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Communist ploy for eliminating political rivals
Jan Józef Lipski Social activist
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Co się działo z PSL-em? No, PSL po prostu został załatwiony paroma... pociągnięciami, z których najważniejsza to była najpierw seria takich mikrorozłamów, one... nie były to wielkie rozłamy, ale coraz większe, gdzie znajdowano ludzi, którzy byli zdania, że trzeba współpracować raczej z PPR-em i dążyć do zjednoczenia z tym Stronnictwem Ludowym, które szło razem z PPR-em. To bardzo osłabiło PSL. Ale w pewnym momencie zastosowano po prostu już środki ostrzejsze, no było rzeczywiście dużo aresztowań w tym kręgu działaczy ludowych, między innymi skrytobójstw, mordów skrytobójczych, no  wiadomo – Ścibiorek, prawda, poseł PSL-owski, który zginął w tak niedwuznacznych... w tak niedwuznacznych okolicznościach, że wtedy kiedy on zginął, to się... oficjalna wersja było, że go zabiło „podziemie”. Dzisiaj już w ogóle nie starają się... wszyscy starają się – znaczy wszyscy, którzy oficjalnie mają w ręku środki przekazu – starają się, żeby o tym i o wielu innych tego rodzaju ludziach... żeby w ogóle po prostu nie pamiętać. Ojciec mojej koleżanki, działacz ludowy, Biłek, który po prostu zamordowany, zastrzelony gdzieś o zmroku przez nieznanych sprawców... W tamtych czasach, kiedy dużo było broni po całym kraju, to to, że ten czy ów człowiek zginął przez kogoś nie wiadomo dlaczego zastrzelony, może obrabowany, może nieobrabowany, to mogło się łatwo zdarzyć – ale pod warunkiem, że to nie były setki ludzi w całym kraju jednocześnie należących do tej samej partii, prawda. Terror jednak też odegrał w związku z tym swoją rolę, bo nie każdy jednak się decyduje być tym następnym zastrzelonym. Mikołajczyk w pewnym momencie podjął decyzję, że jednak nic tutaj nie zdziała. Nastąpiła ucieczka Mikołajczyka i po nim się posypało wszystko. Oficjalnie to się nazywało, że nastąpiło zjednoczenie tych resztek PSL-u ze Stronnictwem Ludowym w Zjednoczone Stronnictwo Ludowe, ale po ucieczce Mikołajczyka to już właściwie nie było nawet czego z czym jednoczyć, bo PSL-owcy, którzy pozostali – każdy z nich marzył tylko o tym, żeby go nie zauważyli i żeby o nim zapomnieli.

What was happening with the PSL [Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (Polish People's Party)]? Well, the PSL was destroyed in a couple of moves of which the most important one was a series of mini rifts. Initially, they weren't very significant but they became bigger once people turned up saying that we should be co-operating with the PPR [Polska Partia Robotnicza (Polish Workers' Party)] and aiming for union with People's Party which was going along with the PPR. This significantly undermined the PSL. But then, more aggressive means were resorted to. A lot of people were arrested from among the circle of activists, and there were assassinations, people murdered through assassinations... you know – Ścibiorek, a parliamentary representative of PSL who died in very unambiguous circumstances, and when he died the official explanation was that he'd been murdered by the underground resistance. Today, they don't even try... everyone tries... I mean, anyone who officially has access to the media tries not to remember about this and many other people like this. The father of a friend of mine, who was an activist – Biłek, who was simply murdered, shot one evening by unknown assailants. In those times, when there were a lot of weapons throughout the whole country the fact that one or another person died as a result of being shot for some reason, maybe he was robbed, maybe he wasn't, could easily happen. As long as it wasn't hundreds of people in the whole country all belonging to the same party. In the light of this, fear played a significant role, too, because not everyone chose to be the next person who was going to be shot. Mikołajczyk came to the conclusion that unfortunately, there was nothing more he could do. He escaped and after that everything just fell apart. Officially, they called it the merging of what was left of the PSL with the People’s Party into United People's Party, but after Mikołajczyk's escape, there wasn't anything left to merge because the remaining PSL members just wanted to be ignored and forgotten about.

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: Stanisław Mikołajczyk

Duration: 2 minutes, 37 seconds

Date story recorded: October 1989

Date story went live: 09 March 2011