Poland-Living Science Fiction

By Victoria Varga

I'm having a horrible time finding science fiction in Poland, so it's difficult to make any sort of report. I should amend that sentence: I'm having a hard time finding science fiction in English here. I'm still trying.

I imagined that Warsaw bookstores would be loaded with SF as the Poles deal with the late 20th century all of a sudden. But, although SF does exist in Polish, it is mixed with mainstream fiction (an interesting development, but one that makes it more difficult for the English-speaker to locate). They are too busy living science fiction to read it much.

What was only a dream just a few years ago, is becoming reality. Changes are happening so fast that most Poles are bemused, some are terrified, many—especially the young—are very happy. Their very language is changing to reflect the changes.

For instance, the word "zalatwic" used to mean getting someone to get something for you using charm or bribery. It had a sleazy connotation. Now that people have money and there are things to buy, "zalatwic" has a more positive meaning—getting things done.

Furthermore, Americans that speak Polish better than I say that Poles are so excited about having things to buy that they will ask anyone, without embarrassment, how much some item of personal property cost, and where they got it, much to the consternation of their American friends.

Crossing the streets is an exciting experience. Most drivers have only had a car of their own for a few years or less, so you have lots of fast stops, lots of squealing tires and brakes—they are so proud of having brakes to squeal, and they learned how to drive from American films. It's a little like the wild west. Very fun and nerve-wracking for a libertarian observer.

Lech Walesa was sounding more and more like a dictator this fall, even though he'd sunk very low in the polls, and in the first round of the election he managed the number two position. I don't think it's really sunk in that he can be voted out of office, though he says that every anti-democratic he's done is to “help democracy survive”. Right. His main activity seems to be closing off streets so that he can screech by in a stretch limo.

A "libertarian" didn't do very well in the first round, and no wonder. He planned to allow women to vote for some kinds of elections but not others, and to give most of the powers of government back to male heads of families.

I have to give him credit for one thing—throughout the campaign he promised that if he didn't win a million votes in the first round, he'd shave off his beard, and he lived up to his campaign promise immediately—one of the few politicians to do so in the history of the world.

You may have heard that the Stock Exchange in Warsaw is located in the Old Communist Party headquarters. A nice irony. A few weeks ago we went to a Jazz Festival (degenerate capitalist noise) in the Palace of Culture, "Stalin's Gift to the Polish People." Right on the main stage in Stalin's Palace was a big illuminated Heineken bottle (Heineken is one of the big sponsors). I wish Stalin could see from his lowest rung of the ladder into hell.

There are entire areas of Warsaw where there are no phones except at the post offices. Estimates have been made that it might take as long as ten years to put lines in all over the city. One very reasonable suggestion is that all the old technology simply be bypassed, and that a cellular phone system should be implemented. Considering the attitude of Polish Telecommunications, the official monopoly phone company, perhaps it should be entirely bypassed as well. Recent company complaints describe the disturbing news that when people get new phones they use them too much, even for trifling things like gossip. This, of course, makes me wonder how they know what is being said in these conversations? In the old communist days, the police had a secret room in every post office so that they could listen in on conversations that one had to make in the post offices since no other phones were available. It made spying on the people so convenient.

In many ways the Poles are more free than we are. Sex shops and strip tease shows seem to be unregulated. Things go on here that would cause conniptions in the United States. Because they've had the freedom to explore this kind of stuff in the last several years, sex shop sales are already decreasing—pornography gets boring if it's completely legal. I think that many people are going to try to make it interesting again by making it harder to get (although that is not their intent).

I welcome Poland to a partial taste of freedom. May they hold on to as much as possible. May they enlarge it. May we all be blessed with more of it.

Contributing Editor Victoria Varga has taken a sabbatical as Director of LFS and is spending a year in Poland, going through culture shock and living a science fiction life.