Socialist realism in Poland

Socialist realism in Poland (Polish: socrealizm, a portmanteau of the Polish words for socialism and realism) was a socio-political and aesthetic doctrine sanctioned by the pro-Soviet governmentof the post-war Polish People’s Republic during its campaign of Stalinization. The policy prescribing its use for institutional aesthetics was introduced in 1949 by decree of the Polish United Workers' Party minister Włodzimierz Sokorski, who would later become, Minister of Culture and Art. As in all Eastern Bloc countries in the Soviet sphere of influence, Socialist realism was utilized by the State as an instrument in the social engineering of Polish society and labour culture. However, this trend never became truly dominant. Following Stalin's death, and especially from 1953 on, the Polish government increasingly considered critical of its public arts policies. Finally, as part of the Gomułka political thaw from within the Polish United Workers' Party, the entire doctrine was abandoned by 1956. Following Bierut's death on March 12, 1956, and the subsequent de-Stalinization of all People's Republics, Polish artists, writers and architects started abandoning it.