I had thought that when I joined you, when I joined the P.P.S., 1 I should be able to speak my mind and to advocate my own ideas about freedom and social justice-the more so since this was officially guaranteed to me. But promises were not kept. I was gagged to such an extent that; practically speaking, I could write nothing at all. And yet I did send articles to the "Naprzod" and the "Robotnik" on the W.R.N., on the co-operation with the PPR., on the Bloc, on racial theories-but all this was considered "nieblagonadiozne." 2 To-day again all my articles which I send to the " Gazeta Ludowa " or " Piast," even those which are only answering personal attacks make upon me, are being banned by the "Press control," but in such a way as to ensure that no one will realise the extent to which the censor's pencil is rampant in Poland. During the occupation I wrote a. book entitled "Prosperity, Freedom and Morality." It was submitted to the censor in June or July 1946 and the censor deleted a number of sentences and passages, amongst others a sentence stating that "Boleslaw Chrobry8 had drawn the frontiers of the State from Meissen to the Dnieper." The censor replaced the word "Dnieper " with the word " Bug " and I could not possibly explain to him that Kiev is situated on the Dnieper and not on the Bug. But, after all, these were only minor, ridiculous things. After more trouble I finally received the stamp ; " The Voivodship Control Office of Press, Publications and Performances. Permission to publish. August 24th, 1946." I thought that the matter was now settled, but far from it. The publication of the book, already in proof, was held up in view of the approaching elections in which I had the courage to put forward my own independent candidature. And then, in spite of the given authorisation, I was asked to delete new passages, as for instance, " what is important for members of the community is not so much the form of ownership but the guarantee that no one is going to exploit them " 1 Zulawski refers to the official Socialist Party which he joined in December, 1945. 2 A Russian word with no equivalent in any other language, implying some. thing which is distasteful to the authorities. a A Polish Kingat thebeginning of the 11 th century. 52 Biblioteca Gino Bianco
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