Members of the group had institutional ties with the PAN Institute of Philosophy and Sociology and the Department of History of Modern Philosophy of the
Polish United Workers Party (which they both were members of), Baczko and Kołakowski became inconvenient figures for the Polish authorities. On 21 October 1966, Kołakowski and Krzysztof Pomian gave formal speeches at a debate at the Faculty of History of the University of Warsaw where they openly criticised the ten-year rule of the Gomułka cabinet for incompetence, restrictions placed on freedom of speech, and the absence of democratic institutions in Poland. Pomian and Kołakowski were immediately expelled from the Communist party,[1]: 89 followed by Baczko in 1968. The Warsaw School fully disintegrated in the wake of the March 1968 political crisis. Members of the group were involved in supporting students affected by reprisals in the aftermath of the riots, and many emigrated to escape persecution.[1]
: 104
Ideas and methods
The methods used by members of the Warsaw School were varied, and some have argued that it was more a social grouping of intellectuals than a school of thought. However, certain shared characteristics can be found in works written by the group's members. The School held a researcher is supposed to place himself outside of the investigated subject
historical materialist
idea that mental structure is solely a derivative of social class. They were also interested in individual, religious and group ideologies and emphasised that history was a product of individual humans.
References
^ abcdefŚpiewak Paweł, "W pół drogi. Warszawska Szkoła Historyków Idei", Więź 1981, No. 5.