Intellectual Trends in Poland

When doctrinal doubts begin to arise, Communist intellectuals frequently tend to revise more than the political framework of their system of beliefs. This tendency has been evident in the case of Poland, a country with an ancient and powerful European cultureconsciousness, reinforced by national resentment and politico-economic revulsion against the established system which also embodied the established doctrine. For many of the younger intellectuals already educated in the Party spirit, the outcome is likely to be a crisis of faith. Even if one abstracts from such cases, it is already apparent that the new phenomenon we are dealing with cannot be adequately described as “Polish Titoism.” The Titoist doctrine was a post hoc rationalization on the part of the excommunicated leaders, an ideology made to measure and constantly refashioned to suit a changing political situation. In Poland by contrast, the “revisionists” tried to bring about a change and have in many instances gone further than the ex-Titoist heretic, Djilas, though they have so far refrained from publicly expressing doubts about the monopolistic position of the Party in the political sphere.

The movement started as a protest against ...