The purpose of the article is to point out the outlook of Local Censorship Office in Poznań to articles about political changes in Poland in 1956, which were published in Gazeta Poznańska. The previous research on the attitude of the press and censorship during the "Polish October" focused primarily on newspapers which were considered revisionist. Gazeta Poznańska was edited by Regional Committee of the Polish United Workers` Party and presented an official conservative point of view. The article was based on the documents from State Archive in Poznań. The basis of arrangements presented in the article were the result of the analysis of source documents created by Local Censorship Office in Poznań. They made it possible to create a category of texts which were consistently excluded from publication. This group included articles on the increase in wages and focused on the movements of Soviet troops in Poland. Censorship also blocked opinions that evaluated the earlier period of the Communist Party governments too critically and suggested dissatisfaction with the ongoing changes. The activity of censorship in Gazeta Poznańska in the year 1956 also indicates what type and level f criticism of the Communist Party at that time was considered to be admissible. The outlook of Local Censorship Office in Poznań to Gazeta Poznańska in the period of 1956 changes in Poland showed what type and level of criticism was acceptable in the Polish United Workers' Party's press.
In his book author explains social and political phenomena that are connected with political change in local conditions in Poland in 1989. As yet there has been no empirical study that would consider first partly free election to the last parliament of People's Republic of Poland in local conditions. In 1989 there were 108 electoral constituencies in Poland to the Sejm elections, and free election to the Senate were conducted in 49 provinces of Poland. Chojnice was a capital city of election constituency no. 14 to the Sejm and a part of election to the Senate conducted in Bydgoszcz Province. As over the time social issues are perceived through stereotypes and tend to be mythologized, it seems important to author to show such events and phenomena on firm basis. It is worth emphasizing that results from 1989 elections in local conditions are generally unknown. Poles do not know results in their local constituencies because nearly thirty years after the elections official results from local constituencies still have not been not published anywhere. Thus, this study is based on primary sources, newspapers from that time, literature of this particular issue. The analysis and synthesis is based on a number of theoretical perspectives: behaviorism to describe interaction between political actors – electoral system – party systems; political process and political change; Joseph Schumpeter's assumption that political competition is of fundamental importance for the democracy; Samuel Huntington's theory of third wave of democratization. All the data is analyzed in quantitative perspective. There is no hypothesis as the study is a descriptive and explanatory one. Its main goal is to highlight earlier unknown phenomena. This study is about local politics in a one-party state during the time of political change, so author refers to the politics on state level from that time. The most important questions refer to: continuity of activity of new social movement members from the time of the carnival of Chojnice "Solidarity" in the years 1980-1981 and their involvement in 1989; political negotiations and emergence of political leaders during that time; political will of citizens to take part in political change and their will to change the political system; attitudes of political actors from PUWP and "Solidarity"; individual nature of facts from that time taken under consideration from the perspective of local reality; attitudes of local regime members towards political change; results of elections in Chojnice constituency on 4th and 18th June 1989; differentiation of political behavior in Chojnice constituency; picture of society of that time; influence of cultural and ethnical identity as well as people's ties (mainly with Catholic Church) and roots on their political choices. Political behavior is one of the main category of this study. Author highlights not only electoral system but also describes process of political leaders' emergence on local scale. In this perspective election campaign is portrayed as a political fight between candidates of Citizen Committee of "Solidarity" and candidates of Polish United Worker's Party (PUWP) and its political satellites. As a matter of fact, author stresses the importance of category of the legitimization and shows that members of PUWP (in Poland known as PZPR) were not totally delegitimized by citizens in 1989 election in Chojnice constituency. In fact, PUWP was mostly legitimized by Poles in the northern part of Bydgoszcz Province during that election. The study consists of the following parts: introduction, 8 chapters, summary, bibliography, index and appendix. The first chapter describes electoral system and law that was enforced in 1989. The second one analyzes political climate and political situation around elections to the Sejm and the Senate. The third chapter is also mostly analytical one. Author describes local communists apparatchiks' attitude towards political change. The fourth chapter shows the process of political leaders emergence from both sides of the political conflict. The fifth chapter describes personal features of candidates to the Sejm and the Senate. The sixth chapter shows election campaign. The seventh one shows election results. The eighth chapter describes political attitudes and behavior of citizens in Chojnice constituency. In the appendix readers may find results from constituency districts of Chojnice town, and Chojnice country. As a result of this study some unexpected conclusions emerged after empirical study, for example: one of the most prominent one is that citizens of People's Republic of Poland do not reject totally PUWP and its monopoly for power and authority; paradoxically candidates from "Solidarity" movement were not selected as democratically as candidates from PUWP ; deep differences in political attitudes in Chojnice constituency depended on the scale of people's religiousness and the tradition of political opposition in town, as well as on ethnic groups; the highest support for political change was among Kashubians, whereas the lowest in the groups called Krajniacy and Borowiacy. ; Monografia powstała ona w wyniku analizy procesu wyborczego tzw. przełomu politycznego związanego z wyborami czerwcowymi 1989 r. Jest to studium zdarzeń i zjawisk z tamtego okresu, z okręgu wyborczego nr 14 Chojnice, który to okręg do Sejmu PRL obejmował w wyborach kontaktowych całą północną część województwa bydgoskiego i był jednym ze 108 takich okręgów w Polsce. W książce przedstawiono zarówno genezę decyzji politycznych stojących za wyborem przedterminowych wyborów w 1989 r. przez reżim komunistyczny, jak i między innymi proces wyłaniania liderów na listy wyborcze. Zaprezentowano postawy polityczne, kontekst społeczno-polityczny, stanowisko lokalnych struktur Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej i jej działaczy wobec perspektywy głębokich przemian politycznych, które zapowiadały wybory czerwcowe, jak i też zaprezentowano reakcje powyborcze chojnickich komunistów. Dokonano także analizy porównawczej, według podstawowej jednostki jaką była gmina, ukazując zróżnicowanie postaw również w odniesieniu do przynależności etnograficznej wyborców w okręgu wyborczym nr 14. Analizie poddano także wybory do Senatu, koncentrując się na przebiegu kampanii, kandydatach oraz wynikach z terenu północnej części województwa bydgoskiego. Całość studium jest wynikiem analizy materiałów źródłowych - tj. dokumentów Państwowej Komisji Wyborczej, Rady Państwa oraz Komitetu Miejskiego PZPR w Chojnicach i Komitetu Gminnego PZPR w Chojnicach oraz relacji i wspomnień.
The article is an effect of interest in research interests across the image of Polish accession to the EU which was created by press texts of regional newspapers of the Western Land of Poland. The press texts was selected broadcast content on the appropriate form, and clearly carved eventually reflect the problems that have become important and have been discussed issues relating to the Polish accession to the EU. Polish-German relations was important point of pre-accession discussions in the regional analyzed newspapers. Based on analysis, can be concluded that the motive for combining texts, newspapers surveyed had hoped that the adoption of Polish EU will speak to a symbol that will contribute to the disappearance of overcoming mutual prejudices and stereotypes still functioning. Although the mutual relations of both countries still had a significant impact historical and social events, it seems that the regional press journalists of the Western Lands really belief that after 1 May 2004 will begin a new stage of history. In press texts was repeated several times the idea of Polish-German 'community of interests'. Analysis of the texts shows that in the pre proceeded quite freely communication processes between German and Polish representatives of local authorities, particularly where the German side clearly says about concerns stemming from EU enlargement, Poles and Germans expecting to improve the better economic situation. The analysis of the press shows clearly that the German political elite was unable to convincingly explain the lack of acceptance of the German society for EU enlargement to include Poland.
Chojnice's June '89. The local study of the shockwave process of democratization In his book author explains social and political phenomena that are connec-ted with political change in local conditions in Poland in 1989. As yet there has beenno empirical study that would consider first partly free election to the last parliamentof People's Republic of Poland in local conditions. In 1989 there were 108 electoralconstituencies in Poland to the Sejm elections, and free election to the Senate wereconducted in 49 provinces of Poland. Chojnice was a capital city of election constitu-ency no. 14 to the Sejm and a part of election to the Senate conducted in BydgoszczProvince. As over the time social issues are perceived through stereotypes and tendto be mythologized, it seems important to author to show such events and pheno-mena on firm basis. It is worth emphasizing that results from 1989 elections in localconditions are generally unknown. Poles do not know results in their local constitu-encies because nearly thirty years after the elections official results from local con-stituencies still have not been not published anywhere. Thus, this study is based onprimary sources, newspapers from that time, literature of this particular issue. The analysis and synthesis is based on a number of theoretical perspectives: behaviorismto describe interaction between political actors – electoral system – party systems;political process and political change; Joseph Schumpeter's assumption that politicalcompetition is of fundamental importance for the democracy; Samuel Huntington'stheory of third wave of democratization. All the data is analyzed in quantitativeperspective. There is no hypothesis as the study is a descriptive and explanatoryone. Its main goal is to highlight earlier unknown phenomena. This study is aboutlocal politics in a one-party state during the time of political change, so author refersto the politics on state level from that time. The most important questions refer to:continuity of activity of new social movement members from the time of the carni- val of Chojnice "Solidarity" in the years 1980-1981 and their involvement in 1989;political negotiations and emergence of political leaders during that time; politicalwill of citizens to take part in political change and their will to change the politicalsystem; attitudes of political actors from PUWP and "Solidarity"; individual natureof facts from that time taken under consideration from the perspective of local reali-ty; attitudes of local regime members towards political change; results of elections inChojnice constituency on 4th and 18th June 1989; differentiation of political behaviorin Chojnice constituency; picture of society of that time; influence of cultural andethnical identity as well as people's ties (mainly with Catholic Church) and roots ontheir political choices.Political behavior is one of the main category of this study. Author highlightsnot only electoral system but also describes process of political leaders' emergenceon local scale. In this perspective election campaign is portrayed as a political fightbetween candidates of Citizen Committee of "Solidarity" and candidates of PolishUnited Worker's Party (PUWP) and its political satellites. As a matter of fact, authorstresses the importance of category of the legitimization and shows that members ofPUWP (in Poland known as PZPR) were not totally delegitimized by citizens in 1989election in Chojnice constituency. In fact, PUWP was mostly legitimized by Poles inthe northern part of Bydgoszcz Province during that election.The study consists of the following parts: introduction, 8 chapters, summary,bibliography, index and appendix.The first chapter describes electoral system and law that was enforced in 1989.The second one analyzes political climate and political situation around elec-tions to the Sejm and the Senate.The third chapter is also mostly analytical one. Author describes local com-munists apparatchiks' attitude towards political change.The fourth chapter shows the process of political leaders emergence fromboth sides of the political conflict.The fifthh chapter describes personal features of candidates to the Sejm andthe Senate.The sixth chapter shows election campaign.The seventh one shows election results.The eighth chapter describes political attitudes and behavior of citizens inChojnice constituency.In the appendix readers may find results from constituency districts of Choj-nice town, and Chojnice country.As a result of this study some unexpected conclusions emerged aer empi-rical study, for example: one of the most prominent one is that citizens of People'sRepublic of Poland do not reject totally PUWP and its monopoly for power andauthority; paradoxically candidates from "Solidarity" movement were not selectedas democratically as candidates from PUWP ; deep differences in political attitudesin Chojnice constituency depended on the scale of people's religiousness and thetradition of political opposition in town, as well as on ethnic groups; the highest su-pport for political change was among Kashubians, whereas the lowest in the groupscalled Krajniacy and Borowiacy.
In his book author explains social and political phenomena that are connected with political change in local conditions in Poland in 1989. As yet there has been no empirical study that would consider first partly free election to the last parliament of People's Republic of Poland in local conditions. In 1989 there were 108 electoral constituencies in Poland to the Sejm elections, and free election to the Senate were conducted in 49 provinces of Poland. Chojnice was a capital city of election constituency no. 14 to the Sejm and a part of election to the Senate conducted in Bydgoszcz Province. As over the time social issues are perceived through stereotypes and tend to be mythologized, it seems important to author to show such events and phenomena on firm basis. It is worth emphasizing that results from 1989 elections in local conditions are generally unknown. Poles do not know results in their local constituencies because nearly thirty years after the elections official results from local constituencies still have not been not published anywhere. Thus, this study is based on primary sources, newspapers from that time, literature of this particular issue. The analysis and synthesis is based on a number of theoretical perspectives: behaviorism to describe interaction between political actors – electoral system – party systems; political process and political change; Joseph Schumpeter's assumption that political competition is of fundamental importance for the democracy; Samuel Huntington's theory of third wave of democratization. All the data is analyzed in quantitative perspective. There is no hypothesis as the study is a descriptive and explanatory one. Its main goal is to highlight earlier unknown phenomena. This study is about local politics in a one-party state during the time of political change, so author refers to the politics on state level from that time. The most important questions refer to: continuity of activity of new social movement members from the time of the carnival of Chojnice "Solidarity" in the years 1980-1981 and their involvement in 1989; political negotiations and emergence of political leaders during that time; political will of citizens to take part in political change and their will to change the political system; attitudes of political actors from PUWP and "Solidarity"; individual nature of facts from that time taken under consideration from the perspective of local reality; attitudes of local regime members towards political change; results of elections in Chojnice constituency on 4th and 18th June 1989; differentiation of political behavior in Chojnice constituency; picture of society of that time; influence of cultural and ethnical identity as well as people's ties (mainly with Catholic Church) and roots on their political choices. Political behavior is one of the main category of this study. Author highlights not only electoral system but also describes process of political leaders' emergence on local scale. In this perspective election campaign is portrayed as a political fight between candidates of Citizen Committee of "Solidarity" and candidates of Polish United Worker's Party (PUWP) and its political satellites. As a matter of fact, author stresses the importance of category of the legitimization and shows that members of PUWP (in Poland known as PZPR) were not totally delegitimized by citizens in 1989 election in Chojnice constituency. In fact, PUWP was mostly legitimized by Poles in the northern part of Bydgoszcz Province during that election. The study consists of the following parts: introduction, 8 chapters, summary, bibliography, index and appendix. The first chapter describes electoral system and law that was enforced in 1989. The second one analyzes political climate and political situation around elections to the Sejm and the Senate. The third chapter is also mostly analytical one. Author describes local communists apparatchiks' attitude towards political change. The fourth chapter shows the process of political leaders emergence from both sides of the political conflict. The fifth chapter describes personal features of candidates to the Sejm and the Senate. The sixth chapter shows election campaign. The seventh one shows election results. The eighth chapter describes political attitudes and behavior of citizens in Chojnice constituency. In the appendix readers may find results from constituency districts of Chojnice town, and Chojnice country. As a result of this study some unexpected conclusions emerged after empirical study, for example: one of the most prominent one is that citizens of People's Republic of Poland do not reject totally PUWP and its monopoly for power and authority; paradoxically candidates from "Solidarity" movement were not selected as democratically as candidates from PUWP ; deep differences in political attitudes in Chojnice constituency depended on the scale of people's religiousness and the tradition of political opposition in town, as well as on ethnic groups; the highest support for political change was among Kashubians, whereas the lowest in the groups called Krajniacy and Borowiacy.
