Before and After Gorbachev's Breakthrough. The USSR in the Polish Underground Press of the 1980s

Abstract

This article presents a reconstruction of two media images of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: before and after Mikhail Gorbachev's election as General Secretary of the CPSU. The material was based on articles from "Tygodnik Mazowsze," one of the most important underground publications. The chosen method was a content analysis of the magazines, which allowed for the identification of differences between the two descriptions. The image of the USSR in the early 1980s is primarily pejorative. The image of the USSR after Gorbachev's election reveals significant social conflicts. One of the main thematic categories is the description by Gorbachev himself. The texts in "Tygodnik Mazowsze" are of documentary value, particularly in their descriptions of the regaining of independence by Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. A significant portion of the journalistic sources in "Tygodnik Mazowsze" come from the Soviet press.