Lexington Books
Pages: 328
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-0-7391-8030-3 • Hardback • January 2015 • $136.00 • (£105.00)
978-0-7391-8031-0 • eBook • January 2015 • $129.00 • (£99.00)
Tom Junes is visting fellow and post-doctoral researcher at the Imre Kertész Kolleg in Jena, Germany.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: Poland, Students and Communism
Part I. From Sovietization to Destalinization: 1944-1957
Chapter One. The Lost Generation
Chapter Two. The Great Leap Forward
Chapter Three. The Generation of 56
Part II. From Acquiescence to Contestation: 1957-1968
Chapter Four. Our Small Stabilization
Chapter Five. No Pasaran!
Chapter Six. The Generation of 68
Part III. From Repression to Resurgence: 1968-1980
Chapter Seven. The Post-March Hangover
Chapter Eight. Socialist Complacency
Chapter Nine. We Don't Need No Thought Control
Part IV. From Solidarity to Betrayal: 1980-1989
Chapter Ten. The Generation of 81
Chapter Eleven. For Our Freedom and Yours
Chapter Twelve. The Generation of 89
Epilogue: The End of the Classical Student Movement
Bibliography
Index
Tom Junes has written a thorough and compelling book on students, who have figured as an important and often underestimated collective actor in contemporary Polish history.... Although the narrative of the book focuses on political processes, Junes shows sensitivity to the broader social context, nuances, and mechanisms underpinning student politics as well. The latter is perhaps the most valuable dimension of the book. The monograph provides readers with what is probably the most in-depth and accurate portrait of the Stalinist generation, focusing on those who came of age and were socialized in the early 1950s, when terror and indoctrination reached their peak.... Junes does not hesitate to offer grand interpretations, which doubtlessly enhance not only the scope but also the value of the book.... Student Politics in Communist Poland remains a well-researched, readable, even snappy book.... The result is a detailed and in many ways brilliant panorama of Polish history, seen from a well-chosen angle: the lens of the experiences of different generations of students.
— Hungarian Historical Review
This meticulous study delves into a wealth of Polish archives and is notable for extended interviews conducted by the author with key actors in Poland.... Junes is to be congratulated on his pioneering account of this previously understudied elite.
— Europe-Asia Studies
Tom Junes in his book . . . looks at the important part of Polish history, taking particularly interesting and basically unprecedented perspective. . . .Noteworthy is the richness and diversity of source material that [was] used to prepare the book.
— Polish-Studies.Interdisciplinary
In twelve brisk chapters, Junes provides an overview of Polish student activism between 1945 and 1989…. His account draws on documents from more than a dozen Polish archives, as well as interviews with some fifty former activists, many of whom are quoted at length. It is exhaustively researched, impressively thorough, and admirably concise….
— CritCom: a Forum for Research & Commentary on Europe
This well-researched monograph by Tom Junes provides a historical overview of student politics in Poland from 1944 to 1989…. Junes’ retelling the history of People’s Poland through the prism of the student milieu provides important new insights. The use of information taken from many interviews is a particular strength of this book, which deserves a place on the bookshelves of all those interested in postwar Polish history.
— Slavic Review
[T]he book brings new insights on the two important topics. It offers a summary of prequels to the well-known episodes of Polish history between 1945 and 1989, as it involves the same protagonists but in younger, student-age. Its subject-matter accentuates the significance of the student political actions and their influence on the political and also social development in the Communist Poland. Besides, it also contributes to the understanding of the background and some of the motivations of many personalities shaping the last twenty-seven years of Polish political development.
— H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online
Above all, the book renews the spirit of in-depth inquiry, which is increasingly disappearing in historical writings due to the enormous pressure to publish for the sake of making an academic career. Tom Junes’ volume is one of those rare publications which arises out of passionate research on a particular topic, as well as from hard work based on the extensive use of multiple primary sources and solid methodological underpinnings.... I highly recommend this one to all those interested in Polish or (Eastern) European recent history.
— Acta Poloniae Historica
A useful compendium of the organizational context of Polish student life under communism.
— Canadian Slavonic Papers
With encyclopedic coverage and eminent readability, this will be the comprehensive book on Poland’s communist-era student movement for years to come. Even more, its account of the disappearing ideology of the Party and the diverse ideas of the opposition tells us loads about the transformation and erosion of East European communist politics in general.
— David Ost, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Based on research—both archival and oral history—which is nothing short of impressive, Junes retells the history of the Polish People’s Republic through the eyes of eight generations of students. Students, Junes shows, were involved in most major upheavals in People’s Poland. He thus successfully debunks the myth of a rift between students and workers before the rise of Solidarity in 1980. Just as importantly, Junes’ book also shows that students could do more than either openly resisting the regime or submitting to its rule. There was active consent to Communism among students, he demonstrates, but there also were possibilities for Eigensinn—carving out a place for oneself within the structure of the regime, by listening to jazz and boogie in the 1950s, to rock music in the 1960s, or by choosing western made jeans over the local Teksas brand in the 1970s. Junes’ book, in sum, is highly recommended for everyone interested in the social and cultural history of state socialism.
— Robert Brier, German Historical Institute in Warsaw