Zanimljiva vremena, nemirna vremena: S Lešekom Kolakovskim razgovarao Zbignjev Mencel

Born in 1927 in a working-class family, Kołakowski became an ardent Marxist and member of the PZPR as a young man. After the war, he studied philosophy, quickly becoming a star – in the 1950s he taught Marxist philosophy, but already at the end of the 50s he began to revise his views (criticism of dogmatic Stalinism, emphasis on humanistic Marxism). Key moment: In 1966, after his famous speech to students on the 10th anniversary of the "thaw", he was expelled from the party for "revisionism". This turns him into a symbol of opposition to the regime.

In 1968, Kołakowski emigrated (first to Canada, then to Oxford). In the book he describes:

• childhood and war (loss of father, hunger, fear)
• illusions of youthful communism and later disappointment
• the internal logic of totalitarianism (later elaborated in Main Currents of Marxism)
• conflicts with the party and student riots in 1968.
• life in exile, meetings with Popper, Berlin and other thinkers
• transition from Marxism to liberal philosophy, Christian tradition and skeptical conservatism

The book is not a systematic autobiography, but a series of conversations - ironic, self-critical, often bitter. The title alludes to a Chinese curse: "May God live in interesting times" - Kołakowski lived in exactly such times and believes that those times were restless, but also intellectually fertile. It shows how ideological obsession leads to disaster, and freedom of thought requires constant vigilance.

The book is an extraordinary testimony of one of the most important critics of Marxism of the 20th century - from a believer to its most serious opponent.