Polska 1944/45-1989 : studia i materiały 10 (2011)

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s. 155-180

A group of “priests patriots”, initiated in 1949 by the authorities of communist Poland, was supposed to support the process of stabilisation of the country, both through propaganda and action. The priests-patriots did not employ their own ideology, but implemented within the community of clergy basic slogans and practices of Stalinist social engineering. They mobilised the faithful to execute the Six-Year Plan, propagated the fight for peace, collectivisation of agriculture, and praised the radical socio-economic changes that were occurring at that time. They used the rhetoric of enlightenment and progress, verbally accepted class struggle condemned by the Catholic social teachings. They did not directly comment on the subject of dogmas of the Catholic faith, but in fact, they subverted the precepts of the Church (first, they refused obedience to bishops, whom they considered to be the representatives of reaction). The formation was strictly supervised by the security apparatus and was generously financed (especially in 1950–1953, when the state was fighting an intense political war with the Church hierarchy and Primate Stefan Wyszyński).The article focuses its attention on the “priests patriots” from Greater Poland and Kuyavia provinces, since in comparison to the rest of the Polish clergy, they were most active and numerous (circa ten percent of all the religious in the region). The author substantiates that they were isolated from the Polish society and regarded critically by the rest of the clergy, almost ostracised as traitors. In 1955, the material and ideological support of the state for the group ceased, which led to its dissolution.

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p. 155-180