Poland's underground press in books: from a print to monographs

In brief

• The underground Solidarity periodicals in Warsaw and underground publishing in Kraków are described in monographs published by the IPN: by Jan Olaszek (2018) and Cecylia Kuta (2019)^1,2.
• Literature and culture outside censorship in 1976–1989 are discussed by Bogusław Bakuła (2020)³.
• In English: Friederike Kind-Kovács on how underground literature crossed the Iron Curtain (2014), and Piotr Wciślik on Poland's underground press of 1976–1990 (2021)^4,5.
• W lochach socjalizmu is an example of the underground press itself: a book published in 1988 outside censorship, printed by offset from typescript⁶.

This list covers monographs that the National Library of Poland catalogue describes with the subject heading “Wydawnictwa nielegalne” (illegal publications), preceded by one book from the underground press itself. We chose works on Poland in 1976–1990, ordered by year of publication. The descriptions give the title, publisher and length according to the National Library catalogue; we do not review the books. How to trace the underground books themselves is explained in the guide “How to find a book from Poland's underground press”.

1. Bogumił Studziński, „W lochach socjalizmu” (1988)

The memoir of a political prisoner of the 1950s, published by the underground Kurs publishing house a year after the author's death: 130 pages in A5 format, offset-printed from typescript, in two variants — with a printed price of 600 złoty and without⁶. It is an example of what the books below write about: a print published without the censor's approval and without an ISBN⁷; the print run is not known. More about the book.

2. Friederike Kind-Kovács, Written here, published there (2014)

Full title: Written here, published there: how underground literature crossed the Iron Curtain. In English. According to the National Library's subject headings, it covers the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary in 1950–1991. Published by Central European University Press (Budapest — New York 2014, XVI + 504 pages)⁴.

3. Jan Olaszek, „Podziemne dziennikarstwo” (2018)

Full title: „Podziemne dziennikarstwo. Funkcjonowanie głównych pism informacyjnych podziemnej »Solidarności« w Warszawie w latach 1981–1989” (Underground journalism: the main news periodicals of underground Solidarity in Warsaw, 1981–1989). Published by the Institute of National Remembrance (Warsaw 2018, 789 pages, “Monografie” series, vol. 134)¹.

4. Cecylia Kuta, „Niecenzurowane” (2019)

Full title: „Niecenzurowane. Z dziejów drugiego obiegu wydawniczego w Krakowie w latach 1976–1990” (Uncensored: underground publishing in Kraków, 1976–1990). Published by the Institute of National Remembrance (Kraków 2019, 799 pages and 56 pages of plates)². Cecylia Kuta is also the author of the biographical note on Bogumił Studziński on the Przystanek Historia portal⁸.

5. Bogusław Bakuła, „Nie zależności” (2020)

Full title: „Nie zależności. Przypadki literatury i kultury poza cenzurą w latach 1976–1989” (Cases of literature and culture outside censorship, 1976–1989). According to the National Library's subject headings, it covers Polish literature, counterculture and illegal publications of those years. Published by Wydawnictwo PSP (Poznań 2020, 379 pages) in the “Biblioteka Literacka »Poznańskich Studiów Polonistycznych«” series³.

6. Piotr Wciślik, Dissident legacies of samizdat social media activism (2021)

Full title: Dissident legacies of samizdat social media activism: unlicensed print culture in Poland 1976–1990. In English, published by Routledge (2021, 258 pages) in the “Routledge histories of Central and Eastern Europe” series⁵.

Where next

We write about the publisher of W lochach socjalizmu in “Poland's underground press and the Kurs publishing house”. Bibliographies of the underground prints themselves — including those compiled underground under pseudonyms — are collected in the guide.