The Captive Mind

The Captive Mind begins with a discussion of the dystopian novel Insatiability by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz. In the novel, a new Mongol Empire conquers Poland and introduces Murti-Bing pills as a cure for independent thought. At first, Murti-Bing pills create widespread content and blind obedience, but ultimately lead those taking them to develop split personalities. Milosz then compares Murti-Bing pills with the intellectually deadening effects of Marxism-Leninism in the USSR and the Soviet Bloc.

The second chapter analyzes how Western democracies were perceived by Stalinist intellectuals from Central and Eastern Europe. He describes them as feeling a mixture of contempt and fascination. The constraints placed on politicians and policemen by the rule of law struck them as incomprehensible and inferior to the police states of the Communist world. Milosz wrote, however, that the same intellectuals who denounced Western consumerism in print would often read Western literature in search of something more worthy than the books published behind the Iron Curtain.

The third chapter draws upon the writings of Gobineau, a 19th-century French diplomat assigned to present day Iran. In his book Religions and Philosophies of Central Asia, Gobineau describes the practice of Ketman, the act of paying lip service to Islam while concealing secret opposition. Describing the practice as widespread throughout the Islamic World, Gobineau quotes one of his informants as saying, "There is not a single true Moslem in Persia."[3] Gobineau further describes the use of Ketman to secretly spread heterodox views to people who believe that they are being taught Islamic orthodoxy.[4]

Milosz then describes seven forms of Ketman applied in the People's Republics of the 20th century:

1. National Ketman, the practice of publicly carrying Russian books and humming Russian songs while privately believing, "Socialism-yes, Russia-no." Milosz described this form of Ketman as extremely widespread among Polish intellectuals who sprang from working-class families. Such beliefs, however, were considered Titoism by the Polish Government and were therefore kept hidden.[5]
2. The Ketman of Revolutionary Purity, the secret belief that Joseph Stalin betrayed the teachings of Vladimir Lenin by instituting mass terror, forced collectivisation, the concentration camps of the GULAG, and the smothering of literature and the arts by tolerating only Socialist Realism. Followers of this Ketman believed that, a new literary and artistic flowering would follow the end of World War II and, until then, Stalin must be not only tolerated, but supported. Milosz writes, "This variety of Ketman was widespread if not universal in Russia during the Second World War, and its present form is a rebirth of an already once-deceived hope."[6]
3. Aesthetic Ketman, the practice of escaping from Socialist Realism by secretly filling one's life with the art, literature, and music of past ages. Milosz writes, "In these conditions, aesthetic Ketman has every possibility of spreading. It is expressed in that unconscious longing for strangeness which is channeled toward controlled amusements like theater, film, and folk festivals, but also into various forms of escapism. Writers burrow into ancient texts, comment on and re-edit ancient authors. They write children's books so that their fancy may have slightly freer play. Many choose university careers because research into literary history offers a safe pretext for plunging into the past and for converse with works of great aesthetic value. The number of translators of former prose and poetry multiplies. Painters seek an outlet for their interests in illustrations for children's books, where the choice of gaudy colors can be justified by an appeal to the naive imaginations of children. Stage managers, doing their duty by presenting bad contemporary works, endeavor to introduce into their repertoires the plays of Lope de Vega or Shakespeare-that is, those of their plays that are approved by the Center."[7]

The fourth chapter describes, under the pseudonym Alpha, the life of Polish author Jerzy Andrzejewski[8] and how he came to collaborate with Stalinism in Poland. Before the Second World War, Andrzejewski had been widely admired as the author of Catholic novels and considered himself a follower of Jacques Maritain. Milosz expresses a belief, however, that Andrzejewski's Catholic Faith went only skin deep.

During the Nazi Occupation of Poland, Andrzejewski was one of the leaders of the literary wing of the Polish underground state. In this capacity, he wrote many short stories and gave many underground literary readings that won many recruits and strengthened the morale of the Polish Home Army. Milosz also describes how, upon returning to Poland's capital after the Warsaw uprising, he and Andrzejewski walked together through the rubble and ruins of the city. Milosz then expresses a belief that Andrejewski's belief in the values of honor, patriotism, and loyalty had been destroyed by the horrors of the Uprising.

After the war, Andrzejewski began writing and, as the new Polish began slowly demanding blind obedience from him, he obeyed without question even publicly denounced his past writing for deviating from Socialist Realism. Despite having once written Catholic novels, Andrzejewski also willingly accepting a position making speeches denouncing The Vatican. Ever after, other intellectuals began calling Andrzejewski, "the respectable prostitute."

In 1942, Czeslaw Milosz first encountered Tadeusz Borowski[8] at an underground literary reading in Occupied Warsaw. At the time, Borowski was writing poetry striking for its Nihilistic tone. In 1943, Borowski was arrested by the Gestapo and ultimately imprisoned in Auschwitz.

With extensive quotations from Borowski's short stories, Milosz describes how the former poet survived by being assigned to help unload the transports of Jews who were bound for the gas chambers. In return, Borowski was allowed to keep their food and clothing for himself. Milosz expresses a belief that Borowski's stories should be required reading for anyone who wishes to understand totalitarianism.

After the war, Borowski returned to Poland and, like Andrzejewski, became a propagandist for the ruling Party. Eventually, however, he became disillusioned and fell into a crippling depression. After making several statements about the 1930 suicide of disillusioned Soviet poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, Borowski took his own life. Despite his doubts, his funeral was exploited for propaganda by the Stalinist Government of Poland.

Jerzy Putrament[8]

Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński[8]

The book elaborates the idea of "enslavement through consciousness" in the penultimate chapter, and closes with a pained and personal assessment of the fate of the Baltic nations in particular.