NEW POLISH WRITING
499
You remember, of course, how frequent were the arguments on
the subject, how varied the answers to those questions, how different
the ways in which the pros and cons were weighed . And today it is
quite clear that the August breakthrough was a result of everyone's
contributions: people from the independent structures, who organ–
ized help for the repressed, created Free Trade Unions, initiated
independent publishing houses; people from the official structures,
who spoke, if not so forcefully, at any rate more loudly, and created
the valuable middle realm between the illegal and the official ; peo–
ple, finally, from the emigration, who wrote and published wise
books abroad, organized material help for people in Poland, and
told the world what was happening there.
But none of this has been clearly seen until today. Then, in
1968, dilemmas were sharper, more clear-cut, and choices rarely
conceived of as complementary. You remember, for how could you
forget , the conflicts, the mutual accusations, the bitterness of friends
and the satisfaction of enemies, our anger at those who chose to emi–
grate . ...
Today we regret our anger, but not our choice. We remained in
Poland then, although the decision was not an easy one, nor safe; of
this we were often reminded by government officials as they went
about their tasks. Let us repeat : everyone was right then . But if you
remember the essential theme of our arguments, it was concerned
with resisting the communist authorities, who had divided us into
"Jews" and "Arians," and proceeded to permit the "Jews" to
"choose their native land." The anger was directed at Gomulka,
Moczar, and their colleagues; they had introduced racist criteria into
our country. But it was reflected back onto our friends, who unresis–
tingly bowed before them.
Why did they leave? For various reasons, because of wounded
national pride and personal dignity that had been trampled upon,
for bread and peace and stabilization, the feeling of safety, the possi–
bility of academic work in conditions of freedom-and also to serve
the Polish cause. Because, finally, they wanted to; and people should
be allowed to satisfy desires of this kind. Today no one could reason–
ably say that by leaving, these people put themselves outside the
nation.
But there are those who are unreasonable; and these should also
be considered. For the unreasonable, then , also for the young, .unin–
formed, lied to-for all these none of this was so obvious . For them,
