A History of Polish Culture [antikvár]

Preface This is the history of the culture of a nation which over a thousand years ago created in the lands between the Vistula and the Odra a state which was for centuries to be a great European power. It is the history of a nation which lost its independence as a result of foreign aggression — although also admittedly through its own errors — but which never ceased throughout the whole period of the partitions to mobilize its forces in the cause of freedom, and became a model of patriotism. And it is the history of a nation which regained its independence and rebuilt its own state, only to lose these again diuing the tragedy of the World War n. And finally it is the history of a nation which after the war built the state anew, strong and just. This is the history of the culture of a nation whose chivalrous traditions in the service of great national and cultural ideas have been tried and proved so many times on battlefields: Legnica, the victory at Vienna, the sacrificial struggle "for your freedom anti ours" on American and Em-opean soil, the barricades of the Paris Commune, the contribution to the victory over Nazism in the Battíe of Britain, at Monte Cassino, the route from Lenino to Berlin, and the Polish resistance movement. This is the history of the culture of a nation whose state — like all the other states of the world — was for centuries a feudal state, but which boldly and independently summoned up all injustices before "the tribimal of reason", searching steadfastly for a system free from prejudices and inequality; of a nation which already at the Council of Constance defended the precepts of fairness and peace in relations among nations and which — especially in the 16th century — became a liberal and tolerant country, giving hospitality to refugees persecuted in the rest of Europe for their beliefs; of a nation which today, while building a country where social justice reigns, 9 at the same time defends peace on earth. This is the history of the culture of the nation of Copernicus and Chopin; of a nation of scholars and artists, whose creative efforts contributed significantly to the development of world culture; of a nation in which culture became a matter of life itself for the great mass of people, at first within the limits set by the feudal system, next within the broader limits set by the social emancipation movement of peasants and workers, and finally — today — within limits which embrace the entire nation. This book presents culture as the development of social consciousness, bom of the processes occurring in and forming the civiUzed world. This outer world is dealt with only insofar as is necessary in order to elucidate the birth and operation of the inner world, the world of social consciousness, evolved through centuries and constituting the main theme of this book. The picture of the objective world presents, therefore, only "significant" facts which are open to hermeneutic interpretation. In short, this book is not an encyclopedia of information about the history of Polish culture, perceived as a totality of all the fields of life. It is not a systematic exposition of political, social, or economic history; it is not a detailed discourse on the history of literature, art, music, education or science. It is not a reference book, which one can reach for when needed: it is a collection of interpretations of occurrences and facts taken from various areas of life — the economy, the social arena, the development of the state, the view of the world and the circulation of culture in society — indicating changes in social consciousness. This, therefore, is a book intended to stimulate thought about the culture of one of the nations of the world. And, at the same time, thought about the culture of the nation to which, perhaps the reader of these pages may belong. At such a meeting a road of mutual understanding and agreement opens up, a road upon which all the inhabitants of our earth are today setting forth.