Polacy z emigracji i z kraju w propagandowej „zimnej wojnie” (proces Wiktora Krawczenki i tzw. sprawa „Międzynarodówki Zdrajców”)

Eng. summary

Both the role played by the Red Army in the victory over the Germans during World War Two and a significant participation of communists in the French Resistance made the French gain an unambiguously positive image of the Soviet reality and support the Communist Party. These tendencies were further reinforced by the fact that until 1947 an alliance with the USSR played a key role in the French foreign policy. And all manifestations of anti-communism and anti-Sovietism were regarded with aversion, for they resembled recent occupational propaganda. Under those circumstances, political emigrants from behind the Iron Curtain became in France an easy target for communist propaganda, which concerned especially so-called Anders’ Army. The situation was beginning to change only after France joined the Marshall Plan and communists were removed from the French government. A break was initiated by the publication of an autobiography of the Soviet dissident, Victor Kravchenko. The book gained even more popularity for Kravchenko decided to openly attack the French Communist Party, bringing a suit against the weekly organ of the Party which had published a libelling article about him. In the wake of interest aroused by this affair Polish emigrants managed to publish French editions of their own books about Soviet terror. However, due to Kravchenko’s negative attitude towards political emigrations, their representatives did not engage in the trial. Nevertheless, because of the popularity of the affair, the refugees from Central Europe decided to organise their own trial which would offer a pretext for initiating a public debate about Stalinist terror in their own countries. They used as a pretext a book by the French communist Renaud de Jouvenel, who termed all eminent emigrants as traitors. Ultimately, the trial was initiated, but because communists played for time, it fell on a very adverse time for the whole matter. In addition, governments in exile were not engaged in the affair as intensely as communists (and especially the representatives of the Polish authorities in the country). From the perspective of emigrants, the trial turned out to be a propaganda failure, while their adversaries deliberately did not publicise it in order not to expose controversial questions which could harm the image of people’s democracies. Thus, there is little wonder that the event has faded into oblivion.

p. 5-70

s. 5-70

Streszcz. ang