The "Polish October"-Twenty Years Later

Abstract

Isaac Deutscher grew up in the Polish revolutionary movement, and it is therefore particularly appropriate to commemorate his life and work with a discussion of the Polish October of 1956. Deutscher always retained, it should be noted, a special relationship with his native country: his Polish correspondence of 1956, for example, is only a particular illustration of his continuing interest. But the subject of my lecture is not only of relevance because of Deutscher's Polish origins; even more it is one with which Deutscher remained fascinated: the 'unfinished revolution'. This was the task which the Polish October attempted to accomplish: to eliminate the political and social degeneration which Stalinism had brought about and to begin to construct a society in which power becomes embodied within the working people. Naturally, for all of us today in the socialist movement this remains a central problem and concern.