This essay contains reflections on the problems of discourse that appear in analyzing written historical sources. The author refers to Krzysztof Gajewski’s book, Reprezentacje komunizmu. PRL z perspektywy badań literackich i kulturowych [The Representation of Communism: The PPR from the Perspective of Literary and Cultural Studies] (2018). The primary findings concern the necessity of taking into account the linguistic framework of the given era.
The author reflects on the evaluation of the notion of money in history. In many situations coins and banknotes were a proof for the existence of local, independent, political power. People’s attitude toward money was quite an important matter, too; in many situations neither money nor those professionally dealing with money were appreciated socially. Numerous utopian movements disliked money. Communism was one of them. The communist economy was driven — at least in theory — by overwhelming planning rather than by the incentive of money. After the fall of communism a question arised whether all or nearly all public activity should be driven by money or whether some domains of social activity should rather be kept as public domains.