Railroad Workers, Civilization and Communism: the Young Men’s Christian Association on the Interwar Polish Frontier

This article seeks to present and analyze one of the aspects of the work of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA or Y) in interwar Poland: the initiatives for railroad workers from eastern frontier towns and cities. Focusing on the efforts that the organization undertook on the territory commonly referred to as the Polish borderlands (Kresy), I show that for the leaders of the Y the work among the railway employees was of utmost political and civilizational importance. There were several reasons why the YMCA became involved in the railroad work on the eastern Polish borderlands. One of them was the looming threat of communism from neighboring Russia, another—the American Y leaders’ mythic perceptions of the U.S. moving frontier, which prompted them to adapt the American discourse on civilization to the Polish political and social situation. Using archival documents and recollections of Americans involved in the Y’s activities on the eastern Polish frontier I demonstrate how the perception of the Polish borderland by the Y’s secretaries was greatly influenced by myths deeply embedded in American culture. Drawing on the contemporary Polish press reports as well as writings of local collaborators of the YMCA, I also describe the reaction of Polish public opinion to the Y’s undertakings on the Polish frontier

„Pomagajcie polskim dzieciom”. Humanitarna mobilizacja amerykańskiej opinii publicznej po I wojnie światowej

Od początku 1919 r. do II Rzeczypospolitej, jak i do innych państw Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, zaczęły przybywać amerykańskie organizacje humanitarne, niosące pomoc materialną i żywnościową społeczeństwom dotkniętym skutkami wojny i epidemii chorób zakaźnych. Stowarzyszenia z USA, na czele z największą i najważniejszą z nich: Amerykańską Administracją Pomocy, skupiły się przede wszystkim na dożywianiu dzieci, mobilizując amerykańską opinię publiczną do przeznaczania środków finansowych na ten cel oraz przedstawiając sytuację niedożywionych najmłodszych z tej części Europy jako istotny problem społeczny. Starting from the early 1919, American humanitarian organizations began arriving in Poland, like in other states of Central Eastern Europe, with material and food assistance to societies devastated by the military conflict and epidemics of infectious diseases. American associations, with the largest and most important American Relief Administration in the lead, focused mainly on nourishing children, mobilizing American public opinion to raise money for this purpose, and presenting the situation of malnourished young children from this part of Europe as a grave social problem

Walka z „babkami” o zdrowie kobiet: medykalizacja przerywania ciąży w Polsce w latach pięćdziesiątych i sześćdziesiątych XX wieku

Artykuł ukazuje ustawę o warunkach dopuszczalności przerywania ciąży z 1956 r. jako element walki z „babkarstwem” prowadzonej przez władze oraz przedstawicieli socjalistycznej medycyny. Dążąc do wyeliminowania tradycyjnych, ludowych praktyk medycznych oraz do objęcia zdrowia reprodukcyjnego kobiet naukowym nadzorem medycznym, władze PRL i sprzyjające im środowisko lekarskie oficjalnie ukazywali ustawę z 1956 r. jako prowadzącą do wyeliminowania nielegalnych i nieprofesjonalnych aborcji i dzięki temu chroniącą życie i zdrowie kobiet. Jednocześnie, przerywanie ciąży było ukazywane w debacie publicznej i w dyskursie medycznym jako skomplikowany zabieg medyczny, do którego zmedykalizowania i spatologizowania dążyli przedstawiciele socjalistycznej medycyny. Fight with granny midwives over women’s health: the medicalisation of abortion in socialist Poland (1950s and 1960s)In 1956 the communist state authorities liberalized the anti-abortion law that the Polish People’s Republic inherited from the interwar period. Using the rhetoric of women’s health and framing their decision as a safety measure, the legislators intended to curb the high number of clandestine abortion procedures performed outside the realm of socialist medicine. As I argue in my paper, in the official political and medical discourse abortion legislation passed in Poland in the 1950s constituted an element of the war against traditional medicine which was waged by the authorities of socialist Poland. One of the targets of this fight were “granny midwives”: traditional folk female healers who were helping peasant women in many aspects of their reproductive lives and who were customarily accused of performing high numbers of criminal abortions. Thus it was against these “granny midwives” that the socialist state had to fight over the life and health of Polish women. Presenting abortion as an intricate medical procedure whose success depended on the skills of a highly qualified and experienced personnel, socialist doctors and authorities did not only medicalise abortion, but also pathologised it, depicting the termination of a pregnancy as a disease requiring the care of a professional medical practitioner. What was also at stake at the fight against “granny midwives” was the shift from pre-modern, traditional healing practices to modern, scientific medicine that was regarded as a tenet of state socialism

„Służba”, kapitalizm i „kosmopolityczny patriotyzm”: amerykański Czerwony Krzyż Młodzieży w II Rzeczypospolitej

Artykuł poświęcony jest działaniom amerykańskiego Czerwonego Krzyża Młodzieży w Polsce po I wojnie światowej. Przedstawiono w nim główne typy inicjatyw podejmowanych przez organizację w szkołach w II RP (m.in. zakładanie kół młodzieży, pomoc ubogim i nieuprzywilejowanym uczniom, wymiana listów w ramach międzynarodowej korespondencji międzyszkolnej). W artykule ukazano też idee wychowawcze i edukacyjne szerzone przez CKM, mające doprowadzić do znaczących zmian politycznych zarówno na gruncie lokalnym, jak i międzynarodowym.The article is devoted to the operations of the American Junior Red Cross in Poland after the First World War. It describes the main types of initiatives undertaken by the organisation in schools of the Second Polish Republic (among others, the creation of circles of interest, aid to the poor and unprivileged students, or exchange of letters within the international interschool correspondence). The article also presents the educational ideals propagated by the American Junior Red Cross, which were to lead to significant political changes both at the national, and at the international level

Toward the Real Democracy? The Strategy of American Women's Suffrage Movement During World War I

Sylwia Kuźma-Markowska, WarszawaThe article concerns the strategies and activism of two suffrage organizations: National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and National Woman's Party (NWP), during the years of World War I. Aiming to guarantee the voting rights to American women, the suffragists aptly made use of the socio-political conditions of the wartime. NAWSA encouraged American women to join the war effort. It alluded to the active engagement of women at the Home Front as the proof of their political maturity and readiness for equal suffrage. Militant and pacifist NWP chose a more radical and controversial strategy (as picketing the White House or going on hunger strike). They argued that democratic rhetoric used by the American government during the wartime was contradictory to their denial of suffrage to American women. NAWSA, as well, mentioned democracy and freedom in its claim for the voting rights for women. At the same time, American suffragists used racist argument in order to win their cause. Black women, presented as not civilized enough to cherish the rights and privileges of American democracy, were excluded from suffragists' demand for the voting rights.512714

Walka z „babkami” o zdrowie kobiet: medykalizacja przerywania ciąży w Polsce w latach pięćdziesiątych i sześćdziesiątych XX wieku

Artykuł ukazuje ustawę o warunkach dopuszczalności przerywania ciąży z 1956 r. jako element walki z „babkarstwem” prowadzonej przez władze oraz przedstawicieli socjalistycznej medycyny. Dążąc do wyeliminowania tradycyjnych, ludowych praktyk medycznych oraz do objęcia zdrowia reprodukcyjnego kobiet naukowym nadzorem medycznym, władze PRL i sprzyjające im środowisko lekarskie oficjalnie ukazywali ustawę z 1956 r. jako prowadzącą do wyeliminowania nielegalnych i nieprofesjonalnych aborcji i dzięki temu chroniącą życie i zdrowie kobiet. Jednocześnie, przerywanie ciąży było ukazywane w debacie publicznej i w dyskursie medycznym jako skomplikowany zabieg medyczny, do którego zmedykalizowania i spatologizowania dążyli przedstawiciele socjalistycznej medycyny. Fight with granny midwives over women’s health: the medicalisation of abortion in socialist Poland (1950s and 1960s)In 1956 the communist state authorities liberalized the anti-abortion law that the Polish People’s Republic inherited from the interwar period. Using the rhetoric of women’s health and framing their decision as a safety measure, the legislators intended to curb the high number of clandestine abortion procedures performed outside the realm of socialist medicine. As I argue in my paper, in the official political and medical discourse abortion legislation passed in Poland in the 1950s constituted an element of the war against traditional medicine which was waged by the authorities of socialist Poland. One of the targets of this fight were “granny midwives”: traditional folk female healers who were helping peasant women in many aspects of their reproductive lives and who were customarily accused of performing high numbers of criminal abortions. Thus it was against these “granny midwives” that the socialist state had to fight over the life and health of Polish women. Presenting abortion as an intricate medical procedure whose success depended on the skills of a highly qualified and experienced personnel, socialist doctors and authorities did not only medicalise abortion, but also pathologised it, depicting the termination of a pregnancy as a disease requiring the care of a professional medical practitioner. What was also at stake at the fight against “granny midwives” was the shift from pre-modern, traditional healing practices to modern, scientific medicine that was regarded as a tenet of state socialism

Railroad Workers, Civilization and Communism: the Young Men’s Christian Association on the Interwar Polish Frontier

This article seeks to present and analyze one of the aspects of the work of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA or Y) in interwar Poland: the initiatives for railroad workers from eastern frontier towns and cities. Focusing on the efforts that the organization undertook on the territory commonly referred to as the Polish borderlands (Kresy), I show that for the leaders of the Y the work among the railway employees was of utmost political and civilizational importance. There were several reasons why the YMCA became involved in the railroad work on the eastern Polish borderlands. One of them was the looming threat of communism from neighboring Russia, another—the American Y leaders’ mythic perceptions of the U.S. moving frontier, which prompted them to adapt the American discourse on civilization to the Polish political and social situation. Using archival documents and recollections of Americans involved in the Y’s activities on the eastern Polish frontier I demonstrate how the perception of the Polish borderland by the Y’s secretaries was greatly influenced by myths deeply embedded in American culture. Drawing on the contemporary Polish press reports as well as writings of local collaborators of the YMCA, I also describe the reaction of Polish public opinion to the Y’s undertakings on the Polish frontier