The article focuses on the political and ideological evolution of Andrzej Micewski, with a particular study of the years 1945–1956. This journalist, initially associated with Tygodnik warszawski and Stronnictwo Pracy, made a connection with the group „Today and Tomorrow” after the fall of the independent Christian Democratic trend. Initially, he was a spokesman for the Catholic „third Road” there, but with time he became one of the most ardent supporters of „Catholic socialism” and ideologist of the „PAX” Association. His journalism fully supported the mainstream of official propaganda, expressing his enchantment with the system, incl. in assessing the internal and international situation, as well as in the context of the relationship between the state and the Church, in which he clearly stood on the side of the authorities repressing independent clergy. In 1956, however, he left PAX, founding the weekly magazine “For and Against” and co-creating the concept of a “non-partisan democratic left”. Its defeat probably caused him to believe that there were no prospects for ideological public activity. With time, his activities became more and more machiavellian, also he establishing cooperation with state security agencies. He was active in the “Znak” movement, trying unsuccessfully to build his own faction in it, and in the 1980s he collaborated with the Polish Episcopate and “Solidarity”. In the Third Polish Republic there was deputy to the Sejm, however, already expressing disappointment with political activity. His fascination with Prince Talleyrand was symbolic - it meant that he covered his opportunistic game with great ideas. Thus, he turned from an idealist, a believer in socialism, into a cynical official. He treated politics only as a zero-sum game, despite his excellent understanding of the arcana of politics, which he proved in his extensive historical journalism.

In search of the political concept of “Today and Tomorrow”. Witold Bienkowski’s letter to Bolesław Piasecki in 1947

Witold Bieńkowski (1906–1965) was a Polish Catholic activist, entangled in the dilemmas of the era in which he lived. Before the war, he was associated with Catholic youth movements, during the war, he was an activist of the Front for the Rebirth of Poland. Ge devotedly worked to save Jews in the Council to Aid Jews „Żegota” and in the Jewish section of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Government Delegation for Poland. However, as early as 1944 he was accused of the murder of Ludwik Widerszal and Jerzy Makowiecki, officials from the Information and Propaganda Bureau of the Home Army Headquarters. On the eve of the Warsaw Uprising, he found himself in territories occupied by the Soviet army, where he attempted to act as a government representative for the lands free from Germany. He then made contact with Bolesław Piasecki, but soon he was arrested by the Soviets, with whom he probably held secret political talks. Released by the underground branch in May 1945, at the turn of summer and autumn 1945 legalized thanks to Piasecki, soon assuming the position of editor-in-chief of the „Today and Tomorrow” magazine, and two years later he was appointed a member of the Legislative Sejm. He was a spokesman for the recognition of People’s Poland not only for geopolitical but also ideological reasons, proclaiming the need for radical socio-economic transformations, encouraging Catholics to support them. To gain the authority of this concept, he demanded that the communists should represent Catholics politically, but not in the form of a traditional Christian Democrat party, but with time he came to the conclusion that an informal political environment, even the most influential, meant less than a legal party. Therefore, he became a spokesman for the radical left-wing Catholic party, and when this vision failed, he persuaded Piasecki to formalize their movement ideologically and politically. This is documented by the quoted letter from Bieńkowski to the leader of „Today and Tomorrow” of December 1947, in which he noted that the environment may disintegrate if it is not bound by a specific form serving to implement the program. Bieńkowski quarreled with Piasecki in 1948, later becoming the press clerk of Primate Stefan Wyszyński, and briefly associated with the Christian Social Association. He died, forgotten in 1965, charged with suspicions of the murder of BIP officials. Regardless of this, Piasecki largely took up his concept, creating the „PAX” Association, grading, as Bieńkowski wanted, his leadership and giving it a clear, ambitious program of „overcoming the winner” through „multi-worldview socialism.”