Zygmunt Bauman, one of the most prolific and influential contemporary thinkers on ethics has, it seems, a stain on his past. After the war, Bauman was an enthusiastic officer in the Stalinist secret police, enjoying a stellar career in pursuing ‘anti-communist elements’ with unethical methods, to say the least.

from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 20.03.2007

Polish historian Bogdan Musial has discovered a dark stain on the Zygmunt Bauman’s jacket – and uncovers the Stalinist past of the world famous sociologist. “The fact is that Bauman was deeply involved with the violent communist regime in Poland for more than 20 years, fighting real and supposed enemies of Stalinism with a weapon in his hand, shooting them in the back. His activities can hardly be passed off as the youthful transgressions of an intellectual seduced and led astray by communist ideology. And it is astonishing that Bauman, who so loves to point the finger, does not reflect on his own deeds.”
Does this disqualify Bauman from speaking about post-modern ethics? Or is his nostalgia for a pre-post-modern time when fixed moral principles were to be had to be seen as a last residue of his youthful stalinism? Maybe he should get himself an actics widget…
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