Komitety uczelniane PZPR w systemie władzy. Przykład środowiska gdańskiego (do 1980 roku)

Abstract

This article contributes to the history of the development of Polish United Workers Party university committees on the example of the Tricity academic community. The goal of the communist party’s actions at universities was to seize control over academic affairs while simultaneously bringing students into the political mainstream through ongoing ideological and instructional initiatives. As a result, higher education’s independence was reduced and subjugated to political agendas. Recruitment of students into the PZPR ranks was not given much importance at first; it wasn’t until the 1960s that it started to receive significant attention. As a result, duties delegated by higher authorities were formalized, and there was more control over how they were carried out. Despite intensive activities aimed at increasing youth participation in party life, until the end of the existence of the Polish People’s Republic, the scope of the PZPR’s influence among students was limited. The only measurable criterion of the party’s offensive in the academic community was quantitative, not qualitative.