Postawy nauczycieli Lubelszczyzny wobec władzy i ustroju w latach 1957–1989

The author undertook to analyse the attitudes of teachers of the Lublin region in the period less addressed by historians of education, that is, after 1956. The importance of teachers and their attitudes for the communist authorities is evidenced by the fact that both the party apparatus and security organs, had special structures competent for the representatives of the teaching profession, exerting influence on their views and attitudes. Teachers were among the social groups most eagerly encouraged to join PZPR’s (Polish United Workers’ Party’s) ranks, because of the fact that despite the political transformations of 1956, until the collapse of the socialist system in Poland they were meant to directly exercise PZPR’s ideological plans towards education and the young. Indoctrination and pressure by education administrative bodies, the party apparatus, and SB (Security Service) resulted in the emergence and consolidation of two types of teachers’ attitudes towards the authorities and the political system. The fi rst consisted in acceptance and participation in the system, expressed by membership in PZPR, confi dential and open collaboration with SB, and active participation in political/ideological indoctrination of the young. The second attitude boiled down to the desire to arrange their lives in the actual conditions, to avoid exposing oneself to confl ict with the ruling authority, to care for one’s own interests. Only some individuals functioned apart from these attitudes, demonstrating unacceptance of the authorities and the political system.