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SHORT NOTES

held on 11 November (in Warsaw); the restriction of operations in the summer of 1980 (a wave of strikes). Andrzej Friszke points out that the documents also make it possible to assess the scalę of the democratic opposition*s activity at the end of the 1970s. It was greater than has been previously thought. Every month the Security Service confiscated tens of thousands copies of illegal publications, but it estimated that it was taking over at most 20-25 per cent of the edition of each publication. This means that 75-80 per cent of the publications reached their readers. The volume also contains information on the behind-the-scenes policy of the party and State leadership. Friszke holds the view that the authorities’ reaction to the opposition's activities was connected with their policy towards the Church. The book is an important contribution to the history of the democratic opposition in the Polish Feople*s Republic and throws light on the mechanism of decision-making. (KK)

Sławomir Cenckiewicz, Piotr Gontarczyk, SB a Lech Wałęsa. Przyczynek do biografii [The Security Service and Lech Wałęsa: A Contribution to His Biography], Gdańsk-Warszawa-Kraków 2008, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 751 pp., index of persons, annex, ills., series: Monografie

This is one of the most controversial books published in 2008. The authors as-sert that in 1970-6 Wałęsa was registered by the Security Service as its secret collaborator ‘Bolek*. The book evoked an animated debate in which historians, politicians and former activists of ‘Solidarity* took part. The majority of the participants in the debate criticized the book, though its authors met with the support of some recognized historians. The authors say in the preface that their book is not a biography of Lech Wałęsa but a scientific attempt to explain the complex question of Lech Wałęsa’s relations and links with the Security Service and their conseąuences. The book consists of two parts. The first is an extensive analysis of the Security Service’s documents concerning Wałęsa and of the fate of these documents after 1989. The authors also discuss events which in their opinion could be directly or indirectly connected with the past of the legendary leader of ‘Solidartity*. The second part of the book consists of a source annex comprising 86 documents, mainly the Security Service’s operational materials, of an annex presenting photocopies of selected documents and press articles as well as photographs of Lech Wałęsa from 1971. In the authors* opinion, their reconstruction of *Bolek*s’case ‘not only throws new light on Lech Wałęsa’s activ-ity in the Polish People*s Republic but also makes it possible to understand the conditions in which he acted after 1989*. In their view at the end of the Polish People*s Republic at least several score Security Service functionaries knew about Walęsa*s contacts with the Security Service in 1970-6. They suggest that ‘BolekV original file is ‘most probably* in Moscow. Readers may have doubts whether it is worth while (and permissible) to present the biography of any person (especially a prominent politician) in a fragmentary way, on the basis of materials, extensive though they are, coming from only one source. (KK)