Adolf Warski defends the Paris Commune, Soviet Russia and the dictatorship of the proletariat

Adolf Warski, (born Adolf Jerzy Warszawski, 1868-1937) was one most important activist and theoreticians of Polish workers’ movement. In the article below, Warski engages in a polemic with the social democratic critics of the dictatorship of the proletariat and defends of Marxist theory of the state.

Jarosław Dąbrowski. Translated writings from the hero of the Paris Commune

The following collection contains writings (proclamations, orders, correspondence) written by Jarosław Dąbrowski (November 13, 1836 – May 23, 1871), an outstanding Polish revolutionary-internationalist and hero of the Paris Commune.

The dialectic of Ukrainian war. Reflections 2 years on.

The 2nd anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has passed. Over the past year, the reactionary nature of this war on both sides has become increasingly clear. To prove this, we will use the theoretical framework we utilized in an article published on the last anniversary.

Piotr Strębski: How the Republic of Poland and its security services understand Marxism [+ commentery by ‘poltrot1917’]

The Polish state is known for its harassment of communists, which became particularly intense during the rule of the populist-conservative PiS party. It was during this period that members of the legally registered Communist Party of Poland or the Trotskyist portal “Władza Rad”, among others, were persecuted. The victims of these repressions were accused of promoting “other totalitarian system of state”. These actions remained unsuccessful (in a legal sense), because the persecuted nowhere called for the use of methods considered “totalitarian”. Spurious legal basis for these attacks reveal their political nature.

Below we have a glimpse into worldview of people behind these repressions. The article by Piotr Strębski, originally published on the website of the Association of Polish Marxists, analyzes an “historical presentation” published in the official organ of the ABW (Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Węwnętrznego, ABW; Polish counterintelligence agency) “exposing” the nature of Marxism. We learn that ABW endorsed the “cultural Marxism”/Frankfurt School conspiracy theory; it turns out that a conspiracy theory expoused by neo-Nazis and right-wing crackpots is also a semi-official ideology of the Polish state.

The same government also updated the Penal Code, making “communist propaganda” explicitly illegal. As of now this ban remains in force. So at least in this respect there exists continuity between the previous “authoritarian” government and the current “liberal-democratic” one.

---

“Who lives off what?” by Szymon Dickstein: “A textbook for the people” (Lenin) translated into English

We hereby present the brochure “Who lives off what?” from 1881 by Szymon Dickstein – one of the key pioneers of the Polish socialist movement.

From defender to critic of “really existing socialism”. On Wsiewołod Wołczew

The document presented here is a peculiar one. And that is for two reasons. Firstly, because of its context; it is an analysis and critique of so-called “really existing socialism” written in 1989 as that system was collapsing. Secondly, because of its author, Wsiewołod Wołczew (1929-1993)^*, who first came into public consciousness in the early 1980s as one of that system’s most rabid defenders.

On the 1944 Warsaw Uprising

August 1 is solemnly celebrated in Poland as the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The anniversary is included in the official „historical policy”, in which the tragic fate of the uprising is presented as the effect of the „Soviet stab in the back” of the heroic Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK). To deal with this reactionary posing of the question, it is necessary to put it in a broader historical perspective.

Polish translation of Harry Whyte’s „Can a homosexual be a member of the Communist Party?”

As the contradictions of decaying capitalism sharpen, the bourgeoisie renounces its progressive and democratic gains and makes it impossible to fight for new freedoms in order to preserve its class rule.

Since relative overpopulation is a condition for capital accumulation, the capitalist class can resort to drastically pro-natalist policies when the rate of profit falls. This manifests itself in the attack on women’s rights and the accompanying idealization of the family and the consequent ideological attack on the rights of LGBT people.

The question of sexual minorities was not alien to Marxists. This work by the British communist Harry Whyte proves it. It was written in the form of a letter to Joseph Stalin in connection with the recriminalization of same-sex relations in the USSR. In it, Whyte not only defended the rights of sexual minorities, but also offered a historical-materialist explanation of bourgeois homophobia. In order to properly appreciate its significance, it is necessary to know its historical context.

Polish Trotskyists on the Zionist face of ghetto collaboration (III 1941). Polish article translated to mark the 70th anniversary of the fall of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Glory to the Heroes of the Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto

May 16 marks the 70th anniversary of the bloody suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The uprising broke out on April 19, 1943 in response to the deportations of the ghetto inhabitants to extermination camps, started by the Nazis a year earlier. The insurrection led by the left-wing Jewish Combat Organization (Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa, ŻOB) was brutally suppressed by the SS, Wehrmacht and Orpo with the support of the Trawnikis (anti-Soviet collaborators among the Red Army prisoners of war) and the so called Blue Police (the last remnant of the pre-war Sanacja regime).

Long live May Day! Polish translation of Lukács’ „Lenin”

To celebrate May Day I hereby present to the Readers the first Polish translation of a study of the thought of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin by György Lukács, one of the greatest Marxist philosophers of the 20th century.