Communist Totalitarian Regime and the Status Quo of the Catholic Church in the Context of Post-War Reality of Poland (1945–1956)

Abstract

This article presents the specificity of the totalitarian communist regime and the status quo of the Catholic Church operating in the Polish People’s Republic in the early post-war period (1945–1956). The analysis of the discussed topics allows one to expose the nature of the Stalinist system of repression described as the “dictatorship of the proletariat”, taking into account the tough and challenging situation of the Catholic Church, forced not only to fight for her survival but – above all – to preserve the Christian identity of the Polish nation. The reinterpretation of the Stalinist totalitarian system from the standpoint of Christian personalistic praxeology discloses its unprecedentedly outrageous nature. Moreover, the presentation of the fundamental issues of the totalitarian, anti-human, and anti-Christian paradigm that characterizes the “dictatorship of the proletariat” makes it possible to interpret Stalinism in terms of not only defining but also legitimizing and even authenticating one of the most terrifying and degenerate forms of totalitarian systems of the 20th century. However, this is of crucial importance, specifically today, when many emerging ideological trends often downplay the excessively iniquitous nature of Stalinism and even treat the “totalitarian model” – particularly communism – as a “specific historical phenomenon” attempting to resolve many complex and diverse socio-political, cultural and economic issues.