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Church and State in the Struggle for Human Rights in Poland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2016

James E. Will
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Extract

This article focuses on the historical struggle for the realization of human rights in Poland. A focus on historical struggle indicates some congruence with a Marxist concern for “praxis,” although some of the struggle described opposes given forms of Marxist practices. I shall use philosophical and theological categories in the analysis of the struggle, while seeking to avoid an abstract understanding of human rights. An abstract approach to human rights in terms of natural law or an unmediated ontological relation between God and persons may ground their “inalienable” character, but contribute little insight into their social actualization.

The social reality of Poland is as rich a context for seeking to understand the role of the church in the struggle for human rights as one could hope to find. The role of the Roman Catholic Church in sustaining Polish identity and dignity during its partitions by Austria, Germany, and Russia from 1773 to 1917 provides the foundation for the struggle we shall analyze during the post-World War II period from 1945 to the present. The church's participation in its Communist-governed society during the last four decades, however, shall require our full attention. We shall allude to the earlier history only to help understand the contemporary social power of the Polish church.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , 1984 , pp. 153 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 1984

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References

1. For a well-written account of this historical relation between the church and Polish nation, see Halecki, O., A History of Poland (9th ed. 1976)Google Scholar.

2. Will, J., Must Walls Divide? 16, 72–77 (1981)Google Scholar.

3. Mojzes, P., Christian-Marxist Dialogue in Eastern Europe 73 (1981)Google Scholar. The claim of “earliest in the world” is exaggerated since it does not take into account the work of the religious socialists prior to World War II. However, the Polish dialogue was the first in post-World War II Europe.

4. Kowalczyk, S., On the History of Christian-Marxist Dialogue in Poland, in Poland: Church Facing Socialism 77–95 (1979)Google Scholar, reprinted from 3 Dialectics and Humanism (1978).

5. For a recent comprehensive discussion on this point, see Stone, R., Paul Tillich's Radical Social Thought (1980)Google Scholar.

6. Professor Janina Jacubowska was a research scholar at the Center for Process Studies, Claremont, California during the fall semester of 1982, and she lectured on the socialism of Marx and Tillich at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary on December 1, 1982. Her book has not been translated into English.

7. Documentary notes of the Marian sanctuary in Czestochowa are given in the Christian Social Association's Information Bulletin 24–31 (08 1982)Google Scholar.

8. Reprinted, in part, in the CHSS Information Bulletin 36–37 (07 1982)Google Scholar.

9. Chodak, , People and the Church versus the State: The Case of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, 2 Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe 33 (11 1982)Google Scholar.

10. Lecture by Wladyslaw Piwowarski during a human rights seminar at the Catholic University of Lublin (Nov. 1980).

11. Cardinal Wojtyla quoted Unitatis redintegratio in his Sources of Renewal 328 (1980)Google Scholar.

12. This lecture was also given during the human rights seminar at the Catholic University of Lublin (Nov. 1980).

13. Marx, , Capital Volume II 584 (Moore, & Aveling, trans. 1964)Google Scholar.

14. Marx, , Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1884 132 (1961)Google Scholar.

15. Schaff, A., Marxismus und das Menschliche Individuum 12 (1965)Google Scholar. The translation is mine.

16. Raina, , Der Fall Kolakowski, Neues Forum 213 (03 1967)Google Scholar.

17. Michnik, A., Die Kirche und Die Polnische Linke 159 (1980)Google Scholar.

18. Address by General W. Jaruzelski to the Polish Sejm (January 25, 1982). I have not seen this section of the speech reported in any U.S. newspapers.

19. Cf. Michnik, supra note 17, at 172.

20. Kuczynski, J., Christian-Marxist Dialogue in Poland 39, 41 (1979)Google Scholar, the essay cited is reprinted from 1 Dialectics and Humanism (Spring 1974).

21. Id. at 17; the essay has the somewhat euphoric title, To Elevate the World: The Potential of John Paul II's Pontificate.

22. Id. at 19.

23. Michnik, supra note 17, at 165; the translation is mine.

24. Id. at 175.

25. Dziewanswski, M., Poland in the 20th Century 207 (1977)Google Scholar.

26. Kowalczyk, supra note 4, at 77-80.

27. Id. at 88-90.

28. Lecture by Stanslaw Kowalczyk given during a human rights seminar at the Catholic University of Lublin (Nov. 1980).

29. Kuczynski, supra note 20, at 27.

30. Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for the Economic Reform (Poland), The Polish Economic Reform, 5 (1982)Google Scholar.

31. Id. at 13-15.

32. Polityka, No. 31 (July 31, 1981) (translated in CHSS Information Bulletin 31, Sept. 1981).

33. CHSS Information Bulletin 22–23 (08 1982)Google Scholar. This was a press review of publications by the Catholic press in Poland during the period of martial law.

34. New York Times, Feb. 8, 1982, at 1.