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Appeal for Olszanski

Manuscript

Author

Author André Breton
Person cited Thomas Olzanski

Description

Handwritten manuscript by Andre Breton dated 4 February 1933, which would appear in the weekly, Lectures du soir, 5-16 February 1933.

Dated 4 February 1933, this manuscript, ‘Appeal for Olzanski’ [sic], was commissioned from Breton by the Olszanski committee and appeared in Lectures du soir, a left-wing weekly publication. Olszanski, a Polish labourer, was deprived of his French nationality because of his union activities by a court that was ‘in the bosses’ pocket’; his case was supported by a huge movement, and notably by the French daily, L'Humanité. It is in the name of the law that Breton protests the court's decision; nevertheless the article is to be read from a revolutionary perspective, which reveals that, despite the surrealists’ break from Aragon and the Communist Party, the possibility of political action was not barred to the group.

Signed handwritten manuscript, 4 February 1933.
- Handwritten manuscript dated 4 February 1933 and signed by André Breton, 2 in-4° pages, in ink, with deletions and corrections.
‘The Olszanski Committee commissioned this text from Breton for Lectures du soir, which he characterizes as a ‘vaguely left-leaning weekly’ and was published between 5-16 February, but was "edited, toned-down, and tinkered with [...] Thomas Olszanski, of Polish origin, secretary of the Fédération unitaire du sous-sol, was faced with governmental repression because of his union activity. Naturalized French in 1922, he had been deprived of his French nationality “on the decision of the court in obedience to the coal companies.”’ [Auction catalogue, 2003, Atelier André Breton website, 2014]

Translated by Krzysztof Fijalkowski

Bibliography

André Breton, (Édition de Marguerite Bonnet avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier, Étienne-Alain Hubert et José Pierre), [Alentours I], Œuvres complètes, tome II, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1992, p. 521-524, et 1629-1630.