Спиркина О.А.

POLISH INTELLIGENTSIA AS THE BACKBONE OF THE MODERN POLISH NATION

Академия пожарной безопасности имени Героев Чернобыля, Черкассы

This work is devoted to the formation of the intelligentsia in Poland. Special attention is paid to the reasons of the Polish intelligentsia’s formation and the stages of its evolution.

Keywords: intelligentsia, educated people, the ruling elite, society, government and party officials.

Эта работа посвящена образованию интеллигенции в Польше. Особенное внимание обращается на причины образования польской интеллигенции и этапы ее развития.

Ключевые слова: интеллигенция, образованные люди, правящая элита, общество, члены правительства и партии.

The intelligentsia is a social class of intellectuals and social groups close to them (e.g. artists, school teachers), which can be also seen as a class of mental workers in opposition to non-working aristocracy or business owners on the one hand and to manual laborers on the other [3].

The term first appeared in Poland in the first half of the 19th century. It was popularised by Polish philosopher Karol Libelt and became widespread in Polish science after the publication of his Filozofia i Krytyka (Philosophy and Critics) [2] in 1846. It was later accepted into Russian in the 1860s and was popularised by a writer Pyotr Boborykin [1]. From there it came into English and several other languages.

In Poland, after the partitions, Polish society was divided into nobles and peasants, while cities in general remained very weak. But the need for educated specialists created a new class of people: educated, hired professionals: clerks, medics, lawyers etc. They were recruited mainly from amongst former nobles, but also from other circles.

The Polish intelligentsia specifically was considered the backbone of the modern Polish nation. Members of the intelligentsia were well aware of their social status and of their duties, of which working for the country and patriotism were considered the most important. Most of the Polish intelligentsia was massacred during World War II.

Today, members of the Polish intelligentsia are not necessarily educated people, but people sharing common values: literate, patriotic, believing in their duties etc. However the concept is eroding and the class is slowly disappearing.

The Polish intelligentsia played a unique and vital role in several phases of Polish history. In the first part of the twentieth century, the intelligentsia divided philosophically into conservative idealizes of the past and liberal reformers advocating development of capitalism.

In the post war years, the intelligentsia diversified into several categories of employment: highly educated professionals, government and party officials, senior civil servants, writers and academics, and top level economic managers.

Especially in the 1970s, many members of the intelligentsia established careers in the ruling party or its bureaucracy, joining the cause of the socialist state with varying degrees of commitment. The strong presence of the intelligentsia in the party influenced the policy of the ruling elite away from standard Soviet practice, flavoring it instead with pragmatic nationalism. In the 1980s, the activist elements of the intelligentsia resumed the traditional role as protectors of national ideals from outside political interference.

Литература:

1. Боборыкин П.Д. Русская интеллигенция // Русская мысль. – 1904. – №12. – С.80-81.
2. Karol Libelt. Filozofia I Krytyka. – Kessinger Publishing. LLC, 2010. – 610p.
3. Intelligentsia // From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/intelligentsia.