A People’s History of Poland – On an Important Book, with Appreciation and Doubt: Adam Leszczyński, Ludowa historia Polski. Historia wyzysku i oporu. Mitologia panowania (2020) [A People’s History of Poland: A Story of Exploitation and Resistance – the Mythology of Ruling]

Abstract

This essay concerns Adam Leszczyński’s book Ludowa historia Polski. Historia wyzysku i oporu. Mitologia panowania [A People’s History of Poland: A Story of Exploitation and Resistance – the Mythology of Ruling] (2020) and presents Leszczyński’s main theses concerning the mechanism of the centuries-long exploitation of the popular classes by the nobility and later elites, the ideological justification of their domination, and the violence that accompanied it. The essay highlights how Leszczyński constructed his narrative, his theoretical and methodological premises, and his clearly declared ideological and ethical attitude. At the same time, however, the essay emphasizes that the book is highly selective in several aspects, as can primarily be seen in its omission of the history of the western and northern parts of Poland and concentration on the social and economic processes unfolding in the territory of the Russian partition. This focus had an impact on Leszczyński’s findings and conclusions, which the author of the essay questions.