ABSTRACT
Just as the post-socialist present cannot be fully understood without reference to the socialist past, so the current functioning of music in Poland cannot be addressed without first considering the cultural policy of the socialist state. Not only the organizational framework of contemporary Polish culture and its perceived mission and purpose, but also divisions and hierarchies in music are deeply rooted in conceptualizations formulated in the previous system or earlier (in the nineteenth century). This chapter highlights such aspects of cultural policy in the People’s Republic of Poland as the separation of culture from market laws, the exclusion of sheer entertainment from the functions of culture envisioned by policy makers as well as assumptions regarding folk culture and popular art. Special emphasis is put on the Polish Messianism, as a key concept in understanding specificity of the Polish culture from the nineteenth century on. It still strongly resonates in many contemporary works, either directly or in opposition to it.
