Persistent Legacies of Communism, or the Ongoing Purification of Public Space in Post-1989 Poland

Abstract

This article explores how Poland’s cultural landscape has been cleared of the material legacies of communism between 1989 and 2019. By studying political discourses, legal regulations and social practices aiming to rename streets and remove monuments associated with communism, it argues that the Polish de-communization project has undergone a major transformation: from a popular need expressed in a variety of decentred initiatives to a political programme revolving around one centrally organized idea. The persistence of the material legacies of communism in Poland’s cultural landscape reveals both the mobilizing potential as well as the limits of anti-communism, it demonstrates how difficult it has been to provide for a legally binding and practically effective definition of communism and it exemplifies a broader struggle over the question of who should play which role in shaping Poland’s public realm.