Freedom of the Press in Inter-War Poland: The System of Control

Abstract

Freedom of the press, as was once remarked, is not an end in itself but a means to the end of a free society. After 123 years of partition a Polish state did, in many respects, axiomatically entail a free Polish society, yet its rulers were continually inclined to limit press freedoms in an increasingly authoritarian manner whenever they perceived either the security of the state or their own position (which they sometimes saw as synonymous) to be under attack. Press liberty, like civil liberties, whilst in theory greatly to be desired, proved in practise to be so inconvenient to those running the country that they often seemed to treat them as dispensable. The benchmark of a truly democratic society is perhaps the ability to countenance dissent — whether in the form of social protest or press criticism — but it is practised, not inherent. The psychological legacy of living under a partitionist regime left an impact on the society and its rulers whose magnitude was revealed only in the fledgling democracy.KeywordsCivil LibertyAdministrative AuthorityParliamentary DemocracyNewspaper EditorPolish AuthorityThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.