DEBATES ON THE WORK ETHOS. THE NORMATIVE AND PRACTICAL DIMENSION OF THE WORK ETHOS IN SOCIALISM - THE PROGRESSIVE PRISON IN JAWORZNO (1951-1953) (Polish title - below)

(Title in Polish - 'Spory o sens pracy. Normatywny i praktyczny wymiar etosu pracy w socjalizmie - na przykladzie Wiezienia Progresywnego w Jaworznie (1951-1953)'). The article intends to present the determinants of the rift between the normative and practical work ethos upon the example of a penal institution for adolescents in Jaworzno and a negative attitude towards the prevailing system in post-war Poland. The normative ethos would correspond to the ideal type emulated by the young inmates, transformed and realised in the form of the practical ethos. The indicator of those changes is the range and type of involvement in work, the ability to conciliate the contradictions, which resulted from the nonsensical character of fictional work, excessively onerous conditions and compulsory labour. The same holds true for the show character of the performed work, whose feature in socialism corresponded to the public nature of cooperation and competition. A sui generis indicator of those differences was the application of work as a sanction in prison; work became punishment whenever certain occupations regarded as better or worse were designated according to the assessment of the inmate's submission. At the same time, there arose the conviction that although manual labour was the core of the normative work ethos in socialism, the person who managed to fulfil his duties beyond the range of manual labour found himself in many respects in a much better situation.