Jeffrey
Herf
THE POLISH SPRING
In 1964, the American new left adopted the slogan
"a
free uni–
versity in a free society." In that time and place, it was a highly inappropriate
slogan. We already enjoyed fi'ee universities in a free society. But here at
Jagiellonian University in Cracow in spring 1989 it is appropriate for us to
express the hope that you will attain a free university in a free society.
This year is the bicentellnial of the French Revolution, an event which
casts its spell on Poland and all the United States. It gave to modern politics
the idea of revolution , of a sudden, dramatic, and violent - above all violent–
break with the past. From this break was supposed
to
emerge a wholly new
society and new man and new womall. Today , after the catastrophes of
twentieth-century revolutions, the lustre of the revolutionary idea has worn
off in the West, not least of all in France itself. Nevertheless, outsiders may
be tempted to interpret change in Poland in light of the two-centuries-old im–
age of revolution, the suddell and violent break that denotes the "before" and
"afler."
You know better. Assuming that the changes of this spring become a
permanent feature of Polish politics and society, the Polish spring of 1989 will
cast its spell around the world as well. Your country has shown itself and the
world that meaningful change from dictatorship to greater democracy can
take place without "the revolution," without political murder, without the
myth of human beings remade, and without dehumanizing hatredjustif)ring
violence. What message could be more important to people now seeking to
free themselves from dictatorship? How much better it would be, if Poland of
1989 were to displace France of 1789 in the political imagination of those all
over the world who seek to displace dictatorship and poverty with democ–
racy and economic well-being.
In the iconography of politics, you have replaced the violent mob and
machine gun with the conversation and the conference table as effective
means of political change. You have shown that there is a heroism and
Editor's Note: This essay was delivered as a talk given at Jagiellonian Uni–
versity, Cracow, Poland, on May 5th, 1989.
