Secret files will set us free!

Secret files will open our eyes! Secret files coming to the light will make our lives better!

Prospects of government running out of money to procure bread are looming, so in order to keep the nation in high spirits, rulers need to put up circuses!

I haven’t got the faintest idea whether it was unfettered greed, desire to vindicate her late husband or plain crass stupidity that incited widow of general Kiszczak to contact IPN and let them know about documents stored by the general for several years. I am not fond of conspiracy theories so I am ruling out the story that Mrs Kiszczak had been manipulated and intimidated by secret services, although I cannot say such version does not hold water at all.

Since as it turned out the documents had been kept by Mr Kiszczak at home illegally, IPN investigators swiftly seized six cardboard boxes, one which included documents pertaining to Lech Wałęsa. For no apparent reason the remaining five boxes have gone to archives and will be carefully scrutinised by historians. But for some not necessarily apparent reason, files on Mr Wałęsa have been publicised almost instantaneously. Without expert analysis whether the documents had been counterfeited, the president of IPN (Mr Łukasz Kaminski, whose term expires this year) adjudicated, they were authentic, but not certainly true. A quick look-up in the Polish language dictionary tells us words autentyczny and prawdziwy are synonyms. Mr Kaminski probably meant the documents were genuine, but their content might not have been true, but who cares about details. The compilation of signatures speaks for itself…

Yes, whose cares. The whole agitation around Mr Wałęsa’s alleged collaboration with communist secret services will make few adults change their perception of the former president. For some he is a hero and will remain, for others he is a traitor and will remain. Debates on shameful past of Mr Wałęsa have lasted for many years and will continue even after his death.

For me, even if he signed a declaration to collaborate with the secret services, he remains an icon of Poland’s most recent history. Mr Wałęsa was a young, simple worker and reality of those times tough and anything but black and white. What matters more is that files bring no evidence of any link between Mr Wałęsa and the secret services after 1976 (some would argue, but no one will forbid them tale-telling). But what matters the most is how he prevaricates today over those events. Had Mr Wałęsa been a wiser man, he would have handled it much more sensibly, instead of dragging himself down. Making a clean breast of this anything, but glorious episode, would not damage his credentials.

The case is nevertheless not about Mr Wałęsa and his merits, it is about rewriting the history of Poland of the last fifty years, denigrate those who are now enemies of the dobra zmiana and replace them with different figures, particularly with another Lech. Once PiS and their henchmen paint a picture of abhorrent III RP being an awful child of PZPR, communist secret services and corrupt opposition leaders being in liaison with apparatchiks, they will earn a strong mandate to tear down the state built since 1989. The core driver is the revenge. Kaczynski brothers were ousted by Mr Wałęsa from his office in 1992 and tossed into political non-existence for several years. The same desire goes down to masses of ordinary people who have either not benefited from the transformation into market economy, or in some other way have had it uphill in life, are worse-off than their peers and blame the system for it.

Oddly enough, a short reminder for those who have not noticed where the divide line lies. It does not matter where you were before 1989. It only matters where you are now. The example of Mr Piotrowicz, a rising star of PiS who before 1989 was an ardent communist prosecutor (therefore fits well the ruling party) proves it best.

Also, the files taken over by IPN are likely to be used selectively, when opportune moments arise. The so-called historians could assume the whole content of secret service files are home truth, as rascals serving the principals from Moscow were beyond all doubt truthful and honest functionaries. If so, all their archives should be disclosed to the public. But they will not. They will be used selectively and wait patiently their turn for a moment when their content can hurt the most.

And scarily, the same people who talk so much about przemysł pogardy (the industry of contempt / disdain), whenever any of their supporters dares to criticise PiS, they set in motion the mud-slinging machine against them. This happened to professor Jadwiga Staniszkis recently. For years she would never hide her preference for PiS, but once she passed an unfavourable judgement on recent moves of the party, believers of the prezes put dragged her name through the mire. So voter beware!

The presidents of Poland after 1989

I hope you will find this biased post both informative and funny.


I found the picture above in Muzeum Czwartej RP on Spieprzaj Dziadu – a Polish page modelled on wikipedia, which is a humorous encyclopedia of the gloomy times when Twin brothers were in power. The site set up during this murky period has been kept up until know, as the temporary occupational government is ruling the country. I surmise the image must have been put up there by the double (Russian and German) agent, whose granddad was in the Communist Party of Poland before WW2, whose parents formed a post-war lumpen-intelligentsia and who currently reads Gazeta Wyborcza and worships Adam Michnik, or maybe another representative of dark forces of evil.

You would be right to say the sense of humour consisting in poking fun at someone’s height is rather lowbrow, but tell me, why is such argument raised most often by the ones who also claim that Third Republic of Poland is just a PRL in disguise – last I heard was on Thursday, when I had a doubtful pleasure of attending the lecture by professor Adam Glapiński, currently economic advisor of Polish head of state (yes, the same one, who pokes out to the right), who stood in for my regular lecturer. I left the lecture after forty minutes…

Wojciech Jaruzelski formally can be included here, however I would not place him before Lech Wałęsa, as he had not been elected by citizens, but by the Houses of Polish parliament under the power-sharing deal in 1989. His term in office lasted around seventeen months and he was replaced by Lech Wałęsa in December 1990.

The first nation-elected president of independent Poland hails from poor family and completed only a vocational school. He gained international publicity after he established himself as a leader of strike in Gdańsk Shipyard in 1980 and then as a leader of Solidarity Trade Union. His contribution to the fall of communism is undeniable, but his presidency was a string of slip-ups and blunders. Sorry to say that, but in spite of his charisma he wasn’t an eligible person to hold an office of president of Poland. His style of exercising power was featured with unpredictable moves and litigiousness. He was defeated in the run-off of presidential ballot in 1995 by a tiny per cent of votes. Before his defeat, he offered to shake his successor’s leg, afterwards the result of the ballot was called into question.

As it turned out, Aleksander Kwaśniewski took office as president of Poland for two terms (ten years). Unlike his predecessor, he took up studies on University of Gdańsk, but he did not graduate from it, because he had not get all credits and consequently could not pass a master’s exam. He later explained himself he had been to busy with other stuff like activity in PZPR – like all people who joined the party in seventies and eighties, he did not believe in the system, but was just an opportunist. The fact the he didn’t manage to complete his studies is not reprehensible, unlike what he did later – he lied about his education, claiming he had graduated. In 1999 he became infamous for his overindulgent behaviour on the cemetery in Kharkov, where Polish officers who had died during WW2 are buried – to put it bluntly he paid homage to them after getting canned. On the other hand, his presidency was not a throwback to communist, he saw through the reforms aimed at moving Poland along and did not block the reforms pushed ahead by Jerzy Buzek’s government (unlike current president, who vetoes almost every legislation proposed by Donald Tusk's government). He was a zealous advocate of integration within European Union and one of reputable figures in international politics. He was the only president of Poland to speak foreign languages – he speaks fluently Russian and French, when tipsy, his English is good enough to deliver a series of lectures in US universities without getting his tongue twisted. At the end of his term he threw support for Orange Revolution in Ukraine, reconciled with Mr Wałęsa after Pope’s death and pardoned some of his henchmen embroiled in numerous scandals which marked the years of Democratic Left Alliance rule . In 2007 the became the leader of electoral campaign of Lefts and Democrats, in the meantime getting pissed two times, what must have impinged on the results of elections. Later on he withdrew from active politics.

Lech Kaczyński took over as president of Poland in 2005. He is said to be the most partial president of my country and in this respect outran both his predecessors, not without reason he is called “a president of his brother”, just operated through remote control. His term witnessed an unparalleled event in the world history – he and his twin brother held the positions of respectively president and prime minister at the same time. His presidency had been running smoothly as long as his brothel was a prime minister. But after Jarosław Kaczyński and his pals from the cabinet screwed everything up, Lech decided to knock back four bottles of wine with Donald Tusk and called early elections. The main occupation of the president in the next two years was bickering with the ruling Civic Platform. Lech Kaczyński was repeatedly accused of struggling drinking problem. I first heard it in 2006 from a man whose friend is in president’s entourage, then the rumours were exposed by eccentric politician of Civic Platform – Janusz Palikot, the same one who staged an event during which president’s doctoral thesis was ridiculed. The current head of state is an associated professor of Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, but despite his academic degrees his command of foreign languages is commonly thought to be poor. Only in line with the accounts of his sidekicks, president is “proficient in English” and even corrects interpreters. The only substantiated case of such situation was when he corrected incompetent interpreter, who translated “holenderski” as “dutch” (a nie Nederland?). After all, as the first lady said, last year they celebrated thirty years of learning English together, the only result of three decades of efforts are uncontrollable bouts of giggling whenever Donald Tusk is speaking English.

To conclude, will the next president be the one we would be proud of?

An uncanny gift to drop bricks?

The organisers of the celebrations of the fall of Berlin Wall probably have not made allowances for the elements of chaos brought in by the former Polish president.

Lech Wałęsa, one of the most distinguished figures associated with the resistance against communism, as an icon of the Polish movement had the honour to push the first block of domino symbolising the wall which carved up the city. He pushed the block briskly and stepped back, knocking down a cameraman, but it could have happened to anyone…

Later on, in his speech he used a word “dyrdymały” to describe the content of the speeches of his predecessors, who insufficiently underlined Poland’s contribution in the downfall of the iron curtain. For everyone who knows the leader of strikes in Gdańsk shipyard it should not have come as a surprise.

In line with the diplomatic protocol each of the politicians spoke in their mother tongue. Some, like French and Russian presidents addressed the Germans in a few words in the hosts’ language. Our president, in spite of his long experience in politics, still has not mastered the difficult art of expressing himself. He should, however, realise his words are straight away interpreted into other languages. As I heard about dyrdymały, I immediately thought about the way of translating the phrase into English. I quickly came up with “talk rubbish”, which was later confirmed by my new Oxford PWN dictionary. The problem is that “talk rubbish” is not an example of official language, so the interpreter was put on the spot by the speaker. As the German interpreter rightly said “in such situation there is no time for thinking”. It seemed that the German who interpreted Wałęsa’s word into his native language knew the colloquial Polish word and as he claimed, had managed to get out of the slightly embarrassing situation and interpreted dyrdymały as “travialties”.

The missteps of our “silver-tongued” president are a good example of a challenge for the interpreters and translators. The former ones are in an unenviable position – I would not like to be in their shoes when Wałęsa speaks. The latter are also given a headache by the former president – as those who translate are not native Poles, they have to consult Poles to figure out what Wałęsa meant. But we can also get lost in the maze of the bizarre metaphors used by the man who had his part in tearing down the Berlin Wall…

W proszku?

The frivolous translation of a perverse title of the article from the latest issue of The Economist. At first glance, after whizzing through the first few lines I had the impression they’re disputing Poland’s contribution to bringing down the communism. To my surprise the article doesn’t deal with the issue – there’s a short outline of the last decade of communist rule in Poland, starting from the strikes in 1980, resulting in the semi-free elections in 1989. Further on, the author draws a bleak picture of the current situation on Polish political scene – leaders of two post-Solidarity parties embroiled in endless quarrelling, spoiled celebrations of the twentieth anniversary of the breakthrough elections… Did we squander our legacy of freeing from the authoritarian rule – certainly not, probably we just got a bit lost. Political leaders have scales on their eyes on their chase of popularity, everybody tries to prove their importance, accentuate their merits. Some beneficiaries of the transition act these days in an perplexing way – Lech Wałęsa supports euro-skeptical party, being booed and called an agent on the rally, unionists from “Solidarność” trade union claim their rights to the legacy of big social movement, whereas all they have in common with “Solidarity” from the eighties is the name. Shipyard workers, employees of the factory which was the cradle of opposition against communism want to be treated like in the central-planned economy where the unviable enterprises were artificially kept up. Some of those things are beyond my comprehension, partly due to my young age and inexperience, partly due to the fact I was born in the time when the communism was in its ultimate irrevocable decline.

We can’t fail to put the fall of communism into a broader perspective – the system has run out of its internal capacities – its built-in inefficiency has brought about the inexorable breakdown. That refers to the entire communist bloc – Soviet Authorities have repealed the Brezhnev doctrine for mostly economic reasons. Economic underlying wasn’t of no account when it came to Poland. Party’s officials decided to reach an agreement with opposition when the country’s economy was in a downfall – in a way they wanted the share (or shift?) the responsibility of a faltering economy. That was the economic factor I guess, not social. Indeed, some strikes broke out in 1988 but Polish society was in a malaise after the gray decade of the eighties – carnival of Solidarity, martial law, gradual decay of the system. Was it a miracle that in 1989 something lifted Poles up from the apathy?

And what comes now – after twenty years a correspondent of a most respectable English-language weekly magazine sees the spats between prime minister, president, unionists and a projected turnout of about sixteen per cent in the forthcoming elections.

Wracając do polityki... / Returning to politics...

Pewien młody magister z Krakowa właśnie opublikował swoją książkę, w której sugeruje, że Lech Wałęsa był od połowy lat 60-tych agentem SB i miał nieślubne dziecko. IPN, w którym ten „naukowiec” jest tymczasowo zatrudniony odcina się od jego publikacji, sam były prezydent grozi, że wyjedzie z kraju, zwróci wszystkie odznaczenia i nie będzie brał udziału w uroczystościach państwowych.
Szczerze mówiąc niewiele mnie obchodzi co Wałęsa robił w swej młodości, dla mnie zapisał się na kartach historii Polski jako przywódca wielkiego ruchu społecznego, a później jako durny prezydent. Człowiek ten ma wiele zasług, jak i wad, ale nie o tym mowa...
Zastanawia mnie wciąż skąd w moim pokoleniu bierze się tylu gorliwych lub nadgorliwych ludzi, palących się do rozliczenia przeszłości. Skąd ta żądza zemsty i za co właściwie? Wraca mi do głowy obraz dwóch moich kolegów z klasy jeszcze z liceum (dość prawicowej szkoły zresztą), których ambicją było robić karierę w IPN, instytucji, która już dawno przestała badać historię Polski między rokiem 1939 a 1989, a stała się, lub została obrócona w bagno. Bagno, nawiasem mówiąc nawiedzane przez duchy przeszłości.
Premier Tusk powiedział dziś, że IPN może dalej istnieć jedynie jeśli stanie się instytucją ideologicznie i politycznie neutralną. Panie premierze, trzymam za słowo. Nie chcę żeby szkodnicy byli opłacani z moich podatków...

Anglicy mieli agenta, z którego zrobili bohatera, Polacy mieli bohatera i zrobili z niego agenta...
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A young Master from Cracow has just published his book, in which he suggests Lech Wałęsa had been a Secret Services agent since mid sixties and to boot he had had an illegitimate child. Institute of National Remembrance, temporary employer of the author distances itself from his publication, the former president threatens he would leave Poland, return all the awards and would not partake in the state celebrations.
Frankly speaking, I don’t care about what Wałęsa did in his youth, for me he made history as the commander of the magnificent social movement and later on as a silly president. This man has a lot of merits, but also plenty of shortcomings, but never mind…
I’m still wondering why is my generation full of so many zealous or officious people, keen on dragging out the past times. Where does the lust for revenge stem from and for what actually? I recall my classmates from High School (very rightist, besides), whose only ambition was to pursue their careers in the IPN, in the institution, which long ago ceased carrying out research on the Polish history between 1939 and 1989, and turned, or was turned into a mire, by the way haunted by the spirits of the past.
Prime Minister Tusk said today IPN may exist on only if it becomes politically and ideologically neutral institution. Mr Tusk, your word is your bond… I don’t want the pests to be paid from my taxes…