Książka ukazała się po raz pierwszy w 1962 roku nakładem własnym Autora, bo nikt nie odważył się jej wydać. Książka jest jedną z najcenniejszych pozycji w twórczości Mackiewicza. Autor opisuje w niej przyczyny dla których na świecie rozprzestrzenia się komunizm. Lektura obowiązkowa dla każdego, kto chce poznać źródła komunizmu i jego zła.
Mackiewicz's prose is extremely realistic: he believed there were no untouchable subjects. In 1957, he published Kontra, a narrative account of the particularly brutal and treacherous handover of thousands of anti-Soviet Cossacks by British soldiers in Austria back to Soviets. His other works include Droga donikąd (The Road to Nowhere) - an account of life under Soviet occupation, Zwycięstwo prowokacji (Victory of provocation) - on communism, W cieniu krzyża (In the shadow of the cross) - on Catholicism.
His voluminous output as a writer of fiction and a publicist has been undergoing an unusual revival after many years of underground publishing and later marginal interest. His books are however hardly available in Poland due to legal issues.
Life: Jozef Mackiewicz was born in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire on 1 April 1902 to a Polish family from Polish-Lithuanian gentry. In 1907 his family moved back to Vilnius (Wilno) (from 1918 till 1945 in Poland, now in Lithuania). Mackiewicz studied natural sciences and before World War II he worked as a journalist for Słowo (The Word), a newspaper published in Vilnius, then within Poland's borders. On 17 of September 1939 Soviet troops invaded eastern Poland (Kresy) and gave Wilno to independent Lithuania. Between October 1939 and May 1940 he was a publisher and editor-in-chief of the Gazeta Codzienna, a Polish language daily in Lithuanian-controlled Vilnius. In his articles Mackiewicz attempted to initiate a dialogue between Lithuanians and Poles. After the annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union, he worked as a labourer. In 1942, he witnessed a of massacre of Jews by the Germans in Ponary, which he described in his book Nie trzeba głośno mówić (“One Is Not Supposed to Speak Aloud”[1]). At the end of 1942 / beginning of 1943 he was sentenced to death by the Home Army for his work at Gazeta Codzienna and Goniec Codzienny (see below). Sentence was then cancelled by the Home Army .[2] In June 1943, with consent of the Polish government-in-exile, he assisted in the first excavations of the mass graves of the Polish soldiers killed by Soviet NKVD in Katyn in 1940. Mackiewicz left Poland with his wife in 1945, never to return, and died in exile in Munich, in 1985. His brother, Stanisław Mackiewicz, was a political publicist and Prime Minister of the Government of Poland in exile from 1954 to 1955.
This book is real intellectual treat. Although, even from my perspective, it seems a little radical, I agree with the author in assessment of the history and future of communism. His ideas are so breathtaking and original, that I was really delighted facing them. It is the best in political analysis.
I wonder how would he assess present politics in USA and Canada. Would he dare to claim that it is "evolved technocratic fascism?" After all, our governments due to computer technology and SIN, have ability of totally controlling life of a person (through employment). Well, we'll never find out. He is dead. The history will tell.