Diaries of rural youth writing during the transformation period of the Polish Peoples Republic (1950-1960's) were analyzed in terms of: individual autonomization and historical processes; identification with the Polish Peoples Republic and self-awareness (direct experience and historical awareness); youth and the revolutionary spirit of romanticism; and occupation and ideology. Comparing the autobiographical data (representative samples derived from some 5,500 diaries), the effect of sociocultural development in the Polish Peoples Republic was analyzed. Among the major findings were: the greatest transformations took place among the rural poor where the people had advanced from the lowest of menial positions to a position of intellectual contribution wherein work was more integrated with the needs of the human personality; the events of the past (war and occupation) had been regarded adversely by the youth, accounting for a loss of faith in mankind, impatience re: social change, and preference for moral and romantic orientations; the quest for an ideological superstructure based on occupation was a pronounced feature in the diaries, but educational statistics indicated limitations still imposed upon rural youth in that the quality and range of schools of various types and their locations prevented full rural accessibility to educational and occupational mobility. (JC)