Sztafeta is undeniably a model propaganda publication, inspired, as it happens, by Prime Minister Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, who appeared to be pleased with the factory-like rhythm of reportages from the grand building sites of the Four Year Plan and Central Industrial Region projects, additionally complemented by the Polish army's 1938 annexation of Zaolzie, which Wańkowicz received with enthusiasm. All of that contributes to the general atmosphere of this book portraying the Sanation regime; an atmosphere that could be described as a nationalist fantasy, a dream about imperialism dreamt in the wake of a war.
As should be the case when promoting a young, modernly-oriented statehood, the book also makes use of a wide variety of modern means of expression. Its graphic design resembles a somewhat mellowed variation of constructivist printed materials and photo collages, and unsurprisingly so, considering the background of both the text's author and graphic designer. Wańkowicz collaborated with the Kraków-based company Illustrated Daily Courier (IKC) publishing tabloids, as well as made journalistic trips to the USSR and the United States. That experience likely influenced the form of this publication and his cooperation with Mieczysław Berman. As one of the most interesting graphic designers of the interwar period and an early photomontage enthusiast, Berman was known both for his strictly commercial and ideologically-charged, far-left works. In this case, he nevertheless agreed to participate in a project that was favourable towards the late 1930s Sanation order.
The photographs in the book (including four colour spreads) are predominantly records of industrial projects, but they also include journalistic shots of labourers at work, and scenes of government members and politicians, as well as historical iconography. The photographs were taken from numerous sources, and, curiously enough, about thirty of them were created by Wańkowicz, while some of the others were sourced from the Polish Telegraphic Agency, Foto RU-AN, and from the collections of two renowned interwar photoreporters: Stefan Plater-Zyberk and Antoni Wieczorek. Berman used some of them as the basis of his photomontages, which in fact were quite plain and meant as a complement for or ornamentation of selected motifs, rather than referencing the constructivist rhetorics. One interesting method used in Sztafeta, however, is the superimposition of text columns onto photographs.
The photographs are dynamically imposed in at least several ways. They appear as full-page images, as well as on the page margins – individually or in montaged sequences – serving as footnotes of sorts or as more abstract visual elements enhancing the layout. In many cases, the photographs are cropped so as to fill a given space on a page and create a visually coherent composition on the spread. Berman, who was familiar with the techniques of modern visual propaganda, including their Soviet model, created a very contemporary book, which – together with Wańkowicz's text – paradoxically became the prototype for the post-war mass produced socialist realist publications, commissioned by the later authorities. Berman's photographic narrative is a strong support to the rhetoric values of Wańkowicz's artistically quite dull reportage. As a whole, it effectively embodies a modern reportage based on text and image, whose form still continues to be appealing.
photographs: Juliusz Halewicz (colour), Polish Telegraphic Agency, Photo-Plat, Foto RU-AN, Antoni Wieczorek, Melchior Wańkowicz et al.
text: Melchior Wańkowicz
graphic design: Mieczysław Berman (leather cover: Edward Manteuffel)
publisher: Biblioteka Polska Publishing House, Warsaw
year of publications: 1939
volume: 532 pages
format: 24.8 x 16.7 cm
paper back with dust jacket, linen hardcover with dust jacket, leather-bound hardcover with embossing
print run: unknown
Original text: polishphotobook.tumblr.com, transl. Ania Micińska, July 2015