HENRYK DEMBIŃSKI: THE MAN WHO BECAME A COMMUNIST AFTER DEATH?
HENRYK DEMBIŃSKI: THE MAN WHO BECAME A COMMUNIST AFTER DEATH?
Author(s): Paweł LiberaContributor(s): Paul Vickers (Translator)
Subject(s): Political history, Government/Political systems, Political behavior, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), History of Communism
Published by: Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: communism; Comintern; the left; Communist Party of Poland; Communist Party of Western Belorussia; Henryk Dembiński; Czesław Miłosz;
Summary/Abstract: The case of Henryk Dembiński (1908–41) represents the left-wing involvement of Polish intellectuals in the interwar period. After 1945, the party historians left a communist mark on his image. Those in exile also accepted this thesis. In fact, party historians portrayed Dembiński’s life in a one-sided fashion and omitted events inconsistent with their narrative. In light an of relevant accounts and documents, this article shows that Dembiński was neither a member of the communist party nor its youth organisation even though, in 1935–6, he participated in some activities inspired by the Communist Party of Poland (KPP), and edited a periodical supported financially by the KPP. It is unclear whether this was conscious cooperation or a matter of manipulation by the party. In 1937, Dembiński joined the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) and was engaged in catholic activities centre, which the communists at the time perceived as a change of his political views. Nonetheless, after the war, party historians unequivocally stated that he was a communist.
Journal: Acta Poloniae Historica
- Issue Year: 2021
- Issue No: 123
- Page Range: 239-260
- Page Count: 22
- Language: English