Communist Period Research Articles

The Trade Union Sport Organisation in Communist Romania between 1973 and 1989: Workplace Gymnastics, Mass and Elite Sport

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the development of trade union sport organization, concept, structure, and policy during the last period of communism in Romania. Elite sport was extremely developed and successful. The concept was, however, centred on workplace gymnastics and ‘Daciada’, a national mass sport competition, which was adapted to communist ideology to increase nationalism, production and performance. The structure of workplace gymnastics introduced different terms such as gearing gymnastics, production break gymnastics, moment gymnastics and individual gymnastics. This had the responsibility to educate the masses for the practice of regular physical activities to develop elite sports (for the most talented) and mass sport (as leisure and healthy activity for the rest of the people). The conclusions highlight how workplace gymnastics was promoted only by propaganda. It was not really practiced by the workers. Some men preferred ludic or relaxing activities, while some women were interested in health and aesthetics.

Turkish Women in Science during the Totalitarian Regime in Bulgaria (Mefkure Mollova, Hayriye Memova, Zineti Nurieva)

The article aims is to trace the life and scientific adaptation of three women from the Turkish community in Bulgaria who were engaged in science during the communist period.They are the only ones from the Turkish community in Bulgaria who during the communist period were engaged in science in the field of humanities. The three have different destinies in science and life, fully determined by the political circumstances and their decisions and choices. Two of them have their scientific careers interrupted - Mefkure Mollova, who refuses to give in to the political pressure of the regime and is expelled from the university and all scientific institutions in the country for the rest of her life; Hayriye Memova, who for a long time follows the rules of the regime until they asked her for an impossible compromise. The third is Zineti Nurieva, who fits into the regime and even supports and works for it. Eventually, all three women complete their scientific and life paths abroad, as emigrants.The study is based on documents from the secret archives of the State Security, memories and personal testimonies. This is so because during the communist regime the documents about the Turks were destroyed and today it’s difficult to find such in the public archives.

„Nu știm decât foarte puțin ce este satul”

In this article, I look at Mihai Pop as an agent of continuity, but also as an agent of theoretical refreshment in the social sciences in communist Romania. Through his research activity, but also through his status as director of the Institute of Folklore and university professor, he ensured not only the connection with the past, but also a permanent connection of the local scientific field with research centers around the world. I have chosen to stop at some pivotal moments in the history of ethnology during the communist period that have Pop as the protagonist, whether it is theoretical disputes, the practice of discipline or the evolution of institutions. I want to show both the way in which the study of folklore was distorted by the ideology, but also the strategies by which the scientific field maintained, as far as the times allowed, a kind of autonomy. I will start from Mihai Pop’s vision of the village and of the folkloric reality showing that, despite the passing of the years, the changes in the political regime and the evolution of the social sciences, the researcher’s vision on the Romanian village has not changed fundamentally during his career. I will then show how the theoretical dispute between Mihai Pop and George Călinescu, from the early 1960s, imposed a new conception of the notion of literary folklore as an ethnological science and not a philological one. I will also point out how Mihai Pop’s double role – as director of the Folklore Institute and Folklore professor at the University of Bucharest greatly influenced the development of the field during communism.

Rola odwołań do historii w deklaracjach ideowych wybranych polskich partii politycznych po 1989 roku

This paper investigates political parties’ attitude towards the past. It explores ideological inspirations and more or less consciously ‘borrowed’ by parties founded in Poland after 1989 from political groups operating in the interwar and the Communist periods.

Cepelix na Centralnym, czyli nowohucianie jako twórcy ludowi

The goal of this paper is to expose and analyze the contemporary folklore of the industrial discrit of Kraków called Nowa Huta. „City without God”, how it was created and named, played a significant role in the Polish resistant movement during communist times. Stories of that period are crucial for Nowa Huta citizens, first of all for their indentity, but also for district’s image and marketing. Since the post-war times there is a shop „Cepelia” placed in Central Square of Ronald Reagan in Nowa Huta, Kraków. CPLiA (Centrala Przemysłu Ludowego i Artystycznego, what means: Headquarters of the Folk and Artistic Industry) all the communist period long was govermental branch responsible for folk arts & crafts. In fact it was a huge buissnes employing over 20 000 people to design, create and sell folk art which pleased the socialist party. The shop in Nowa Huta was one connected to this network, however after political transformation in 90s of 20th centrury it changed as well. Cepelia became Cepelix. Nowadays (research was conducted in 2014 and 2022) one can find there some folk art, but also modern design connected to the district indentity and history. Paper contains an analysys of this new assortment and tryies to answer the question is it possible to treat it as a folklore as well as the other items being sold there?

Archeologia partytury. O przywracaniu autorskiej wersji Legendy Bałtyku Feliksa Nowowiejskiego

The article presents a complex history of the opera The Legend of the Baltic to a libretto of Waleria Szalay-Groele which enjoyed great popularity already during Feliks Nowowiejski’s lifetime. The author argues that subsequent versions of the opera, made by the composer since its successful world premiere in Poznań in 1924, were, at least partially, a result of unfavorable criticism, not devoid of nationalistic traits, expressed or inspired by a respected ethnomusicologist Łucjan Kamieński, his adversary from the time of Berlin studies under Max Bruch. On the other hand, the new edition of the final scene, allegedly prepared in 1941, ignoring a precise combination of leitmotifs of the two main characters – Doman and Bogna, which became a pillar of the new version of the score popular during the communist period, was, in fact, a mystification made by the sons of Nowowiejski who decided to bring their father’s work closer to the ideals of socialist realism. A final, author’s version of The Legend of the Baltic was then prepared personally by Nowowiejski for the inauguration of the 1939/1940 season at Grand Theatre in Poznań; however, due to the outbreak of war, the score was not performed during his lifetime. It was only in 2017 that the score was reconstructed by Marcin Gmys and published as part of the series “Works of Felix Nowowiejski” by the Polish Music Publishing House. This edition of the opera, when compared with its inauthentic post-war version, restores not only the original, final scene but also, among other elements, the original arrangement of three acts of 1938 with Act II being a compact ballet scene taking place at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. It is worth emphasizing that after World War II, for many years, the music for Act II in a shortened, purely instrumental version gained great popularity as an alleged overture to Act I of the opera.

Unwilling or Incapable? Understanding How People Remember Informal Exchanges during Communism

The history of everyday life during the communist period continues to fascinate us. However, such research always poses methodological challenges. This is especially true when one tries to explore the issue of informal exchanges. In this paper, I aim at identifying several challenges with some proposed approaches which can aid research. Firstly, we presented the reactions of witnesses when interviewed and how we can analyze them. Secondly, I tried explaining the three aspects of memory that we consider essential: remembering, nostalgia, and taboo‑ization. The goal is to introduce a psychological explanation into historical research to improve on existing methodology.

Censorship and the Potential Texts in Poland during the Late Communist Period

The article presents the mechanisms of censorship in the 1980s in the People’s Republic of Poland as well as its consequences that still affect the present. It examines examples of the works subjected to the control as well as the writers of the period, including those who were banned from printing in the country. It indicates fragments of texts once removed from books and discusses works that could not be published in Poland in the 1980s. References are made to the three literary spheres existing at that time in the People’s Republic of Poland: in the first, the “official” one, freedom of speech was significantly limited, and all texts were checked by the Main Office for the Control of Presentations and Public Performances (Główny Urząd Kontroli Prasy, Publikacji i Widowisk); the second (drugi obieg), also described as the free, underground, independent publishing sphere, was not subject to censorship and was illegal, according to the laws in force at that time; the third sphere was émigré literature, by which we mean Polish language materials published abroad. The aim of this article is to show the complexity of this situation as well as its consequences for the present day.

Obecność II Rzeczpospolitej w polskim filmie fabularnym a kształtowanie świadomości i pamięci o tej epoce (szkic problemu)

The article presents the presence of the interwar period as an epoch in Polish films and series created both during the communist period and after 1989. Both those films for which the social and political events of the Second Polish Republic were the main theme, as well as those in which the interwar reality was only a background that added color or was only mentioned, were indicated. The first part of the article focuses largely on theoretical considerations. Then, the socio-political situation in the following decades was analyzed in parallel, as well as the binding guidelines of state bodies regarding the official narrative of the interwar period in the Polish People’s Republic. While formulating the conclusions, the author drew attention to aspects related to the interwar period, which, in her opinion, are lacking in contemporary Polish cinema.

Stosowanie przepisów o formie czynności prawnych, jako instrument kontroli obrotu prawnego w perspektywie orzecznictwa SN w latach 1964–1989

The regulation of civil law transactions during the Polish People’s Republic took place on many different levels. Among other things, the scope of state control over the performance of legal transactions also involved the obligation to document them. At the normative level, the code institution of the form of legal transactions reflected classical civilist concepts, typical for free-market relations. The aim of the study is to determine to what extent the principle of freedom of form expressed in the Civil Code was respected in practice, and to what extent the application of the rules on form made them another tool at the disposal of the totalitarian state to control transactions. Judicial jurisprudence seems to be the most appropriate area to analyze this problem. The article presents selected theses of the Supreme Court relating to the application of regulations on the form of legal transactions, formulated in the years 1964–1989, that is, from the enactment of the Civil Code to the beginning of the political and economic transformation towards democracy and free-market economy. The main considerations are preceded by a presentation of the code regulation of the form of legal actions with an indication of the basic functions, which — in the intention of the authors of the Civil Code — were ascribed to the form of legal actions. The part of the study devoted to the discussion of the jurisprudence explains, first of all, how the principle of the freedom of form was understood and how the provisions on the special form and the consequences of failing to observe it were applied. The conclusions that emerge from the analysis do not allow us to formulate a thesis about an ideological interpretation by the Supreme Court. In particular, it cannot be confirmed that the use of provisions on form testified to their instrumentalization. This leads us to reflect that the political conditions of the communist period did not preclude the Supreme Court from interpreting the law in a fully autonomous manner. For this reason, much of the case law from that period is still relevant.

Rola prawa działalności kulturalnej w indoktrynowaniu społeczeństwa w okresie Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej — część I

The aim of the article is to establish the role of the law on cultural activity in the process of indoctrinating society in the Polish People’s Republic period. The work will analyze the legal acts regulating the system and tasks of state entities involved in promoting ideas and views approved by the then authorities, primarily of a socialist nature.
 It will be shown in the work that the law on cultural activity played an important role in indoctrinating society during the communist period. It actively supported state bodies, legitimizing their actions. The support was provided to a different extent and in various forms, both imperious and non-imperative. The general axiology of law included the values approved by the rulers, in the light of which legal provisions should be interpreted. The law also created an organized state administration apparatus whose task was to influence the society. A complex, multi-level system of state administration was created, the scope of which was to form a new reality as well as support the authorities and parties. Care was taken to ensure that the information provided to the public was “properly” verified. Entities providing them were regulated, in various forms and scope. Actions in this area were carefully planned and carried out, taking into account the orders of the party authorities subordinate to the powers in Moscow. The minister for propaganda, organizing and coordinating the state entities’ activities, functioned informally. The tasks and competences of state administration entities and bodies in the field of cultural activity were often constructed by law with the use of undefined concepts. This created a wide field of interpretation for the state administration body, which adjusted the meaning assigned to them to the current needs and directions of the policy pursued, thus extending the scope of its activities. In many cases, the provisions of acts and decrees defined tasks and competences in a concise manner, allowing them to be further specified or developed by the provisions of regulations. This created a lot of room for maneuver for the administration, which itself created the regulations on the basis of which it functioned. In practice, it often extended the scope of its activities, interfering in an unauthorized way in the area of human and civil rights and freedoms. All this, however, was legal — based on and within the limits of the law. Moreover, the law regulated the control and supervision of entities popularizing cultural activity, enabling wide-ranging censorship. The law also specified severe sanctions against entities not complying with the current policy of the rulers. They were regulated by acts of cultural activity and acts of criminal law. Furthermore, internal law played an important role.

Spowiedź antropologiczna. Z notatek PRL-owskiego etnografa – o niektórych kontekstach badań terenowych w Sudanie

This article is based on field notes from the author’s first independent ethnographic research, conducted in 1989–1991 in Sudan. Reflecting on the path that led him to anthropology during the last decade of the Polish People’s Republic, just before the politicaltransformation in Poland, he revisits his first ethnographic experience in the field, during student expeditions to Africa, focusing in particular on his long doctoral fieldworkin Sudan, spanning a year and a half. Examined years later, the text reveals facts, now salient but which then seemed obvious, or, for some reason, were not to be mentioned.The goal is to provide some insights into the history of Polish ethnography during the communist period.

The Impacts of Urbanisation on Landscape and Environment: The Case of Slovakia

The development of urbanisation is linked to qualitative and quantitative changes in the landscape and its components aimed at strengthening economic, administrative and cultural-social functions, which are associated with ever-increasing pressures on ecosystems and their individual components. These pressures are subject to various factors—socio-economic, political, environ-mental, etc. In this paper, we present an evaluation of the environmental impacts of the development of urbanisation in Slovakia. Independent Slovakia belongs to the young European states. The communist period lasted from 1948 to 1989. The character of landscape, the quality of the environment and also the degree of anthropisation of territory were dependent on a centrally managed economy. Urbanisation changes began to manifest themselves rapidly after 2000, when the economy was transformed and Slovakia was preparing to join the European Union (Slovakia joined the European Union in 2004). The transformation from central planning into a market economy was the basis of the changes, which was conditioned following strong pressure of investors on the landscape, the construction of technological parks, shopping and logistics centres and transport infrastructure and the construction of residential complexes. According to the European Environment Agency’s study on urban sprawl between the mid-1950s and the end of the 1990s, industry, commercial and transport services have grown at a significant rate and the residential areas at a moderate rate in Slovakia. On the other hand, Slovakia has areas where urbanisation has the opposite trend. Rural settlements are abandoned as well as large areas of agricultural land. The character of land use has fundamentally changed over the past 20 years. These changes not only have a spatial dimension but are associated with the emergence of various environmental problems. The paper deals with the impacts of anthropisation and industrialisation of Slovakia after 2000. The anthropisation process in Slovakia was determined through data processed in GIS and also through the statistical data representing land use. Based on the ecological significance of land use elements, the degree of anthropisation in Slovakiawas calculated.

Long-Term Urbanization Dynamics and the Evolution of Green/Blue Areas in Eastern Europe: Insights from Romania

Urbanization is a dynamic process performed at the expense of natural and/or semi-natural areas, with direct impacts on the ecosystem services provided to human society. The increasing population density in urban areas and the associated demand for housing and public services have led to progressive changes in the structure, architecture, and design of urban areas. The present study analyzes long-term urban development in Western Romania, focusing on green/blue areas’ strategies in Timisoara over centuries. The empirical results of a literature review carried out with a historical perspective have delineated the time periods that favored “urban green development” (1716–1918 and 1918–1940) and those restricting their development (1940–2000), as well as the factors that influenced long-term urbanization dynamics and the evolution of green/blue areas. These factors can be generalized to other socioeconomic contexts in Eastern Europe. Characteristic issues of this geographical area impacting the evolution of urban green/blue areas include (i) common historical aspects (e.g., the influence of geo-political and strategic dimensions, the dominations of former great empires such as the Turkish empire and the communist period) and (ii) population migration after 1990.

Wykładnia pojęcia „dobrej wiary” w orzecznictwie w kontekście dokonywanych w okresie PRL naruszeń prawa własności

The article aims to asses the jurisprudence of the first decades of the 21st century regarding the good faith of stateowned enterprises that began, without a legal title, to use private land in the communist period, placing on them the infrastructure used to transmit electric energy. Courts interpreting general clauses referring to concepts and systems of values lying outside the legal system gain the ability to influence the decision of the case based on their own moral judgments. Therefore, the case where Polish courts operating in a state that respects the principle of equal property protection regardless if the entitled entity had the opportunity to assess the conduct of entities representing the state operating on the basis of a completely different system of values, should be considered particularly interesting. It is typical for totalitarian and authoritarian regimes to formally grant broad protection to individual rights and, at the same time ignore their existence in the activities of the state. It can be seen in the practice of carrying out some infrastructure investments in the communist period. Electricity networks were often built on private land. At that time, there were regulations allowing to obtain a legal title to use the land, both in private law (contract) and of an administrative (expropriation) nature. The state and state-owned enterprises, however, mostly did not use them, focusing on planning investments to obtain permits related to technical issues. The reasons for this behavior can be seen primarily in the basic assumptions of the socialist system. The described practice testified to the real attitude of the state to private property as a type of property that was ultimately to be ousted in the socialist system. The role of economic plans in the Polish People’s Republic was also significant. State bodies and state-owned enterprises primarily aimed at executing plans, regardless of whether or not they violated the individual’s interests in this way. After 1989, the legal status of many power grids, overhead lines, and other devices was therefore not regulated. State-owned enterprises, and the companies resulting from their transformation, used many properties without a legal title. Changes in the legal awareness of society and the grow-ing understanding of economic mechanisms based on the principles of responsibility for one’s own actions and protection of subjective rights, led to many court disputes between owners and entrepreneurs. The most common claims addressed to transmission companies were remunerations for the use of land without legal title and actio negatoria. The case law reacted to the increase in the number of disputes by creating a concept of usucaption of land easement for the benefit of the transmission entrepreneur. Its legitimacy from the beginning raised fundamental doubts in the legal doctrine, but it gained the full support of the courts. Many statements of the Supreme Court assessed the correctness of the state-owned enterprises’ conduct. The relatively numerous statements approving the omission of obtaining a legal title to seize someone else’s real estate in the investment preparation process ought to be considered inter-esting and surprising. They significantly influenced the practice of common courts, causing many claims of property owners against entrepreneurs to be dismissed. Moreover, by expressly praising unlawful interference with the right to property, carried out during the Polish Peopleʼs Republic, they probably also deepened the sense of harm and injustice — caused mainly by a surprising in-terpretation that allowed for the acquisition by prescription of a right unknown to the Act — and above all the belief that courts treated trade participants unequally and that courts granted significant privileging to the state and entities representing its interests.

Skazane na zapomnienie — prawo handlowe w PRL

The post-war history of Polish commercial law is not a frequent subject of interest in the literature. Historical reflection is usually limited to indicating that the civil code entering into force on 1 January 1965 and, on the same day, the repeal of the pre-war commercial code from 1934 formally ended the era of Polish private law’s duality — the coexistence of two equal branches of law: civil law, regulating common relations, and commercial law, regulating economic relations. However, it was the last symbolic chord in the history of commercial law during the communist period. In fact, it had been extinguished several years earlier and replaced by a socialist substitute in the form of economic law, intended to regulate the centrally planned, socialist trading, in which there was no space for individual economic activity. The article discusses the mechanism of dismantling commercial law in the political and economical order of the totalitarian state, which Poland became after the Second World War. This mechanism was implemented not on the normative level, by repealing the norms of commercial law, but on the factual one, by eliminating — through administrative, fiscal, and penal pressure methods — addressees of commercial law (already existing and potential entrepreneurs) and taking them away, e.g. by nationalizing the most essential components of their enterprises. In this way, the necessary (personal and property) background of commercial law was destroyed, making its norms irrelevant. Thus, commercial law was condemned to a dozen or so years of non-existence and oblivion before the legislator decided to make a formal decision, which was to repeal most provisions of the commercial code. Only those regulations remained in force that were needed by the communist authorities, e.g. to conduct foreign trade. The effects of several-decades-long systemic non-existence of commercial law are still noticeable today. Despite the systemic transformation in 1989 and the return of the Polish economy to free market rules, Polish commercial law — relegated to the role of a specialized discipline of civil law and formally distinguished only for research and teaching activities — has not yet regained its rank as an independent branch of private law.

Rola prawa działalności kulturalnej w indoktrynowaniu społeczeństwa w okresie Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej — część II

The aim of the article is to establish the role of the law of cultural activity in the process of indoctrination of society in the period of the Polish People’s Republic. The work will analyze the legal acts regulating the system and tasks of state entities involved in the promotion of ideas and views approved by the then authorities, primarily of a socialist nature.
 It will be shown in the work that the law of cultural activity played an important role in indoctrinating society during the communist period. It actively supported state bodies, legitimizing their actions. The support was provided to a different extent and in various forms, both imperious and non-imperative. The general axiology of law included the values approved by the rulers, in the light of which legal provisions should be interpreted. The law also created an organized state administration apparatus whose task was to influence the society. A complex, multi-level system of state administration was created, the scope of which was to create a new reality and support the authorities and parties. Care was taken to ensure that the information provided to the public was ʻproperlyʼ verified. Entities providing them were regulated, in various forms and scope. Actions in this area were carefully planned and carried out, taking into account the orders of the party authorities subordinate to the authorities in Moscow. The minister for propaganda, organizing and co-ordinating the activities of state entities, functioned informally. The tasks and competences of state administration entities and bodies in the field of cultural activity were often constructed by law with the use of undefined concepts. This created a wide field of interpretation for the state administration body, which adjusted the meaning assigned to them to the current needs and directions of the policy pursued, thus extending the scope of its activities. In many cases, the provisions of acts and decrees defined tasks and competences in a concise manner, allowing them to be further specified or developed by the provisions of regulations. This created a lot of room for maneuver for the administration, which itself created the regulations on the basis of which it functioned. In practice, it often extended the scope of its activities, interfering in an unauthorized way in the area of human and civil rights and freedoms. All this, however, was legal — on the basis and within the limits of the law. Moreover, the law regulated the control and supervision of entities popularizing cultural activity, enabling wide-ranging censorship. The law also specified severe sanctions against entities not complying with the current policy of the rulers. They were regulated by acts of cultural activity and acts of criminal law. Moreover, internal law played an important role.

THE DARK SIDE OF TURKEY-BULGARIA ROUTE

Illegal affairs and dark relationships can always be encountered in any place. International links and officials can also be seen in these illegal affairs. When the communists came to power in Bulgaria in 1944, there were a significant minority of Turks. Refugee Turks arrived in the following years and some Turks from Turkey began to participate in illegal affairs in Bulgaria. The cooperation in the underground worlds of Bulgaria and Turkey, which are at opposite ends of the cold war period, is remarkable. Why do those who participate in illegal affairs in Turkey flee to Bulgaria or other Balkan countries? In this study, illegal affairs and dark relations in Turkey and Bulgaria has been discussed. Turks are the most important ethnic minority in Bulgaria. However, Bulgaria allowed Turks from Turkey involved in illegal affairs to enter the country. At the same time, black propaganda was made in the publications of the Communist Party. It was aimed to create chaos in Turkey’s internal and foreign policy. A negative perception of Turkey was formed. Turks carried on their illegal affairs and dark relations after the communist period. Bulgaria is a crucial exit point between east and west in the arms and drug trafficking. Official confessions made in Bulgaria after the communist period give clues about illegal affairs and the system of dark relations.

Urban History Research in Romania in the Last 30 Years: Sources, Topics, Methods, Limits

This paper deals with the evolution of historical research on urban history over the past 30 years. The communist period was a break from the years before the Second World War, when a number of writers, professional historians or people passionate about history published monographs of urban settlements to which they felt attached. With some exceptions, the years of communism represented a blank from this point of view, the interest shifting to the aspects contained in the classical schemes that formed the Marxist interpretations of the past, in which the urban world occupied a completely marginal place. Only archaeology or the history of monuments managed to make some progress. Ideological restrictions were removed after 1989, but this did not coincide with an immediate recovery of the place that urban history should have rightfully occupied in the research of history. Obvious progress has been made especially in the publication of primary sources: volumes of documents have appeared for towns such as Iași, Huși, Tecuci, Târgoviște and Câmpulung Muscel; several historical plans of towns and atlases were published; several syntheses of history have appeared regarding the towns in the historical regions of Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia. However, progress is mainly quantitative, not always qualitative, although a plus must be emphasized in this last regard as well. There is an obvious lack of systematic or coordinated research, as there is no coherent support from the institutions that coordinate the research process in Romania, whether we are talking about the central or local, academic or university level. Existing initiatives are most often individual, with inconsistent results.

Analysis of the Demographic Phenomenon of Fertility in Romania from 1950-2021

Abstract Fertility is the ability of two cells, the egg and the sperm, to unite in order to conceive a biological child. The aim of this study is to analyse how the fertility rate has evolved demographically since the communist period and until now in Romania. In order to carry out this study, we analysed the data provided by Macrotrends regarding the fertility rate in Romania from the last 71 years (more precisely 1950-2021). The results of the study indicate that, in 1950 Romania had an average fertility rate of 3.25 children per woman. It gradually declined until 1965. In 1967, the number of births doubled to almost half a million new-borns in just 1 year. Such a rate has never been reached, the fertility rate being in a continuous decline until now.