The Festival of Education, Books and Press in the Cultural Propaganda of the Polish Communist Regieme, in the period 1959–1970

Abstract

The article deals with the Festivals of Education, Books and Press in Poland during the years 1959–1970, treated by the Communist authorities as annual propaganda campaigns of sorts. The author attempts to answer the following questions: how were these festivals organized and conducted? what forms did they assume? And what were their goals?

The bulk of the source materials utilized by the author were the reports generated by the Central Polish Committee of the Festival, and the reports of some other institutions active in the organization of the events. These materials are kept in Warsaw: partly at the Polish National Library, partly at the Archives of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and partly at the Central Archives of Modern Records.

The conducted analysis confirmed the view that during the rule of Władysław Gomułka, the Festivals were an element of state propaganda, which every year took the form of a broad social campaign serving current political ends. During the Festival, a wide spectrum of various popular organizations, state institutions, and production plants had to assume their roles in the centrally planned programme. Each Festival encompassed numerous mass events of various types, which required the preparation of special infrastructure. The Festivals facilitated wide access to culture and education. One problem, which appeared during these events, and was reported to the central authorities already at by end of the nineteen-sixties, were the shortcomings of the economy, which could not cope with the growing, and with each year more precisely formulated, demands of the people with respect to cultural goods