Leszek Kolakowski a simbolizat pentru polonezi ceea ce au fost Monica Lovinescu si Virgil Ierunca pentru romani: constiinta treaza a unei natiuni care a refuzat umilirea. Putea scrie in oricare din limbile internationale. A continuat sa scrie in poloneza. Ministrul de externe al Poloniei, Radek Sikorski, a anuntat ca marele ganditor va fi inmormantat in tara pe care a iubit-o si a slujit-o cu mandrie, spirit critic si demnitate. Polonia lui Mickiewicz, Norwid, Tuwim, Andrzejewski, Iwaskiewicz, Wat, Gombrowicz, Wajda, Skolimowski, Cibulski, Slonimski, Tatarkiewicz, Kisielewski, Pomian, Zagajewski, Polonia lui Chopin,
Polonia lui Penderecki si Gorecki, Polonia lui Zbigniew Herbert si a lui Czeslaw Milosz, Polonia lui Jan Novak Jezoranski, Jan Karski, Michnik, parintele Tischner, Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski, Jerzy Turowicz, parintele Popieluszko, Walesa, Bujak, Modzelewski, Geremek, Jan Josef Lipski, Jakub Karpinski si Jacek Kuron, Polonia cardinalului Stefan Wyszynski si a lui Ioan Paul al II-lea, Polonia civilitatii si tolerantei, Polonia martiriului, agoniei, rezistentei si si a resurectiei, il va conduce pe ultimul drum pe acest print al spiritului. Pe scurt, Polonia lui Leszek Kolakowski.
Leszek Kolakowsk
Pentru alte ecouri, vezi textele din Slate (Christopher Hitchens), Telegraph & Los Angeles Times
dar şi Europe News:
“He said in a lecture at the Australian National University: ‘I do believe, indeed, that the dream of an everlasting universal brotherhood of humankind is not only unfeasible but that it would cause the collapse of our civilisation if we took it seriously as a plan.’ But for anti-communists in Poland, Kolakowski wasn’t just a prolific thinker but a symbol of intellectual freedom. Kolakowski contributed to the victory of democracy in communist Poland, former US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski told the Polish Press Agency. While abroad Kolakowski backed Solidarity, the union lead by Lech Walesa, that held strikes through the 1980s that helped topple communism in 1989.
Kolakowski said the role of philosophy wasn’t just to deliver truth, but to build the spirit of truth. ‘And this means: never to let the inquisitive energy of mind go to sleep,’ he said at a lecture in 1982, a year after martial law was declared in his homeland. ‘Never to stop questioning what appears to be obvious and definitive.’“
Christopher Hitchens:
“To state the thesis very briefly, Kolakowski’s argument was that Stalinism was not, after all, an aberration of Marxism. It was, rather, its logical culmination. It is not necessary to agree completely with this thesis in order to admire the relentless logic of its presentation. If there has ever been a detailed rebuttal written by any Marxist scholar, I have not seen it.”
Intr-adevar, lasand de-o parte ironiile ieftine, contorsiunile sofiste si zambetele condescendente, nici un marxist veritabil, nici macar Eric Hobsbawm, nu a reusit sa formuleze o respingere persuasiva a tezelor lui Kolakowski. De altfel, intr-o discutie pe care am purtat-o la Potsdam, in primavara anului 2005, Hobsbawm isi marturisea admiratia pentru statura morala a ganditorului polonez.
O prelegere despre moartea Utopiei in viziunea lui Leszek Kolakowski se gaseste aici.
[...] facut cunostinta cu ideile sale, indirect, prin intermediul cartilor lui Vladimir Tismaneanu care il citeaza in mod repetat [Reinventarea Politicului - Europa de Est de la Stalin la Havel [...]