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The Church and the Left

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I am sure that people who searched for this title are familiar with the author and know at least something about the book. Thus, they will simply disregard the other "review" so full of invectives and right wing propaganda. However, there may be a person or two to whom Adam Michnik and his work are foreign. They should know that Adam Michnik is a well-known and respected historian, essayist, and journalist. He has spent most of his early adult life in active opposition to the communist regime in Poland (a great deal of it in communists prisons). He contributed greatly to the collapse of communism. After the changes and a short stint as a deputy to Poland's parliament, he devoted his time to the largest Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza which he helped to establish and now is its editor-in-chief. One can find much more on Adam Michnik by simply entering his name in just about any search engine (e.g., Google).

As for the book, having read it a long time ago, I may not be the most qualified to critique the work. It seems that after the collapse of communism the book would have mostly a historical significance. It does talk about the uneasy but important alliance of the Left and the Catholic Church in Poland during the communist years. And yet, it could also help to explain the present ideological and political divisions in Poland. I would suggest reading it (if one is interested in Polish affairs and anticommunist movement). But even more so I would recommend Letters from Prison and Letters from Freedom (especially the second one).

The author begins with early post-WWII Communism and its repression of the Church. Even during the decidedly temporary Gomulka "thaw", Communists continued to attack the church in ways that are astonishingly similar to attacks today by the likes of Polish lewaks, Janusz Palikot, etc.

Michnik quotes the Polish bishops' riposte, which, again, is very timely: "Moreover, they (atheists attacking the Church) have put on a mask of tolerance, humanitarianism, and progress...How many times have we heard the outrageous charge that the holy Catholic faith, `our life and our hope', is nothing but `reactionary, obscurantist, and backward'?" Yet this is the faith that has unified Nation and state, and has nourished virtually all Polish generations, including thousands of the very best sons of the Nation...We most solemnly declare that we will not allow our Catholicism to be called `religious fanaticism'...We would be fanatics only if, in our churches and on our pilgrimages, one could hear talk of hatred, of incitement to violence and vengeance. But no one has yet heard these things--neither at Jasna Gora nor any place else." (p. 74).

Adam Michnik (vel Aaron Schechter) is identified, in the Introduction by David Ost, as a Jew and unbeliever. (p. 21). Not surprisingly, Michnik's background colors his attitudes toward the Church. Ost comments: "He [Michnik] sees in the Church a powerful ally in the fight against the Communists' antidemocratic rule, but is wary of the Church that is still committed to its own form of premodern antidemocratic rule." (p. 9). Michnik also identifies himself as a socialist and opponent of both capitalism and, especially, all forms of totalitarianism, and adds: "When I speak of `dialogue' with Christianity I am not speaking of intellectual swordmanship or a tactical play for power. I am speaking of basic human values." (p. 192).

Michnik candidly comments: "To tell the truth, I am not too fond of the argument that Catholics deserve rights (religious, cultural, political, etc.) because they constitute a majority of Polish society." (p. 139). What about the rights of the majority? When the will of the majority is about to be thwarted, should not the minority be required to satisfy the strongest burden of proof that its human rights have in fact been violated? Or should Polish public life be completely sanitized of any trace of Christianity, all in the name of "separation of church and state" [or, nowadays, "pluralism and diversity]?"

Cardinal Wyszynski defined secularization as the aggressive secularization of all social institutions. Such a definition, according to Michnik, implies the elimination of a nation's religious traditions, and is merely synonymous with totalitarianism, which Michnik repeatedly rejects. (p. 140). This is patently disingenuous. As exemplified by the situation in modern Poland, when anti-Christians cannot suppress Christianity by government force, they do so gradually by other, more indirect, means.

The author defends Freemasonry, citing several prominent Polish Freemasons, quoting the voluntary nature of its membership, portraying the movement as one that has been a champion of human rights, and characterizing its critics as mere searchers for scapegoats. (pp. 145-146). In doing so, he ignores the many virulently anti-Christian aspects of Freemasonry. Read the Peczkis review of: The War of Antichrist with the Church and Christian Civilization, Lectures.

Michnik criticizes those Poles who reject French church-state conceptions. (p. 142). Then he turns around and tacitly validates such a rejection as he describes the early post-Stalinist views of Polish leftists: "The anticlericalism of Western Europe--radical and rationalist, Voltairean and Jacobin--corresponded quite well to the anticlerical ethos of the Polish intelligentsia." (p. 249).

The author himself acknowledges once having held such views against the Church, until he gained respect for the Church because of the Church's struggle against both Hitlerism and Stalinism. (p. 181). Michnik also rejected the notion that a renewed drive for political power is a significant danger emanating from the Church: "Under present conditions in Poland, there is no danger of theocracy." (p. 182).

Now consider the present. David Ost hits the situation facing modern Poland right on the head as he comments: "The dividing line between the Right and the Left in the 1990's is between nationalism and liberal internationalism more than between capitalism and socialism." (p. 27). Such is the culture war in Poland that continues to this very day.

Adam Szechter vel Michnik - an ateist and communist with international ties, former member of Communist Party (PZPR), son of Helena and Ozjasz Szechter (both communists). Anti-Polish as his father Ozjasz who was a Soviet spy and collaborator and enemy of Poles. *source of information: Polish history book "Rzady Zbirow 1940-1990" by H.Pajak, S.Zochowski, 1996 edition