Abstract
This article presents how Marxist revisionists in the Polish People’s Republic, with Leszek Kołakowski as their most prominent representative, as well as members of the so-called Warsaw School of the History of Ideas, perceived the country’s socio-political system and how their views evolved. It shows how the policy of repressing revisionism, introduced by Władysław Gomułka after his return to power in October 1956, shattered the hopes and expectations of left-leaning intellectuals in Poland. They shared with each other their intimate, straightforward opinions, stripped of all illusions, which they could not express in the public sphere. Their disappointment with the communist party’s policy and the critical approach of its ideology led them to focus on new themes. Society, its problems, the mood of the people and how it could be interpreted arose as important issues. Finally, the experience of March 1968 once again proved that intellectuals’ attention should be on society rather than on the communist party.
