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The second trend of resistance

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The first trend of resistance
Jacek Kuroń Social activist
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Jak mówię, w pewnym momencie zaczerwieniło się wkoło i nas to strasznie denerwowało. Wszyscy nagle należą, wszyscy. Tak jak przedtem byliśmy mniejszością, nagle jesteśmy olbrzymią większością. Wszystkie prymusiki, wszyscy elegancko, to znaczy czysto ubrane panienki z zaplecionymi warkoczami, zupełnie inni ludzie. Ale to nie znaczy, że nie było oporu. Był to okres takiej najczarniejszej nocy stalinowskiej, ale opór był. Jeden nurt oporu to dziecięca konspiracja, dla mnie niesłychanie bolesna, bo na wieść, że kogoś wsadzano za przynależność do tajnego związku, we mnie się wszystko burzyło. Bo to ja byłem z przynależności do tajnego związku, bo to ja miałem przynależeć, bo wreszcie to policja była moim, to policja była wrogiem. Policja ich aresztowała, oni szli do więzienia, ja powinienem być po ich stronie. I tutaj mi te nowe książki, nowe w znaczeniu, że radzieckie Jak hartowała się stal i te wszystkie takie budujące, etos czekisty, niewiele pomagały. Tamto przecież jednak było silniejsze, to co mnie doprowadziło do lewicy. Tym bardziej, że w takie jakieś tam podziemne organizacje wplątało się paru moich bliskich kolegów. Ja o jednej takiej organizacji wiedziałem cały czas. Notabene ona była organizowana przez ewidentnego prowokatora UB, jak się potem okazało. Ale wiedziałem i przez cały czas póki to się o mnie ocierało milczałem, ale to milczenie mnie strasznie dużo kosztowało. Mówiłem sobie – nie wolno zakapować na policję pod żadnym pozorem, a z drugiej strony no jednak wrogowie, tuż obok, o milimetr.

As I said earlier, at some point everything around us turned red and that really annoyed us. Suddenly, everyone was a member and just as we used to be a minority before, so now we made up a huge majority, all the top students, all the neat and cleanly dressed young girls with their hair in plaits, completely different people. But that doesn't mean there was no resistance. It was the darkest period of the Stalinist night but there was resistance. One trend of this resistance was the children's secret opposition which I found unspeakably painful, because each time I heard that someone had been imprisoned for being a member of a clandestine organisation, I'd get really upset. I was part of a clandestine organisation, I belonged to one and ultimately, the police were my... the police were my enemy. The police were arresting them, they were going to prison, I was supposed to be on their side. Yet here were these new books, new in the sense that they were Soviet, How to Harden Steel and all those others that were so inspiring but they were CZEKISTY so they weren't much help. The other things which drew me to the left were stronger, especially since a few of my closer friends had got involved with some of those clandestine organisations. I knew about one of these organisations all along. Incidentally, it was run by an obvious 'agent provocateur' from the secret police as it later transpired. But I knew this and as long as it was affecting me, I stayed quiet but my silence cost me a great deal. I kept telling myself, I can't report this to the police under any circumstances, yet on the other hand the enemy was right there just a hair's breadth away from me.

The late Polish activist, Jacek Kuroń (1934-2004), had an influential but turbulent political career, helping transform the political landscape of Poland. He was expelled from the communist party, arrested and incarcerated. He was also instrumental in setting up the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR) and later became a Minister of Labour and Social Policy.

Listeners: Jacek Petrycki Marcel Łoziński

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.

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.

Tags: How to Harden Steel, Czekisty

Duration: 1 minute, 56 seconds

Date story recorded: 1987

Date story went live: 12 June 2008