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Signs of rebellion against the party's stranglehold

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Post-October stagnation
Jan Józef Lipski Social activist
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After the dissolution of Po prostu, everything that was left of October – publications, institutions – were systematically and fairly rapidly liquidated. I was associated with The Crooked Circle Club, and in 1962 the decision was taken to get rid of even this final stronghold of post-October values. Once this happened, I was removed from every potential social activity while at the same time, I was dismissed from my job at the National Institute of Publishing in 1960 for political reasons. We were entering into a period when virtually nothing was happening, a period of stagnation which was interrupted every now and again by protest movements, but it was a dead period.

Po likwidacji „Po prostu” stopniowo i w dosyć szybkim czasie likwidowano wszystko co z października zostało: pisma, instytucje. Ja byłem związany z Klubem Krzywego Koła i w ’62 roku zdecydowano się również ten ostatni już przyczółek taki popaździernikowy zlikwidować. No, zostałem w takiej sytuacji oderwany od wszelkiego...wszelkich możliwości działania społecznego, jednocześnie w ’60 roku byłem z przyczyn politycznych wyrzucony z pracy w Państwowym Instytucie Wydawniczym i wkraczaliśmy w okres w którym właściwie prawie nic się nie działo. Okres marazmu od czasu do czasu przerywany co prawda jakimiś ruchami protestu, ale martwy.

Jan Józef Lipski (1926-1991) was one of Poland's best known political activists. He was also a writer and a literary critic. As a soldier in the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), he fought in the Warsaw Uprising. In 1976, following worker protests, he co-founded the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR). His active opposition to Poland's communist authorities led to his arrest and imprisonment on several occasions. In 1987, he re-established and headed the Polish Socialist Party. Two years later, he was elected to the Polish Senate. He died in 1991 while still in office. For his significant work, Lipski was honoured with the Cross of the Valorous (Krzyż Walecznych), posthumously with the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1991) and with the highest Polish decoration, the Order of the White Eagle (2006).

Listeners: Marcel Łoziński Jacek Petrycki

Film director Marcel Łoziński was born in Paris in 1940. He graduated from the Film Directing Department of the National School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź in 1971. In 1994, he was nominated for an American Academy Award and a European Film Academy Award for the documentary, 89 mm from Europe. Since 1995, he has been a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Art and Science awarding Oscars. He lectured at the FEMIS film school and the School of Polish Culture of Warsaw University. He ran documentary film workshops in Marseilles. Marcel Łoziński currently lectures at Andrzej Wajda’s Master School for Film Directors. He also runs the Dragon Forum, a European documentary film workshop.

Cinematographer Jacek Petrycki was born in Poznań, Poland in 1948. He has worked extensively in Poland and throughout the world. His credits include, for Agniezka Holland, Provincial Actors (1979), Europe, Europe (1990), Shot in the Heart (2001) and Julie Walking Home (2002), for Krysztof Kieslowski numerous short films including Camera Buff (1980) and No End (1985). Other credits include Journey to the Sun (1998), directed by Jesim Ustaoglu, which won the Golden Camera 300 award at the International Film Camera Festival, Shooters (2000) and The Valley (1999), both directed by Dan Reed, Unforgiving (1993) and Betrayed (1995) by Clive Gordon both of which won the BAFTA for best factual photography. Jacek Petrycki is also a teacher and a filmmaker.

Tags: Crooked Circle Club, Po Prostu, National Institute of Publishing

Duration: 1 minute, 4 seconds

Date story recorded: October 1989

Date story went live: 10 March 2011