„Krytyka Polityczna” (Political Critique)
„Krytyka Polityczna” (‘Political Critique’) is a circle of Polish left-wing intellectuals gathered around a journal of the same title founded by Sławomir Sierakowski in 2002. The name draws on the tradition of Young Poland’s „Krytyka” (The Critique), a monthly magazine published by Wilhelm Feldman at the beginning of the 20th century, and on the samizdat „Krytyka” which served as a forum for opposition writers and journalists in the 1970s and 1980s.

The aim of Krytyka Polityczna is to revive the tradition of engaged Polish intelligentsia. From the outset the activities of “Krytyka Polityczna” have focused on three main fields: social science, culture and politics to show that the social sciences, the arts and politics differ only in their means of expression, whereas what they have in common is the impact they have on social reality. The fundamental aim of “Krytyka Polityczna” is to prepare and introduce into the public sphere a project of struggle against economic and social exclusion. Another goal is to spread the idea of deep European integration.

Apart from engaging in political philosophy and commenting on current political affairs ‘Political Critique’ is a cultural enterprise as well - a good deal of the journal’s publications are devoted to literature, literary criticism, modern art and theatre.

The journal brings together people involved in creating a new left-wing formation in Poland, among them students, journalists, literary and theatre critics, artists and social activists. Since the very beginning of ‘Political Critique’ people associated with it have been present in the mainstream media in a successful attempt to make an independent left-wing stance concerning public affairs. We assume that there is no chance for left-wing policy being carried out without a space for leftist discourse in the public sphere.

REDakcja (REDaction) and Nowy Wspaniały Świat (Brave New World) Community Center
In the years 2006-2009 the milieu of the „Krytyka Polityczna” ran REDakcja (Warsaw, Chmielna 26/19 St.) – a centre serving the exchange of thought, debate, trainings, workshops, expositions of art, and presentation of social and political projects. REDakcja was also a distribution point of alternative and left-wing books and magazines. From its opening REDakcja held several hundred open meetings – literary debates, workshops, seminars, screenings, as well as a few film festivals.

REDakcja became one of the most important cultural centers in the capital. In January 2008, it received the most important prize for cultural places: „Wdechy 2007” in the category: „Place of the Year”, awarded by the biggest Polish newspaper „Gazeta Wyborcza”.

In November 2009, in the very center of Warsaw (at the corner of Świętokrzyska St. and Nowy Świat St.) „Krytyka Polityczna” opened Nowy Wspaniały Świat (Brave New World) Community Center – a place of artistic and academic meetings, film screenings, exhibition space and a cultural café. Multiple events are organized in the center – debates, festivals, discussions – all open to public. Among major projects held in the center are Uniwersytet Krytyczny (Critical University) – open lectures and seminars held by most prominent professors and intellectuals from Poland and abroad, and Wolne Niedziele (Free Sundays) – weekly experimental and avant-garde music concerts.

Krytyka Polityczna Local Clubs
Thanks to the activities of the sympathizers and cooperators of the Association in other Polish cities „Krytyka Polityczna” Clubs were created similar to REDakcja – they organize debates, social actions and other public events. By 2010 such clubs have been established: Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Bytom, Cieszyn, Gdańsk, Gniezno, Jelenia Góra, Kalisz, Katowice, Kielce, Kraków, Lublin, Łódź, Opole, Piła, Poznań, Siedlce, Szczecin, Toruń, Włocławek, Wrocław. The Network of Clubs constitutes the first attempt to build solid institutional foundations in order to enhance the commitment and integration of a large group of young people in the name of reviving the ethos of engaged intelligentsia. „Krytyka Polityczna” has opened two common-rooms – in the north (Tricity) and south (Cieszyn) of Poland which operate similarly to former REDakcja organizing multiple artistic and social events.

The publishing house of the Political Critique
In 2006 The Political Critique, in cooperation with Ha!art, launched a new publishing project – The Political Critique Series. The first issue came out in December 2006.

In September 2007 people associated with „Krytyka Polityczna” established its own Krytyka Polityczna Publishing House. The aim is to introduce to the Polish audience the most important works of political philosophy and sociology, theory of culture and arts. The publishing house publishes transtaltions, works of Polish authors and important reissues.
Over 100 titles have been published until February 2011 either in one of the eight book series (Readers, Ideas, Canon, Journalistic, Literary, Jacek Kuroń Writings, Historical, Economic) or outside series.

Among the authors published by the press are: Louis Althusser, Timothy Garton Ash, Alain Badiou, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, Stanisław Brzozowski, Judith Butler, Manuel Castells, Roman Frydman, Bruno Latour, Chantal Mouffe, Marian Pankowski, Jacques Rancière, Nicholas Stern, Artur Żmijewski, Slavoj Žižek.

Website
„Krytyka Polityczna” website is an independent news provider (among other things, concerning social actions and cultural events), as well as a space for commentary (political analyses, columns, essays, reviews). One can find announcements, reports, photos and audio recordings of various meetings organized by „Krytyka Polityczna”. The website serves also as a forum of opinion and exchange. It serves as an archive of articles, pieces of published books, as well as the content of those journal issues that are no longer available for sale. In September 2007 „Krytyka Polityczna” launched the tv_kp project – a sort of internet TV medium with filmed commentaries, recordings of discussions, short videos, invitations.

 — -
We want to make the voice of the left side of the Polish political scene more audible in the public debate. We want to help the leftist movement regain its legitimacy. We aim to usher in a visible change in the balance of power on the Polish political scene. We want to offer an alternative to the dominating motif that defines the public discourse: “Either God or market”.

We defend the thesis that the sources of populism in Poland are to be found in the lack of means of expression (through political parties and the media) for supporters of non-liberal economy who have been excluded from the political scene in the years of transformation. We consider the struggle for a new discourse to be a political action that is crucial for the development of the left-wing politics in Poland.

See also our presentation in English (2007): What is Political Critique?  

We inform about our actions and on-going events on our website: www.krytykapolityczna.pl

We invite you to read our publications and to participate in our actions and projects! Join us!

People

Editorial Team: Yael Bartana (Arts Editor), Magdalena Błędowska, Kinga Dunin, Maciej Gdula, Dorota Głażewska, Maciej Kropiwnicki, Julian Kultyła (Vice Editor-in-chief), Sławomir Sierakowski (Editor-in-chief), Michał Sutowski (Managing Editor), Agata Szczęśniak (Vice Editor-in-chief), Artur Żmijewski (Arts Editor)

The Team: Agata Araszkiewicz, Michał Bilewicz, Katarzyna Błahuta,Magdalena Błędowska, Zygmunt Borawski, Michał Borucki, Jakub Bożek, Marcin Chałupka, Anna Delick (Sztokholm), Paweł Demirski, Karol Domański, Kinga Dunin, Joanna Erbel, Katarzyna Fidos, Bartosz Frąckowiak, Maciej Gdula, Dorota Głażewska, Katarzyna Górna, Agnieszka Graff, Agnieszka Grzybek, Krzysztof Iszkowski, Izabela Jasińska, Adam Jelonek, Jaś Kapela, Tomasz Kitliński, Maria Klaman, Karolina Krasuska, Małgorzata Kowalska, Maciej Kropiwnicki, Julian Kutyła, Łukasz Kuźma, Adam Leszczyński, Jarosław Lipszyc, Jakub Majmurek, Adam Mazur, Dorota Mieszek, Kuba Mikurda, Bartłomiej Modzelewski, Paweł Mościcki, Witold Mrozek, Maciej Nowak, Dorota Olko, Adam Ostolski, Joanna Ostrowska, Janusz Ostrowski, Tomasz Piątek, Konrad Pustoła, Magda Raczyńska, JoannaRajkowska, Przemysław Sadura, Sławomir Sierakowski, Jan Smoleński, Andreas Stadler (Nowy Jork), Beata Stępień, Kinga Stańczuk, Igor Stokfiszewski, Michał Sutowski, Michał Syska, Mikołaj Syska, Jakub Szafrański, Agata Szczęśniak, Kazimiera Szczuka, Barbara Szelewa, Jakub Szestowicki, Eliza Szybowicz, Magdalena Środa, Olga Tokarczuk, KrzysztofTomasik, Joanna Tokarz, Justyna Turkowska, Karolina Walęcik, Błażej Warkocki, Agnieszka Wiśniewska, Katarzyna Wojciechowska, Wawrzyniec Zakrzewski, Wojtek Zrałek-Kossakowski, Artur Żmijewski

Krytyka Polityczna Clubs Coordinators: Agata Szczęśniak, Joanna Tokarz, Agnieszka Wiśniewska

Local Krytyka Polityczna Clubs Coordinators: Białystok: Łukasz Kuźma, Bydgoszcz: Emilia Walczak, Michał Schmidt, Bytom: Stanisław Ruksza, Cieszyn: Joanna Wowrzeczka-Warczok, Gdańsk: Katarzyna Fidos, Gniezno: Paweł Bartkowiak, Kamila Kasprzak, Jelenia Góra: Wojciech Wojciechowski, Kalisz: Anna Domagalska, Mikołaj Pancewicz, Kielce: Łukasz Kozera, Konin: Bartek Nożewski, Marcin Runowski, Kraków: Sebastian Liszka, Martyna Nowicka, Lublin: Urban Kępa, Łódź: Wiktor Marzec, Opole: Borys Cymbrowski, Poznań: Maciej Szlinder, Rzeszów: Michał Golemo, Iza Cywa, Siedlce: Andrzej Sędek, Szczecin: Joanna Brewińska, Tarnobrzeg: Michał Majka, Toruń: Marta Buraczyńska, Monika Szlosek, Włocławek: Agata Szczerbiak, Wrocław: Łukasz Andrzejewski, Michał Syska

Publisher: Stowarzyszenie im. Stanisława Brzozowskiego [Stanislaw Brzozowski Association/NGO]
The Board: Sławomir Sierakowski (president), Maciej Gdula, Dorota Głażewska (financial director), Agata Szczęśniak

Contact us:
„Krytyka Polityczna”
ul. Nowy Świat 63, PL 00-042 Warsaw
tel. (+48 22) 505 66 90, e-mail: Ten adres e-mail jest chroniony przed spamerami, musisz mieć włączony Javascript, by go zobaczyć
Our website: www.krytykapolityczna.pl

Our English website (Political Critique in London): http://politicalcritique.org/ 

We encourage you to support our actions and organization! Donations can be given to our account:

Stowarzyszenie im. Stanisława Brzozowskiego
Bank DnB NORD Polska S.A. III O/ Warszawa, ul. Dubois 5a, Warszawa
nr konta 92 1370 1037 0000 1701 4446 9300
„Donation for Stowarzyszenie im. Stanisława Brzozowskiego”.

Thank you for your help!