„People’s Democracy” in the Wolsztyn District in the Years 1945-1947. Selected Authority Structures and Responses of the Community

Abstract

Consolidation of the Communists’ position in Poland in the years 1945-1947 followed from the international situation at the final stage of World War II. The Communist authority, paradoxically called „people’s democracy”, was imposed on Poland against the people's will. In the present article two realities are compared. The first one is the systematic formation of new authority structures, and the second one are hopes for the possibility of complete sovereignty of the country liberated from the German occupation expressed by representatives of various social groups - farmers, craftsmen, teachers, the clergy. The security organs and the civil administration diligently noted all manifestations of independent thinking in order to eliminate them or to control them according to their own plans, by way of spreading propaganda or intimidating people. The chronological and territorial perspective of the article is narrow - the Wolsztyn District in the years 1945-1947. Still it allows the author to illustrate well enough the situation in Poland after the war - the situation of gradually destroying people’s freedom of conscience in the name of the „people’s democracy” that was being built. Although the article does not focus on the attitude and activities undertaken by the clergy, it should be remembered that independent attitude was usually inspired by the Catholic formation of the conscience.