The Manifesto of Socialist Surrealism was an ideological basis of the Orange Alternative movement. The document was written by Waldemar Fydrych and originally was published in the "A" magazine in 1981. "A" included also essays by Wiesław Cupała and Paweł Jarocki as well as some graphics and pictures. It was sold on the streets to the students, workers, and other passers-by in Wrocław and other Polish cities. The continuation of the "A" magazine" was "Pomarańczowa Alternatywa" ("Orange Alternative") paper which was distributed during the students' strikes in November and December 1981. Both gazettes were issued by the New Culture Movement.
The text of the Fydrych's Manifesto was inspired by the Manifesto of Surrealism by Andre Breton and other his works. But the Manifesto of Socialist Surrealism was also a parody of the state socialist propaganda. It rejected the whole realist aesthetics, both the socialist realism from the 1950s and classic realism represented by Dostoevsky, as a boring rationalization of the creative and joyful life. Fydrych affirmed the "living for adventure", irrationality, spontaneous love, an imagination that "means a world without limits". He juxtaposed the philosophers and the politicians and took side of the latter, who in fact change the world:
"We shall soon get rid of the philosophers. Luckily, even in the moments least propitious for surrealism, it has always found refuge in public toilets of every city. Advisable. I recommend such spiritual wanderings. It was there that Icarus soared. It was difficult for pure rationalism to take control of the toilets. Surrealism has prevailed in toilets thanks to the politicians. For nowhere is there such a close relation between relief and the aesthetic feeling. The philosophers attempted to extend their reach also to these places, but their foul hopes misfired. The politicians have always been great surrealists. They are waiting for affection. Let’s love the politicians. The philosophers are defeated.
At present, it’s high time to expose the foul acts of the philosophers before the Tribunal of Surrealism. Next to them, I propose to build a Great Tribune to extol the great deeds of the politicians from. Let’s all have a whole-hearted laugh. The war between materialism and idealism. From the point of view of a vigorous intellect it is but a primitive entertainment. The functionaries of philosophy, Judases of criticism, experts in constraining imagination and spontaneity, do not count on it".
