First published in 1948, this is the inside story by the former head of the Polish Government in Exile, and more recently head of the Peasants’ Party in Poland, which tried to find a way to co-operate with the Soviets.
“A raging question in Poland has become, ‘How long will it take them to communize us completely?’
“To my mind, however, the question is badly framed. I am convinced that human beings cannot be converted to communism if that conversion is attempted while the country concerned is under Communist rule. Under Communist dictatorship the majority become slaves—but men born in freedom, though they may be coerced, can never be convinced. Communism is an evil which is embraced only by fools and idealists not under the actual heel of such rule.
“The question should be phrased: How long can a nation under Communist rule survive the erosion of its soul?”—Stanislaw Mikolajczyk,
Preface
Author(s): Stanislaw Mikolajczyk
Publisher: Praeger
Year: 1972
Language: English
Pages: 309
Tags: Russians -- Poland;Soviet Union -- Foreign relations -- Poland;Poland -- Foreign relations -- Soviet Union;Poland -- History -- Occupation, 1939-1945;Poland -- History -- 1945-1980;Diplomatic relations;Russians;Poland;Soviet Union
Preface, vii
Chapter One: THE PEACELESS V—E, 1
Chapter Two: THE RAPE, 4
Chapter Three: ALLY, 14
Chapter Four: KATYN, 28
Chapter Five: LOSS OF A PATRIOT AND MORE, 39
Chapter Six: BETRAYAL, 66
Chapter Seven: ANATOMY OF APPEASEMENT, 91
Chapter Eight: YALTA, 106
Chapter Nine: REVERIE, 121
Chapter Ten: A “PEOPLES’ DEMOCRACY”, 124
Chapter Eleven: HOME, 130
Chapter Twelve: THE INTIMIDATION BEGINS, 145
Chapter Thirteen: REFERENDUM, 161
Chaplet Fourteen: FREE AND UNFETTERED, 180
Chapter Fifteen: SOVIETIZATION, 203
Chapter Sixteen: THE TIGHTENING VISE, 222
Chapter Seventeen: THE FINAL STRAWS, 230
Chapter Eighteen: ESCAPE, 243
Chapter Nineteen: CONCLUSION, 251
APPENDIX, 259
INDEX, 299
