NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

nations, the process of the construction of a modern national identity has been accompanied by the appearance of various myths, especially those emphasising a specific, historical mission of the Polish and Slovak nations. In fact, both the Poles and Slovaks like to perceive themselves as martyrs, who have been maltreated by the more powerful “others”. 3.1.4. Differences in “communist unity” Regardless of some remarkable similarities in their post-World War II development, Slovakia differed from Poland in several structural aspects. First, contrary to Slovakia, Poland and the Polish farmers did not have to undergo a process of massive collectivisation. The existence of a large number of independent farmers implied that private ownership was an officially recognised form of ownership. As a result, the number of people employed in the agricultural sector in Poland was much higher than in the Slovak case. 67 One can find both advantages and disadvantages of such a form of development. On the one hand, private farmers symbolised an alternative economic society to the state; but on the other hand, they were excluded from the process of communist modernisation and had to face serious economic problems that undermined their survival. 68 Apart from poor living conditions, this exclusion was characterised by a very limited access to higher education and the maintenance of a traditional way of life. Another distinctive factor was the role of the (Catholic) Church in the society. While in Slovakia (Czechoslovakia), the Church was subordinated to the state, in Poland it maintained a certain degree of independence. Contrary to Slovakia, in Poland the Church was perceived as a historical guarantor of the survival of the Polish nation. Moreover, the Church had also played an important role during the Round Table discussions held in 1988–1989. Thirdly, a big difference occurred in the character of the opposition to the communist regime and its structure. While in Poland, Solidarity became a real mass movement embraced by millions of citizens and uniting both civic and religious opposition, 69 in Slovakia the opposition groups were less numerous and were fragmented. Moreover, apart from some environmentalist activists and a few intellectuals who belonged to the “civic opposition”, the supporters of the 67 In 2005, the percentage of the population employed in the agricultural sector reached 17.1% in the case of Poland and 4.9% in the case of Slovakia. See the key agricultural statistics for the year 2006 available at http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/agrista/2006/table_en/en2.htm. 68 See J. Kubik The Power of Symbols against the Symbols of Power . (University Park: Penn State University Press, 1994). 69 Ibid.

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