"Przykłady działań wyprzedzających”. Z cenzorskiej dokumentacji roku 1984

Abstract

The unique character of the year 1984, depicted from a little-known perspective, is shown in the files of the Main Office for the Control of the Press, Publications, and Public Performances (GUKPIW) kept in the Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw. The small fragments of the archival resources discussed in this article focus on literature and theatre subjected to external – both clerical and ideological – pressures. The complicated relationships (of writers, editors, directors, theatre directors, magazine editors, entertainers) with censors are epitomised, among others, by theatrical adaptation of Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz’s novel Nienasycenie (Insatiability) and the “Odra” monthly battling for the release of Tadeusz Siejak’s novel Próba (An attempt). These episodes – along with some less spectacular ones – have been shown in the context of internal reporting of the Central Office for the Control of Publications and Performances and confronted with the declaration made at the UN forum that the Polish People’s Republic complied with the right to freedom of speech.