Yearbook of Bibliology and Press Studies

Summary

Analysis of, kept in the Archives of new Deeds, censorship reviews of each issue of the 1949 "Tygodnik Powszechny" reveals the mechanizm of freedom of speech restriction during the Stalin era. The study covers the post fatum written report constituting the basic elements of secodary review. They possess a specific form which consists of a general assessment and censorship of each article. About 70% of the texts published at this time in the Cracow magazine contained such features. Bearing in mind the negative attitude of public officials to christian papers it could be ascertained that there was positive assessment of some of the articles. They undoubtedly employed the tactics of the authorities at the time designed to create divisions in the catholic society. The style of the written reviews manifest, characteristic of the propaganda of the time, elements of persuasion in the form of constant epithets, allusions, periphrasis, neologizm, expressions of emotional characterization or ultimately the relativization of values resulting in the displacement of meaning. Censorship was focused on characteristically "difficult" issues (related to history, contemporary literature and the church) as well as individual personalities in the editorial circle (eg. Stefan Kisielewski). It did not, by this, shun primitive personal attacks. Polemics contained in censorship evaluation are a historical testimony although it is difficult to acknowledge it as a rightful outlook dialogue. They are restricted mainly to the methods of fighting the opposition in accordance with the dictates of the authorities in power at the time.