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Working for Po prostu
Jan Józef Lipski Social activist
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Following these events in Poznań, it was obvious that the reaction to them wasn't halting these changes, on the contrary, they were accelerating. Poznań showed that some changes are essential, some reforms, and I don't remember whether it was in August that articles began to appear which previously it would have been impossible to read. Po prostu led the way in this which is why I grew increasingly close to the editorial team and every now and again, I'd try to give them something to publish. In any event, I was constantly there with them and it was like something between a salon and the headquarters of a revolutionary movement. The atmosphere was really good while at the same time it was very charged, and there was this feeling that somehow, well, we were all moving forward. I was very proud of myself that I had managed to convince the editors to publish a short article linked to the discussion about The Defense of Grenada by Brandys where I formulated a short but succinct concept of the new class. I wasn't familiar with that in Poland, no one knew that, but that created a good situation for me in Po prostu and since I used to go to a discussion group… the Po prostu film discussion group, where the discussions were very intense and went beyond the topic of the films that we were able to watch there, after one such discussion Hanka Bratkowska came to the conclusion that I ought to be drawn into closer collaboration with the weekly. And this was… Po prostu was one of the more significant fragments of my biography although I was associated with it loosely because it would occasionally publish one of my articles. However, after the change that occurred in October, by the beginning of ‘57 I'd joined the editorial team as head of the cultural section of the publication. However, I can't say that I was able to dominate the publication from the cultural section, because that was impossible, but neither did I do everything there was to do at that time, but that's a different matter.

Po tych wydarzeniach poznańskich było widać, że reakcja na... na nie nie zahamuje tych przemian; przeciwnie, że one zostaną raczej przyśpieszone, że Poznań pokazał, że tutaj są niezbędne jakieś przemiany, jakieś reformy i już nie wiem, czy w sierpniu już pewnie zaczęły się pojawiać takie artykuły, jakich przed tym nie sposób było przeczytać. Rzeczywiście przodowało w tym „Po prostu”, w związku z tym coraz bardziej się zbliżałem do tej redakcji, co wyglądało w ten sposób, że od czasu do czasu tam im coś próbowałem podrzucić do druku, a w każdym razie bywałem tam nieustannie w tej redakcji, to się zrobiło coś takiego pośredniego między salonem a jakąś centralą ruchu rewolucyjnego. Była to atmosfera rzeczywiście bardzo przyjemna i jednocześnie pełna napięcia i było takie poczucie, no że jakoś się idzie do przodu. Byłem z siebie bardzo dumny, że udało mi się namówić redakcję do wydrukowania takiego artykuliku związanego z dyskusją nad „Obroną Grenady” Brandysa, gdzie sformułowałem krótko … ale dobitnie, koncepcję nowej klasy. Tej klasy jeszcze wtedy nie znałem i nikt w Polsce nie znał, ale to mi stworzyło od... pewną taką sytuację dobrą no w „Po prostu”, a jednocześnie ponieważ chodziłem na zebrania klubu... dyskusyjnego klubu filmowego „Po prostu”, gdzie się odbywały bardzo zażarte dyskusje, bardzo wychodzące zresztą poza te filmy, które tam można było oglądać, to akurat Hanka Bratkowska, która tam po jakiejś dyskusji doszła do wniosku, że trzeba mnie wciągnąć do bliższej współpracy z tym tygodnikiem. I to było... „Po prostu” to był taki jeden z bardzo ważnych jakichś fragmentów mojej biografii, z tym że byłem związany z początku luźno, drukując właśnie tam od czasu do czasu artykuły. Natomiast już po tych przemianach październikowych, już na początku roku ’57 wszedłem do redakcji jako kierownik działu kulturalnego pisma. Z tym że nie mogę powiedzieć, żeby udało mi się przez ten dział kulturalny nie tylko zdominować pismo, bo to było niemożliwe, ale żebym zrobił tam to wszystko... tyle, ile było wówczas do zrobienia, no, ale to już inna sprawa.

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: reforms, article, film club, editorial department

Duration: 3 minutes, 32 seconds

Date story recorded: October 1989

Date story went live: 10 March 2011