Being Goral: Identity Politics and Globalization in Postsocialist Poland

Chapter 6: Politics, Culture,and Modernity in Postcultural Poland

167 Chapter 6 ‫ﱜ‬ Politics, Culture, and Modernity in Postcultural Poland Pope John Paul II’s visit to Z • ywiec was a context within which Z • ywiecers acted out conflicting ideologies of traditionalism and modernity. The papal visit presented an opportunity for different groups of Z • ywiecers to express their visions of the future for the community. On that highly charged public occasion, the two elite classes, which I have called the prewar elite and the neocapitalists, struggled for symbolic control over how the town of Z • ywiec and Z • ywiec Górals were to be portrayed. The neocapitalists had a dispute with the Z • ywiec Brewery , through which they gained funding to spruce up the town. Buildings on the pope’s route received a fresh coat of paint and were renovated, a large stage that towered over the main square was constructed , and the “smallest rondo in the world” was completed downtown . Through these tasks, the neocapitalists publicly displayed their expertise in obtaining funds in the postsocialist era to other Z • ywiecers and to outsiders, which enabled the many national and international news crews in town for the visit to show a new and prosperouslooking Z • ywiec to the watching world. In return, the Z • ywiec Brewery was allowed to hand out flags with its corporate colors and its stylized version of the “Z • ywiec” name. 168 Being Góral These images of modernization were countered by the prewar elite. They arranged for traditional Góral mountain horn players in colorful costumes to perform a salute as the pope entered town, and they formed a choir to sing traditional Góral songs and hymns. Many members of the prewar elite also dressed for the occasion in beautiful traditional garb. These activities were designed to show that Góral identity is not part of the nostalgic past, but rather a living part of the community and a strong force—not just an economic and political identity, but one with deep cultural meaning in everyday life as well. Claimed as a Góral by townspeople, the Holy Father in many ways embodied in one person the complex relationship Górals have with their local community, the nation, and international forces. For example, he was born and raised in the Z • ywiec region, and idolized by the people of Poland as a national symbol when he was inducted into the papal office. Since his elevation, he had been a critic of the expansion of a predatory capitalism and the values that come with political and economic integration into the capitalist system at the expense of other traditional and moral values. Yet he helped to bring capitalism to Poland through both political activism and diversion of funds to the Solidarity movement. Similarly, Z • ywiecers are peripheral to the Polish nation-state, and through outsiders’ romanticization of their ethnicity, they are held up as remnants of the traditional Polish past. They, like John Paul II, have an ambivalent relationship with capitalism: first, immediately after the fall of the socialist state, they embraced it as the panacea for fifty years of communist oppression, and then they became dissatisfied when the reality did not match their expectations. The struggles enacted through, and the issues raised by, John Paul II’s visit were the same ones that colored family land feuds, community agreements with international businesses, folk festivals, and sister-city agreements in the Z • ywiec region. I have discussed issues of class conflict, conflicts over the integration of international capital into the community, the relevance of the Góral identity to postsocialist life, and the increasing peripheralization of Z • ywiec vis-àvis the Polish nation-state. These are all factors that play out in the everyday life of Z • ywiec, and which were brought into sharp relief by the visit of the pope. They continue to shape other important public occasions, as well as behind-the-scenes interactions among the town council, cultural groups, and businesses such as the metal factory and the brewery. The myriad political, economic, and cultural changes in postsocialist Eastern Europe have altered the available resources and relations of power in struggles for control over community processes. Politics, Culture, and Modernity in Postsocialist Poland 169 This is consistent with the Marxian view of political economy that “the project of development, as it has been imposed on the non-Western world, has typically involved the creation of...