“Education based on tradition” on the level of units of the Polish People’s Army (1956–1980). Means and methods and their efficacy in influencing collective memory of soldiers

Abstract

The author, interested in the history of the Polish People’s Army (political work on the level of military units), focuses his attention on the problem of shaping collective memory of Poles in Poland under communists. The article is devoted to one of the elements of political and educational work in the Polish People’s Army – to the so-called “education based on tradition”, which was a tool of inculcation of the special vision of history in line with the political principles (emphasising “progressive traditions”, the history of workers’ movement and activities of communists during the World War II). Tools used for this “education based on tradition” included halls of tradition (which were the centres of this activity), political training, celebrations of important feast days and anniversaries, visual propaganda and cultural-educational work. In the closing part of the article the author presented also some limitations of this education, together with a selection of results of sociological research conducted in the army in the 1960s, which evidenced the effectiveness of propaganda work.