right.

Recent books in the Polish and Polish-American Studies Series

The Harden of Integration: Polish Migrants in Germany and the United States, 1870-1924, by Brian McCook

The Origins of Modern Polish Democracy, edited by M. B. B. Biskupski, James S. Pula, and Piotr J. Wróbel

Rome's Most faithful Daughter: The Catholic Church and Independent Poland, 1914-1939, by Neal Pease

Winner of the 2010 John Gilmary Shea Prize for a book on the history of the Catholic Church

Co-winner of the 2010 ASEEES/Orbis Book Prize for Polish Studies Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Early Years, 1915-35 7

2 The National Radical Movement, 1934-39 28

3 The War Years, 1939-44 52

4 Under the Cross and the Red Flag, 1945-56 77

5 Years of Hope and Disappointment, 1956-67 111

6 The Last Crusade, 1967-68 140

7 The Exit of the Crusader, 1970-79 162.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780821420041

0821420046

9780821444207

0821444204

OCLC:

768800623