Sprawy wspólne. Rok 1968 i krytyka biurokracji w Polsce i we Francji
Things in common. 1968 and the critique of bureaucracy in Poland and France

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to compare the critiques of bureaucracy that emerged before and during the events of 1968 in Poland and France, where these issues gained particular significance. In Poland a systematic analysis of bureaucracy was presented in 1964 by Jacek Kuroń and Karol Modzelewski, whereas in France it was one of main focus themes for the group of intellectuals (esp. Cornelius Castoriadis) gathered around Socialisme ou barbarie review. Slogans inspired by these critiques were present and visible throughout the protests. The comparison allows to indicate some important differences, caused above others by different circumstances in which ideas were formulated and manifestations took place. Still, it allows also to grasp something that the militants from both sides of iron curtain had in common, namely – according to the main thesis of the article – the protest against the end of history, understood as a conviction about the inevitability of socialist (on the Eastern side) or capitalist (in the West) formation. Critique of bureaucracy that enabled the authors to analyze both systems at the same time undermined the false alternative between them and created a starting point for seeking the possibility of a way other than the two pursued at that time.

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