The Polish Thaw: When Art Defied the Communist Regime

Swiatowy-dzien-miniatura-forum-0428304067.jpg, default, Parade during the 5th World Festival of Youth and Students in Warsaw, 1955, photo: Władysław Sławny/Forum

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October 1956 marked a significant moment in the history of communism in Poland and other Soviet satellite states. The Eastern Bloc countries started to turn away from the strict societal rules that had governed the period of Stalinism. Whilst it caused widespread changes across Polish society, it had a particularly dynamic impact on the revival of artistic and cultural life.

Sometimes referred to as the Polish October, the Polish Thaw or Gomułka’s Thaw, the internal political changes in Poland in the second half of 1956 when Władysław Gomułka came to power as the First Secretary of the Polish Communist Party from October 1956, saw a significant easing of restrictions and censorship in the realm of Polish society and culture after Gomułka spoke publicly to criticise Stalinism and promise changes.

It was far from the complete return to freedom some had hoped for when the reformer Gomułka came to power. The state soon made moves to halt the ‘democratisation of socialism’ in 1957 and later in the 1960s, however there would nonetheless never be a return to the same level of restrictions as there had been under Stalinism.

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Władysław Gomułka delivering a speech at Parade Square (pl. Defilad) in Warsaw, October 24, 1956, photo: Wikimedia Commons

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After World War II, when Poland was forced to appoint a communist government, Polish arts and culture had been subjected to the communist doctrine of social realism. It pervaded every artistic medium and forced artists to produce art geared towards the representation of a strong and powerful state. It was this doctrine that gave way under the Polish Thaw.

The process culminating in the October thaw of 1956 was in fact a gradual process, beginning with the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953. In Poland, ‘the Thaw’ is sometimes used to refer to the longer period from 1953 to 1957, as the relaxing of strict rules on societal life and arts and culture had already begun to take effect in the immediate aftermath of Stalin’s death and across several significant cultural events in 1955.

The Polish Thaw was also a culmination of several significant events earlier that year, with three being the most important: the revelation of Nikita Khrushchev’s secret speech about Stalinist crimes in February 1956 in which he criticised Stalinist politics; the death of leader of the Polish People’s Republic Bolesław Bierut in March 1956; and the violent repression of Poznań workers’ protests in June 1956.

Defiant artists: art during the Polish Thaw

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Zofia Mróz-Pełczyńska, ‘In the Student Stodoła’, 1958. Work from the exhibition ‘The Summer That Changed Everything. Festival 1955’, Museum of Warsaw, 2025, photo: Museum of Warsaw

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With the dominant ideology of social realism governing art after WWII, common themes of posters and paintings included glorified depictions of workers, who were often shown in workwear and smiling as they worked for the good of the nation, their economic output visible beside them. Other themes included smiling depictions of mothers, children and agricultural labourers.

Today, Poland’s largest collection of paintings from the period can be found in the Gallery of Socialist Realism on the grounds of the former Czartoryski Palace in Kozłówka near the eastern Polish city of Lublin.

From 1955, two years after Stalin’s death, changes in art slowly began to take place in Poland, as well as in Czechoslovakia, Romania and Hungary, when artists opposed to socialist realism and preferring other styles like abstraction, began to take part in official artistic events.

A very visible sign of this was seen in the form of two important art exhibitions held in Warsaw and Kraków. The first was the National Exhibition of Young Art, held at the former Warsaw Arsenal building accompanied by the motto ‘Against War, Against Fascism’, while the second was Kraków’s Exhibition of Nine Artists.

The now legendary National Exhibition of Young Art, 1955, was the first daring artistic manifestation against the political situation and dictates imposed by the communist state on art production. The idea for this bold manifestation of artistic freedom came from a group of four tenacious painters: Janina (Janka) Jasińska, Jacek Sienicki, Marek Obeländer and Jan (Janek) Dziędziora.

The idea was inspired by the Salon des Indépendants in Paris and in the words of Elżbieta Grabska (secretary of the exhibition, art historian and art critic), ‘It was supposed to be an open, liberal salon, where everyone could contribute ideas of their own.’

The exhibition mainly presented works by the younger generation of artists and altogether 197 oil paintings, 58 sculptures and 244 drawings were selected. Amongst the famous artists on the selection committee was Wojciech Fangor, painter, graphic artist and co-creator of the famous Polish School of Posters, who started his artistic career painting in the state-sponsored style of social realism, but quickly turned away from it upon Stalin’s death in 1953.

In the last interview before her death, exhibition secretary Elżbieta Grabska described the exhibition as ‘a revolt against conformity, against the consent for the status quo’.

‘The Summer That Changed Everything. Festival 1955’ at the Museum of Warsaw [Image Gallery]

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The exhibition took place against the backdrop of another important event, the 5th World Festival of Youth and Students, which saw 30,000 students from 114 countries descend on Warsaw. Though it was an official communist propaganda event, it is considered to have had a significant influence on the liberalisation brought about by the Polish Thaw in 1956 as it gave Poles a taste and appetite for contemporary cultural trends from the west.

The event itself also led to a revival in the functioning of arts groups, galleries, cabarets and cultural magazines, and led to a huge pressure to move away from the doctrine of social realism.

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Tadeusz Kantor before the premiere of the play 'Wielopole, Wielopole', 1980, Paris, Théâtre Bouffe du Nord, photo: Tadeusz Rolke / Agencja Wyborcza

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Tadeusz Kantor przed premierą przedstawienia "Wielopole, Wielopole", 1980, Paryż, Théâtre Bouffe du Nord, fot. Tadeusz Rolke / AG

Another important exhibition, the Kraków Exhibition of Nine Artists was an exhibition of already established artists, among them Tadeusz Kantor, who was a painter but also theatre director, and earlier in 1955 had established an experimental theatre by the name of Cricot 2.

Part of the avant-garde Kraków Group of artists, whose activities he reignited in 1957, Kantor played a significant role in promoting new artistic trends. Spending a few months in Paris between 1955 and 1956, he had the chance to become familiar with French and American Informalism, also called Art Informel, which was characterised by gestural tendencies and was similar in style to Abstract Expressionism.

Upon his return to Poland in 1956, Kantor introduced the artistic style to Poland, where it became another tool for artists in their war against social realism.

In 1957, his solo exhibition inaugurated the activity of the Krzysztofory art gallery in Kraków and co-organised the II Exhibition of Modern Art in Warsaw, the most important display of modern art in Poland since 1948.

Elsewhere, the graphic artists of what would come to be known as the Polish School of Posters were also beginning to develop their creativity and depart from a social realism style in poster art, towards one filled with symbolism, metaphorical images and a greater use of fantasy.

The exhibitions of 1955 as well as the avant-garde art promoted by Kantor were seminal events which had in common a rejection of one-dimensional social realism and the embracing of modern artistic styles. It signified a sign of the irreversible changes in Polish art, which would gradually come to replace, with the partial permission of the communist authorities, the earlier strict social realism doctrine.

Speaking out: literature during the Polish Thaw

Adam Ważyk, 'A Poem for Adults', 1955, Front Cover, photo: public domain

Often considered the first literary voice of the Polish Thaw, poet Adam Ważyk was the first to publish a literary work that was openly critical of Stalinism. His Poem for Adults, published in 1955 in magazine Nowa Kultura, was all the more shocking due to the fact that Ważyk had up until then been a compliant mouthpiece of the communist regime and one of the main public proponents of social realism, having himself published many poems in the style.

The publication caused a sensation and copies of the magazine sold at lightning speed. In the poem, Ważyk talks about how the reality of communism had departed from the naïve expectations of 10 years earlier. He criticises the language of propaganda, the suffering of people unable to build lives in an outwardly perfect system, the government’s hiding of poverty, mining disasters, and mentions how there was prostitution in the seemingly-perfect socialist housing estate of Nowa Huta.

For all its shockingly open criticisms from a proponent of the communist system, the ending of the poem still expressed a faith in the Communist Party which showed that Ważyk was only criticising the errors of communism, not breaking with the party altogether.

Despite still being committed to the party, Ważyk was nonetheless supportive of literary pluralism and in an interview with Radio Poland in 1956, he expressed his ideas about freedom in poetry:

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I think that in a modern society poetry must be diverse. Every generation alludes to those forms which best express how they see the world.

In 1957, Ważyk would finally leave the Polish United Workers’ Party, doing so in protest at the closure of the monthly literary magazine Europa. He was also an outspoken defendant of young Polish writers and poets who were being attacked for their avant-garde output.

Elsewhere, other important impacts of the Polish Thaw on the country’s literary life was the relaxation of censorship and the publication of western and Polish émigré writers for the first time, among them Witold Gombrowicz and Teodor Parnicki. It also led to the renewed publication of Tygodnik Powszechny, a weekly Catholic publication focusing on social and cultural issues.

After October 1956, some writers even returned to Poland from a period of exile abroad, including Stanisław Cat-Mackiewicz, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, Melchior Wańkowicz and Michał Choromański, and Antoni Słonimski took over as the president of the Polish Writers Union.

Works were also published at this time criticising Stalinism and Social Realism, the most important being The Mother of Kings (Matka Królów) by Kazimierz Brandys, Darknesses Cover the Earth (Ciemności Kryją Ziemie) by Jerzy Andrzejewski, and Fame and Glory (Sława i Chwała) by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz.

In prose, there was a departure from the socialist realist novel and an experimentation with new narrative styles, whilst poets including Tadeusz Różewicz, Zbigniew Herbert, Miron Białoszewski, Stanisław Grochowiak, Julian Przyboś and Wisława Szymborska either emerged or saw a return to activity.

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The editorial office of 'Po Prostu', 1956, photo: Tadeusz Kubiak / CAF / PAP

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Elsewhere, voices opposed to the communist regime could also be found in weekly meetings of the Crooked Circle Club, a discussion club of intellectuals which was founded in 1955 to debate critical issues in Polish culture, history and society. It had connections with Po Prostu magazine, which published articles critical of the Polish communist regime.

Unfortunately the initial freedoms granted by the Polish Thaw of 1956 were short-lived for literary intellectuals due to the communist authorities’ clampdown on dissenting voices less than a full year later in 1957. It led to the closure of Po Prostu magazine and the replacement of the editor of Nowa Kultura to one subordinate to the party, and further censorship actions in the 1960s.

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'Po Prostu' magazine, 1955, photo: Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe

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The Crooked Circle Club initially managed to evade attempts by the authorities to close it down in 1957, a fate suffered by other discussion clubs, leaving it the only one operating. However, it too was eventually forced to close by the further tightening of repressions in the early 1960s.

The Polish Film School

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Scene from Ashes And Diamonds (1958) directed by Andrzej Wajda, photo: Polfilm / East News

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Scene from Ashes And Diamonds (1958) directed by Andrzej Wajda, photo: Polfilm / East News

For filmmakers, the Polish Thaw brought a revival of film culture and freer access to world cinematography, with both European and American films beginning to appear in cinemas. But the most important outcome was the establishment of the Polish Film School in 1956.

The Polish Thaw allowed filmmakers to speak more openly about recent historical events in Poland before 1945, such as the Warsaw Uprising, German concentration camps and the Home Army, and to replace a focus on the collective with a focus on the ordinary individual, who was often shown caught up in dramatic historical events.

The golden age of the Polish Film School lasted from 1956 until 1963 (when repressions returned), and was most prominently associated with filmmakers Andrzej Wajda, Andrzej Munk, Wojciech Jerzy Has and Jerzy Kawalerowicz.

One of the most famous filmic examples of the period was Andrzej Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds from 1958. The film focused on the figure of the main character, Maciek Chełmicki, played by legendary actor Zbigniew Cybulski, who portrayed a Home Army soldier in the anti-communist underground in 1945, tasked with killing Szczuka, a local secretary of the Polish Workers’ Party.

Finding new musical expressions

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Jazz band Melomani in concert, Ustronie Morskie 1958. From left: Andrzej Trzaskowski, Witold Sobociński, Andrzej 'Idon' Wojciechowski, Krzysztof Trzciński (Komeda), and Jerzy 'Duduś' Matuszkiewicz, photo: CAF/PAP

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In music, non-conformist, loud and experimental styles such as rock and jazz became popular during the Polish Thaw. Jazz re-emerged in particularly spectacular fashion during the hugely attended Sopot Jazz Festival in August 1956.

Before the official festival concerts began, a procession of jazz musicians paraded through the streets in an attempt to parody the official communist state marches for the 1st May holiday, demonstrating a new unconventional style different to hitherto known traditional jazz pieces.

Krzysztof Komeda’s then little-known jazz sextet was among them, setting the scene for modern avant-garde playing.

After the festival Komeda said: ‘We play quite an experimental music which you have to know how to listen to. We are the first group of this kind in Poland.’

Writer and propagator of jazz Leopold Tyrmand, who was manager of the organising committee of the Sopot Jazz Festival, also helped to influence the audience’s reception and acceptance of the avant-garde jazz musicians. He encouraged them to clap at the end of performances, something that had previously only been associated with political speeches.

Elsewhere also benefitting from the Polish Thaw, the first contemporary music festival Warsaw Autumn was born from the idea of two composers Tadeusz Baird and Kazimierz Serocki, seeking to present new music from Poland and around the world.

Though the festival was still framed within a communist narrative, announcing that it would be a confrontation between the degenerate and disappearing music of the West and the bright future of music from the East. But it nonetheless introduced Polish audiences to contemporary Western music in a way that hadn’t been seen before and marked a significant liberalisation within the music industry.

The greatest freedoms of the Polish Thaw would last only briefly until 1957, when new clampdowns were introduced, and further censorship was imposed again in 1963 when Gomułka gave a speech about the ills of Poland’s current cultural policy. Nonetheless, the changes fought for by Polish artists and creators during the period of the Polish Thaw proved to have the most long-lasting impacts of all countries in the Soviet bloc and gave a foretaste of artistic freedom which would never again be erased completely, but little by little gradually extended.

Written by Blanka Konopka, Jan 2022
Sources: ‘Odwilż w Sztuce lat 50’ by Ewelina Chwiejda, Polskieradio.pl, dzieje.pl, Arsenal55.pl

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