Józef Mackiewicz in independent publications in the times of the Polish People’s Republic in 1976–1989 (1990)

Abstract

Józef Mackiewicz, alongside Czesław Miłosz, was the Polish writer living in exile, whose texts were the most often published in independent (i.e. free from state censorship) publishing houses in the years 1976–1990. It was Nina Karsov’s initiative to publish Mackiewicz’s books in London and she supported all independent publishing houses which wanted to publish his works. The fact that Mackiewicz was a very skilled writer, both of literary and in particular political works, which were available in independent publications, independent press and in independent libraries, legitimized the underground movement in the eyes of many readers. His texts became part of the political canon and, on a lesser scale, also the literary one, and contributed to the creation of a certain way of thinking about anticommunism.