This review of Agata Zysiak’s 2016 book Punkty za pochodzenie. Powojenna modernizacja i uniwersytet w robotniczym mieście [Points for Class Origin: Post-War Modernization and the University in a Working-Class City] offers a broad summary of the work and examines it as a general critique of Polish historiography on state socialism. Zysiak’s book opens a discussion on alternatives to national or intelligentsia-based narratives of the past by looking at the story of an unsuccessful experiment to construct a socialist university. However, the author of the review contends that this highly valuable book suffers from a lack of primary-source analysis and omits many post-war experiences.
