ABSTRACT
Most post–World War II textbooks for arithmetic in primary schools were authored by Antoni Maria Rusiecki and Waclaw Schayer. Rusiecki died in 1956 and Schayer in 1959, but the last edition of their book for the first grade appeared as late as 1975. Textbooks for higher grades were usually authored by academics, though Boleslaw Iwaszkiewicz, an algebra textbooks author, was also politically active. He was a member of parliament, an alderman in the city of Wroclaw and co-organizer of the Mathematical Olympiad in Poland. Only the mid-1970s brought deeper changes in the concept of teaching mathematics at primary school and in the team of textbook authors. One could think that mathematics as a "pure science" would be free from propaganda. Three main propaganda issues can be identified in the content of mathematics textbooks: the economic progress of the People's Poland, progress of civilization and propaganda regarding the engagement of citizens of the People's Republic of Poland in the country's life.
