Kwestia pańszczyzny i jej dziedzictwa w publicystyce i ideologii międzywojennego ruchu młodowiejskiego: wstęp do badań nad transformacjami pamięci o pańszczyźnie w okresie międzywojennym

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The issue of serfdom and its legacy in the journalism and ideology of the inter-war rural youth movement: an introduction to the study of transformations of the memory of serfdom in the inter-war period The author of the article analyses references to serfdom in selected journalistic texts originating in the milieu of the inter-war rural youth movement, primarily the Union of Rural Youth of the Republic of Poland „Wici”. The memory of serfdom among post-serfdom generations of peasants is viewed as an example of „post-memory”, shaped not on the basis of their own experience, but on the basis of stories passed down from their ancestors. The author presents a number of arguments to substantiate the thesis that within the rural youth movement, and, especially, among the „Wici” members, the memory of serfdom became ideologised and instrumentalised. The issue of serfdom became an important part of the historical ideology developed by columnists associated with the organisation. It was also used in polemics against political opponents. The shape of the „post-memory” of serfdom within the rural youth movement was influenced less and less by intergenerational transmission, and more and more by the reception of several works, primarily Jakub Bojko’s Two Souls. It was assumed, after Bojko, that serfdom had a long-lasting impact on the mentality of peasants, including those from the post-serfdom generations. The moment of liberation from the influence of the „serf soul” as a result of the triumph of universal education was described by writers associated with the rural youth movement by means of three metaphors: darkness and light, sleep and awakening, as well as filth and cleanliness. In addition, the word „serfdom” became resemanticised and recontextualised in a variety of ways – it began to be used in meanings and contexts increasingly detached from the original ones, both economic and socio-cultural.