Suchergebnisse

The ritual as a series of actions specified by traditions or a given political system, defined in detail and repeatable, was also fulfilled in the communist system. There it was aimed at introducing and amalgamating the order imposed on Poland by the Soviets after WWII. It could only be achieved by strictly observing the rules of Socialist rites. And that did not only apply to, however important, the celebrations of holidays according to the communist calendar, but also to the master principles which the enforcers of the new order used towards society. The indicated research material, extracted from censorship archives, shows that regardless of the changing media policy in the first decade after WWII, from the very beginning there existed invariable rules which constituted a compass for specific choices: the ban on criticising or disturbing the good name of the authorities, starting with Generalissimo Stalin, through the leaders of the states subordinate to him, higher-ranking officials, police and the army, to udarniks. The Control Bureau for Press, Publications and Performances was one of the most active bodies in the field. In the privacy of their offices, without the publicity so common for the clamorous ceremonies and rallies, censors worked to maintain the Stalinist rituals.

Czesław Miłosz's The Issa Valley [Dolina Issy] was published in the Paris Literary Institute in 1955 and soon after started paving its way to readers in the author's native country, in spite of the censorship. This article traces back the novel's reception in the so-called Thaw (post-Stalin) period (1955–1957) in the light of official domestic publications and the documents of the Censorship Office. Those years saw publication of several argumentative and favourable essays on the novel (by e.g. I. Sławińska, J. Błoński, J. Zawieyski). The censors banned just one extensive discussion text on The Issa Valley, by Jarosław-Marek Rymkiewicz, and this owing to where it was published. A ban on publishing the poet's works in a nonserial form was maintained. In that transitional period, new directives were coming from the communist-party headquarters, and the censors would often consult the heads of departments they reported to, or the Central Censorship Office directly. The situation grew severer by 1958, with the poet's name being consistently removed from most publications.

This article shows the outline of problems connected with censoring Czesław Miłosz's literary output in Poland in the 1950s, when the poet breaks off with the national government and chooses political asylum in France, becoming an émigré. The article looks into (in the space of decade) the periods of particularly tightened control towards Miłosz, shows how the censorship was tightening and relaxing when it came to his name. In the Polish October several poems and an excerpt from the novel The Seizure of Power was published, though – despite publishing advertisements – none of the poet's books came out.

During political "thaw", in years 1955−1956 in the People's Republic of Poland, it write in newspapers about themes banned earlier. One of such many theme formerly banned was censorship (Main Office of Control of Press, Publications and Shows). Journalists wrote about books banned by censorship, prohibited publications and black-listed writers, whose books had removed from libraries and destroyed. Situation is changed in 1958 – it is not allowed to write again about existence and activity of censorship