558
PARTISAN REVIEW
system a week after the "liberating" army marched into Lvov . I knew
it was going to be an occupation, and I believe most people thought
the same. In fact there is even proof of that: the so-called "referen–
dum" was a crushing defeat for the authorities, although the ques–
tions were quite innocent. Do you want a one- or two-chamber
parliament? Do you want Szczecin and Wroclaw to belong to
Poland? Do you support the land reform? One could as well ask: Are
you against colonialism? In such a case I would have to say that I
support colonialism, because it was not a vote for naive idealists, but
a public opinion poll on one essential matter.
JT:
Yes, the real question was: Do you accept the communist rule?
ZH:
In the People's Republic of Poland elections are held not in
order to choose the best people, but to test public opinion . How far
has the society gone in allowing its self-enslavement? How tired is it?
How far has it lost its faith? To what degree has Solidarity been for–
gotten, and so forth. I was never involved in the peasants' move–
ment. Neither my background nor my profession inclined me that
way, but in the first elections held in Poland I voted for Mikolaj–
czyk. The so-called opposition - the Christian Democrats and Mi–
kolajczyk's Polish Peasants' Party - virtually won by a landslide over
the communist bloc despite harassments, kidnappings, and political
murders. No matter how we look at it, the society resisted until
1948. It declared its rejection of the power imposed by force. That
situation, which continues until today, involves all kinds of psycho–
logical discomforts. One has to be aware of one's status as a slave.
This is a very unpleasant awareness, although a true one.
It
means
that my life, my existence, the survival of my manuscripts, and my
internal peace depends not even on a general, but on some major.
Will I be able to realize my projects - even the most apolitical ones?
Will I be able to finish my book on Dutch painting?
JT:
Or go for a walk?
ZH:
So it is the situation of a slave or- if we want to be more
euphemistic - of a hostage. I am a hostage of the system. But people
somehow try to live with their bondage, to tame the monster. They
console themselves that things could be worse . For example, some
people are in prison, but that's because they took unnecessary risks.
The Gdansk trial is repulsive, but we are safe for a moment. We
have a car and can go for a trip to the Augustow lakes - a very beau–
tiful area. From the very start I looked at the new reality without
illusions, and-it seems to me-that was the point of view of the ma–
jority of Polish society.
