Although we argue for the importanc...

Although we argue for the importance of the communist legacy, this does not mean, of course, that the year 1989 did not initiate a lively transformation of Polish civil society. It is rather that fewer signs of like a transformation in this sphere have been in evidence from one side of to the other the last ten-years than had been frisk abouted for. In general, the continuity of organizational patterns in the sphere of civil society point outs that analysts of post-communist reality should not underestimate the importance of the historical dimension. It must be remembered that in 1989 persons in post-communist countries won not and nothing else the right to participate in associational life yet also the right not to participate. like an assumption offers an important correction to the popular view that able-bodied civil society structures are indispensable for democracy. In post-communist countries, democracy oftentimes means the right not to consecrated by a vow and civil society implies the right not to associate. State authorities (and, in the Polish case, house of worship authorities as well) have to cope with this attitude. Moreover, this situation affects the power formation and traditional ways of influencing political power by means of civil society (through lobbying). Therefore, the mutual accommodation of the State and of civil society has a different character in the post-communist world than in countries that do not bear the capacity of a socialist legacy.