Nadzieje i rozczarowania w środowisku literackim po przełomie październikowym
Hopes and disappointments in the literary milieu after the Polish October

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this study is to find out how people of the literary milieu reacted to the famous historical moment in Poland – October 1956, also known as the Polish October. After Stalin’s death in 1953 and the famous Nikita Khrushchev’s speech in 1956 (On the Personality Cult and its Consequences), the process of de-Stalinization comprised the territory of the Soviet Union and the entire Eastern Block, including the People’s Republic of Poland (PRL). After Władysław Gomułka’s election to the office of the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) during the 8th Plenum meeting, numerous Polish writers hoped that the new government would give them back the freedom of creativity, which they had lost after the Second World War. Initially Gomułka declared “the new cultural policy” – more liberal attitude towards both the literary milieu’s views and the perception of reality. Yet, it soon turned out that Gomułka’s oral declaration would not be fulfilled. The study proves that the time when the First Secretary was in power, brought a lot of disappointments in the literary milieu, in particular among members of the Union of Polish Writers (ZLP).

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