The Communist Culture Industry: The Music Business in 1980s Poland

Abstract

In the midst of authoritarian rule by the Communist Party, Poland saw rock music reach astounding popularity in the 1980s. This article uses the production of rock music in the People’s Republic of Poland as a lens to examine the tangled web of culture, economics, and politics that comprised the dynamic last decade of communist rule in Eastern Europe. It discusses how rock emerged amidst the contradictory forces at work in 1980s Poland – reform versus retrenchment, ideology versus practical necessity, and the need for change versus the inertia of the immense bureaucracy. Looking at how a production-centered approach applies to a socialist economy facilitates a consideration of what socialism was and precisely how it differed from contemporary capitalist systems, as well as to reflect on how socialist states differed from each other. Finally, this examination of the culture industry in 1980s Poland suggests a richer approach to analysis of popular culture in a socialist context. Cultural production in socialist Eastern Europe was engaged in a complex interplay with politics, but also with economics and industry conditions.