The anguish and joy of the Polish intellectual

Aleksander Smolar

pp. 182-188

in: Vladimir Tismaneanu, Judith Shapiro (eds), Debates on the future of communism, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1991

Abstract

To appreciate the position of Polish intellectuals today, it would be useful to recall the beginning of the 1960s, when Khrushchev introduced important changes in the Soviet Union and there was optimism for the future of communist countries. When Khrushchev told the West that "we will bury you", he didn't mean military destruction but the inevitable superiority of a communist organization which assured a higher lever of rationality in collective action, economic progress and social justice. Even if intellectuals were not mentioned in this context, their major role was obvious. This was no longer a time for revolutionaries but for rational, scientific planning for future development. Knowledge, rather than fidelity or ideological devotion, officially became the highest virtue.