Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- What the book is about -- How the history of post-war Poland has been written -- How 'virtues' can open a new perspective on the history of public knowledge -- What is new in this book? -- Structure of the book -- 1. From the War to the 'Gentle Revolution' -- Stalin's 'Polish Project' and 'Missionary-Intellectuals' -- The 'gentle revolution' project and the virtue of 'progressiveness' -- Łódź as an intellectual oasis of 'new Poland'
'Kuźnica' and the 'radical cultural programme' -- 'Scientific' anti-authoritarianism and political ambitions of Polish sociology -- Trying to avoid isolation: Catholic groups in the intellectual landscape of Poland -- Bolesław Piasecki and 'progressive Catholics' -- 2. The Many Faces of the Soviet Union -- The 'guidelines' of propaganda -- 'Discovering' Russian culture in a non-Stalinist way -- Soviet scholarship as a foreign world -- The 'friend' and the 'argument': The use of the 'Soviet Union' -- 3. The Teachers of Virtues: The French and the Early Post-War Project
How are we seen? Representing Poland in France -- The French teach the Poles and vice versa -- French heroes of the Polish Catholic agenda -- Catholics 'should' adopt the French example -- 4. The Polish Intelligentsia and an Anti-Authoritarian Vision of Society -- The treason against 'progressiveness' -- Between nation and academia -- The anti-authoritarian vision of the 'new' intelligentsia -- 5. Between 'Outdated' Marxism and 'Updated' Catholicism -- Uncertain steps of Marxism -- 'Quasi-religion' and 'anti-progressive' Marxism -- The Marxian response -- Unequal opponents: Catholics vs. Marxists
The fragile 'compromise' on 'non-reactionary' Catholicism -- 6. The 'Failed' Quest for Unity -- The Cold War context and the tightening of the regime -- Disciplining 'public discussions': All roads lead to the Soviet Union -- The Wrocław Congress and the defeat of the 'gentle revolution' -- Reshaping the public life -- An unfortunate quest for 'concordia' -- 7. The School of 'New Virtues' -- The power and powerlessness of institutions -- The missionaries of new virtues -- Fighting the 'stubbornness' of non-Marxist scholars -- Can a 'non-virtuous' scholar write a textbook?
The headstrong 'students' and failed teaching -- 8. '1956' as a 'Diagnosis' and 'Prognosis' -- Losing the control over the public sphere -- The quest for honesty -- Between France and the Soviet Union, there is ... Poland -- Polish academics and the fiasco of Stalinisation -- Adam Schaff and his good conscience -- Schaff's students against Stalinist virtues -- Epilogue:The Concept of Virtues as a Lens -- Virtuous battles in post-war Poland -- Looking beyond Poland -- Bibliography -- Index
