‘Soldiers of the Cultural Revolution’: The Stalinization of Libraries and Librarians Hip in Poland, 1945–1953

The Stalinization of Polish libraries began on a large scale in the late 1940s, but in the early postwar period of 1945-46 there were already distressing signs such as the imposition of strict censorship and growing government control over public, private, and research libraries. The paper shows that the Stalinization of educational and cultural institutions, including libraries, proceeded piecemeal and culminated in the concept of the librarian as censor, labour hero, and political activist. Particular attention is given to the questions of censorship and labour competition as related to libraries.