Social Work in The Reality of The People’s Republic of Poland – Aleksander Kamiński’s Contribution to The Development of Polish Social Work

Abstract

In the well-known textbook by Aleksander Kamiński “Functions of Social Pedagogy. Social and cultural work” we find sentences that expressly praise the conditions that the political order of the People's Republic of Poland allegedly guaranteed for the best development of social work. Socialism itself should satisfy the needs of the citizens and guarantee social work “a solid material basis enabling the development of a broad front of social and educational activity”. But thanks to this book, which has been reprinted four times, students and researchers have received a package of reliable knowledge about the development of social work in the West, its methods, and main theoretical approaches. The book also contained concrete suggestions for the practice and professional training of social workers in the social and political realities of the time. This article attempts to go beyond the question of whether explicit ideological expressions should be treated only as meeting the requirements of the censorship to save other, truly valuable content and make it accessible to readers. The first part of the text deals with the ideological conditions of functioning of social work in the People's Republic of Poland. The second part is dedicated to the profile and work of Professor Aleksander Kamiński against the background of the system in which he promoted social work. In the last part, selected threads from Kamiński's key work were analysed in order to outline his contribution to the development of Polish social work. Considering the entire content of the textbook, the conclusion is that Aleksander Kamiński presented the concept of social work that could be implemented under the system of real socialism. The concept preserved the essence of social work and creatively adapted it to external political circumstances.