Socialist realism in Poland

Socialist realism in Poland
Grand Theatre, Łódź
Socrealist centre of Nowa Huta district of Kraków, Aleja Róż (Avenue of Roses)
Plac Konstytucji in Warsaw

Socialist realism in Poland (Polish: socrealizm) was a socio-political and aesthetic doctrine enforced by the pro-Soviet communist government in the process of Stalinization of the post-war Polish People’s Republic. The official policy was introduced in 1949 by a decree of the Polish United Workers' Party minister (later, Minister of Culture and Art) Włodzimierz Sokorski. As in all Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc countries, Socialist realism became the main instrument of political control in the building of totalitarianism in Poland. However, the trend never became truly dominant. Following Stalin's death, and especially from 1953 on, critical opinions were heard with increasing frequency. Finally, as part of the Gomułka political thaw from within the Polish United Workers' Party, the entire doctrine was officially given up in 1956.^[1] 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.^{[citation needed]}