ABSTRACT
The year 1968 is seen in many societies all over the globe as a symbol of political turmoil and social change, as a call for community and freedom that plunged the old societal order into a state of emergency and crisis. In most Western societies, 1968 is understood as a turn towards a more (neo)liberal, (post)modern society, and the achievement of a generation in its struggle for individual and collective freedom. In Poland, March 1968 has come to symbolise the violent state repression of youth protests for political and social reform and an officially promoted anti-Semitic campaign, both linked to power struggles within the Polish United Workers’ Party. While in the 1967 conference proceedings, the authors can re-read most of the discussion as well as Janion’s reply, in the preface to her 1969 “Romanticism: studies on ideas and style,” this debate is reduced to a dry note on “accusation” and Janion’s brief legitimation of her approach.
