Od Ruchu Polityki Realnej do Stronnictwa Polityki Realnej. O politycznym zaangażowaniu pisma „Stańczyk" w latach 1986-2004
From the Real Politics Movement to the Real Policy Party. On the political involvement of the "Stanczyk" journal in 1986-2004

Summary/Abstract: The article dwells on the political involvement of the Wrocław-published "Stańczyk" journal in 1986-2004. It presents two dimensions of involvement: metapolitical (ideological) and practical. I have emphasised the ideological evolution of the journal, pointing to its turning points. In its less than twenty-year history, "Stańczyk" evolved from conservative-liberal to post-modernist ("a harbinger of the post-conservative era"). The ideological masters of "Wrocław school of political thought" included various characters, reaching down to different traditions of political reflection, such as Stefan Kisielewski, Andrzej Walicki and Ernst Jünger, to mention but a few, together with other conservative revolutionists, or the "Chicago Boys", with Friedrich von Hayek and Milton Friedman at their forefront. Its authors formed an elite, compact, though not an ideologically coherent one. Their writings were pervaded by various threads, sometimes originating in the same ideas, sometimes entirely contradictory. In the political dimension, the "Stańczyk" milieu inspired the changes within the Real Politics Union which led to an open split in the mid-90s. The split had multiple reasons, from the contest concerning the Union's leadership and ideological identity, to the political strategy of the conservative-liberals. In the end, however, the emergence of a new party, the Real Politics Party, upon the inspiration coming from the Wrocław "Stańczyk", did not mean a victory. In its entirety, it should be said that the "Stańczyk" milieu was consistently more ideological than political and that no transparent and, at the same time, effective method of political action had been devised in the years when Poland was undergoing the transformation of its political and economic system. When seen from the perspective of the years gone by, balancing between a presence, even illusorical, within the RPU structures and building up structures of its own, was a political error. What was missing was a "political sense", pragmatism and the skills necessary to build political coalitions. In conclusion, it may be said that the "Stańczyk" milieu failed to achieve its political task. Effectiveness and political pragmatism gave way to an excessively bloated espousal of an ideology, supported by a sometimes very anachronic, or even onion-skin-thin axiology.

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