Music in Socialist Poland: Power, Rebellion, Alienation

Abstract

This article examines the role of music in socialist Poland from 1945 to the 1980s, highlighting its function as a tool of propaganda, a means of social mobilisation, and a form of youth alienation. In the early postwar period, the regime used music to build consensus and promote socialist ideology as part of its project to shape the “new man.” As cultural control gradually loosened in the 1960s and 1970s, music became a space for Western influences and new youth identities. During the crisis of the 1980s, music played a dual role: it supported protest and collective mobilisation while also expressing disillusionment and escapism among young people. Music thus emerges as a key lens through which to understand power, resistance, and social transformation in socialist Poland.