Being Goral: Identity Politics and Globalization in Postsocialist Poland

Chapter 5: The Community, the Nation-State, and Globalization

135 Chapter 5 ‫ﱜ‬ The Community, the Nation-State, and Globalization Thus far, I have shown how traditionalism is an idiom through which elite class conflict is occurring in Z • ywiec. The prewar elite and the neocapitalists are struggling over the emphasis on and interpretation of the Góral identity, and their visions of the contemporary relevance of the identity correspond to their visions of the economic future of the community. These discussions and conflicts focusing on traditionalism are linked to discussions and conflicts over the relationship between the community and the nation-state, over which local economic and political strategies will benefit the community, and over how the community should best regulate its incorporation into the world system in the light of globalizing processes. This interpretation of conflicts over community, regional, and ethnic identity contrasts with that of many observers of Eastern Europe , who view entrenchment of ethnicity within the former Eastern Bloc as evidence of “backwardness,” as a threat to the newly emerging democracies, and as an impediment to economic change.1 I contend that rather than a desperate attempt to cling to outdated tradition, a renewed emphasis on ethnic identity is a forward-looking product of the political and economic changes in Eastern Europe, the postsocialist 136 Being Góral transition to market economics. The re-entrenchment of the Góral identity can be used to mediate outside influences, emphasize cohesiveness, and suggest community-positive courses of economic action within Z • ywiec, as well as create bonds with other communities and nations. The decentralization of the postsocialist economy (such as, in Z • ywiec, privatizing industry and housing) is a product of national structural adjustment policies designed to strengthen the economy. But these policies also weaken the power of the postsocialist state, because the state is giving up control to others, both domestic and foreign investors. The postsocialist states of Eastern Europe find their political power undermined as well, because national policy decisions are subordinated to decisions made by supranational entities such as NATO and the European Union, which the Eastern European states would like to join. These processes, which emphasize supranational entities (either political, such as the European Union, or economic, such as large transnational corporations) at the expense of the power of the nation-state, are an aspect of globalization as it is occurring in Central and Eastern Europe. The declining importance of the nationstate in running either the economic or political arena under globalizing political and economic structures increases the likelihood that peripheral areas within these states, such as boundary regions like Z • ywiec, will begin to act outside the boundaries of the nation-state. We would expect subnational and transnational peripheral identities such as that of the Góral to have the opportunity to gain importance under these conditions. Almost all facets of current national plans to privatize the economy in Poland will have the effect of alienating people in peripheral areas such as Z • ywiec, because these plans are based on the idea that when the government pulls out of funding some business or service , someone else will step in to buy the business or provide the service. Of course, there are cases in which businesses clearly make products that few people want (such as the fur factory in Z • ywiec, which made traditional fur and wool garments), and those businesses would fail even given private investment. But given a desired product or service, this idea presumes that people will have the resources to buy and run a business or provide the service, overlooking the fact that most of the infrastructure in Poland is concentrated in the cities. If a factory in rural Poland makes high quality sweaters, for example, but train service is slow and the phone lines are erratic, few investors would think of this as an ideal buy. Many small factories in rural Poland have been liquidated under such conditions, leaving high levels of unemployment among the very people who are least likely to be The Community, the Nation-State, and Globalization 137 able to find other work. In Z • ywiec, the official unemployment rate was approximately 18 percent in 1995 (in reality, as I learned from interviews , it was closer to a third of the townspeople). In a large city with good transportation and communications infrastructure, perhaps that fictional high-quality sweater factory would have remained open. But even if it...