Emotions Encoded in the Communist Party’s Telexes about the Rise and Development of the “Solidarity” Movement in the People’s Republic of Poland, 1980–1981. The Case of Southern Podlasie

Abstract

This study investigates the emotional dimension of communist governance in the Polish People’s Republic during the crisis of 1980–1981 through an analysis of internal telex correspondence produced by regional structures of the Polish United Workers’Party (PZPR) in Southern Podlasie. Drawing on archival materials from Siedlce and Biała Podlaska, it proposes an original approach that interprets bureaucratic documents as affective artefacts rather than solely informational records. The research integrates perspectives from the history of emotions, archival studies, and political anthropology. A qualitative, hermeneutic methodology is a pplied, based on semantic categorisation of key expressions, evaluative formulas, and “emotives,”allowing for the reconstruction of emotional patterns embedded in official discourse. Particular emphasis is placed on identifying inconsistencies between declarative language (e.g., stability, control) and implicit indicators of anxiety, uncertainty, and institutional strain. The analysis demonstrates that the standardised language of party communication, shaped by newspeak, functioned as a mechanism of emotional regulation and concea lment. Ritualised phrases and repetitive formulas were used to maintain an appearance of order, while simultaneously encoding fear, tension, and loss of confidence. The emergence of the “Solidarity”movement disrupted the established emotional regime of the party, confronting it with an alternative system of collective emotions grounded in dignity, solidarity, and social agency. Empirical findings reveal a dynamic process of affective transformation within the regional party apparatus. Initial reports emphasising discipline and stability gradually give way to expressions indicating growing tension, weakening control, and dependence on ce ntral authorities. By late 1980 and early 1981, the language of the documents reflects emotional exhaustion, fragmentation of internal cohesion, and a search for decisive intervention. These changes correspond with the erosion of the party’s capacity to sustain its own emotional norms and institutional identity. The study co ncludes that internal party correspondence constitutes a valuable source for examining the emotional mechanisms of authoritarian power in crisis. The identified patterns of encoded anxiety, ritualised reassurance, and eventual disintegration provide insight into the broader process of systemic decline, demonstrating that the collapse of the communist order was accompanied by a profound breakdown of its emotional foundations.