The seizure of power

I wanted to introduce a wonderful old but often forgotten book that is not about international law, but about instances law attempts to avoid. It is Czeslaw Milosz’s book, The seizure of power (Zdobycie Wladzy) about the transition from totalitarian Nazi regime to the Communist totalitarian government in the post-Second world war Poland. It describes the fictional story – with parallels in Polish contemporary history – about the installation of the communism regime in Poland. The book was first published in 1952 during Milosz’s exile in Paris and was written in Polish, but anecdotally it was first published in French with the help of Milosz’s friend, who had been translating Milozs’s pages almost instantly from Polish into French. This beautifully written book by one of the worlds’ greatest poets narrates the story about sometimes opportunistic side of human nature, which finds its parallels in almost every contemporary society. In the book, Milosz does not pass judgment on the totalitarian totalitarian regime on but leaves the reader to reflect freely and form its own view. Though the narrative is often sad and it is a message and lesson will stay with you once you put the book down. One can be only appreciate that this book was ever written.