Tajemnicza bandera i flibustierowie (The Mysterious Banner and the Buccaneers) – later editions titled Flibustierowie (Buccaneers) or less commonly Tajemnicza Bandera (The Mysterious Banner), sometimes with the subtitle Powieść na tle dziejów Indii Zachodnich (A Novel Set Against the History of the West Indies) – is an exotic adventure novel[1] for young readers by Władysław Umiński from 1898 (serialized; book edition from 1901).
[6] According to a post-war reviewer, the book tells the story of "the shameful exploitation of honest immigrants and Cubans by American businessmen who finance a military ship to fight the Spaniards in order to stir disorder and chaos in Cuba before the Spanish–American War".
[3] In 1964, Krystyna Kuliczkowska [pl] commented on the novel as containing "sharp accents of social criticism", writing that the author exposes American machinations in this way: "Capitalists sacrifice hundreds of thousands to earn millions.
[11] Pedagogue Łukasz Kurdybacha [pl], in his Historia wychowania (History of Education) from 1968, spoke positively about the book, writing that it is one of the "novels of enduring value, showing vital national liberation ideas and the plight of wandering emigrants".
[5] The reviewer highlighted the "noble selflessness" of the Polish heroes, which the author "contrasts with the treacherous activities of American buccaneers who, under the guise of aiding the insurgents, expel the Spaniards to secure their own interests and take control of Cuba".