Rozprawa przedstawia związek kultury totalitarnej z tradycją utopii literackiej, omawia jej recepcję w Polsce lat stalinowskich, ukazuje ideologię postępu, tak ważną w komunizmie i w kulturze nowoczesnej, a także przybliża wizje historii w literaturze oraz bolszewicką koncepcję dziejów. Kultura socrealistyczna interpretowana w całości jako utopia społeczna znajduje swoje odbicie w utworach SF doby stalinowskiej, mających charakter literackiej utopii: wbrew założeniom socrealizmu odrzucającego wszelką fantastykę, science fiction znajduje tu swoją niszę.

After having outlined the research area, the author of this dissertation presents a direct relation of this totalitarian culture with the tradition of utopian literature and its reception in Poland during the Stalinist era; this is indicated by the context of the ideology of progress and the adopted Bolshevik conception of history. In the Social Realist culture which, as a whole, is interpreted as a social utopia, the character of the strictly literary formula can be found just in SF works of the Stalinist era. What is meant here are the first novels of S. Lem as well as works of K. Boruń and A. Trepka. What is important is the context of Russian utopian works, also Bolshevik ones such as Red Star of A. Bogdanov. They present socialist utopian literature of the technological character, i.e. are focused on the perspectives of civilisational development and are also called “histories of the future” due to the vision of history that they assumed. Science fiction finds its place in the project of Social Realism although the latter by its very programme rejected any fantasy. The tradition of utopian literature is a key to understanding this astonishing situation. Next, the problem of the European traditions of the idea of the new man is presented. Its particular realization in the 20th century appeared to be homo sovieticus. The problems presented in this work lead to locating Social Realism in comparison to Modernism in which, however, the model of Stalinist culture fits in, which does not question its totalitarian and criminal character.