In his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell used the slogan ‘2 plus 2 equals five’ as a demonstration of the false dogma and absurdity expounded by a totalitarian state. In response, the protagonist of the novel, Will Smith, claims that ‘Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four’. ‘Two plus two equals five’ was originally a communist slogan in the USSR suggesting that the goals of the first five year plan could be achieved a year early if people worked harder. Tomaszewski was one of the greatest masters of the Polish Poster School, which was renowned from the 1950s for its painterly approach, irony and visual metaphor.

The slogan 'May Poland be Poland' is a well known refrain of a song which in the 1980s became a hymn of the opposition and was regarded as an expression of support for the independent trade union Solidarity.

Solidarity, founded in September 1980, was the first free trade union in an Eastern Bloc country. It became the leading political force opposing the communist regime in Poland. Eventually the Polish Government was forced to negotiate with the Solidarity-led opposition, resulting in semi-free elections on 4th June 1989. This marked a crucial stage in the democratic transformation of Central and Eastern Europe.