Another friend of mine was a pianist. I asked him once what a socialist realist composer was. He thought for a moment, then said: "Those who are dead, and those who say they are." A student once came up to me and said: "I feel I should tell you I have to report on you to the police." Beaming, he continued: "But I always say nice things."

So Poles kept their minds and spirits pretty free of Communism during those hard years. It is one reason why they have managed to create so quickly the well-performing two-party democracy that they now have.