Secesja – krnąbrne dziecko odwilży”. Geneza Chrześcijańskiego Stowarzyszenia Społecznego (październik 1956 – październik 1957)

This article discusses the process of disintegration of the PAX Association after the events of October 1956. In response to criticism of the activities of the association’s leader, Bolesław Piasecki, the opposition formed the “Secession.” Its core was made up of several distinct milieus working together, including: part of the editorial team of Kierunki (e.g. Anna Morawska, Stefan Kurowski, and Jacek Wejroch); Słowo Powszechne (Ligia Iłłakowicz, Ewa Fiala, Lech Bartoszyński, and Zygmunt Krasucki); the so-called “parliamentary fraction” (Konstanty Łubieński and Jan Frankowski), representatives of the association’s branches (including Lublin and Szczecin); independent journalists (e.g. Jan Meysztowicz, Jerzy Mikke, and Aleksander Bocheński); and a group of “young poets” associated with the Wrocławski Tygodnik Katolików (e.g. Jerzy Krzysztoń, Władysław Terlecki, Jacek Łukasiewicz, and Stanisław Grochowiak). After an unsuccessful attempt to take over power in PAX in September 1956, they established the Provisional Coordinating Committee of Catholic Activists at the National Committee of the National Front. In March 1957, the so-called “sesese” formed the Christian Social Association. It also obtained concessions from the communist authorities and received permission to publish its own weekly (Za i Przeciw) and to lease the Ars Christian company. The ideological profile of the group was ambiguous, as it consisted of two currents: the Catholics andthe revisionists (leftists). As a result of internal personnel and ideological disputes, a split took place in the fall of 1957. Its leading representatives (including Micewski, Horodyński, Kętrzyński, and Łubieński) left the “Secession.” Frankowski’s supporters formed the Christian Social Association. In terms of the program, he focused mainly on the promotion of ecumenism, interfaith dialogue, and the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. Despite its declared Catholic worldview, the Christian Social Association did not enjoy special recognition in the Church, either by the Episcopate or other groups of lay Catholics. They were treated as a servile group of lay Catholics who were totally dependent on the authorities and lacked ideological clarity.