The Eighth Day of the Week, by Marek Hlasko Portrait of Poland, by Bernard Newman Warsaw in Chains, by Stefan Korbonski

[p023] The Eighth Day of the Week, by Marek Hlasko (George Allen and Unwin, 10s. 6d.) Portrait of Poland, by Bernard Newman (Robert Hale, * 18s.) Warsaw in Chains, by Stefan Korbonski (George Allen and Unwin, 30s.) - . ‘The central figure in the first book is Agnieska, a. philosophy stadeht: who seeks to escape from the sordid environment of ‘a slum tenement, in which are crowded, in mutual frustration, — a seedy middle-aged father, an ailing and nagging mother and ‘social and moral reconstruction. October-November 1959 a perpetually drunk brother. Outside in the street it is no better, for the atmosphere is made unbearable by the foul talk of the drunks. 'Agnieska and the young man she loves seek in vain the privacy of four walls; if only one could live in a room with three walls. Her brother is deeply cynical as a result of dis- ‘covering the false basis of his bureaucratic efficiency as a party secretary prior to the revelations of the 20th congress. While herself strongly inclined to cynicism, Agnieska fights for her own dignity by struggling with her brother to return to normal life. It will take quite a long time to put things right and she needs to go on living. Thus the two contrasting themes are the despair that seeks escape in a mythical eighth day of the week, turning ‘io cynicism; and the enduring dignity of the individual. The style is impressive, with a telling economy in dialogue, a lightness of touch in sketching environment and a skilful interweaving of the threads of action. This is only a part of the truth. There is a more positive side to socialist development, which is a fit subject for art as well as for political propaganda. Yet the problem raised here is important, that of the alienation of the individual. We know of this under capitalism; here are individuals who tried to overcome alienation by sharing in socialist construction but were betrayed by a false orientation. If this is the contem- porary vision of this writer then he must be true to his art. * %* * ‘Portrait of Poland’ is a journalistic pot-pourri. It begins with some chatty gossip about post-Gomulka Poland, during the most recent of a number of visits over the years, which serves to bring out the trend to democratization. There follows an historical excursus to show how Poland lost its independence yet preserved the spirit of liberty for over a century. Pilsudski is largely justified as the strong man required to impose order on a devastated and anarchistic newly-born republic. His deal with the magnates is forgotten, his brutal colonels’ régime lightly passed over. and his war of aggression in the east excused as a preventive measure. It is true, as Lenin later recognized, that the Red Army violated the national independence of Poland; but it was Pilsudski who refused to negotiate and who launched an imperialistic war. The second half of the book contains an account of the ‘October Revolution’ and travel sketches, made up of odd bits of topography, local history and reportage on contemporary life. The book is readable and can serve as an introduction to Poland for someone who is not interested in serious analysis, and who doesn’t mind the viewpoint of the émigré London government, which is largely presented here. The author of Warsaw in Chains was a leading member of the war-time underground government directed from London. This is his diary for 1945-47, when he was a leader of the Peasant Party and a deputy. Korbonski is an extreme nationalist, strongly anti-Soviet and anti-communist. Some of his entries leave a nasty taste; his snobbish references to the lack of the social graces of the new leaders; his pleasure in praise of himself; his comparative ease of domestic life; his reference to Pilsudski’s great love of Poiand, blaming the evils of the Sanacja on his entourage. The important question is that of the methods used by the government to retain power in 1945-47. If the testimony is true, then the government used a certain degree of terror by the security police and other oppressive methods to falsify the elections. This is one of those questions from the period of Stalinism which must eventually be fully investigated if the tactics of the socialist revolution are to be properly under- stood. A strong government of the working class, in alliance with the peasantry, was needed to carry through a programme of This diary provides little evidence of struggle for Such a programme by the Peasant. - Party in 1945- 47. JOHN PURTON

[p024] AUTUMN BOOKS Poetic Sources