5 - The Transformation Crusades

Summary

In the immediate post-1989 period, the symbol of the cross remained a focal point both for the power-holding conservatives and for the anticlerical post-Communists and continued to define new frontlines of conflict. After the fall of Communism, as the Catholic Church in Poland regained its hegemonic position, the cross became a visual marker of the new political order and a metonymy for the legislative changes that sanctioned the Christian worldview in Polish public life. Examining the contexts in which the symbol intersected with politics, including the abortion debate, the anti-pornography campaign, and Poland’s lustration process, I argue that, during the ideological shift that deeply transformed the country, the cross came to function as a shibboleth for the national community, which now coalesced around a new set of values and rituals, and designated new Others. While the figure of the Communist continued to haunt the cultural mainstream and inspire bizarre purification rituals such as the public crucifixion of a regime journalist, Roman Samsel, in 1990, the symbol of the cross was also subverted to mock the Catholic Church and the political elites in satire.