Toast na cześć... Reakcje społeczne na śmierć Józefa Stalina i kampania propagandowa wokół uroczystości żałobnych w województwie bydgoskim w marcu 1953 r.

Abstract

Social Reactions to the Death of Joseph Stalin and the Propaganda Campaign Relating to Funerary Ceremonies in the Voivodeship of Bydgoszcz in March 1953 The author attempted an analysis of the social situation prevailing in the voivodeship of Bydgoszcz in connection with the agony and death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953. A chronological–factual interpretation examines the propaganda undertakings of authorities cultivating the memory of the dictator, both at the time of his agony and after his death, as well in the course of the funerary ceremonies and mourning. The author also described official and actual reactions, commentaries and opinions of the local inhabitants, the press and propaganda campaign (decorations of public space, rallies, mass meetings, campaigns, and commitments). Other examined factors include assorted forms of social resistance, which were a de facto form of protest against the intrusive cult of the deceased and pro–Stalinist propaganda (e.g. the destruction of declarations and portraits of Stalin, as well as dismissive attitudes contesting the official mourning). Attention has been drawn to the fact that an indispensable element of the mourning was a spontaneous tide of candidates to the Polish United Workers’ Party, a process not controlled to the very end by the communists (on 6–31 March a total of 2 333 inhabitants of the voivodeship of Bydgoszcz wished to join the Communist Party, with 130 candidates rejected). Summing up, the author stressed that despite the enormous propaganda efforts of the Party–administrative authorities of the voivodeship of Bydgoszcz and the great number of candidates to the Party it was impossible to make full use of the political mood caused by Stalin’s death in the so–called politically neglected terrains, and in particular in the villages of the Kujawy–Pomerania region.