Talk:Leszek Nowak

'non-Marxian historical materialism' Polish source question

This talk post pertains to a certain concern I have with regards to a source that has been given for a claim in the article. When it is said of Nowak's "non-Marxian historical materialism' that "In this theory real socialism occurs as the most oppressive system in the history of the hitherto known societies. Nowak was aware of the risk of working on such a theory in the country of real socialism but he did not decide to accept intellectual compromise and in 1979 disseminated the typescript of his book. During the time of Solidarność movement he spent all energy to educate union members and to reveal the oppressive nature of socialism.", the source that is given for this claim is this: [LINK]. This webpage consists of a short text about the Polish priest Jerzy Popiełuszko, the text itself merely functioning as an introduction to a recording of a radio broadcast about Popiełuszko, consisting of an interview with theologian, philosopher and Roman Catholic priest Rev. Prof. Jan Sochoń. The conversation is fully in Polish, and we as listeners haven't been given a particular moment where the claim are being made, for the sake of verify

My ambition is not to sow doubt about this claim, my concerns are way more modest. My present concern is the fact that this claim is now highly unverifiable for the English speaking reader, the barrier of research entry is now very high, and that, if we wish to be slightly concretely critical, it seems like a very marginal, even informal source for a significantly strongly formulated claim. Questions can be raised about the strengths of the sources to substantiate particular claims. The claims in itself, grouped under the footnote, can be split in two categories: statements on the nature of 'non-Marxian historical materialism' and concrete historical claims. The claims in the first category don't seem to be found in the Polish-language article on 'non-Marxian historical materialism', which don't wholesale discredits them, but heighten the weight that is being laid on the source given for this particular claim.

First I wish to have a way to have more transparency with regards to how this claim was sourced, which gives us also more ways to evaluate it, and also gives an English-speaking reader more directions in research. With the original source this could be done with timestamps concretizing where in the conversation the claims were made, plus possibly a clarifying note in the footnotes, which both would go a long way. Pertaining to the fact that the fragment also includes concrete biographical facts, this for me could me that there would be available sources, again possibly in Polish, who can attest and can complement the claims being made here, or can give them nuance or possibly can give a different interpretation of the situation. Also sourcing documents which are more directly about our subject could strengthen the quality of the article, in my opinion. As it now stands there is a certain degree of non-transparency related to some big and concrete claims. I make this post to bring attention to this, and to ask the help of Polish-speaking editors, or possibly the person who made the edit, to help bring more transparency to the article and to help strengthen its claims. ~2026-28678-23 (talk) 11:33, 12 May 2026 (UTC)