Brian Porter-Szucs – författare

Jesus instructed his followers to "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you" (Luke 6:27-28). Not only has this theme long been among the Church's most oft-repeated messages, but in everything from sermons to articles in the Catholic press, it has been consistently emphasized that the commandment extends to all humanity. Given this, the history of the Church in the 20th century presents a puzzle, because on numerous occasions Catholics have established alliances with nationalist groups promoting ethnic exclusivity, antisemitism, and the use of any means necessary in an imagined "struggle for survival." While some might describe this as mere hypocrisy, Faith and Fatherland attempts to explain precisely how Catholicism and nationalism have been blended together.Poland, a country where religious and national identity would seem to correspond so closely, is an ideal site for exploring this issue. It is usually taken for granted that Poland is a Catholic nation, but in fact the country's apparent homogeneity is a relatively recent development, supported as much by ideology as demography. To fully contextualize the fusion between faith and fatherland, each chapter of this book explores a keyword in modern Polish Catholic rhetoric (concepts like sin, the Church, the nation, and the Virgin Mary), ultimately showing how these ideas were assembled to create a powerful but hotly contested form of religious nationalism. By no means was this outcome inevitable, and it certainly did not constitute the only way of being Catholic in modern Poland. Nonetheless, the Church's ongoing struggle to find a place within an increasingly secular European modernity made this ideological formation both possible and (for all too many Catholics) appealing.

It has become a truism that the economic system of the Soviet Bloc failed, but the actual record of accomplishments and disappointments is much more nuanced. State socialism did not bring the grand achievements that its founders had hoped for, but neither did it leave these countries significantly worse off, in relative terms. In fact, most Soviet countries did better overall under socialism than under capitalism. Once we recognize this, we face a puzzle: why did so many economists within the Soviet Bloc come to believe that they were working within a catastrophically dysfunctional economic system? And why, when presented with a crisis in the late 1980s, were they so quick to push their countries towards capitalism? Brian Porter-Szucs answers these questions by telling a story about the triumph of neoclassical economics that transcends the Soviet Bloc. Drawing on the writings of policymakers, planners, university professors, economic journalists, and others who were trying to put Marxist ideals into practice, he shows how market socialists embraced the methodological principles of their capitalist counterparts but argued that these could be applied just as well to socialist forms of property ownership. Opponents of this approach on the left countered that market exchange invariably leads to the commodification of everything, including human labor, which in turn introduces a systemic logic that reproduces forms of exploitation indistinguishable from capitalism. That prophecy, Porter-Szucs argues, was correct. Policymakers and economic advisors pushed Poland towards market mechanisms that fundamentally undermined the original socialist project, and in doing so they generated considerable popular discontent. The final crisis of the 1980s resulted from a combination of bad decisions and bad luck, and the authorities dealt with these by pursuing an austerity agenda that only generated more opposition, ultimately leading to the dramatic collapse of communism, not just in Poland but across Eastern Europe in 1989.

Jesus instructed his followers to "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you" (Luke 6:27-28). Not only has this theme long been among the Church''s most oft-repeated messages, but in everything from sermons to articles in the Catholic press, it has been consistently emphasized that the commandment extends to all humanity. Yet, on numerous occasions in the twentieth century, Catholics have established alliances with nationalist groups promoting ethnic exclusivity, anti-Semitism, and the use of any means necessary in an imagined "struggle for survival." While some might describe this as mere hypocrisy, Faith and Fatherland analyzes how Catholicism and nationalism have been blended together in Poland, from Nazi occupation and Communist rule to the election of Pope John Paul II and beyond. It is usually taken for granted that Poland is a Catholic nation, but in fact the country''s apparent homogeneity is a relatively recent development, supported as much by ideology as demography. To fully contextualize the fusion between faith and fatherland, Brian Porter-cs-concepts like sin, the Church, the nation, and the Virgin Mary-ultimately showing how these ideas were assembled to create a powerful but hotly contested form of religious nationalism. By no means was this outcome inevitable, and it certainly did not constitute the only way of being Catholic in modern Poland. Nonetheless, the Church''s ongoing struggle to find a place within an increasingly secular European modernity made this ideological formation possible and gave many Poles a vocabulary for social criticism that helped make sense of grievances and injustices.

Poland in the Modern World presents a history of the country from the late nineteenth century to the present, incorporating new perspectives from social and cultural history and positioning it in a broad global context Challenges traditional accounts Poland that tend to focus on national, political history, emphasizing the country's 'exceptionalism'.Presents a lively, multi-dimensional story, balancing coverage of high politics with discussion of social, cultural and economic changes, and their effects on individuals’ daily lives.Explores both the regional diversity within Poland and the country’s place within Europe and the wider world.Provides a new interpretive framework for understanding key historical events in Poland’s modern history, including the experiences of World War II and the postwar communist era.

Poland in the Modern World presents a history of the country from the late nineteenth century to the present, incorporating new perspectives from social and cultural history and positioning it in a broad global context Challenges traditional accounts Poland that tend to focus on national, political history, emphasizing the country's 'exceptionalism'.Presents a lively, multi-dimensional story, balancing coverage of high politics with discussion of social, cultural and economic changes, and their effects on individuals’ daily lives.Explores both the regional diversity within Poland and the country’s place within Europe and the wider world.Provides a new interpretive framework for understanding key historical events in Poland’s modern history, including the experiences of World War II and the postwar communist era.

Religious history more generally has experienced an exciting revival over the past few years, with new methodological and theoretical approaches invigorating the field. The time has definitely come for this “new religious history” to arrive in Eastern Europe. This book explores the influence of the Christian churches in Eastern Europe's social, cultural, and political history. Drawing upon archival sources, the work fills a vacuum as few scholars have systematically explored the history of Christianity in the region. The result of a three-year project, this collective work challenges readers with questions like: Is secularization a useful concept in understanding the long-term dynamics of religiosity in Eastern Europe? Is the picture of oppression and resistance an accurate way to characterize religious life under communism, or did Christians and communists find ways to co-exist on the local level prior to 1989? And what role did Christians actually play in dissident movements under communism? Perhaps most important is the question: what does the study of Eastern Europe contribute to the broader study of modern Christian history, and what can we learn from the interpretative problems that arise, uniquely, from this region?