An intellectual offensive: The Ford Foundation and the destalinization of the Polish social sciences

Abstract

This essay analyses the Ford Foundation's intellectual exchange programme in Poland between 1957 and 1961. Emerging in the novel context of Washington's emphasis on cultural diplomacy and Warsaw's exceptional position in the East Bloc following October 1956, the Foundation's programme was the earliest complex scholarly initiative by a US organization aimed at Europeans under Communist rule. Consequently, for a brief window of time, the Foundation was able to operate an unprecedentedly open exchange under uniquely liberal terms. The programme's genesis and operations will be explained, as well as the reasons for its abrupt suspension and its long-term implications. In particular, I will argue that through the programme, the Foundation played a significant role in rebuilding and shaping the social sciences in post-Stalinist Poland.

Notes

Igor Czernecki is currently a PhD student at the History of Social Thought Institute in Warsaw University's Sociology Department. His academic work concerns the development of the humanities and social sciences in Poland during the Cold War in the context of American cultural diplomacy.

  1 Volker Berghahn, America and the Intellectual Cold Wars in Europe (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001).

  2 Robert R. Bowie and Richard H. Immerman, Waging Peace: How Eisenhower shaped an Enduring Cold War Strategy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 109–22.

  3 Kenneth Osgood, Total Cold War: Eisenhower's Secret Propaganda Battle (Lawrence, KS: Kansas UP, 2006), 46–75.

  4 Bowie and Immerman, Waging Peace, 109–22.

  5 Osgood, Total Cold War, 181–213.

  6 ‘The Satellite peoples feel themselves to be living under a foreign occupation,’ the note stated, ‘at least, under a hostile regime. Whereas the people of the Soviet Union see in free exchange a promise of the removal of the threat of war… the peoples of the Satellite states would see in freer exchange a promise of the alteration of the fundamental conditions under which they live.’ ‘East-West Exchanges between the USA and the Satellite States,’ ‘Strictly Confidential’ memorandum, 22 October 1955, Ford Foundation Archives (FFA), New York, Reel (R) 1062, Grant (G) 57-477.

  7 Michael Pollak, ‘Paul F. Lazarsfeld: A Sociointellectual Biography’, in Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Innovation 2 (1980).

  8 Daniel Bell, The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties (New York: Free Press, 2001), 393–407.

  9 Berghahn, America, 178–213.

 10 Henry T. Heald, President, ‘Review of the Year,’ in The Ford Foundation Annual Report (FFAR) 1951. (British Library of Political and Economic Science).

 11 Paweł Machcewicz, Rebellious Satellite, Poland 1956 (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009).

 12 Stone to Price, 23 February 1957. FFA, R2519, G57-322.

 13 Stone to Price, 23 February 1957. FFA, R2519, G57-322

 14 Stone to Price, 23 February 1957. FFA, R2519, G57-322

 15 Statement of H. Gaither at Dunwoody Institute in May 1956. Inter-office memorandum, 20 March 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477.

 16 Stone to Central Files, confidential memorandum (CM), 15 March 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477.

 17 ‘Opportunity in Poland,’ The New York Herald Tribune, 17 April 1957.

 18 News From The Ford Foundation, 26 April 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477.

 19 Berghahn, America, 178–213.

 20 Inter-office memorandum, 20 March 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477.

 21 ‘Program for Poland,’ 1957. FFA, R2517, G57-322.

 22 Quoted in inter-office memorandum, 20 March 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477. US foundations were not always independent from federal agencies. See Peter Coleman, The Liberal Conspiracy (New York: The Free Press, 1989).

 23 Between 12 and 14 March 1957, Stone met the following officials in Washington: Acting Secretary of State Christian Herter, Assistant Secretary of State Robert Bowie, Deputy Undersecretary of State Robert Murphy, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State on East-West Relations William Lacy, Director of the East-West Staff Frederick Merrill, Henry Leverich of the East European Desk at the State Department, Deputy Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs C. Douglas Dillon, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Thorsten V. Kalijarvi, US ambassador to the USSR Charles E. Bohlen, Senator John F. Kennedy, and head of the CIA Allen Dulles. All expressed support for the Ford Foundation programme with Poland. Stone to Central Files, CM, 15 March 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477.

 24 Between 12 and 14 March 1957, Stone met the following officials in Washington: Acting Secretary of State Christian Herter, Assistant Secretary of State Robert Bowie, Deputy Undersecretary of State Robert Murphy, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State on East-West Relations William Lacy, Director of the East-West Staff Frederick Merrill, Henry Leverich of the East European Desk at the State Department, Deputy Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs C. Douglas Dillon, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Thorsten V. Kalijarvi, US ambassador to the USSR Charles E. Bohlen, Senator John F. Kennedy, and head of the CIA Allen Dulles. All expressed support for the Ford Foundation programme with Poland. Stone to Central Files, CM, 15 March 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477

 25 Stone to Central Files, Memorandum, 14 August 1957. FAA, R1062, G57-477.

 26 The East European Desk was interested in obtaining psychological profiles of important Polish Communists. Stone to Central Files, CM, 8 March 1957. FAA, R1062, G57-477.

 27 Stone to O'Neill, Jr., 9 July 1957. FAA, R1062, G57-477.

 28 For candidates sent to Western Europe, national institutions took the role of the IIE. For the UK this was The British Council in London, which received $25,000 in the fiscal year 1957-1958; for France, the National Office of French Universities and Schools in Paris, receiving $16,000; and for West Germany, the German Academic Exchange Service in Bonn. In Switzerland and Scandinavia, arrangements were made directly with universities (FFAR 1959).

 29 IIE, ‘Survey of the Polish Exchange Program of the Ford Foundation’, 1957-1959. FFA, R2521, G57-322.

 30 The IIE received $200,000 in fiscal year 1957-1958; as the programme expanded, this increased to over $400,000 yearly.

 31 In 1957-1958, the universities participating in the placement programme were Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, New York University, University of Virginia, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, and the University of California at Berkeley.

 32 IIE, ‘Polish Exchange Program of the Ford Foundation,’ July 1958. FFA, R2519, G57-322. Mieczysław Rakowski's experience illustrates that early suspicions regarding the ‘guardian angel’ assigned to the Communist in the US proved groundless, as the American turned out to be a liberal with whom the Pole ‘shared a common tongue.’ The future First Secretary's rich itinerary included visits to the Southern states, where numerous meetings addressed the problem of racial segregation. Mieczysław Rakowski, Dzienniki polityczne 1958-1962. (Warsaw: Iskry, 1998), 414–90.

 33 Stone to Central Files, 9 June 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477.

 34 Stone to Central Files, 9 June 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477

 35 Stone to Central Files, 9 June 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477

 36 Bronisław Wesołowski (1870–1919) was a member of the Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, a forerunner of the Communist party in Poland.

 37 Antoni Sułek, “To America!” Polish Sociologists in the United States after 1956 and the Development of Empirical Sociology in Poland’, East European Politics and Societies 24, no. 3.

 38 Silone to Stone, 18 August 1958. FFA, R531, G57-370; Jeleński to Stone, 3 August 1958. FFA, R531, G57-370.

 39 Giedroyc to Stone, 5 March 1958. FFA, R532, G58-20.

 40 Patryk Pleskot, ‘Jak wyjechać na zachód?’ in Naukowcy Władzy, Władza Naukowcom. Studia, ed. Piotr Franaszek (Warsaw: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej [IPN], 2010).

 41 Stone, ‘Visit to Poland, Part I.’

 42 Pleskot, ‘Jak wyjchać na zachód?’

 43 Interview with Professor Marcin Kula, in ‘“Władcy paszportów”. Biuro Wspó pracy Naukowej z Zagranicą PAN. Szkic analizy’, in Stłamszona nauka? ed. Piotr Franaszek (Warsaw: IPN, 2010).

 44 Email exchange with Andrzej Friszke (Warsaw, 19/01/2012).

 45 Interview with Jerzy Wiatr (Warsaw, 28/10/2010). Also see: Anthony Kemp-Welch, Poland Under Communism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).

 46 Dariusz Stoła, Kraj bez wyjścia? Migracja z Polski 1949-1989. (Warsaw: IPN, 2010).

 47 Andrzej Walicki, Ludzi i Idee (Warsaw: Państwowa Akademia Nauk [PAN], 2010), 84. Jerzy Wiatr confirms Walicki's view. Interview with Wiatr.

 48 ‘Columbia Harvard Study entitled USSR and Eastern Europe.’ Quoted in Myer to Stone, 29 June 1960. FFA, Report 007874, G57-322.

 49 ‘Reconstruction of the list sent to Dr. Ludwik Leszczyński,’ 26 July 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477.

 50 ‘Reconstruction of the list sent to Dr. Ludwik Leszczyński,’ 26 July 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477

 51 Shepard Stone, ‘Visit to Poland, Part 1, 23 October 23–1November 1957,’ memorandum. FFA, R1062, G57-477.

 52 IIE, ‘Polish Exchange Program of the Ford Foundation: Year End Program Report, July, 1958.’ FFA, R2519, G57-322.

 53 IIE, ‘Polish Exchange Program of the Ford Foundation: Year End Program Report, July, 1958.’ FFA, R2519, G57-322

 54 McKenzie to The British Council, ‘Report on Ford Foundation Scholars.’ FFA, R530, G57-321.

 55 Sułek. ‘To America!’ 5.

 56 Maria Ossowska and Stanisław Ossowski, Intymny portret uczonych. Korespondencja Marii i Stanisława Ossowskich, ed. E. Neyman. (Warsaw: Sic!, 2002).

 57 Lazarsfeld, ‘Social Research in Poland,’ February 1958. FFA, R2521, G57-322.

 58 Nina Kraśko. Instytucjonalizacja socjologii w Polsce. 1920–1970 (Warsaw: wydawnictwo UW, 2010), 175.

 59 Sułek. ‘To America!’

 60 Paul Lazarsfeld, Main Trends in Sociology (New York: Harper & Row, 1970). Other American sociologists traveling to Poland on Ford grants included Edward Shils, Charles Wright Mills, and Seymour Lipset.

 61 ‘Exchange and Scientific Activity with Eastern Europe’, December 1963. FFA, R2517, G57-322.

 62 Piotr Wandycz, The United States and Poland (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980).

 63 Po Prostu had supported the First Secretary with publications from leading Polish intellectuals of the Left. Machcewicz, Rebellious Satellite.

 64 ‘Towarzysz Schaff. 25 X 1957.’ Archiwum Akt Nowych (AAN) (Warsaw) Akta PZPR, sygnatura III / 22.

 65 Stone, ‘Visit to Poland Part I.’

 66 Stone, CM, 10 April 1957. FFA, R1062, G57-477.

 67 Stone, ‘Visit to Poland, September, 1958.’

 68 ‘Zasady regulujące tryb rozpatrywania i akceptacji wyjazdów pracowników nauki za granicę. 22 IV 1960.’ AAN. Akta MSzW, sygnatura 317/525.

 69 Burkhardt, ‘Addenda to Polish Report.’ FFA, R1062, G57-477.

 70 Zygmunt Bauman, Z zagadnień współczesnej socjologii amerykańskiej (Warsaw: Książka i Wiedza, 1961).

 71 ‘1957 memorandum.’ AAN. Akta MSzW, sygnatura 479.

 72 From radio interview with Janusz Głowacki in Jedynka Polskie Radio. (26/04/2011).

 73 Stone, ‘Visit to Poland, September, 1958.’

 74 Stone to Krassowska, 24 July 1959. FFA, R1062, G57-477.

 75 Burkhardt, ‘Addenda to Polish Report.’ FFA, R1062, G57-477.

 76 In 1958, Kołakowski received a grant while doing research in Holland. Upon his return to Poland, he was not re-issued a passport under the pretext of engagements at Warsaw University. The calibre of Kołakowski's intellect and his leftist heritage meant that his criticism of doctrinal Marxism was extremely problematic for the party. Zalewska to Gordon, 5 September 1960. FFA, R2520, G57-322.

 77 Pleskot, ‘Jak wyjchać na zachód?’

 78 Schaff retains a mixed legacy: an adherent of the party line during Stalinism, he was responsible for the marginalisation in Polish academia of many leading pre-war humanities professors; yet his policies permitted them to study in private and retain their salaries, which was more than could be said for their colleagues in neighbouring countries.

 79 Interview with Wiatr.

 80 Adam Schaff, Moje spotkanie z nauką polską (Warsaw: Polska Oficyna Wydawnica BGW, 1997).

 81 Stone, ‘Visit to Poland, September, 1958.’

 82 ‘Stenogram XII posiedzenia KC PZPR, pazd, 1958.’ AAN. Akta PZPR, sygnatura III / 24.

 83 Leszczyński to Stone, 17 December 1958. FFA. R2520, G57-322.

 84 Stone, ‘Visit to Warsaw, 28-31 January 1959.’

 85 ‘‘Come, Child, I Shall Pay for You…’ Polityka’. 15 November 1960. FFA. R2517, G57-322.

 86 ‘Poland Puts Curb On US Study Aid,’ New York Times, 19 November 1960.

 87 Dickey to Stone, 28 February 1961. FFA, R2517, G57-322.

 88 US Embassy in Warsaw to the Department of State, 3 March 1961. FFA, R2517, G57-322.

 89 Stone to Krassowska, 30 August 1961. FFA, R2517, G57-322.

 90 Krassowska to Stone, 17 October 1961. FFA, R2517, G57-322.

 91 Gordon to Stone, 20 March 1962. FFA, R2517, G57-322.

 92 ‘Exchange and Scientific Activity with Eastern Europe,’ December 1963. FFA, R2517, G57-322.

 93 ‘Exchange and Scientific Activity with Eastern Europe,’ December 1963. FFA, R2517, G57-322

 94 Burkhardt to Stone, 27 May 1964. FFA, R2517, G57-322.

 95 Interview with Wiatr.

 96 ‘Śmierć ideologii, rozmowa z Wiesławem Władyką,’ in Lekcje historii PRL, ed. Andrzej Brzeziecki (Warsaw; W.A.B., 2009).

 97 ‘Stenogram XIII posiedzenia KC PZPR, czerw. 1963.’ AAN. Akta KC PZPR, sygnatura 1255, 82-83.

 98 Serious attempts were made at organizing a roundtable conference with high-ranking Polish officials in the US in 1964. The Poles cancelled the meeting, citing Vietnam as the major reason. Stone to Bundy, 9 August 1967. FFA, R2517, G57-322.

 99 Stone to Leszczyński, 23 December 1965. FFA, R2517, G57-322.

100 Berghahn, America.

101 Stone to central files, 30 March 1967. FFA, R2517, G57-322.

102 Frankel, ‘Importance of the Foundation's Program for Poland,’ FFA, R2517, G57-322.

103 Sułek, ‘To America!’

104 Sułek, ‘To America!’

105 Sułek, ‘To America!’, 14. Julian Hochfeld, the Marxist sociologist and PUWP member, in his review of Paul Lazarsfeld's The Language of Social Research, was polemical but sympathetic.

106 Paul Lazarsfeld, Main Trends in Sociology (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers 1970).

107 Sułek, ‘To America!’

108 Jan Szczepański in Kraśko. Instytucjonalizacja socjologii w Polsce. 1920–1970.

109 Sulek, ‘To America!’ 21. Also see Edward Urbanek, ‘Wzloty i upadki socjologii czeskiej’ in Socjologia Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, 1956-1990 (Warsaw: PAN, 1995).

110 See: Patryk Pleskot, Intelektualni Sąsiedzi (Warsaw: IPN 2010).

111 Andrzej Walicki. Isaiah Berlin as I Knew Him in Russia, Poland, and Marxism. Isaiah Berlin to Andrzej Walicki 1962–1996 (Dialogue and Universalism, 2005, vol. XV, nr. 9-10).

112 Sułek, ‘To America!’

113 Jan Ordyński i Henryk Szlajfer, Nie bądźcie moimi sędziami. Rozmowy z Mieczysławem F. Rakowskim. (Warsaw: Rosner & wspólnicy, 2009), 96.

114 Rakowski. Dzienniki, 414–90.

115 In 1964, 34 prominent intellectuals signed a petition written by Lipski against censorship, in what was the first important act of dissent since 1956. Nine signatories on the List of 34 were Ford grant recipients: Jerzy Andrzejewski, Stanisław Dygat, Tadeusz Kotarbinski, Julian Krzyżanowksi, Jan Kott, Edward Lipiński, Maria Ossowska, Jan Szczepański, and Władysław Tatarkiewicz.