Output details

Which way to Poland? Re-emerging from romantic unity

The case study for the chapter is the nationalist youth organisation All-Poland Youth set up in 1922, infamous for its militant anti-Semitism, reactivated in 1989. Unlike other commentators, Sidorenko does not see APY as insignificant but draws attention to cultural continuities which become potent during the period of rapid social change. Drawing on concepts from complexity theory, Sidorenko considers the discourse of patriotism deployed by APY’s political activism as a powerful path dependency which re-mobilizes residual populist processes in emerging social contexts. These are essential to the understanding of the interface between the dynamics of education and identity formation.