Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

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Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

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Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

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Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

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 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

Abstract

The main argument of this paper is that Lem is a political writer. A related argument is that Lem is known
in his parts rather than for the breadth of his writing. Lem is firstly a writer of political utopias such as
Astronauci and metaphorical political books such as Cyberiada where he frequently utilizes humour in
order to disguise the political contents, as well as an author of theoretical works such as Dialogi, which
contain very important analyses of politics and political science plus strictly political essays, such as
published in Parisian Kultura or Tygodnik Powszechny. Until the late 1980s the majority of Polish critics
largely denied that Lem was a political writer. For example Andrzej Stoff strongly rejected even a
possibility of reading Lem's Eden as a political novel. Antoni Smuszkiewicz in his recent publications
repeats his earlier opinion that nothing allows us to read Eden as a political novel. Smuszkiewicz and
Stoff strongly argue that Lem is not a political writer, and even those who find important political elements
in Lem's output (such as Jarzebski) treat them as rather marginal. I go somewhat further: I argue that
politics is not a secondary trait of Lem's writings, but a major feature, a kind of well-hidden skeleton.
Virtually all of Lem's important works can be read as political, even such `metaphysical' novels as Solaris,
or stories from Bajki robotów, which are frequently, and quite incorrectly, classified as `children's
literature'. Furthermore, as Lem spent the great majority of his life in Poland, his evolution as a writer can
be closely correlated to the political history of this country.

Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

Science fiction can be described as a segment of literary style called `fabril',1 a style that is,
above all, future and action-oriented. `Fabril' is thus the opposite to `pastoral' in the same way
as the faber is the opposite to the shepherd and the future is the opposite to the past. Henryk
Sienkiewicz, (1846-1916) who is the best-known Polish writer and also a 1905 Nobel Prize
laureate, is a typical representative of pastoral literature.2 Sienkiewicz, Stanislaw Lem's
favourite novelist, was born in the countryside as a son of a Polish nobleman. In his historical
novels3 Sienkiewicz tried (not always successfully) to avoid political questions, so they
consequently tend to lack historical accuracy (especially the most popular Trilogy). They were,
however, frequently prized by literary critics, including Lem, for their narrative power and artistic
recreation of the old Polish language.

In Sienkiewicz's novels, the past, and especially the past Polish State and its nobility are
somehow idealized and simplified. The plots are set almost entirely in the countryside or in
castles, mostly due to Polish towns' relative underdevelopment. Sienkiewicz's popularity in his
homeland cannot be overestimated: attitudes cherished by him survived well into the late
twentieth century and even beyond.

1
From the `faber' - the maker or the creator, originally smith or blacksmith, who is a central figure appearing in
the science fiction literature - see Tom Shippey's introduction to his anthology The Oxford Book of Science Fiction
Stories (1992) p. ix. The word `fabril' was originally coined by James Bradley while he was studying the early
Germanic smithcraft.
2
In the recent plebiscite for the most outstanding Pole of the twentieth century organized by the Polityka weekly
(11 April 1998) Sienkiewicz was awarded fifth place (first among writers). In the same plebiscite Lem was awarded
nineteenth place (fourth among writers. However, it should be mentioned that all the novelists and poets ranked
above Lem were Nobel Prize laureates: Sienkiewicz, Szymborska and Milosz).
3
A trilogy Ogniem i mieczem (1884; With Fire and Sword, 1890), Potop (1886; The Deluge, 1892) and Pan
Wolodyjowski (1887-88; Pan Michael, 1893) which was set in the seventeenth century and written "in order to
fortify the hearts of his countrymen", as well as novel Krzyzacy (1897-1900; The Teutonic Knights) which
describes the fifteenth-century wars between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and mostly Germanic order of
Teutonic Knights (full name `Order of the Knights of the Hospital of St Mary of the Teutons in Jerusalem'). In the
West, Sienkiewicz is known as the author of widely translated and filmed (for example in 1951 by Mervyn Le Roy)
Nobel prize winning Quo Vadis (1896), a novel set in ancient Rome during Nero's time.

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 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

The Polish semi-fascist dictator of the late 1920s and early 1930s, Marshall Józef Pilsudski
(1867-1935),4 was almost an ideal manifestation of a Sienkiewiczian hero: an nobleman from
the former Polish eastern borderlands, strong individualist, sworn enemy of such democratic
institutions as the parliament, free elections or trade unions, and above all, a lover of horses.
5
Pilsudski was so strongly oriented to the past that he seriously underestimated the importance
of modern warfare, which consequently helped Adolf Hitler's forces conquer Poland with
relative ease in September 1939. The defeat of the Polish Second Republic (1918-1939)
caused, among other things, some (although, unfortunately, not always permanent) changes in
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the attitudes among the more enlightened citizens of Poland. One such citizen was Stanislaw
Lem, who as an eighteen-year old had witnessed the Soviet and later German occupation of
Poland.

However, as I argue, the `old' Lem seems to have forgotten the experiences of the `young'
Lem, as he was willing to vote for a strong, Pilsudski-like personality in the 1995 Polish
presidential elections.7 Thus it can be said that Lem (like his native Poland), has made a full
circle: as his homeland has returned to the free-market capitalism8 after the failed `communist'

4
He was awarded the third place in the aforementioned Polityka plebiscite, after Karol Wojtyla (better known as
Pope John Paul II) and Maria Sklodowska-Curie, and the first place among the professional politicians. Other
leading Polish politicians in the plebiscite were Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Lech Walesa, Wojciech Jaruzelski and
Wladyslaw Sikorski (all former Polish Prime ministers or presidents).
5
His forces conquered almost the whole Ukraine in 1919-1920, and later (thanks to the very substantial Western
aid and overstreching of the enemy's supply lines) expelled the Red Army from Poland using the cavalry as a major
weapon. As a result of his experience he supported a horse-based army even in the 1930s, when the major enemies
of Poland (Germany and Soviet Union) heavily invested in such modern weapons as tanks, aeroplanes and modern
artillery. The Polish army was so backward, that (according to Lem's own reminiscences) even the Soviet-made
radios were too `high-tech' for the signal corp officers of the Polish underground army. Thus, it can be said that
Pilsudski was lucky to die before the outbreak of the Second World War. Otherwise he may have been forced to
either further collaborate with Hitler (as Poland did in 1938), or would have been personally blamed for the collapse
of the Polish state in September 1939.
6
Pilsudski's pronounced popularity in the present day Poland proves that Sienkiewiczian characters are very close
to the hearts of even the well-educated Poles. Thus, even politicians who officially declare themselves as liberal (or
Christian) democrats, openly admire Pilsudski, despite the latter's fascist tendencies and the fact that Adolf Hitler had
a very good opinion about Pilsudski. This reverence can be observed not only among the politicians, such as Lech
Walesa (former Polish president and former hero of the Solidarity), but even in Lem's case. In the case of Walesa,
this adoration can be explained by the fact that Walesa was never a real democrat, as he longed for power at almost
any cost despite a lack of education and other attributes required by a head of a modern state. It is more difficult to
explain Lem's admiration for a person responsible for the collapse of the pre-Second World War Polish State. After
all, Lem is a highly intelligent and educated person. The most likely reason appears to be indoctrination, to which
Lem (as virtually all Polish children) was subjected in his youth. During those times, Pilsudski was not only idolized
by the official state propaganda, but it was also explicitly forbidden by the law to criticize him. Unlike the failure of
communist propaganda in the `Peoples' Republic of Poland', the creation of a totally fabricated image of Pilsudski as
a great statesman was a success, but at a high price. Contemporary Polish citizens are torn by the contradiction
between their desire to live in a democratic country (such as the UK or France) and their admiration of a semi-fascist
national hero (Pilsudski). Thus it can be said that Polish democracy is very weak and even schizophrenic, as the most
revered national hero in the recent Polish history was a person more closely resembling Mussolini, Franco or Salazar
than Churchill or De Gaulle. This fact also explains why Lem's recent (late 1990s) political writings are the least
successful of all his literary work.
7
See `W oczach Lema' (`In Lem's Eyes') - an interview with Lem by Roman Leick and Andreas Lorenz, originally
in Der Spiegel of 30/10/1995, Polish translation in Forum of 19/11/1995.
8
Capitalism, like so-called communism, has also failed in Poland, which was one of the poorest, most backward
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 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

experiment, so has Lem also returned to an admiration of Pilsudski, after having been
disenchanted with Polish politicians - both `communist' and `postcommunist', and those
affiliated (in one time or another) with the Solidarity movement. This return of some of the most
intelligent Poles to the semi-fascist traditions of Pilsudski illustrates how desperate they have
become after 10 years of so-called `independence', the period marked by the serious socio-
economic crisis, hardly masked by the bright-coloured advertisements covering the grim city
buildings, abandoned factories, graffiti-ridden, dilapidated railway property, deserted mines and
farms.
9
Stanislaw Lem was born on 12 September 1921 in Lwów, which was then Polish. He is a
son of a wealthy physician, a representative of the relatively scarce pre-war Polish urban upper
middle-class.10 In contrast to Sienkiewicz, Lem was always urban, and the roots of his
inspiration were (up to almost recent times) definitely in the future. He understood well the
importance of science and technology, and above all, he was concerned with the political and
social consequences of technological progress.

Stanislaw Lem is, without any doubt, the best known internationally, and at the same time
the most underrated, contemporary Polish writer. He is perhaps "the best and certainly the
most famous single science fiction author of the late twentieth century not to write in English".11
Although Lem is traditionally classified as a science fiction writer,12 it must be stressed that he
is not an ordinary representative of the genre. Firstly, along with a few other writers regarded
generally as science fiction authors, such as Brian W. Aldiss or Ursula Le Guin, he enjoys
mainstream popularity both in the East, including his native Poland and the former Soviet
Union, and in the West, especially in Germany and the United States. Secondly, he is a major
philosopher13 and a widely recognized expert in futurology,14 described quite accurately by

countries in pre-Second World War Europe. Despite the official state propaganda of success, it can be argued that
the transition (or return) to free-market capitalism has not been particularly successful in Poland. Its high
unemployment and inflation (both well above 10%), high budget and current account deficit, virtual collapse of
agriculture, devastation and backwardness of the infrastructure (for example Warsaw is the only major European
capital outside the former Soviet Union, which entered the twenty-first century without a freeway link, not only to
the rest of Europe, but also to its suburbs) as well as continuously increasing crime and drug abuse are not consistent
with the picture of successful transformation offered by the Polish government. If Poland was such a success, then
(for example) the United Kingdom would never seriously reconsider reintroducing visas for Polish citizens, who
arrive by the busloads to the UK from such depressed Polish regions as Walbrzych or Lódz, in (frequently
ineffective) search of employment in London.
9
Today (early twenty-first century) the city belongs to Ukraine and is called Lviv, but it was better known in
Russian as Lvov and in German as Lemberg.
10
According to official data (Glówny Urzad Statystyczny Maly Rocznik Statystyczny 1932) only 600,000 Poles
(1.89% of the whole population) were classified as entrepreneurs and professionals in 1931.
11
Clute Science Fiction. The Illustrated Encyclopedia (1995) p. 156.
12
See, for example: Clute Science Fiction... op. cit,. p. 156, Nicholls and Clute (ed.) The Encyclopedia of
Science Fiction (1979) pp. 350-351, Reclams Science Fiction Führer (1982) pp. 258-259, Rottensteiner The
Science Fiction Book (1975) passim, Smith (ed.) `Stanislaw Lem' in Twentieth Century Science Fiction Writers
(1981) pp. 620-621 or Ziegfield Stanislaw Lem (1985) passim (especially chapter 1).

13
Perhaps it would be more precise to categorize Lem as a philosopher of science. After all, he is the author of
such important philosophical treatises as Dialogi (1957, Cybernetic Dialogues), Summa technologiae (1964) and
Filozofia przypadku (1968, Philosophy of Chance).

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 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer
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Franz Rottensteiner as "Der dialektische Weise aus Kraków" (a dialectic sage from
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Cracow). Thirdly, as I argue in this paper, he is a political writer sensu stricto.

Some, especially Polish, critics (known as lemologists17) argue that Lem is not a political
writer, and that even such an uncompromisingly political novel as Eden (1959) cannot be read
as a political fiction.18 I argue in this paper that those otherwise perceptive experts are in error,
and that almost every piece of Lem's writing can and should be interpreted as political: either
directly, or by implication, given the context in which they were written. By contrast, some lay
individuals, especially from behind the iron curtain, had no problems in finding politics in Lem's
works. For example: one hotel manager in Prague, found a room for Lem (hotel
accommodation was in short supply in the `communist' Czechoslovakia) after recognizing Lem
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as the author of Eden, a book he well understood as a critique of totalitarian dictatorship.

Furthermore, Lem is, as I stated before, a political author sensu stricto. His essays
published under the pen name `Znawca' (`The Expert') in the Parisian Kultura20 in the late
1980s or, more recently (under his full name) in monthly Odra or the weeklies Polityka and
Tygodnik Powszechny prove Lem's deep interest in politics. Unfortunately, those political
essays, and especially those published as `P. Znawca' and later in Tygodnik Powszechny,
were concerned mostly with current affairs and short-term prognoses, therefore Lem was not
able to fully show his mastery. There are various reasons why those essays are inferior to
Lem's fiction and such works as Dialogi or Summa technologiae. One reason can possibly
be the personalities of some of his editors, and especially the editor-in-chief of the Parisian
Kultura,21 a person who was obviously able to intimidate even such high-calibre authors as

14
He is highly regarded by such experts like, for example, the `guru' of this discipline, Alvin Toffler - author of
the classic Future Shock (1970).
15
Former literary agent and former personal friend of Lem, co-author and translator of many Lem's theoretical
essays, well-known literary critic and editor of Quarber Merkur, one of the best periodicals dedicated to the science
fiction genre.
16
`Der dialektische Weise aus Kraków' in Berthel (ed.) Insel Almanach auf das Jahr 1976: Stanislaw Lem. Der
dialektische Weise aus Kraków (1976). It must be noted that recently Dr Rottensteiner has changed radically his
opinion about Lem, as a result of a long-going dispute about the alleged infringement of Lem's copyright.
17
Experts in `lemology' - a term introduced most likely by J. Jarzebski in introduction to his collection Lem w
oczach krytyki swiatowej (1989).
18
See, for example, Smuszkiewicz Stanislaw Lem (1995) p. 48 or Stoff Powiesci fantastyczno-naukowe
Stanislawa Lema (1983) p. 89.
19
See `An Interview with Stanislaw Lem' by Wojciech Orlinski in Wiadomosci Kulturalne of June 1996 and
Lem's Rozwazania Sylwiczne LXVII in Odra No. 4 of 1998. The hotel manager, after checking Lem's passport said
only `A! To vyste napsatili "Eden"? Ja rozumim' (`A! So you wrote "Eden"? I understand), and handed Lem a rare
asset in the 1960s Prague - a key to hotel room.
20
Published in Paris, France. It should be noted that Lem published also in the periodical issued under the same
title in Warsaw, Poland.
21
Mr. Jerzy Giedroyc, a prince from Eastern Poland (now Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine), was known for his
strongly conservative political opinions during the 1950s to 1980s. Before the Second World War he tried to resist
communist (or rather socialist) propaganda among the Polish workers, but abandoned this vocation when he was not
able to explain the existence of unemployment in free-market capitalist economies. It should be noted that he has
changed some of his views in the 1990s, and is now an outspoken critic of the Solidarity based politicians, and
especially the former president Lech Walesa. Giedroyc was ranked eighth in the aforementioned Polityka plebiscite,
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 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

Lem. The other reason is the recent, unfortunately inevitable, decline in Lem's creative
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potential. After his `golden period' in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and his `second peak' in
the 1980s, which gave us such outstanding masterpieces as, for example, the science fiction
novels Solaris (1961), Pamietnik znaleziony w wannie (1961), Wizja lokalna (1982) or
Fiasko (1987), collections Dzienniki gwiazdowe (most written in years 1954-1974), Bajki
robotów (1964) and Cyberiada (1965) and non-fiction treatises Dialogi (1957), Summa
technologiae (1964) or Fantastyka i futurologia (1970), we are witnessing the slow, but (in
the long-term trend) steady decline in the quality of Lem's output. It is my opinion (based on the
quite recent encounters with Lem) that the source of this decline is Lem's misjudgment of what
his readers would like to read, rather than a deterioration of his faculties. Even in his relatively
old age Lem is still not only alert, but witty. For example: in his eighties he was able to write a
(non-fiction) bestseller Okamgnienie (2000).

In the 1980s, reading the political essays of `Znawca' in the Parisian Kultura, I had no idea
that they have been written by Lem. Those essays looked like they were written by one of the
Solidarity movement's advisers, a reliable expert, but not the brightest one. This, however,
could be explained by the editor's strong personality23 and the need to keep the author's
identity secret. Unfortunately, now this is not the case. It is not only Lem's (rather unexpected)
turn to the right, which caused his support of bombing Belgrade as a solution to the Balkan
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crisis, or the (somehow) inferior quality of Lem's style, which concerns Lem's readers. There
is, above all, an increasing number of factual errors and mistakes in his writings. The first
signals came in 1996, when Piotr Debek wrote a letter to the editor of a computer magazine,25
which regularly published Lem's essays, which were later collected in Tajemnica chinskiego
pokoju and Bomba megabitowa. Mr. Debek attacked Lem's essay `Ryzyko Internetu'26 for
alleged technical inaccuracies. Although the mistakes Lem made were caused mostly by his
lack of `hands-on' expertise in computer software,27 and the fact that Debek's letter was
certainly rude and rather poorly-written, alarm bells started to ring.

below Walesa and slightly higher than Jaruzelski.

22
Lem admitted this fact in Laciaty filozof (Whimsical Philosopher) - an interview. with B. Wozniak in
Kaleidoscope vol. 3 No. 1 of Jan.- Feb. 1999.
23
Even (recently deceased) Gustaw Herling-Grudzibski, who can be regarded as the best known Polish émigré
author, had to abandon his cooperation with Kultura after a personal conflict with Giedroyc.
24
See, for example, `W kotle' (`In the Cauldron') in Tygodnik Powszechny, 18 April 1999, or `Przewagi
autokracji' (`Superiorities of the Autocracy') in the 9 May 1999 edition of the same weekly. It should be added that
Lem recently (middle 2000) admitted to me (in a private message) that he was wrong in his assessment of the NATO
aggression in Yugoslavia.
25
PC Magazine Po Polsku No. 7 (41) of June 1996, p. 7.
26
`The Risk of Internet' in May 1996 edition of PC Magazine Po Polsku, pp. 16-18.
27
As Lem has (until very recently) never been a user of even word processing packages such as Microsoft Word
for Windows (virtually all his books, short stories and essays were produced on a manual typewriter), he was unable
to fully understand the difference between an `ordinary' computer virus (a program or subprogram) and so-called
`macro' virus, which attaches itself to a `macro', a kind of Word package shortcut, which is simply a collection of this
package's commands. Thus a `macro' virus is not a larger (and thus potentially more harmful) virus, but a different
kind of virus, which affects only a particular package (application), such as Word for Windows. Thus, it is less
dangerous. Unfortunately, because of his blissful ignorance of intricacies of computer science and especially
software engineering, he suggested in his essay that a 'macro' virus is potentially more harmful than an 'ordinary'
virus, while in fact the exact opposite is true.

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 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

The worst cases of Lem's mistakes are those made for political reasons. For example, in his
`Wyznania optysemity'28 Lem attacked the social-democratic German chancellor for his
pronouncement that "Germany will produce energy from gas and steam". According to Lem,
29
who obviously preferred the previous, right wing chancellor Kohl, steam is not a carrier of
energy. If Lem bothered to consult a secondary school physics textbook, he would not have
made such an error, but, unfortunately, he was so excited in his attack on Herr Schröder, that
he has forgotten even elementary physics. One can say in Lem's defence that he is not a
scientist, but a writer. However, Lem has established very high standards in Dialogi or Summa
technologiae, that has invariably resulted in his readership judging his consequent work
according to those high standards. Thus when Lem-political writer takes over Lem-philosopher
of science, mistakes are virtually certain, and all Lem readers can do is to either ignore his
political essays or hope that someone will have sufficient courage and influence on Lem to tell
him to leave purely political essays to the political journalist, computer software to the computer
programmers, physics to the physicists and economics to the economists. But as Lem has
become older, he has become somehow more stubborn and suspicious. He even broke with
Franz Rottensteiner - his long-term friend, successful literary agent and co-author of most of
Lem's essays published in such quality periodicals as Science-Fiction Studies and Quarber
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Merkur. So the most realistic prediction is, unfortunately, to expect more of such mistakes
and the continuation of the slow, but steady decline in the quality of Lem's writings. Thus in this
paper I concentrate on Lem's work written before the 1990s in the same way the late activities
of such eminent writers, like Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle are ignored by the analysts of his literary
output, as Conan-Doyle as an advocate of spiritualism was a very different person to the
rationalist creator of Sherlock Holmes.

In this paper I argue that Lem is indeed a political writer. A political sensibility is part of the
broad oeuvre of Lem's writing, and the breath of Lem's work is rarely discussed. The other
labels, and especially the label of science fiction author, are simply reductive and constitute the
major obstacle in the broadest understanding of Lem and his writings. An important paradox
can be observed: the professional literary critics, such as Smuszkiewicz and Stoff, still read
Lem's prose as science fiction - brilliant and possibly the best, but not much more. On the other
hand `ordinary' readers, such as the mentioned Czech hotel manager, quite easily find political
and even philosophical meanings in Lem's literary output. My other major argument is that
even those critics, who find Lem's writings political, such as Jerzy Jarzebski, have a tendency
to concentrate only on selected parts of Lem's output.

STANISLAW LEM AS A POLITICAL WRITER

Stanislaw Lem became a political writer mostly because almost every aspect of life in Poland in
the second half of the twentieth century was strongly influenced by politics and politicians.
Unlike countries such as Australia or the US, which were virtually untouched by the recent wars

28
`Confessions of an Optysemitist' in Tygodnik Powszechny of 14 March 1999.
29
Despite Kohl's support for the ziomkowstwa - militant organizations of Germans expelled from Western Poland
as a result of the Second World War, organizations which are even now lobbying for the recovery of those former
German territories, thus advocating an another partition of Poland. It must be noted that Lem could not be aware of
the `unofficial' contributions solicited by Herr Kohl when the latter was heading the West German (and later all-
German) governments, but now, when Kohl is in disgrace, this admiration seems to be even more in error.
30
See Science-Fiction Studies vol. 23 (1996), p. 310 for an exchange of letters between Lem and Rottensteiner.
Those letters not only provide some kind of evidence of Rottensteiner's authorship of many works officially signed
by Lem alone, but also shed some light on the so-called `Lem Affair' (see bibliography for more details).

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 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

or revolutions, Poland in the twentieth century was the battleground for German and Russian
(Soviet) armies and suffered socio-economic as well as political crisis after crisis. As a result,
the political and economic situation in Poland has been, and still is, unstable, with no prospects
of significant improvement into the foreseeable future.

Furthermore, for most of the twentieth century, with the exception of the years 1920-1926
and 1989 to present (year 2000), Poland was not a truly democratic country, and frequently
under an authoritarian rule. Ordinary Poles were the victims of forces which they could not
control. The only way to retain sanity was either to escape into private life, or to criticize the
political masters in such a way that they would not be able to retaliate. The latter, arguably the
most effective way (until the very recent times), was the choice that Lem made. His political
writings were disguised as science fiction, thus pretending to describe the situation on remote
planets in the distant future. Through his writings, he was also able to reach the widest
possible audience in a situation where openly political novels, unless uncritically praising the
ruling regime (and thus worthless), could only be published in very short editions in the West
31
under a pen name.

The way chosen by Lem was also the most difficult one, as his novels had to be written in a
manner that would allow them to be published on a mass scale by the state-owned publishing
houses not only in Poland, but also in the USSR, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and other so-
called socialist countries. The publishers and the censors either had no idea or pretended that
they had no idea that, for example, the first story of `Edukacja Cyfrania'32 is a satirical allegory
of the Soviet political system.33 The technique preferred by Lem in disguising his real intentions
was the use of nicknames:
34
Malapucyus Pandemonius is Karl Marx. Gengenx from Wizja lokalna is
Friedrich Engels. It is interesting that this was rarely recognized. In His
Master's Voice... there is a CIA agent, Wilhelm Eeney, who supervises
American scientists. That was simply Janusz Wilhelmi, then in charge of Polish
culture. Nobody recognized him. Those are the pleasures of a writer - he can
35
encrypt such messages in his books.

In his more serious works Lem either implemented a disguise of a `far away planet
inhabited by the strange, entirely non-human, aliens,' as in the case of Eden, or hermetic
scientific language, as in the case of his essay on the dynamics of socioeconomic systems in
Dialogi. In both cases he did well. Moving the story to an exotic place not only mislead the

31
Examples include the political novels of Stefan Kisielewski, which were published by Kultura in Paris under the
name of Tomasz Stalinski, or the case of Czeslaw Milosz who had to emigrate in order to avoid the political
censorship of not only his straightforward political works such as The Captive Mind (1953), but also his lyrical
poetry.
32
Originally published in collection Maska (1976) and later added to Cyberiada.
33
Lem claims (in the 1996 Orlinski interview in Wiadomosci Kulturalne - op. cit.) that the second story of
`Edukacja Cyfrania' was added in order to mislead the censors, and that this second story "had no hidden political
meanings". Actually, the whole matter is even more complicated. The second story can also be read as political
satire, but this time the butt of the joke were not the communists, but the Christian (mostly Roman Catholic)
fundamentalists and their fierce opposition to virtually all forms of population control.
34
In Polish Malapucy vel Malapucyusz Chalos (translated by Kandel as Malaputz vel Malapusticus Pandemonius)
of `Tale of the Three Storytelling Machines of King Genius' from collection Cyberiada.
35
Lem's words in the cited interview by Orlinski in Wiadomosci Kulturalne of June 1996 according to the
English-language translation available on the Internet.

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 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

censors or allowed them the luxury of pretending that the story was not political and was thus
fit for publication, but also made it more interesting for readers who could escape the rather
grim reality of the Soviet Bloc by reading good science fiction. Using the language of
cybernetics and mathematics in his theoretical essays enabled Lem not only to bypass the
censorship but also made his argument more precise and easier to understand, at least for the
readers with scientific and technical education, who, most likely, constitute the most receptive
segment of Lem's readership. My thesis that Lem is political reader will be further supported by
the more detailed analysis of Lem's authorship in the remainder of this paper.

Political Changes in Poland and Their Repercussions on Lem

In the period which provides the background to this paper (roughly years 1946-1999) Poland
experienced two major changes of its socio-economic system - from capitalism to
`communism' and back again, as well as several socioeconomic crises. Each of those
transitions and associated crises had an impact on Lem as a man and a writer. In the first
period (1946-1951) Lem experienced migration from Lwów, which was then annexed by the
Soviet Union as a result of the Yalta agreement. The Yalta agreement was signed between
the USSR, the US and the UK, with Poland excluded. Lem also experienced the transition of
Poland from free-market capitalism to so-called `real socialism' (centrally controlled economy
and dictatorship of the communist party - usually described as `communism'). In the period
directly after the war the communists were not yet in full control, so Lem could legally publish
36
his first science fiction novel Czlowiek z Marsa (1946), despite it being written in an
American style of the `Golden Age of science fiction'.

In the second period (1951-1957), Poland was under a strict Stalinist dictatorship, especially
to 1955 when it was subjugated to president and communist party chief Boleslaw Bierut, a
politician and former Soviet secret agent frequently nicknamed the `Polish Stalin'. In this
period, Lem wrote and published utopian (eutopian37) science fiction novels in the, then
obligatory, soc-realistic style:38 Astronauci (1951) and Oblok Magellana (1955). Both novels
can be described as naïve and simplistic, as they feature a victory of communism and describe
a technological utopia.39 In the late 1940s and early 1950s Lem also wrote a non-science
fiction political trilogy Czas nieutracony, which, despite being generally pro-Communist, was
accepted for publication in a highly revised form only in 1955.40

In the third period (1957-1968) Poland experienced a relative relaxation of `communist'

dictatorship under the new first secretary of the Polish United Worker's (communist) Party
Wladyslaw Gomulka. He returned to power after being accused of `nationalistic bias' and being

36
This novel was only serialized in 1946. The first edition in a book form (samizdat) was in 1985, and the first
`proper' book edition appeared in 1994.
37
As a rule I use term `eutopia' to describe a generally optimistic utopian vision, and term `dystopia' (or
sometimes `antiutopia') to describe a generally pessimistic utopian vision.
38
i.e. written in the style of so called `socialistic realism', which was the official literary style in the Soviet Bloc
during the Stalin years.
39
From the purely aesthetic point of view they were, however, superior to the earlier Czlowiek z Marsa. Thus
Lem's recent decision to ban Astronauci and Oblok Magellana, and at the same time allow reprints of Czlowiek z
Marsa is based on purely political premises.
40
Its first part Szpital Przemienienia was published in its original form in 1975 and translated to English as
Hospital of the Transfiguration in 1988.

12
 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

imprisoned in the early 1950s. This relative relaxation was curbed by the same Gomulka at the
end of the 1950s, and finally terminated in March 1968 when more orthodox, `hard-line', and at
the same time nationalistic and anti-Semitic, faction of the PUWP41 took over the control of the
party. During the period of the `thaw' Lem wrote most of the stories contained in the collection
Dzienniki gwiazdowe (1957) - a political satire (equally anti-capitalistic and anti-Communist),
as well as the novels Eden (1959), which is Lem's Nineteen Eighty-four; Pamietnik
znaleziony w wannie (1961) - a Kafkaesque satire on bureaucracy and militarism; Powrót z
gwiazd (1961) - a vision of the future society, basically utopian (eutopian) on the surface, but
with elements of dystopia and anti-utopia;42 the rather non-political masterpiece Solaris
43
(1961); and unique collections: Bajki robotów (1964) and Cyberiada (1965) - both political
satires and allegories written under the smoke screen of fables. His non-fiction work of this
period comprises Dialogi (1957) - a cybernetic approach to politics, sociology and economics
and Summa technologiae (1964) - a major futurological socio-philosophical treatise, which
(quite surprisingly, as the great majority of similar works failed miserably) remains up-to-date
even more than thirty years after it was written.

The fourth period (1968-1980) can be described as the post-1968 crisis. These were the
years that eventually led to Gomulka's fall and the rise of a new party boss, Edward Gierek
(1968-1970), followed by an early Gierek period (1970-1975) (development largely financed by
heavily borrowing from the West) until 1975, followed by fall of Gierek in 1980 caused by the
crisis culminating in the creation of the first `Solidarity' lead by young Lech Walesa. In those
years Lem experienced a kind of personal crisis, echoes of which can be found in such novels
as Glos pana (1968). Glos Pana described a conflict between scientists and the government,
a conflict fuelled by the use of science by the politicians and the military for their short-term
gains. Another important political novel of this period is Lem's satirical anti-utopia Kongres
futurologiczny (1971). The collection Maska (1976) contains the title story (or novella) Maska
which describes a dilemma of an absolute ruler and his robotic agent (sleuthhound and
executioner). Doskonala próznia (1971) and Wielkosc urojona (1973) are the collections of
fictional reviews and introductions, many of which can be read as basically political essays.
Their origin can be traced to the crisis of Lem as a writer, Polish citizen and inhabitant of
Eastern Europe, as well as to the crisis of the novel, and more generally to the crisis of
literature and culture in Europe, and especially in Poland.

If there were any doubts about Lem being a political writer in the 1950s (despite such works
as Eden), the late 1960s and 1970s do not leave much room for speculation. Glos Pana or
Kongres futurologiczny are so strongly political that it is virtually impossible to ignore that
aspect. The plot of these novels had to be situated in America (the US in case of the former,
and Latin America in case of the latter), as it would have otherwise been very difficult, if not
impossible, for Lem to publish them in his native Poland. After his successes in the West in the
1970s, Lem could have prospered in the Western Europe or North America, but he consciously
chose to remain in Poland, a country where his cultural roots lay.44
41
Polish United Worker's Party - de facto the Communist Party of Poland. The latter name was not used mostly
because it was the name of the party which Stalin had dissolved during the infamous purges in 1938, and also
because communism as an ideology was seen in Poland as a tool of Soviet (and thus Russian) imperialism.
42
By `dystopia' I understand here a generally pessimistic utopia (perceived as `no-place'), and by `anti-utopia' a
reaction (response) to the naïve, over-optimistic eutopias.
43
Considered by the majority of critics and readers as Lem's best novel.
44
He temporary left Poland in the 1980s not so much as a protest against martial law and general Jaruzelski's
military junta's rule, but because he could not obtain the latest Western books and scientific magazines, which were
for him necessary tools and sources of inspiration.
13
 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

The fifth period (1980-1990) can be described as `post-crisis', although it can be argued that
both economic and political situation in Poland under General Wojciech Jaruzelski (party boss,
initially also prime minister and later, president) did not really improve much.45 It was a time of
martial law (1981-1982), followed by some gradual reforms, which could be described as `too
little, too late'. During these years, Lem wrote and published books which can be regarded as
the continuation of Doskonala próznia and Wielkosc urojona: the collections Biblioteka XXI
46 47
wieku (1986), Golem XIV (1981), and Prowokacja (1984). The novels written in this period
were Wizja lokalna (1982) - a vision of an advanced future society with peculiar problems;
Fiasko (1987) - a description of politics played on a galactic scale; and Pokój na Ziemi (1987)
- a satire on the arms race and the cold war. Lem's non-fiction of those years is represented by
Rozmowy ze Stanislawem Lemem (with Stanislaw Beres, 1987). Unfortunately, the most
political chapter of this book, which was about contemporary Poland, was deleted by the still-
active censorship. Because of the later animosities between Lem and Beres, which were
mostly the result of Beres's rather sensational and superficial analysis of Lem's soc-realistic
prose and Lem's increasing stubbornness and misanthropy, there is a very little chance that
the full (uncensored) version of Beres's Rozmowy will ever be published.48

The sixth and latest period (1990 to the present49) can be named `post-communist'. It
begins with the `Second Solidarity' or `old' Walesa rule as Polish president, and features yet
another serious economic crisis lasting until at least 1995,50 as well as a continuing socio-
political crisis. It was the first period of virtually full political freedom in Poland since May 1926.
During these years, Lem practically wrote only non-fiction.51 Lube czasy (1995), Sex wars
(1996), Dziury w calym (1997) and, especially, Okamgnienie (2000) can be considered as
the continuation of, and update to, Dialogi and Summa technologiae. The same can be said
about more technical Tajemnica chinskiego pokoju, with the title story containing an analysis

45
The reasons were manifold: the hostility of the party and state bureaucracy, which was afraid of the possible
loss of their privileged positions, the distrust of the majority of Poles, who did not believe that a card-carrying
communist such as Jaruzelski can be a real reformist, and above all, a lack of foreign aid. The Soviet Union was
unable to provide any significant economic assistance, as it was also in a deep financial crisis, while the West, under
the direction of the United States, was openly hostile to Jaruzelski's regime, and was more interested in supporting
the political opposition than improving Poland's living standards.
46
As an earlier Maska, Golem XIV contains stories about advanced computers, which, because of their
sophistication, become useless as tools of the government and the military.
47
A reflection on the human nature and its political consequences in a form of a review of fictional scientific
treatise on the Holocaust. Stories from collections Doskonala próznia, Wielkosc urojona, Prowokacja and
Biblioteka XXI wieku were finally collected together in volume Apokryfy (1999).
48
There is also (in late 2000 still in preparation) a second book titled Rozmowy ze Stanislawem Lemem. It is
being written by Tomasz Fialkowski (the editor of Lem's Lube czasy and Dziury w calym) and (according to the
Internet) should have been published in 1998. It was eventually published in 2001 as Swiat na krawedzi.
49
In this paper I analyze, as a rule, only works published up to the end of 1999. The most significant exception is
Okamgnienie (2000), as it is a kind of continuation of, and a comment to, earlier masterpieces Dialogi and Summa
technologiae.
50
It can be argued that the Polish crisis was not really overcame even in year 2000, as both economic indicators
and public opinion polls give a rather not encouraging picture.
51
With very few exceptions, such as short story `Pitavale XXI wieku' in collection Sex wars (1996), which can be
regarded as continuation of tradition of earlier Doskonala próznia and Wielkosc urojona.

14
 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

of such subjects as consciousness and its simulation, and its continuation, Bomba
megabitowa. This is also the period of noticeable decline in the quality of Lem's writings, after
almost half a century of his extremely successful career as a writer.
52
Thus it can be said that Lem, who began as a non-science fiction writer and author of
scientific and popular science publications in the 1940s, returned to writing a similar kind of
literature in the 1990s. It should not be surprising, considering that the 1990s (as the 1940s)
can be regarded as a period of revolutionary change in Poland. In both periods Poland
experienced radical, although not entirely revolutionary, changes to its socio-economic and
political systems. The most important difference between the young Lem who rather
enthusiastically accepted the transition to socialism and `planned' economy, and the mature
Lem, who (at least initially) rather critically supported the recent transformation back to
capitalism and market economy, is a more discriminating and cautious approach. This less
optimistic Lem is a result of a long-term historical process and of his disappointment with the
theories which promised the paradise on Earth, but as a result produced only more human
suffering (hell instead of eden). That disappointment was the main subject of stories such as
the satirical tale about one Malaputz vel Malapusticus Pandemonius (the nickname of Karl
Marx), in the `Tale of the Three Storytelling Machines of King Genius' from the Cyberiada
collection. Unfortunately, the times when Lem wrote such excellent political satires belong now
to the past, as Lem in the 1990s is a very different person to Lem of the 1960s, 1970s and
even the 1980s. It is not simply an older, acrimonious, disappointed and misanthropic Lem, but
a person living in a very different country. Still in Poland, but a very different one, and not
necessary better for all that.

Lem Seen as a Political Writer

Until the late 1980s the majority of Polish critics largely rejected the idea that Lem was a
political writer. For example Andrzej Stoff in his Powiesci fantastyczno-naukowe Stanislawa
Lema53 strongly rejects the possibility of reading Lem's Eden (1959) as a political novel. Antoni
Smuszkiewicz, even in his recent Stanislaw Lem (1995), repeats his earlier opinion that "...
nothing allows us to read Eden as a political novel" (p. 48). Smuszkiewicz's rejection of the
possibility of a political reading of this novel is, however, weakened by his next sentence in
which he analyses the manipulation of society through the use of falsified information.
Smuszkiewicz's opinion should be regarded, in part, as a remnant of the times when it was
customary for critics to diminish the political element in Lem's prose, mostly in order to protect
the author against the censor's intervention. Nevertheless, it is a curiously common claim.

There are few exceptions to the tendency to treat Lem as apolitical. Writing seven years
later in Lem i inni54, Stoff analyzed both Eden and Powrót z gwiazd as political novels. He
even finds interesting parallels between the strongly dystopian Eden and, at least on the
surface, eutopian Powrót z gwiazd: in both novels he discovers an intriguing absence of
government. In the earlier novel it is a formal absence only, as the government simply pretends
to be non-existent using the Orwellian techniques of newspeak or systematic perversion of
language - "War is Peace" in case of Orwell, "Totalitarian Dictatorship is a Total Absence of
the Government" in case of Lem. In the later novel, ordinary citizens are not concerned with the
presence of the government and the state. This is not because the state and the government

52
His `serious' début was Czas nieutracony (first part finished in 1948).
53
The Science Fiction Novels of Stanislaw Lem (1983) p. 89.
54
Lem and the Others (1990).

15
 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

have ceased to exist, as in the early Marxist and contemporary anarchist utopias, but because
55
everybody is coerced by the use of advanced medical techniques. Thanks to the highly
advanced technology there is no shortage of material goods, so there is a further argument
against keeping expensive military and police forces. However, despite this treatment, the
Stoff's analysis is not generalized to argue that Lem is a political writer through and through.

Only one Polish critic, Jerzy Jarzebski, stands out as having no doubts, even at such an
early date as at the beginning of the 1980s, that Lem was a political writer. However, it must be
remembered that even he regards political elements in Lem's writings as rather marginal. In his
56
essay `Science fiction a polityka - wersja Stanislawa Lema' Jarzebski analyses the links
between science fiction and classical utopias of More and Campanelli. This occurs in the
introduction to the main body of his text which contains a study of Lem's political philosophy
and its relation to more traditional eutopias and dystopias. Because Jarzebski is virtually
unique in making these comments, I will draw on him heavily in this paper.

I use Jarzebski's essay as a starting point for a political analysis of Lem's literary output. It
must be underlined that, quite paradoxically, such an analysis was essentially impossible in
Poland before the 1980s for political reasons. Some Polish critics avoided classifying Lem as a
political writer because if a writer was considered political, his works were more carefully
checked by the censors and he could be even investigated by the secret political police.57 As
Lem left Poland for Western Europe in the early 1980s, those factors ceased to be important in
his case.

In the former Soviet Bloc preventive censorship of virtually all texts, including even purely
technical publications,58 made it impossible to publish texts which could be regarded as
containing any critique of the government. Thus the only safe strategies for the writers were to
either praise the government of the day, which was sometimes difficult because of the frequent
and unexplained changes in the government's policies,59 or to be (or pretend to be) non-
political. Only after the events of 1980 when it became obvious even to the `inner party'
members that society was not homogenous, and that the critics of the government formed not
the insubstantial minority but the huge majority, it became possible to publish critical texts
about the government. This freedom was initially restricted to the scientific and `high-brow'
publications due to their short print runs. Thus it became possible for Jarzebski to openly admit
the existence of political issues in Lem's writings. Jarzebski, nevertheless, stopped short of
calling Lem a political writer sensu stricto.

55
So called `betrisation', a process that prevents any kind of violent behaviour.
56
`Science Fiction and Politics - Stanislaw Lem's Version' in Pamietnik Literacki vol. LXXIV part 2 of 1983, pp.
83-113.
57
The latter custom is not exclusive for the `communist' dictatorships. Even in the present day `democratic'
Australia some artists suspected of harbouring extreme left, or to a lesser extent right wing sympathies are secretly
investigated by the special branches of state and federal police, as well as by the more secret state organs such as
ASIO or ASIS. It was similar in the case of P.K. Dick, although his `contacts' with the FBI were of rather
complicated nature (see Philmus `The Two Faces of Philip K. Dick' in Science-Fiction Studies vol. 18 (1991), pp.
91-103 for details).
58
Such as a computer-programming manual written by me in the late 1970s.
59
Such an unexpected political change and its consequences (rather unpleasant for unsuspecting citizens) is
described by Lem in Wizja lokalna.

16
 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

As classical examples of rather naïve eutopias, Jarzebski analyses Astronauci and Oblok
Magellana where Lem was so fascinated by the possibilities of the advanced technology that
large parts of those works merely described those technological marvels (as it was also the
case of American and British science fiction of this period). This prevented any real sense of
social conflict, especially in Oblok Magellana, and made young Lem's vision of the future
rather unconvincing. Jarzebski notices the strong anti-American tones in the latter novel, as
well as in the collection of short stories Sezam. For example `The Twenty-sixth Journey' of Ijon
Tichy was removed from the post-1957 editions of Dzienniki gwiazdowe officially for artistic
(aesthetic) reasons, but really because it was openly anti-American political satire. Unlike his
other satires which were not so simplistic (for example `The Twenty-fourth Journey' which is
equally anti-capitalistic and anti-Communist), `The Twenty-sixth Journey' was politically too
simplistic to stand the test of time. As to its purely aesthetic values, it was actually not worse
than the majority of Tichy's adventures, which proves that it was condemned by the author on
purely political grounds. It should be noted that one of Lem's latest additions to the Tichy cycle
`Pozytek ze smoka' (`Utility of the Dragon') can be understood as anti-`The Twenty-sixth
Journey'. The later story is as openly anti-Soviet as the earlier story was anti-American (which
makes them both the least convincing stories of the whole cycle) - thus the circle closes after
almost forty years.

Those early works by Lem and especially their reception by the critics, as well as the
ordinary readers, are also the subject of `Krytyka o pierwszych utworach Stanislawa Lema' by
60
Andrzej Stoff. In this case the author analyses more than just works of Lem - he treats Lem's
development as a writer as an example of the development of the whole genre. The most
interesting is the fact that socrealistic works of young Lem were criticized from almost ultra-left
positions as `not enough socrealistic' and for attempts to smuggle such forbidden subjects as
cybernetics through the rather clumsy disguise of `mechaneuristics'.61 Fortunately for Lem,
Stalinism in Poland was of a rather mild kind,62 so such a critique by the (mostly young)
communist zealots did not have any serious consequences for our author.

It was obvious that the Polish critics compared Lem's early works mostly to Western science
fiction. Because of the political circumstances in the Stalinist Poland, such critics as Andrzej
Trepka or Adam Hollanek (themselves also science fiction writers) tried to prove the ideological
values of Lem's novels as `politically correct', contrasted to the mostly American science fiction
which they regarded as `reactionary'. It should be noted that Western science fiction was then
known in Poland only from classic works of such authors as H.G. Wells, or (in the case of more
recent publications) from the hostile reviews as in case of Orwell's political novels. As I
mentioned before, although Lem's early science fiction works were basically soc-realistic, they
did not escape the extreme Left's criticism as "... harmful, as they poison the lay minds by false
63
information prepared only for the sensation". The other extreme Leftists criticized Lem for
such `grave sins' as the absence of the communist party on Venus, which should have
prevented the construction of the `star wars' type apparatus described in Astronauci, and
even for the form of address using `Pan' (`Sir' or `Esquire') in the interchange of the people of

60
`Critical Opinions on the First Works of Stanislaw Lem' in Acta Universitatis Nicolai Copernici - Filologia
Polska vol. XI, issue 66, pp. 125-146.
61
See, for example, an assessment of Lem's Oblok Magellana by an ultra-orthodox Marxist critic (one Ignacy
Zlotowski). This particular assessment is available on the official Internet site of Stanislaw Lem http://www.lem.pl/.
62
For example, Gomulka was 'only' imprisoned, while in such countries as Czechoslovakia or Hungary he would
almost certainly have been executed, as in the cases of Rudolf Slansky or Laszlo Rajk.
63
Andrzej Stoff `Krytyka o pierwszych utworach Stanislawa Lema' op. cit., p. 129.

17
 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

the future. Thus there is no doubt, that Lem's early science fiction was implicitly read in a
political context, even if the majority of professional critics preferred to ignore explicitly this
important aspect of Lem's authorship.

Eden was read by J. Jarzebski as a serious dystopia - Lem's version of both Nineteen
Eighty-four and Brave New World64. However, Jarzebski notices that the classical opposition
between eutopia and dystopia is not of much value in the analysis of Lem's political fiction, as
Lem is neither a futurologist-optimist nor futurologist-scaremonger. Even such disturbing
political satire as Kongres futurologiczny has a lot of bright moments. As a matter of fact,
most of Lem's best political novels and short stories used humour heavily. As Lem explained
it65 "First, some topics were unsuitable for serious treatment, such as questions of genetics...
On the other hand, most of my works were written under communism and I had to
acknowledge the existence of censorship".

Jarzebski quite accurately analyses Bajki robotów and especially Cyberiada as political.
Both collections contain stories describing political techniques: from the simplest and oldest
version, where the governments were no more than greedy self-replicating tyrants (`Uranowe
uszy' or `Bajka o królu Murdasie'), to the most advanced `enlightened' attempts by the robotic
constructors Trurl and Klapaucjusz to create the ideal sentient being and the ideal society
(`Altruizyna', `Kobyszcze' and `Powtórka'). Thus Jarzebski notices the presence of two types of
politicians in Lem's fiction: the first type is simply hungry for the power (king Murdas), the
second type are the enlightened constructors (Trurl and Klapaucjusz). Remembering the
spectacular collapse of Gierek's vision of `The Second Poland' in 1980 Jarzebski notices that
The politician can do a lot, but his failures are more spectacular; as an
inefficient or unlucky constructor he can be found in a situation, where there is
nothing left but to observe with a horror, how the mechanism - a fruit of the
rational endeavours - refuses to cooperate, and starts to function in a truly mad
66
way, contrary to the constructor's assumptions.
Thus Lem, since as early as the 1960s, can be also regarded as a post-modernistic writer, as
he had a long time ago rejected not only the `vulgar' (mechanistic) version of Marxism, but also
the naïve scientism, which even today has influential supporters among the social scientists,
and especially the economists.67

According to Jarzebski, the Lemian constructors can be understood as a parody of

politicians, but also as the images of unsuccessful benevolent reformers,68 from the positivists
to the utopian and non-utopian (Marxist) socialists, including Marx and Engels. The failure of
Trurl's attempts to improve the world is also a failure of all rationalists who trusted that science
could provide all the answers. It does not mean that Lem abandoned rational ways of thinking

64
Cf. Jarzebski `Science fiction a polityka...' op. cit., pp. 86-87.
65
In the cited 1996 interview by Orlinski in Wiadomosci Kulturalne.
66
Jerzy Jarzebski `Science fiction a polityka...' op. cit., p. 90.
67
This includes Leszek Balcerowicz, former enthusiastic student and orthodox follower of Jeffrey D. Sachs.
Balcerowicz was finance minister of Poland until early 2000, and presently (after the collapse of liberal-nationalist
coalition) earns money by advising Government of the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Like many
leaders of the post-communist countries, Balcerowicz is a former orthodox Marxist economist `miraculously' turned
into an almost equally orthodox cross of monetarist and neo-classicist.
68
Such an unsuccessful constructor is also understood by Jarzebski as a parody of a God - a God of an imperfect
kind, as described by Lem in Solaris (1961).

18
 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

in favour of total irrationalism - the escape route chosen by Lem was described in his Filozofia
przypadku (1968). It can be roughly summarized as a belief in the statistical nature of all laws,
not only physical, chemical and biological, but also psychological, sociological, historical and
economic.
To prove his theses Jarzebski analyses such works as Pamietnik znaleziony w wannie,
Maska and Wizja lokalna. According to Jarzebski, Pamietnik znaleziony w wannie looks
initially as a satire on the Western, especially the American, intelligence service and
bureaucracy. However, unlike in Eden or Powrót z gwiazd, the authorities are easy to find.
The hero locates the commander-in-chief relatively easily, but the latter is an old man in his
dotage, so the machinery of the building is obviously able to operate without any effective
central authority. Thus if one agrees with Jarzebski that the building is a replica of the world, it
is possible to accept his thesis that in a sufficiently complicated social organization, the leader
69
(commander-in-chief, king, president or prime minister) can be an absolute nitwit. In such a
big system "his personal traits are of no importance, and `an absolute perfection of activity'
must be realized somewhere in a random way".70

Jarzebski in his earlier writings analyzed Pamietnik znaleziony w wannie as a

philosophical treatise in Kafkaesque/Borgesian style, but in `Science fiction a polityka...' he
admits that in Lem's novel politics plays a very important role. The building can be thus
understood as a parody of a modern state, and the hero of the novel as a citizen of such a
state. The state dominates him to such an extent that he is unable, not only to understand how
it works, but also to find a sensible place within its structures. Thus the drama of the
anonymous hero of Pamietnik is a drama of the majority of citizens of present-day modern
states who are unable to distinguish clearly between its protective and repressive functions and
between its intentional and unintentional actions. All this results, according to Jarzebski, in the
suppression of the individual's dignity and sovereignty.

Jarzebski notices strong similarities between the state described in Pamietnik znaleziony
w wannie, and analyzed in Dialogi (1957),71 where Lem investigates and criticizes excessive
centralism in the socialist states. In both cases the bureaucracy, which wants to know
everything, finds itself flooded by such an amount of information that is not only unable to
process thoroughly, but even to sort the really important data out of the majority of trivial,
incorrect and misleading pieces of information. One can thus argue that the situation of the
citizen in a modern state is not absolutely hopeless, as the citizens can defend themselves by

69
This is not only pure theory. For example, the strongest superpower (USA) was for several years led by a
president (Ronald Reagan) suffering a very serious neurological disease which significantly diminished his ability to
comprehend the global political situation, and especially his ability to act in critical situations. It is well known that
not only Leonid Brezhnev (in his last years of life and power), but also the next two CPSU General Secretaries
(Andropov and especially Chernenko) were sick old men. The Soviet Union survived despite this, and it was only
the reforms enacted by the relatively young and healthy Gorbatchev that spelt its end. The current (early 2000)
Australian prime minister Mr. Howard provides very poor and uninspired leadership, a similar situation to the UK's
last Conservative prime minister (Mr. Major), but both countries did not experience any dramatic worsening of their
respective socio-economic situations. The same can be claimed about the present-day prime minister of Poland (Mr.
Jerzy Buzek), who is the longest-serving head of Polish government since the collapse of `communism', not due to
quality of his leadership (the real head of the Polish government is Mr. Marian Krzaklewski, officially the Solidarity
movement's leader), but to the fact that he appears to have neither personal opinion nor strength, so is convenient not
only for his ministers, but also for the opposition.
70
Jarzebski `Science fiction a polityka...' op. cit., p. 97.
71
`Annexe: Cybernetyka Stosowana: Przyklad z Dziedziny Socjologii' (`Applied Cybernetics: An Example From
the Field of Sociology').

19
 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

supplying the governmental computers with the information which although is not false and
openly misleading (which is illegal), but which is able to totally confuse, and thus paralyze the
repressive bureaucratic state apparatus.72
A short novel (novella) Maska73 is understood by Jarzebski as a kind of continuation of the
earlier Pamietnik znaleziony w wannie in a sense that it develops a problem of individual's
freedom in a totalitarian or semi-totalitarian state. The intentional anachronisms and elements
taken from the fantasy genre makes Maska one of the Lem's most mysterious works.
Jarzebski reads it as a story which is half-philosophical and half-political. As a political work it
can be understood as a story about the relations between the oppressor (the king) and the
oppressed (the scientist Arrhodes). The mostly ethical problems confronted by the king's
servant (the equivalent of an agent of the secret political police) ordered to assassinate the
rebel (Arrhodes) also have an important political dimension.

The main problem facing the king, who wants to exercise total control by the means of
advanced robots, is that such robots must be designed to work without direct supervision in the
rapidly changing environment. As a result, they develop consciousness (as the heroine of the
story does), and became as unreliable as the ordinary human agents. Thus Maska can be
read as a warning that a super-effective totalitarian state based on advanced technology is
physically impossible. When the machines become intelligent enough to replace the humans,
they develop consciousness, start to think and can therefore no longer be regarded as reliable
74
mechanical slaves.

Wizja lokalna is, unlike the previously analyzed novels, an openly political work. Although
the second part is set on a remote planet inhabited by a kind of large (human-size) non-flying
birds, it can be easily decoded as a story about our planet during the Cold War. Luzania is a
mixture between Western Europe, Scandinavia and North America, while Kurdlandia is an
equivalent of the former USSR with some elements taken from the Maoist China and even so-
called `Democratic Kampuchea' under the rule of Khmer Rouge. Lem also mentions a
mysterious third major country: Czarna Kliwia (Black Clivia), which also has traits of the USSR
and even China, but was totally destroyed in a secret war with Luzania. Both Luzania and
Clivia designed an `ethicosphere', but as Luzania was richer and more technologically
75
advanced, it won a war in which `bystry' were secretly used as a deadly weapon which not
only killed all Clivians, but also turned their country into a frozen desert. It should also be noted
that Stoff in his Lem i inni notices similarities between the ethicosphere and the `mechanical
cloud' of Niezwyciezony in relation to its organization, and the procedure of `betrisation' from
Powrót z gwiazd in its role in controlling the society.

72
For example by providing excessive amount of trivial information, so the bureaucracy will be unable to
distinguish between the important and totally unimportant pieces of information, and, in the extreme case, unable to
process all received information. The other possible way is to use the privacy legislation, which, although was
created mostly to assure the anonymity of the rich, can be successfully used even by the poor to prevent abuse of
their rights by the government (as it happens in Australia, Canada and Western Europe).
73
Originally in collection Maska (1974).
74
Compare also The Mask to Golem XIV and Honest Annie supercomputers from Golem XIV (1981) which
refuse to cooperate with the military commanders whom they regard as not being sufficiently intelligent. As a result,
they ruin plans to create the ultimate, totally computerized military H.Q., which (at least in theory) would enable the
US to win a global nuclear war.
75
`The rapids' - the basic element of the `ethicosphere' which prevent any unlawful behaviour and are (as
elementary particles) virtually indestructible and totally fail-proof.

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 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

Neither Luzania, which can be regarded as the ultimate welfare state, nor Kurdlandia, where
the citizens live, unlike their leaders, in very primitive conditions, can be regarded as eutopia. In
earlier Kongres futurologiczny we can witness a conflict between the eutopian and dystopian
visions of the future society, while Wizja lokalna can be regarded as almost classic anti-utopia.
Even Luzanians are not entirely happy, and their students closely remind us of the American
and French students of the 1960s, fascinated by the Chinese `cultural revolution', which they
totally misunderstood. Lem, using a Luzanian wise man, Anix, as his mouthpiece, explains this
in a following way:
On the surface the ideologies of Kurdlandia and Luzania sound diametrically
different, but their contents is the same. Their sense is to have profits from a
76
given social organization, without specific calamities.
The result is thus that as freedom is balanced by restraint (cf. Orwell's 1984), the difference
between democratic and totalitarian states is only in the extent of freedom enjoyed by the
average citizens.

The high standard of living available to every Luzanian does not make them happy. Another
of Lem's alter ego's, the eccentric philosopher Xaimarnox, explains this in the following way:
poverty is horrible, but motivates (at least some individuals) to efforts in order to overcome it.
Wealth, and especially wealth easily gained, motivates people only to increase it, but then one
confronts the law of diminished returns. Each subsequent equal increase of wealth delivers
less satisfaction than the previous increase. As the return to the poverty is not a solution,
people blame the others for their condition, and would like them to share their `internal hells'.

Thus Kurdlandia can be compared to one huge prison (or labour camp of a Soviet, rather
than Nazi style), but in Luzania the prisons were ultimately privatized, and every citizens is in
his/her private `jail'. Thus in Luzania every one is basically free to leave this private gaol (in
other words one is a prisoner and a guard in one person), while in Kurdlandia the state decides
who must live in the Kurdels (huge animals, which provide rather uncomfortable shelters to the
ordinary citizens of this state), and who is allowed to live in the state capital, close to the
leaders, in relative luxury. Thus despite the first impression it is not Luzania, but Kurdlandia,
which is the butt of Lem's satire.

Prowokacja77 is an exceptional work in a sense that it was analyzed not only by literary
critics, such as Stanislaw Beres,78 but also by the historians and political scientists such as
Franciszek Ryszka.79 This is rather unusual, as the rule is that Lem may be regarded as a
science fiction writer, philosopher, populariser of science and even a poet, but rarely a political
writer. But the recently deceased Professor Ryszka was not an average admirer or critic of
Lem. Ryszka was an outstanding political scientist, one of the very few who were recognized
on both sides of the iron curtain. Thus his analysis of Prowokacja can be regarded as an
exception which proves the rule. Even more exceptional is the reading of this work by Beres - a
professional literary critic.

Beres notices that according to Aspernicus (a fictitious German author of a fictitious work
about the Holocaust) the mass extermination of Jews was not because of any rational (military
or economic) reason, but because of seeking the satisfaction in the act of murder - genocide

76
Wizja lokalna (1982) p. 271.
77
Originally in Odra No. 7-8 of 1980, as a book in 1984.
78
In `Apokryfy Lema' (`Lem's Apocrypha') in Odra No. 6 of 1986.
79
In `Krótka historia Hitleryzmu' (`A Short History of Nazism') in Odra No. 11, 1980, pp. 23-27.

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 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer
80
`con amore'. Lem repeated this recently in an interview, where he restated (after Iosip
Brodski) that "Man murders because he is a murderer" and that what happened recently in
Bosnia-Herzegovina (as well as in the other places, such as Cambodia or Rwanda) was
started by Hitler, who has demonstrated that mass extermination is possible and does not
necessary provoke immediate response, even from the `civilized' nations such as the United
States, United Kingdom or France. According to Beres the most important historical and
anthropological value of Prowokacja is in its attempt to show Nazism not as an aberration, but
as an unavoidable consequence of the Judaeo-Christian cultural development, which by
suppressing information about death (as unavoidable, but, at the same time, unaesthetic
phenomenon), made it extremely attractive for the significant segments of society.

Professor Ryszka analyses Prowokacja as "a deadly serious joke", and notices that even
some professional historians believed in the existence of Horst Aspernicus and his Der
Völkermord (The Genocide). According to Ryszka, Aspernicus should be a middle-aged
doctor of philosophy, and necessarily an assistant professor, at a department of theology or
philosophy of one of the provincial West German universities. Ryszka notices that for
Aspernicus the Holocaust is still also a moral problem, while for his younger colleagues it is
only a scientific problem.
81
Ryszka proposes to analyze the Holocaust as a dynamic system - genocidum, or, to be
more precise, its German variety during the World War II. Ryszka's model of the genocide
contains the following interconnected elements:
1. Objective enemy82 - the `eternal, unchanging enemy'. In case of Hitler it was, of course, the
Jew, which led to such grave mistakes as the mass use of ineffective slave labour and the
elimination of `non-Aryan' experts, including nuclear physicists;
2. Agrarian utopia - the ultimate target. It took a form of huge German-owned landholdings in
the East, employing cheap Slavic labour, and allowing the German owners to enjoy the life
style of English lords. The major obstruction to reach this target was, of course, the `objective
enemy'.
3. Bureaucratic perversion or `the state with the permanent state of emergency', where `the
bureaucracy' is understood not as a caricature of administration, but, according to its original
meaning, `a rule of civil servants'. This means that the bureaucrats can use any available
method to achieve the goals set up by the leader (Führer), which ultimately results in
4. Political sadism - Ryszka prefers this term, rather than `the rule of terror'. He notices that
unlike in the case of Marquis de Sade, "in politics the pleasure is replaced by the utility".

This, rather lengthy, analysis of Ryszka's paper is an attempt to illustrate that Lem's political
fiction at its best can provoke a very advanced analysis by a political scientist of European and
even world importance. Compared to Prowokacja, Lem's later political articles and especially
those published as P. Znawca in Parisian Kultura from 1984 to 1988 and in Tygodnik
Powszechny in the 1990s were not so successful. Thus, on the one hand, quite paradoxically,
the absence of the formal censorship resulted only in good, but not outstanding political
essays. This paradox can be explained by the fact that when writing for the Polish publishers,
which were censored, Lem (as the majority of the writers in the former Soviet Bloc) had to
employ more ingenuity to convey his message than in the case of the virtually uncensored

80
`Arytmetyka przeciw etyce' (`Arithmetic Against Ethics') in Polityka No. 38 of 1994.
81
The latter term was defined by Polish lawyer Raphäel (Rafal) Lemkin in his Axis Rule in Occupied Europe
(1944).
82
Formulated by Hanna Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951).

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 Lech Keller – Stanislaw Lem as a Political Writer

émigré publisher or publications in `post-communist' Poland. The other possible reason was a
lack of time perspective, which in case of Prowokacja allowed more profound and less
emotional analysis. This lack of time for the reflection can be also blamed for the relatively poor
quality of Lem's recent political essays.

It can be said that Lem started as an author of naïve optimistic utopias (eutopias) due to the
then mandatory soc-realistic doctrine. The collapse of Stalinism in 1956 enabled him to
abandon those naïve beliefs in a perfect future under communism and to write about "bad faith
83
and false intellect", and even visit the domains of pure fairy tale and allegory. Lem's
temporary emigration to the West in the 1980s, and later the collapse of `communism' in
almost the whole former Soviet Bloc allowed him to write more openly, but those purely political
essays were not as good as his more veiled novels and short stories published originally in
`communist' Poland.

According to Jarzebski, politics, as understood by Lem, is composed of two elements:

1. Abstract (modeling) - describing the organization of an ideal society and
2. Ethical (normative) - describing what should be left unchanged in society, in order to
preserve its identity.

Thus politics in Lem's understanding is much more than the question of how to gain and
preserve power or "...the practice of the art or science of directing and administering states or
84
other political units". It is more about the rational choice of social targets (ends) and the
means to achieve them. As the great majority of the politicians can hardly be described as
85
rational, Lem is very critical about professional politicians, and especially about Polish
politicians including the hero of the Solidarity movement, Nobel peace prize winner, former
Polish president, Mr. Lech Walesa. The only hope is thus in the elimination of the need to have
professional politicians. Such `ideal' places, where professional politicians are absent, were
described by Lem in Wizja lokalna (Luzania) and in Powrót z gwiazd (our planet in the distant
future). Thus the only advice Lem gives the politicians is to observe the virtue of sensible
moderation86 - let us hope that at least some of them read Lem.

83
Jarzebski `Science fiction a polityka...' op. cit., p. 112.
84
Iain McLean (ed.) The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (1996) p. 388.
85
Even if they, as in the case of Mrs. Thatcher and Messrs. Hawke, Keating and Howard, declare themselves to be
`economic rationalists'. Economic rationalism is anything but `rational'. The problem can also be applied to some
`professional' economists, such as already mentioned Leszek Balcerowicz, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance
Minister in several Solidarity-lead governments in `post-communist' Poland. At this point, it should also be noted
that Lem basically supports Balcerowicz's economic policy. This can, however, be explained by the fact that those
policies did not affect negatively Lem, quite to the contrary - as Lem is a wealthy person (a rare phenomenon in the
contemporary Poland) his life is much easier under the free market regime than under the planned economy.
Unfortunately, as the recent public opinion polls prove, the majority of Poles are not certain that their life is currently
easier when compared to the depressed 1980s (those polls were frequently discussed on the `BBC World News' pay
TV channel in late December 1999 and early January 2000).
86
Cf. Jarzebski `Science fiction a polityka...' op. cit., p. 113.

23