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Comrade Ragball and a Slimeball as Unigue Visions of the Other in Postwar Poland He is also ruthless and ready to sacrifice (gnoid; literally, manure) his friends and subordinates. One of them is a semi-illiterate but stubborn peasant character called Deptata (“Trampler’), whom he persecuted and even tortured once with his party comrades. In Figure 4, Deptala is depicted as a peasant wearing rubber boots and overalls, he is also shown as smaller than Szmaciak and leaning forward to show his humility. When Deptata, now a foreman in the plant, comes to see Szmaciak in a dream, Szmaciak reacts in a defensive way because he is afraid that somebody stronger is behind the peasant, and he listens for clues. Szmaciak would have long slated him And kicked him out of the door fast, But the thought keeps pestering him ‘That someone hid behind the bastard And sent the imbecile in here To throw him off his office stool. Szmaciak thinks hard how to destroy Deptala and hatches a scheme to blackmail Deptata and at the same time use him to ruin the career of the local militia head, whom Szmaciak dislikes intensely. In the end Szmaciak dreams that Deptata and his worker companions gain the upper hand over him, laugh at him, and threaten to slaughter him for meat. When thus threatened, Szmaciak shows his spinelessness and blames his party comrades for all the excesses, thus living up to his name again. ‘Thus onto his knees he fell And begs: You won't do that to me! I’m innocent, I wanted good But THEY kept forcing me! How could I have resisted THEM When I had a pistol against my head?! At the same time he has grand, although totally surrealistic, plans for his small town—a motorway, industry, an airport, a harbour, a university, museums—all to amaze the world. His plans fall through as might be expected and he has to save his skin. A ragball as he is, Szmaciak does not shy away from more or less illicit businesses—in fact, he is ready to deal with anyone, including the church, if that helps him out. Since the factory he helped build in Pcim has difficulty selling the unnecessary sheet metal, he is planning to start the production of religious paraphernalia, thus showing his opportunism again. He is also keen to seek pleasure: drink, smoke, and most importantly women. He is particularly keen on the daughter of one of his comrades, whose name is 385
