Identity in Flux, The Polish Community in Great Britain

256 Pages·1996·14.7 MB·English

by  Keith Sword

IDENTITY IN FLUX
THE POLISH COMMUNITY IN BRITAIN
KEITH SWORD
School of Slavonic and East European Studies
University of London
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2019 with funding from
UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)
https://archive.org/details/SSEES0012
IDENTITY IN FLUX

IDENTITY IN FLUX
The Polish Community in Britain
KEITH SWORD
School of Slavonic and East European Studies
University of London 1996
IDENTITY IN FLUX. THE POLISH COMMUNITY IN BRITAIN
Keith Sword
Identity in Flux. The Polish Community in Britain
© School of Slavonic and East European Studies 1996
SSEES Occasional Papers No. 36
ISBN: 0 903425 60 2
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of Tables and Diagrams ix
1 Introduction
Accounting for the Salience of Ethnicity 1
Defining Ethnicity 3
Approaches to the Problem 6
Polish Migration and Migration Research 10
Ethnicity and Nationalism 13
The Polish Minority in Britain 15
2 Historical Background
Early History: Poles in Britain Prior to 1939 19
World War Two and the
Establishment of a Political Emigre Settlement 22
Political Fragmentation and Economic
Consolidation, 1947-56 29
From the Polish 'Thaw’ to Martial Law, 1956-81 39
The Political Struggle Comes to an End, 1982-91 49
3 Changed Directions and Orientations 59
4 Poles in Britain: The Demographic Picture 73
5 Structures of the Polish Community
The Federation of Poles in Great Britain 87
The Polish Catholic Church in Great Britain 92
The Combatants’ Organizations 97
Cultural Institutions 103
The Polish Saturday School Movement 108
The Polish Scouting Movement 113
Self-Help and Welfare 116
Communication and Information Flow:
Press and Publishing 120
6 The Local Community 125
7 The Culture and Traditions of the Polish Community 139
8 Upbringing, Identity and Community
Family Background and Historical Awareness 149
Childhood and Upbringing in the Polish Community 154
v
VI Contents
Crossing Ethnic Boundaries:
Discrimination, Stigma and Self-Esteem 162
Education and Social Mobility 168
The Homeland in Myth and Reality 111
Marriage, the Life Cycle and Cultural Continuity 183
Language and Identity 190
Identity and Religion 197
The Newcomers from Poland 204
Generations 215
Ethnic Identity: Self-Ascription and the
Future of the Community 219
9 Conclusions 227
Select Bibliography 235
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to the M.B. Grabowski Fund and the
Federation of Poles in Great Britain, whose financial support for the
Polish Migration Project at the School of Slavonic and East European
Stuudies made this study possible.
Beyond this I owe much to the many people who have helped me by
providing me with materials. Some of these people are acknowledged in
the footnotes. They include Mr B. Brodzinski, Mr A. Gas, Ms Anna
Fiderkiewicz, the former Polish Consul-General in London Mr J.
Kochanowski, Mr L. Kliszewicz, Mr Andrew Nocon, Mr J. Palmi, Mr
Thomas Scragg, Ms Bogusia Temple, Ms Helena Scott, Ms Ela
Watrobska, Mr Szymon Zaremba and the Librarian of RAF College,
Cranwell. I should add to this list my wife, Urszula, who kept me well
supplied with the Polish Daily and other materials produced by the Polish
Cultural Foundation.
I would also like to thank the many people who took an active role in
this study by inviting me into their homes, answering my questions and
providing me with the names of further contacts. I enjoyed more
hospitality than I could reasonably have expected. Although not all of
these respondents demanded anonymity, I have thought it best to be
consistent by concealing the identities of all those interviewed (with the
exception of public figures such as priests and heads of community
organizations) Consequently, I shall not list the many names here —
although my respondents will know who they are and will no doubt
recognize some of their words in the text.
Finally, I would like to thank John Andrew who worked hard to
transpose this text on computer disk and to edit it prior to publication.
Keith Sword London, 1996