ABSTRACT
Gregory Bateson developed the “double bind” in the 1950s to describe a dilemma in communication where an individual or group receives two conflicting messages, negating each other. In state socialist countries, left-wing intellectuals constantly confronted with this double-bind situation. Official revolutionary language seemed very vivid; the October Revolution anniversaries and Lenin’s birthday were festively celebrated. However, following Lenin’s footsteps or putting his revolutionary call into practice would mean being punished by authoritarian rule. Not to revolt, nevertheless, would mean compromising with power. The author argues that the socialist “revolutionary double bind” has never been resolved and the cautious approach to the idea of revolution and its praxis was transferred into the post-socialist era. Approaching Piotr Piotrowski’s horizontal art history, she investigates the dialectics of the revolution and revolt inherent in this theoretical concept, and discusses the “Ethical art history” concept advanced by Piotrowski in the 1990s, inquiring into its relationship to the totalitarian paradigm in Soviet studies. Two historical turning points are considered: the 1968’s worldwide cultural breakthrough and the 1989’s first free democratic Poland elections manifesting a non-violent way out of authoritarian party rule towards liberal democracy.
