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Background File--Poland 7/92 [OA 7575]
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26
22
6
4
THE HOPE
THAT NEVER DIES
By TAD SZULC
Photographs by
JAMES L. STANFIELD
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHER
A symbolic call to national
vigilance sounds from a fire-
man's trumpet in St. Mary's
Church in Kraków, Poland's
old royal capital. From the
same tower seven centuries
ago, according to legend,
another trumpeter raised
the alarm as Mongol hordes
stormed the city, his clarion
cut short by an arrow in the
neck. Echoing that event, a
watchman now re-creates the
call every hour, day and night,
always halting in mid-note.
Today, six years after the fall
of the free trade union Soli-
darity, the nation seeks to res-
cue its virtually paralyzed
economy while allowing
greater political pluralism.
Unlike the recent past,
Poland's reforms are no longer
at odds with its powerful
neighbor: Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev is now
Poland's principal ally in
economic change. American
journalist Tad Szulc returned
to his native Poland to assess
the political climate. Author of
several studies of politics and
international affairs, Szulc
won an Overseas Press Club
award for his 1986 biography
of Cuba's Fidel Castro.
80
84
ORPUS CHRISTI is the great Roman
A voyage in Poland, then, is an emotional
C
Catholic festival held after
journey through history and tragedy, a so-
Whitsunday in mid-June, and
journ among old and new memories that never
in Communist-ruled but over-
die, a glance at hope and despair, and-al-
whelmingly Catholic Poland it is
ways-the discovery of extraordinary human
an official national holiday. The permanently
beings. It is a pilgrimage along Polish stations
fatigued Polish people-for daily life there is
of the cross. I undertook it not long ago, a
relentlessly hard-are given a day off, and
somewhat aged American reporter returning
joyous, colorful processions fill the streets.
to the place of his birth at a time when history is
This is a stubborn land where history and
again being written there-seven years after
ancient traditions have always battled foreign
the rise and fall of the Solidarity free trade
occupations and regimes imposed by force and
union movement, with Poland possibly ap-
where the citizens have been wedded to non-
proaching still another turning in its history.
conformity for a thousand years.
That a church feast is observed as a high
82
National Geographic, January 1988
is an emotional
holiday in a Communist country may strike an
SIGNPOST FOR THE FAITHFUL, a rude cross
tragedy, a so-
outsider as paradoxical. But as I quickly real-
becomes the site of a roadside prayer meet-
mories that never
ized, it seemed perfectly natural to all the
ing outside the village of Ząb in Poland's
despair, and-al-
proud Poles as well as to their head of state,
mountainous south. The nearby town
Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, who also serves as
of Wadowice is the birthplace of Karol
aordinary human
Polish stations
First Secretary of the Communist Party.
Wojtyła, the Archbishop of Kraków, who
became John Paul II, the first Polish Pope.
not long ago, a
In fact the 64-year-old general had chosen
Despite the official atheism of the Commu-
eporter returning
Corpus Christi to receive me at his Warsaw
nist Party, the Catholic Church remains a
when history is
offices overlooking the lovely royal Lazienki
powerful force in Poland.
seven years after
Park. It was a relaxed late spring morning
idarity free trade
with lilacs in bloom round the sunlit statue of a
and possibly ap-
brooding, romantic Frédéric Chopin. Jaru-
in its history.
zelski greeted me with the remark that he was
served as a high
delighted to have a midweek holiday to afford
January 1988
Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
83
Bc
program, including austerity, decentraliza-
tion, and a turn toward a free-market econo-
my, was formally launched in October 1987.)
He said that he welcomed the cooperation, of
the "moderate opposition" and the Roman
Catholic Church to help shape and implement
these reforms. But he said he would not deal
with opposition financed from abroad, noting
SHIP
with anger that the U.S. Congress had just
voted one million dollars to assist what was left
of Solidarity. The union said the funds would
go for ambulances and medical equipment.
HE PRINCIPAL PARADOX in this land
T
of paradoxes is that the Jaruzelski
who seeks to introduce far-reaching
reforms in Poland-and allows a
degree of political pluralism and relaxation
unique in Communism (though Communist
EAST GERMANY
rule itself is not open to question)-is the same
man who declared martial law on December
13, 1981, and used the army and the secret po-
lice to intern 10,000 Solidarity activists and
smash the organization's entire framework.
This was undoubtedly the worst blow to Polish
aspirations since the end of World War II, and
the nation has not quite recovered from it.
SYMBOL OF UNITY, the Sandomierz Crown,
In 1982, when last we talked, the general
displayed at Kraków's Wawel Cathedral
hinted that destruction of Solidarity was the
o
Museum, recalls the 14th-century reign of
only alternative to a Soviet invasion because
o
King Casimir the Great, who worked to
the Russians thought the union's demands for
strengthen a nation forged from a group
democracy, along with reforms, placed the
NGS CARTO
DESIGN: BC
of small principalities.
RESEARCH:
whole Communist system in danger.
PRODUCTIC
MAP EDITO
But now, Jaruzelski emphasized, the men-
tality of the people in general, including those
him time for a quiet, uninterrupted chat, and
in power, had changed. He told me that he felt
said immediately that I had come to a "much
that the Solidarity workers' protests about
changed Poland, changed for the better."
their conditions and the economy were correct
Jaruzelski, a ramrod-straight officer with a
and justified-and many of the ideas emerging
receding hairline whose military bearing was
from the great ferment of the early 1980s were
softened by an easy, comfortable demeanor
an inspiration and would be implemented.
P
and an informal light-gray suit and blue neck-
Back in those days, the general said, the
AREA:
tie, offered me tea, and we spent the next two
problems were Solidarity's "nonsensical" po-
POPUL
hours together. In his elegantly classical Pol-
litical demands, such as the appeal to workers
CAPIT
ish-rich in historical and literary allusions-
elsewhere in Eastern Europe to rise up in their
ECON
he summarized the endless contradictions and
own Solidarity movements, and the wave of
steel,
paradoxes, many verging on the surreal, that
of coa.
strikes that paralyzed the country.
ricultu
form the phenomenon of today's Poland and
The months that I spent in Poland in the
the lives of its 37 million inhabitants.
preparation of this article, driving thousands
It was the most candid private conversation
of miles from the southern Tatra Mountains to
I have ever had with any Communist leader.
the Baltic seashore and from the wooded Sovi-
The general told me bluntly that his country
et border to the farmlands of the East Ger-
faced immense economic and social problems
man frontier, confirmed to a significant extent
that could be solved only by his program of
General Jaruzelski's assertion that the "New
radical reform of the economy. (Such a daring
Poland" he heads
(Continued on page 94)
84
National Geographic, January 1988
Mining area
Baltic Sea
Centers of the Roman
decentraliza-
Catholic Church in Poland
ree-market econo-.
Gdynia
World War II death camp
SHIPBUILDING
in October 1987.)
Gdansk
the cooperation of
Suleczyno
and the Roman
AYE
Augustów
and implement
POTATOES
would not deal
Olsztyn
Szczecin
abroad, noting
SUGAR
SHIPBUILDING
RYE
MAZURY
BEETS
'ess had just
Bydgoszcz
Blalystok
what was left
Narew
TEXTILES
MACHINERY
the funds would
Torun
RYE
RYE
Notec
Lankowice
equipment.
Odra
Blalowieża
Warta
SEAT OF FIRST
ARCHBISHOP IN
ista
Forest
SEAT OF
GTrablinka
ADOX in this land
ARCHBISHOP
POLAND, A.D. 1000
PIPELINE
Kamienczy
Gniezno
EAST GERMANY
Rlock
SEAT OF
the Jaruzelski
Poznam
MACHINER)
PETROLEUM
ARCHBISHOP AND
PRODUCTS
PRIMATE OF POLAND
far-reaching
Janow
allows a
Wartd
WARSAW
Podlaski
Chelmno
FOOD PROCESSING
and relaxation
FRYE
MACHINERY
Communist
Para
AUTQS
POTATOES
SUGAR
Lodz
ion)-is the same
BEETS
COPPER
TEXTILES
Sobibór
on December
CATHOLIC
Legnica
SEATOE
POTATOES
UNIVERSITY
and the secret po-
U.S.S.R.
ARCHBISHOP
Lublin
COPPER
SHRINE OF
aMaldanek
AIRCRAFT
activists and
Wrocław
OUR LADY OF
AUTOS
framework.
WHEAT
MACHINERY
CZESTOCHOWA
(BEACK MADONNA)
blow to Polish
COAL
Czestochowa
COAL
(SILES)
IRON
RON, STEEL
WHEAT
Vorld War II, and
ORE
WHEAT
POTATOES
Belzeco
from it.
LEAD
*SEAT OF
SULFUR
Zabrze
ZINC
the general
ARCHBISHOP
Dunajec
NATURAL
Katowice
olidarity was the
IRON STEEL
COAL
Krakow
River
GAS
o
50 km
GOALX
IRON, STEEL
nvasion because
COAL
Rzeszów
o
50 mi
Kalwaria Zebrz dewska
WHEAT
demands for
CARPAT
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
NATURAL
placed the
NGS CARTOGRAPHIC DIVISION
Wadowice
DESIGN: BOB PRATT
GAS
danger.
RESEARCH: DAVID MILLER
PRODUCTION: RAMSEY MURRAY, ISKANDAR BADAY
Raturew
Maniowy
MAP EDITOR: GUS PLATIS
, the men-
Zab
Zakopane
2,499
m
8,199 ft
ding those
me that he felt
MOUNTAINS
protests about
my were correct
ideas emerging
early 1980s were
POLAND DERIVES its name from
POLAND
Poland was overrun again, first
mplemented.
the Polanie, or "plains people," a
by Germans, then by the Soviets.
eneral said, the
Slavic group that settled in north-
Following the war, Stalin moved
nonsensical" po-
AREA: 120,725 sq mi (312,677 sq km).
ern Europe before the birth of
Poland westward by placing more
POPULATION: 37.3 million.
Christ. With few natural obstacles
than 50,000 square miles of east-
opeal to workers
CAPITAL: Warsaw, pop. 1,659,400.
to invasion from east or west,
ern German territory under Polish
to rise up in their
ECONOMY: Industries: iron and
Poland has often suffered from the
rule and annexing 100,000 square
and the wave of
steel, shipbuilding, textiles, mining
ambitions of neighboring coun-
miles of eastern Poland to the
of coal, copper, zinc, and lead. Ag-
riculture: potatoes, sugar beets, rye.
tries. The 1795 partition of Poland
U.S.S.R.
Poland in the
among Russia, Prussia, and Aus-
The movement of millions of
thousands
tria wiped the nation from the
people to Poland from the prov-
Mountains to
map. It reappeared as a sovereign
inces swallowed by the Soviets
U.S.S.R.
wooded Sovi-
POLAND
state only in 1918, at the end of
and the displacement of German
North
Moscow
the East Ger-
*
World War I.
Sea
populations from their homes into
gnificant extent
Katyn
The German invasion of Poland
occupied Germany constituted
Vilnius
that the "New
in 1939 sparked the beginning of
one of the most disruptive migra-
EUROPE
Lvov
World War II, during which
tions in postwar Europe.
on page 94)
Poland
VATICAN
before
January 1988
CITY
World
85
War II
Mediter
ranean Sea
A
SEA OF ADULATION greets
unwavering faith by holding up
marched beneath Solidarity ban-
Pope John Paul II as he
a crucifix during the entire
ners through the streets of Gdańsk
celebrates Mass before a
service (right).
until police broke up the
crowd of more than 750,000 wor-
The Pope delighted his audi-
demonstration.
shipers in Gdańsk in June 1987.
ences and angered government
In a further act of support John
Wherever he traveled during his
authorities by repeatedly voicing
Paul met with Solidarity leader
third visit to his homeland since
support for the Solidarity union,
Lech Wałęsa and visited the
becoming Pope, John Paul en-
driven underground since being
gravesite of the Reverend Jerzy
countered welcomes, such as this
outlawed in 1981. "I pray for my
Popiełuszko, a pro-Solidarity
window in Lublin (left) decorated
motherland and foryou workers,"
priest killed by Polish secret
with a Polish flag and pictures of
the Pope told the crowd in
police in 1984. The Pope also said
the Pope and the Black Madonna
Gdańsk, the Baltic seaport city
that if Poland instituted reforms
of Częstochowa, the most revered
where the union was organized.
leading to more freedoms, the
icon of Polish Catholicism. Dur-
"I pray for the special heritage of
Vatican might establish diplo-
ing the Pope's appearance in
Polish Solidarity." Following the
matic ties with the country, a first
Gdynia, a man proclaimed his
Mass, some 10,000 persons
among Eastern-bloc nations.
H
ORRIBLE LEGACY of the
Holocaust is preserved
as a memorial to the
dead and a warning against
forgetfulness at a museum in
Oświęcim-Brzezinka (Auschwitz-
Birkenau). Rabbi Pinchas Gold-
berg (left), a Hasidic Jew from
Brooklyn, New York, views a
mountain of footwear taken from
those imprisoned at the Nazi
death camp in southern Poland.
Of the more than 20 German
concentration camps, Oświęcim is
the most notorious because of the
number of prisoners exterminated
there and because of the hideous
human medical experiments car-
ried out by Dr. Josef Mengele.
During the German occupation of
Work Sets You Free."
and articles of clothing.
Poland in World War II, as many
Upon arrival at the death
Architect Stefan Jasienski
as four million persons were
camp, prisoners deemed unfit for
carved this crucifix (above) in cell
killed at Oświęcim in less than
productive labor, women and
21, where he died on January 1,
five years. Declared a national
children included, were often
1945. It stands as a reminder
monument in 1947, the camp
summarily executed. A separate
that, although the Holocaust was
retains over the main entrance
exhibit called "The Fate of
aimed primarily at Jews, more
gate an arch carrying the German
Mothers and Children" (below)
than a million of those killed at
slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei-
memorializes them with pictures
Oświęcim were not Jewish.
88
OPPOSITE PAGE FOLDS OUT
91
DID NOT HAVE the slightest difficulty in
STEPPING OUT on May Day, the inter-
national socialist holiday, head of state
Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski waves to onlook-
I
meeting openly with former Solidarity
chief Lech Wałęsa, the Nobel Peace
ers (right) as he leads a parade through
Prize laureate-or with the opposi-
Warsaw. In that city's Palace of Culture
tion's most brilliant intellectual figures, such
(below) Jaruzelski addresses members of
as the philosopher Adam Michnik and the me-
the Patriotic Front of National Rebirth,
dieval historian Bronisław Geremek. I found
a group that was created to counter the
these leaders, to say nothing of countless pri-
Solidarity movement.
vate citizens with whom I talked (frequently
all night, as is the Polish hab-
it), absolutely outspoken on
every imaginable topic-
especially whenever it came to
criticizing the government
and the Communist system.
But both Wałęsa and Józef
Cardinal Glemp, Primate of
Poland, told me in separate
conversations that some form
of Polish unity should be built
around the government's re-
form program. Each left me
with the impression that they
may favor a degree of opposi-
tionist cooperation with the
regime under the right con-
ditions. The general told me
that "no doors are closed,"
although he prefers his critics
(Continued from page 84)
is becoming"a
to work through the "consultative council," an
very open country."
advisory body he has created to attract promi-
To be sure, Poland is still far from being a
nent but independent-minded Poles.
Western democracy. Truly free elections even
Cardinal Glemp told me that in his opinion
for the Sejm-the Polish parliament-are not
"General Jaruzelski is a Pole and an intelli-
yet in the cards. The Communist Party's week-
gent man who has a large sensitivity to moral
ly journal, Polityka, is subject to censorship
questions."
because the regime itself isn't certain from day
"He is a Communist," the cardinal said,
to day what it wants and what people should
"but he is a positive man."
be told it wants. There are tensions within the
Glemp's stance of compromise is backed by
party between factions advocating greater
many, but not all, Polish bishops. His judg-
freedom and flexibility and those opposing it,
ment runs counter to the view held in more
and there are enough cases of harassment of
radical opposition circles that Jaruzelski is a
various oppositionists, as dissidents are called
Soviet agent because he served in wartime
in Polish Communist parlance, to suggest
Polish units with the Soviet Army and rose
strongly that the powerful secret police appa-
through the ranks of the military and party
ratus, still enjoying considerable autonomy,
hierarchies to become defense minister and a
sides with the hard-liners. And, as every Pole
Politburo member long before Solidarity.
knows, the state still possesses the power of
Michnik, the philosopher who has spent
capricious arrest and extended detention with-
-four years behind bars since 1981, does not
out trial.
believe in cooperation with Jaruzelski be-
Nevertheless, loud and active opposition
cause, he says, "a Communist regime cannot
movements do exist. Shortly after I left the
really reform itself from within." It has to be
country, police broke up a demonstration of
pressed and pushed, he told me.
4,000 Solidarity supporters in Gdańsk by driv-
Amazingly, many senior government and
ing trucks into their line of march.
party officials tend to be stunningly frank.
94
National Geographic, January 1988
lightest difficulty in
former Solidarity
the Nobel Peace
with the opposi-
ectual figures, such
Michnik and the me-
Geremek. I found
of countless pri-
ked (frequently
the Polish hab-
outspoken on
naginable topic-
whenever it came to
the government
Communist system.
Wałęsa and Józef
Glemp, Primate of
me in separate
that some form
should be built
government's
re-
Each left me
mpression that they
a degree of opposi-
operation with the
the right con-
he general told me
doors are closed,"
prefers his critics
ultative council," an
The general himself admits that Poland's
happily in new high rises-and their minds
to attract promi-
economy remains a veritable nightmare of
would not be poisoned by religion.
Poles.
managerial and production chaos, character-
"But they were wrong on all scores," a for-
that in his opinion
ized by inexplicable shortages of the most
mer Solidarity newspaper editor told me as we
Pole and an intelli-
elementary items, shoddiness of most goods,
toured the forbidding scene of ugly, grimy
vity to moral
and a continuously falling living standard for
apartment buildings and industrial installa-
most of the population.
tions. "Instead of a socialist city, they've creat-
the cardinal said,
He must know that his country is turning
ed a monstrosity. And, finally, they had to
into an environmental disaster whose magni-
capitulate to the pressure of the people and let
romise is backed by
tude I could observe in my travels. The great
us have new churches."
bishops. His judg-
river Vistula is polluted by salinity and other
view held in more
industrial waste. Hundred-year-old trees in
FTER 40 YEARS of Soviet-enforced
that Jaruzelski is a
the forest of Bialowieża in the east are threat-
served in wartime
A
Marxism-Leninism, the steadily
ened by poisonous runoff from a chemical
deteriorating quality of life in Po-
Army and rose
plant. (The forest also happens to be the home
land is a grim daily drama.
military and party
of the largest surviving herd of European bi-
"You know, in the end you lose your will to
minister and a
son, some 460 animals.) The Polish water table
live," said a woman of my acquaintance in
fore
Solidarity.
is dropping dangerously because of unregulat-
Warsaw who works in a government office
who has spent
ed deforestation throughout the country. And
and tries to be a housekeeper and a mother as
1981, does not
the air in the cities of Kraków and Katowice
well-as best she can.
Jaruzelski be-
is thick with the soot from smoke-belching
"I get up at dawn in that tiny apartment of
regime cannot
stacks of their huge steel mills.
ours-you can forget about getting a larger
It has to be
The Kraków mill complex, called Nowa
apartment even if you live to be a hundred-
me.
Huta, was designed by Soviet planners and
and I prepare breakfast for my husband and
government and
ideologues in the early 1950s as "a socialist
the two kids, send the children off to school,
stunningly frank.
city" where workers' families would live
then I rush to catch this horribly crowded red
January 1988
Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
95
streetcar to get downtown to my office. I quit
work around two o'clock, and I go shopping
for food and various things we need. Some-
times I stand in a queue at the butcher shop to
buy meat with my ration card, but often they
run out of meat before my turn comes, so I
race elsewhere to get into another line to buy
something else we can eat. When I get home,
chances are I probably have to walk up the
stairs to our apartment on the sixth floor be-
cause the elevator is usually out of order. Then
I cook dinner, serve it, wash the dishes. And
then it's another day tomorrow, just like to-
day. Some life!"
R. MAGDALENA SOKOŁOWSKA, a
D
leading Polish sociologist and phy-
sician, says that women are the
greatest victims of the system
because the burden of life with its daily respon-
sibilities falls most heavily on them. "Femi-
nism, or women's liberation, does not exist in
Poland," says Dr. Sokołowska. "Polish wom-
en think simply in terms of survival." They
also worry about finding seemingly nonexis-
tent plumbers or electricians as well as about
illness in the family, because the public health
system in Poland is collapsing from bureau-
cratic inefficiency. (Polish medicine has high
traditions, however, and even today pioneer-
blind from drink, along sidewalks in broad
ing surgery is performed by such renowned
daylight. Jaruzelski, who is a teetotaler, has
physicians as heart specialist Dr. Zbigniew
tried to combat alcoholism by raising the price
Religa [pages 106-107]).
of vodka (a bottle containing less than an
Men concentrate on going to work their fac-
eighth of a gallon costs the equivalent of a day's
tory or office shifts, says Dr. Sokołowska, but
salary of a skilled industrial worker). The re-
morale is so low that in the view of a govern-
sults are not noticeable: Queues form in front
ment economist "we have a situation where
of liquor stores awaiting the 1 p.m. opening,
people come to work-rather than actually
just as they do at food stores.
work. It's a marvelous society in which you
This rampant alcoholism accounts for low
don't have to work to get paid by the state."
productivity and high absenteeism from
Another economist observes that "if you have
work. Statistically, every Pole consumes eight
access to U.S. dollars, then you can buy
quarts of pure alcohol annually (the equivalent
anything you want in the Pewex-the dollar
of 16 quarts of 100-proof whiskey), and drunk-
stores-but, of course, this creates new frus-
en driving, according to the authorities, was
trations and divisions between Poles with dol-
responsible for 1,500 deaths and 10,000 inju-
lars and Poles without them."
ries in 1986.
It was Alfred Miodowicz, a former steel-
Sociologists attribute the worsening alcohol
worker and now the head of the government-
problem to the immense strains, psychological
sanctioned trade union organization and a
pressures, and everyday frustrations of life in
member of the Politburo, who summed up the'
Poland's postwar industrial society. For four
situation best in a conversation we had at his
decades Poles have lived from crisis to crisis
Warsaw office: "Our tragedy is that we are a
and from one broken promise to another in cy-
socialist state without social justice."
cles of hope and disenchantment. Stress, pol-
Among the sad sights in Poland are not only
lution, diet, and industry-related degenerative
grown-ups but even teenagers wandering,
diseases are blamed for the alarming drop in
96
National Geographic, January 1988
walks in broad
teetotaler, has
raising the price
OFTEN AT ODDS with the
less than an
government, some of Poland's
valent of a day's
brightest minds strive to
ter). The re-
increase intellectual freedom.
Elected chancellor of Kraków's
form in front
Jagiellonian University during
p.m. opening,
Solidarity's days of official
acceptance, historian Józef
ccounts for low
Andrzej Gierowski (facing
enteeism from
page) fought for the school's
consumes eight
independence from government
(the
equivalent
strictures until his term ended
and drunk-
in September 1987. Medieval
authorities, was
scholar Bronisław Geremek
nd 10,000 inju-
(above) paid for his role as
advisor to Solidarity with time
in prison. In the past novelist
orsening alcohol
Tadeusz Konwicki (left) has
psychological
found it difficult to get his
of life in
books published in his native
ociety. For four
country. He and other writers
crisis to crisis
have attracted a growing read-
to another in cy-
ership in the West.
Stress, pol-
degenerative
arming drop in
January 1988
97
life expectancy in Poland; the central statisti-
percent) or as tourists (32 percent, though
cal office reports that whereas a 30-year-old
some "tourists" do not return home).
man in 1965 could have anticipated another
"There's no country in the world in a state of
41.7 years of life, today he can look forward to
crisis, with the economy as bad as here, where
only 39.7 years.
the society would have trust in the govern-
In sum, this is a bitter nation, and General
ment," Deputy Premier Zdzisław Sadowski
Jaruzelski told me that his overwhelming
told me. "Trust must be created." Sadowski,
priority is to create greater trust among his
an internationally known economist who is
compatriots. It will not be an easy job. In War-
not a party member, was brought into the gov-
saw I read a front-page article in the Commu-
ernment last year and put in charge of reform.
nist Party's daily newspaper, Trybuna Ludu,
"I am fully aware of the tremendous difficul-
acknowledging that the fundamental Polish
ties that face us," General Jaruzelski himself
problem is that "nobody here has any trust in
told me.
anybody else." This mistrust embraces every-
That is an astonishing thing for a Commu-
thing from government policies to personal
nist leader to say. But Communism in this
relationships.
Western-oriented and Catholic land has al-
The Center of Public Opinion Research,
ways been a contradiction in terms. Poles were
created by Jaruzelski in 1982 to assess the
spared the worst of the show trials and mur-
national mood, has reported that most Poles
derous repressions of the Stalin era and experi-
feared further deterioration in their quality of
mented as early as 1956 with liberalizing
life and that a vast majority of high-school
reforms. Land collectivization could not be
graduates felt so hopeless about the future that
imposed in Poland, and today some 70 percent
they wanted to go abroad to earn dollars (51
of arable land is in private hands, cultivated
22
100
National Geographic, January 1988
(32- percent, though
by small farmers who are the framework of
their boycott of state television and are willing
home).
the increasingly important market economy.
to perform again.
the world in a state of
Farming nevertheless is hard work, and young
On another level there is political humor, an
as bad as here, where
people are fleeing the land en masse.
ancient Polish tradition. Pod Egida is a politi-
trust in the govern-
In my travels I did meet a large number of
cal cabaret run by a bespectacled middle-aged
Zdzisław Sadowski
"rich peasants" and even rural millionaires
humorist named Jan Pietrzak in a small War-
created." Sadowski,
who own sumptuous houses (at least one with
saw theater. Over a brandy before the perfor-
economist who is
an indoor pool and a sauna), foreign luxury
mance, Pietrzak told me that he still had to
bught into the gov-
automobiles, and Arabian show horses worth
submit his material to government censors,
in charge of reform.
hundreds of thousands of dollars-all perfect-
but added delightedly that on one occasion a
he tremendous difficul-
ly legal.
friendly censor had confided that the censor-
Jaruzelski himself
Interestingly, much of this farm wealth
ship office had used a videotape of his show to
stems from the age-old Polish tradition of pre-
teach a class in political humor to aspiring
thing for a Commu-
senting flowers on every imaginable occasion.
ideological watchdogs.
Communism in this
A case in point is Czesław Witczak (below
Though Pietrzak is given much latitude in
Catholic land has al-
right), a 49-year-old graduate of the agrarian
anti-regime humor, he can also be bitter
in terms. Poles were
academy at Poznań. Over a lunch of smoked
toward his admiring audience: When they rose
show trials and mur-
eel, turkey, and venison in his marble-floored
in applause one evening, he remarked, "Ah,
he Stalin era and experi-
mansion with swimming pool in the village of
but I remember when you applauded pro-
1956 with liberalizing
Lankowice, near Bydgoszcz in northwestern
Stalinist jokes too!"
tivization could not be
Poland, Witczak told me that he made his for-
Tadeusz Konwicki, Poland's foremost liv-
today some 70 percent
tune selling about 200,000 roses annually from
ing novelist, wrote in a recent book, Moonrise,
hands, cultivated
the long row of glass-covered hothouses he
Moonset (published in the United States in
built several years ago.
LD POLISH CUSTOMS are reviving
O
with unprecedented vigor these
days, presumably as a reaction to
Communist egalitarianism of the
past era. I had heard that these days Commu-
nist men kiss women's hands with an alacrity
unmatched by prewar aristocrats, but I was
startled and enchanted when I saw a uni-
formed militia captain bowing to kiss the hand
of a uniformed lady militia lieutenant as a
morning greeting under a Vistula River bridge
in the city of Toruń.
Revivals of Old World gallantry notwith-
standing, Poland's heart and mind and tastes
are completely in the West. It desperately
wants Western technology and is hopelessly
drawn to Western culture. A Warsaw weekly
22
was serializing capitalist Lee Iacocca's auto-
biography last spring, and James Clavell was
on the best-seller list along with A. A. Milne.
On Polish television Grease with John Tra-
volta was seen in March by 20 million viewers.
But censorship hobbles Polish writing and
A BOUNTIFUL STOCK of baked goods
undermines the famous Polish cinema. How-
attracts shoppers in a state-run Warsaw
ever, if they have time and energy (and the
market (facing page), although many
connections needed to obtain tickets), Poles
consumer items are often in short supply.
can see superb performances at Warsaw's
Making the most of a limited private econ-
Grand Opera and Ballet Theater, attend
omy, Czestaw Witczak amassed a fortune
extraordinary concerts, and even watch good
selling roses grown in his hothouses in
TV since pro-Solidarity actors have ended
the village of Lankowice.
Geographic, January 1988
Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
101
1987): "For two hundred years now, every
1968 when a banned performance of the classic
generation of Poles has had the commandment
play Forefathers' Eve by 19th-century poet
to save the fatherland encoded in its genes."
Adam Mickiewicz, rich in anti-Russian over-
This was true of the Poles who rose against
tones, triggered student riots and a violent
Russian occupation on two occasions in the
wave of repression by the Gomułka regime.
19th century; of the cavalrymen who charged
There followed a demented anti-Semitic cam-
Nazi tanks with lances and sabres in 1939; of
paign, showing the darkest side of Polish Com-
the men, women, and children who fought
munist practices and appealing to the lowest
in the great anti-German Warsaw uprisings
human instincts; at that time there were no
in 1943 and 1944; and of those who battled
more than 40,000 Jews in Poland from the pre-
against Hitler in the British, American, and
war population of three and a half million. To-
Soviet Armies from Italy and France to
day there are five or six thousand, the rest
Ukraine and Berlin.
having fled the country.*
Patriotic history was relived too in March
The common denominator among most of
102
National Geographic, January 1988
ABSORBED IN CREATION, Witold
Lutostawski (left), an internationally
acclaimed composer, ponders a passage in
a new piano concerto. Renown came to
author Edmund Jan Osmańczyk, at home
with his wife, Jolanta, for his monumental
Encyclopedia of the United Nations and
International Agreements.
performance of the classic
by 19th-century poet
the leading figures of contemporary Polish
publications on the theory that this will not
Rich in anti-Russian over-
culture-and they are world-class figures-is
undermine its rule. Instead, underground
dent riots and a violent
opposition to the Communist system in writ-
publishing helps defuse political pressures.
the Gomułka regime.
ten works (including novels and poetry) that
I found Andrzej Wajda, famous for his
mented anti-Semitic cam-
appear in the extensive underground press, in
movies Man of Marble and Man of Iron (a film
rkest side of Polish Com-
public statements and in private conversa-
about Solidarity that was awarded the top
appealing to the lowest
tions, and even in music. Ironically, many of
prize at the 1981 Cannes International Film
That time there were no
them belonged to the Communist Party in
Festival), on location near Warsaw where he
in Poland from the pre-
their youth-as idealists.
was filming Dostoevsky's novel The Pos-
and a half million. To-
The government finds it useful to let the
sessed. His hope, he said, was to make a pic-
six thousand, the rest
opposition print and distribute underground
ture telling the truth about the uprising in the
*See "Remnants: The Last Jews of Poland," by
Warsaw ghetto in 1943; this great Jewish epic
minator among most of
Małgorzata Niezabitowska and Tomasz Tomas-
has never been properly told on film, he said.
zewski, in the September 1986 GEOGRAPHIC.
But he was depressed about the state of
ographic, January 1988
Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
103
Poland and about the state of Polish movie-
were the Oświęcim-Brzezinka (Auschwitz-
making: "There is no money in this bankrupt
Birkenau) and Majdanek death camps, the
ar
country of ours to make good pictures, even
one near Kraków and the other outside
ar
inexpensively. And there's still the censorship
Lublin, where millions were murdered by the
ca
problem facing us.'
Nazis. (At Oświęcim I was deeply moved by a
The scene he was shooting that day was the
group of American Lutheran women who soft-
sa
burning of a Russian village, and the director
ly sang spirituals in front of the death ovens
m
patiently rehearsed young actors in their per-
and passed out tiny paper peace doves.)
formances. "Maestro," the crew and actors
in
called him. His cap jauntily at an angle, his
HE POLISH VIA CRUCIS led me to
tii
high boots giving him a cavalier air, Wajda
was very much the genius at work.
T
the streets of Poznań in the west,
th
where workers first rose against the
no
Epics in Poland, of course, are part of the
regime in 1956, opening the way to
th
political geography. As I traveled across
the first reformist wave; the neighborhoods in
m
the country, history was ever present. There
the port city of Gdańsk, where security forces
A
of Polish movie-
in this bankrupt
were the Oświęcim-Brzezirs protesting price increases
stood in the way of postwar Communist rule.
Birkenau) and Majdanek dinditions in December 1970;
Katyń and Warsaw are bitter memories for
pictures, even
still the censorship
one near Kraków and the Shipyard, where Solidarity
Poles, and Jaruzelski and his like-minded
Lublin, where millions were ten years later.
friend Mikhail S. Gorbachev of the Soviet
Nazis. (At Oświęcim I was Communal Cemetery in War-
Union seemed to understand this when they
that day was the
group of American Lutheran are lit by hidden hands in
announced last April that a historical commis-
and the director
ly sang spirituals in front of iore than 4,000 Polish officers
sion was being formed to discover the truth
actors in their per-
and passed out tiny paper pean Forest in Byelorussia-and
about "gray areas" in Soviet-Polish relations.
W and actors
le 1944 Warsaw uprising vic-
The assumption is that these areas include
at
an
angle,
his
T
HE POLISH VIA CRÜhen Soviet forces, massed on
avalier air, Wajda
Katyń as well as the deportation of perhaps as
the streets of Poznf the Vistula River, would
work.
many as one and a half million Poles to the
where workers firstieir assistance. Poles believe
Soviet Union in 1939, after Soviet forces in-
are part of the
traveled across
regime in 1956, opeted the Warsaw underground
vaded Poland from the east while Hitler was
the first reformist wave; the nuse the underground Home
invading from the west.
present.
There
the port city of Gdańsk, where Communist and would have
T WAS JOSEPH STALIN who literally
I
pushed Poland even farther westward
through the Soviet annexation of east-
ern Polish provinces-including the cit-
ies of Lwów (now Lvov) and Wilno (now
Vilnius), to which Poles had great patriotic
and sentimental attachment. Stalin compen-
sated Poland by awarding it German lands
where Poles had lived for centuries.
It is one thing to redraw borders or grab ter-
ritory, but it is another to slide an entire nation
as a child slides building blocks. As many as
ten million human beings were moved to the
west: Polish populations from the provinces
swallowed by the Soviets were transported to
the former German regions, while Germans
were expelled from their homes to make room
for them.
Even though Poland's economy was greatly
helped by the acquisition of these rich lands,
the migration was one of the most massive and
dramatic in postwar Europe. It involved terri-
ble emotional and cultural shocks, and the so-
cial consequences persist today.
Among those deported was the entire Jaru-
zelski family, including 16-year-old Woj-
ciech, whose father died in Central Asian
exile. Jaruzelski thus spent his youth in what
amounted to a Soviet labor camp where
prisoners felled trees in surrounding forests.
He says Russian
(Continued on page 110)
HORSEPOWERED WHEELS carry coal to
customers in the village of Ratułów near
the Czechoslovakian border. Horses and
carts remain a common sight in the rural
areas of Poland, a nation of 37 million
residents that counts about four million
privately owned motor vehicles, up from
half a million in 1970.
105
HEAVY-METAL MANIA animates onlookers aping guitar
players at a rock concert near Poznań, reflecting Polish
affinity for Western pop culture. Poland's premier film-
maker, Andrzej Wajda (below), works on location in the
village of Kamieńczyk during the shooting of Fyodor
Dostoevsky's novel The Possessed. Wajda walks a fine
line to avoid censorship in creating his often
politically sensitive films.
families who were as poor as the prisoners
acquired even greater significance in 1978
were kind to him, and "that's when Ilearned to
when Karol Cardinal Wojtyła of Kraków was
like the Russian people." Jaruzelski's great-
elected Pope to become John Paul II, the first
grandfather died in Siberia after being impris-
Polish pontiff in history.
oned for his part in the anti-tsarist uprising in
Freedom of worship is absolute in Poland,
1863. History in Poland casts a long shadow.
and in our travels around the country, GEO-
In fact, General Jaruzelski was able in
GRAPHIC photographer Jim Stanfield and I
July 1987 to write-for a Soviet ideological
often felt we were enveloped by ritual. Ur-
journal-that the 1939 Soviet invasion of
ban cathedrals and rural churches overflowed
Poland, and the deportations, were "contra-
at almost every Mass year-round. Easter
dictory to Poland's right of independence."
brought moving acts of faith everywhere in the
country: At Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, a Ber-
INETY-THREE PERCENT of Poland's
nardine Fathers monastery in the hills south-
N
people are Roman Catholics, most
west of Kraków, 30,000 believers slogged
of them fervent believers, and the
through mud in a cold rain to follow a two-day
church is the most powerful non-
Passion play procession with the fathers and
Communist force in Poland. The dialogue be-
village actors in the roles of the martyred
tween bishops and high government officials
Christ, Pilate, and Roman soldiers. In the
touches on all aspects of national life, and
past, we were told, the crowds have become
110
National Geographic, January 1988
he
even greater significance in 1978 hysterical, believing they were seeing the real
During the 120 years when Poland ceased to
arol Cardinal Wojtyła of Kraków was
Christ, and attacked the "soldiers."
exist, divided late in the 18th century between
Pope to become John Paul II, the first
Each year millions of Poles undertake pil-
Russia, Prussia, and Austria, the church was
ontiff in history.
grimages to the holiest place in the country,
the bastion of Polish nationality, the protector
om of worship is absolute in Poland,
Jasna Góra (Luminous Mountain) Monastery,
of the language and the culture. A mural in a
ur travels around the country, GEO-
in Częstochowa to pray at the medieval shrine
sitting room at the Primate's Residence on
photographer Jim Stanfield and I
of the Black Madonna, acclaimed as the
Miodowa Street, where Cardinal Glemp re-
t
we were enveloped by ritual. Ur-
Queen of Poland.
ceived me, depicts the tradition: King Jan III
edrals and rural churches overflowed
The church in Poland is patriotic in the
Sobieski, who stemmed the Turkish tide roll-
st every Mass year-round. Easter
deepest sense and has always been intensely
ing over Europe in the 17th century with a se-
moving acts of faith everywhere in the
nationalist-minded, in the forefront of defend-
ries of great battlefield victories; Marshal
At Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, a Ber-
ing the Polish identity. It emerged with the ad-
Józef Pilsudski, who led Poland into indepen-
Fathers monastery in the hills south-
vent of Christianity in Poland over a thousand
dence after World War I; a wounded Polish
Kraków, 30,000 believers slogged
years ago under the Piasts, the first Polish roy-
soldier at the battle of the Vistula River near
mud in a cold rain to follow a two-day
al dynasty, and has remained ever since an or-
Warsaw, when a Soviet invasion was halted in
play procession with the fathers and
ganic part of national life. When the throne
1920; and a dying Polish Army chaplain bless-
actors in the roles of the martyred
was temporarily unoccupied because of a royal
ing the troops.
Pilate, and Roman soldiers. In the
absence or death, the Primate of Poland served
There has long been a theory in the West
were told, the crowds have become
as interrex, the "king between kings."
that Poles display their faith principally as
National Geographic, January 1988 Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
111
an anti-regime gesture. But Cardinal Glemp
million telephones in Poland-one for roughly
denied this when I raised the point in a private
every seven inhabitants-and much of the
conversation with him at his Warsaw resi-
countryside has no phone service at all. In the
dence. "There is a vast range of attitudes
cities one may wait 15 years for a home phone.
toward religion," he told me, "but I think that
Moreover, Poland has been seized with
there are fewer and fewer Catholics practicing
"videomania," and it is estimated that there
their religion as a form of opposition, to be
are some one million videocassette recorders
against the regime. This is because there is a
in this enormously indebted and impoverished
certain deepening of authentic faith, which
nation. A VCR costs the average industrial
runs against superficiality, and churchgoing
worker the equivalent of 20 monthly pay-
for opposition reasons would be artificial."
checks. A Polish-built Polonez automobile re-
Today Cardinal Glemp plays a crucial if
quires the proceeds of seven or eight years of
subtle political game with the general's
such salaries-but the number of privately
regime. He said that, of course, the church
owned cars surged from half a million in 1970
would always be opposed to Communist ideol-
to nearly four million in 1986.
ogy but recognized that Jaruzelski has taken
This hunger for consumer goods-and the
"little steps" that are "signs of a certain democ-
prestige that their ownership brings-reflects
ratization." Glemp and Jaruzelski have met
a reaction to the material denials during the
privately more than a dozen times. As both
postwar decades as well as the immense frus-
men tell it, there is no reason for continued
tration of the people in the cities, where fam-
antagonism between the church and the Com-
ilies may wait as long as 20 years for an
munist state, though neither cedes an inch
apartment barely large enough for a couple
ideologically. And last July the Polish regime
and two children. Young families, like it or
reversed itself to authorize a ten-million-
not, tend to live with in-laws. A young engi-
dollar, U. S.-funded church foundation to aid
neer in Lódź, the second largest city, told me
small farmers.
that "if we can't have our own home, we can at
least have our own TV in our room, and a
MONG STARTLING CONTRASTS in Po-
A
small car just to get away once a week."
land is the symbolism of the cross
No matter how crowded the home may be, a
and the television antenna in the
visitor is instantly offered tea, coffee, an alco-
countryside, where over 40 percent
holic drink, or a cake that the hosts probably
of the population still lives. Along rural roads,
can ill afford; yet in Poland it is rude to decline
particularly in the less developed areas east
hospitality. There is no rational explanation
of Warsaw (known cruelly as "Poland B"-
for Polish economics in terms of what people
"Poland A" being the more affluent west), one
can afford-VCRs or cars, for instance-and
sees a cross or a shrine with a figure of Christ or
it is therefore accepted that such purchasing
the Madonna every few miles, with fresh-cut
power is made possible through the "Polish
flowers always at the foot.
way"-multiple jobs, moonlighting on gov-
The vast majority of rural houses, some of
ernment time during working hours, bartering
them mere huts, proudly display TV antennas
goods and services, bribery, and the colossal
(sometimes side by side with a rooftop stork
black market in foreign currencies and import-
nest). In 1986 nearly ten million TV sets were
ed or smuggled merchandise.
registered in Poland, roughly one for every
Perhaps as much as half a billion dollars
four inhabitants, which is astonishing when
enters Poland annually in gifts from families
one considers that a black-and-white set costs
living in the United States and elsewhere. And
the equivalent of the monthly salary of a
this finances some of the purchases (the cur-
skilled worker (and 50 percent more than the
rent black-market dollar rate is about four
average wage), and a color set sells for about
times the official rate in złotys).
six times the higher salary.
Poland thrives on contrast. In Warsaw on
On the other hand, there are fewer than five
the eve of the Pope's visit in June 1987, I
GRACEFUL FORM AND NIMBLE GAIT characterize Parys, a purebred Arabian sire raised
at the Janów Podlaski stud farm. Poles captured Arabian horses from Ottoman invad-
ers, but the first stock may have arrived even earlier with knights returning from the
Crusades. Polish-bred stallions have commanded as much as a million dollars.
Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
115
watched work crews replacing the Chinese
flower-filled courtyard at the grave of the
flag on the lampposts (Premier Zhao Ziyang
Reverend Jerzy Popiełuszko, the popular pro-
had just completed an official visit) along the
Solidarity priest who was murdered by Polish
main thoroughfares with the yellow-and-
secret police in 1984.
white standard of the Vatican. For a week Jar-
Jaruzelski did not comment on that episode
uzelski played proud host to his fellow Pole-
but indicated to me that he was not wholly
"Two Great Poles Together," said the caption
enchanted by the Pontiff's approving public
under their photograph on the front page of the
references to Solidarity, though on the whole
Communist Party's official newspaper.
the papal visit was very "positive." He did not
Meeting with opposition intellectuals at a
seem disturbed by the Pope's preplanned en-
Warsaw church, John Paul II walked slowly
counter with Lech Wałęsa in Gdańsk. (When
down the church aisle, and old friends stepped
the Pope came to Poland in 1983, after martial
forward to greet him by his diminutive, Lolek.
law was suspended, Wałęsa was flown in a
Later the Pope visited St. Stanislaw Kostka
government helicopter to meet him more dis-
Church in Warsaw to pray silently in the
creetly in a village in the Tatra Mountains.)
the grave of the
IX YEARS after the destruction of Soli-
the popular pro-
ardered by Polish
S
St. Brygida's Church in Gdańsk that, sooner
darity, Poles remain locked in contro-
or later, "we shall meet [with Jaruzelski] on
versies and arguments. Naturally
the way to reform.' Wałęsa also surprised me
much of the debate revolves around
by indicating he shared Jaruzelski's high re-
on that episode
Jaruzelski and his motives, real or suspected.
gard for Gorbachev and his Soviet reform poli-
was not wholly
While he proclaimed a general amnesty in
cies, and by saying that Solidarity should
proving public
September 1986-thus making Poland the
change its name to "Reform" to emphasize the
n the whole
only Communist country without known
need for evolutionary change in Poland.
He
did
not
political prisoners-and permits reasonably
"Solidarity is immortal as a symbol, he said
preplanned
en-
free debate in the Sejm and the newspapers,
with his characteristic gesticulation, "and Sol-
Gdańsk. (When
radio, and television, the resentments against
idarity will be fulfilled through reform."
after martial
him have not altogether vanished.
Atits peak Solidarity's membership reached
was flown in a
Therefore I was astonished when Lech
ten million, more than one-fourth of the total
him more dis-
Wałęsa told me during an afternoon we spent
population-including one million Commu-
Mountains.)
together at the residence of the parish priest at
nist Party members.
Wałęsa receives daily streams of political
and foreign media visitors at the church resi-
dence, which is virtually his Solidarity office,
after completing his 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift as an
electrician at the Lenin Shipyard. His freedom
to act so openly is another Polish paradox,
though plainclothesmen in unmarked cars
keep track of visitors.
Seeing Wałęsa for the first time since the
euphoria of 1981, I found him much more
mature and sophisticated politically, but as
enthusiastic and optimistic as ever. His mus-
tache bristling, his voice rising to make a
point, he still acts the leader. His views are
more moderate, and he recognizes (as he did
in his autobiography published in French in
Paris in 1987) that he lost control of Solidarity
to "radicals" in the months preceding martial
law. His conclusion, therefore, is that the next
move by democratic groups in Poland should
be more thoughtfully prepared.
One of the most fascinating new Polish insti-
tutions is the Center of Public Opinion Re-
search that feeds Jaruzelski detailed data
(mostly unpleasant) on what people think.
Headed by an intense but good-humored army
colonel named Stanislaw Kwiatkowski, who
also is a Ph.D. in philosophy, the center
was urgently asked for public relations advice
by the Soviet Union after the Chernobyl
FLAMES OF MEMORY burn bright in
Warsaw's Powązki Cemetery on August 1,
the anniversary of that city's ill-fated upris-
ing against German occupation in 1944.
A stone cross memorializes the more than
4,000 Polish officers found buried in a mass
grave in 1943 near the village of Katyn in
the Soviet Union.
119
nuclear plant disaster. Cólonel Kwiatkowski
urged the Soviets to tell the truth-rapidly.
VOICES OF DISSENT find expression through
At home, the center informed Jaruzelski in
a network of underground printing presses
such as this operation (facing page) near
1986-and the assessment was published in
Warsaw. Often imprisoned for his antigov-
the official press-that in the public view the
ernment statements, philosopher Adam
church is the institution serving the nation
Michnik (below) asserts that in Poland
best, with only the army and parliament ap-
today "civil disobedience is the only atti-
proaching it. The poll omitted any reference to
tude worthy of respect."
Poland's Communist Party or
the government; the omission
spoke for itself.
S I THINK BACK ON
my Polish sojourn,
I am reminded
that detail often
helps one understand the
whole picture. And the tab-
leau of Poland is full of tiny
brushstrokes.
At the great Arabian horse
farm at Janów Podlaski, first
established by the tsars of
Russia 170 years ago, govern-
ment permission was quietly
granted a few years ago to re-
store the royal crown over the
letter J (for Janów) on the
brand on the animals' rumps.
Auctioned off once a year, the
beautiful Polish Arabians are
sold for the most part to buy-
ers from the U. S.-and the
royal crown symbol goes with them across the
lived during World War I; I had the address
Atlantic from the farm on the River Bug along
scribbled in my notebook. It was nice to know
the Polish-Soviet frontier.
that a tiny niche of our family history had
At the famous film school in Lódź, I over-
been preserved, just down the street from the
heard an exasperated director shout at a
Rubinsteins.
student actress who was reading her lines
Yet the most significant evocation of the
woodenly: "For God's sake, put some emotion
recent Polish past that I encountered was the
in this! It was Sartre who wrote the play, not
vivid memory of Antoni Słonimski, a great
Karl Marx!"
poet, a man of charm, honor, and humor, a
It was also in Lódź that I came upon a
man respected by Stalinists and liberals, the
two-story building on busy Piotrkowska
guru of Poland's postwar intellectuals, and the
Street downtown, and a plaque next to the
nearest thing to a Polish national conscience. I
main entrance proudly proclaiming that Artur
had the privilege of knowing him before he
Rubinstein was born there in 1887, a century
was killed in a car crash at the age of 81, a doz-
ago. The great pianist was the textile city's
en years ago, and I knew that he had become a
greatest pride, and I was staring so hard at the
legendary figure.
inscription that an elderly lady stopped and
His most famous remark was a simple one:
asked me in Polish: "So maybe you knew Mis-
"When you are in doubt how to act, act decent-
ter Rubinstein?"
ly." I like to think that Antoni Stonimski's
I replied that I had known him since I was a
injunction will define the behavior of his fel-
child, and then I realized I was standing four
low countrymen as they live through the latest
houses away from where my grandparents had
Polish drama.
Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
121
SPECIAL REPORT
Freedom's
Turn
For the first time ever, a Communist regime is
peacefully ousted. Now Solidarity's firebrands
must transform themselves from rebels to rulers
to support Solidarity when the independ-
ent trade union was formed in 1980. Nor
will the new regime be entirely non-
Communist. Poland still has a Communist
president, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, and
Communists run the huge and torpid bu-
reaucracy. As junior partners in the new
coalition, they also will retain control over
the Army and the police. But the new gov-
ernment will be led by Solidarity and domi-
nated, from the wings, by Walesa-an unof-
ficial second president.
And that in itself is an astounding devel-
The East bloc's peaceful revolution: Walesa (left)
opment. For the first time in history, a
Communist regime has been peacefully
turned out of office. Inside what is left of the
Iron Curtain, Eastern Europe's largest,
most populous and most strategically locat-
ed country is to be governed more or less
democratically. For now, at least, Moscow
has acquiesced; under reform-minded Pres-
KOMUNISCI MU A ODEJ.
ident Mikhail Gorbachev, even Soviet satel-
FILIP HORVAT-PICTURE GROUP
lites supposedly have a right to choose their
No room to retreat: President Jaruzelski
own leaders. Yet the mere existence of a
Solidarity government is an implicit threat
oland's Communist government
to tranquillity throughout the communist
P
once ridiculed Lech Walesa as a
world-in the Soviet Union, where restless
sparrow who was trying to pass for
nationalities are stirring up trouble for
an eagle. After imposing martial
Gorbachev, and in countries like East Ger-
law in December 1981, the regime
many and Czechoslovakia, whose conserva-
confined the upstart electrician to a remote
tive rulers have no use for Gorbachev, much
hunting lodge, and when it let him out 11
less Walesa. With Marxist regimes under
months later, Walesa promised to be "very
pressure in countries as far off as Afghani-
prudent." Despite his setbacks, Walesa is a
stan and Angola, a Polish government led
political genius, an instinctive leader who
by non-Communists is a potent symbol, sug-
knows what the crowd is thinking before
gesting the end of an era.
the crowd knows it. Last week, after saying
From his summer home in Maine,
that he did not want to lead a Polish govern-
George Bush watched democracy's prog-
ment, Walesa went out and formed one.
ress in Poland with quiet satisfaction-tak-
Strictly speaking, it is not a Walesa gov-
ing pains, his spokesman said, not to "do
ernment; the man who will take over
anything or say anything to upset the apple
as prime minister this week is a Roman
cart." The reaction in Poland itself was
Catholic lawyer-journalist named Tadeusz
similarly muted and considerably less san-
Mazowiecki, 62, one of the first intellectuals
guine; the prospect of a Solidarity govern-
16 NEWSWEEK AUGUST 28, 1989
ment produced no torrent of
hope and joy. Perhaps that is
because the economy is in such
desperate straits, hamstrung
by bankrupt smokestack indus-
tries, galloping inflation, a
crushing foreign debt and a sul-
len, cynical work force. Now
Solidarity has inherited the
failures of communism, and
there is real doubt whether it
can clean up the mess. If the
party is over for the Commu-
nists, it also has ended, in a
sense, for Solidarity's fire-
brands, who must transform
themselves, almost overnight,
from rebels to rulers.
Overturning a government
can be much easier than run-
ning one. But throughout their
tortured history, nothing has
come easily for the Poles, or for
their conquerors. At the start
of World War II, Poland was
brutally carved up by Germany
and Russia. Only last week
the Kremlin finally admitted
what Western historians have
known for decades: that Hitler
and Stalin secretly agreed, 50
years ago this week, to divide
Poland and other parts of East-
ern Europe into spheres of Nazi
and Soviet influence. Poland
MALANCA-SIPA
was easily swallowed but diffi-
peaceful revolution: Wiecki (center) at a demonstration in Gdansk, anti-Jaruzelski protest in Warsaw
cult to digest. Stalin once com-
plained that imposing communism on the
stubborn Poles made as much sense as
putting a saddle on a cow. After bitter re-
pressions under a dreary succession of Com-
JHRUZELSKI
munist bosses, Jaruzelski was forced to ad-
mit, earlier this year, that the Communist
ISCI
MU
Party's leading role in Poland "already is
history."
An election surprise: The general has been
retreating for months. Last November, af-
ter a wave of summer strikes, his govern-
ment refused to negotiate with Solidarity,
which was still outlawed. In January, the
regime offered to negotiate. In April, it
legalized Solidarity and invited the union
to participate in a partly free election. Ja-
ruzelski gambled that the Polish United
Workers' Party, as the Communists offi-
cially are known, could hold its own. In
June, the voters proved him humiliatingly
wrong. Solidarity won 99 of the 100 seats in
the Senate, the upper house of Parliament,
thereby gaining the power to delay legisla-
tion. In the ruling lower house, the Sejm,
Solidarity won all of the 161 seats it was
allowed to contest.
Although the government still had a
working majority, the balance of power in
the Sejm lay with two small parties, the
Peasants and the Democrats, which in the
past had been docile junior partners of the
DRUSZCZ WOJIEK-AFP
NEWSWEEK : AUGUST 28, 1989 17
Four Decades of
Repressive Rule
<0000
INTERNATIONAL NEWS PHOTOS
1945
With Warsaw destroyed by
World War II, the Soviets
1958
Russian tanks crush a
general strike in Poznan,
installed a Communist government
killing more than 70 Poles
UPI/BETTMANN NEWSPHOTOS
Communists. Now the Communists were
gathered support for a Solidarity govern-
darity is a labor union," he likes to say,
losing control of the political situation.
ment, Walesa hinted that he himself would
"and I am a union leader." A better leader
Czeslaw Kiszczak, the man Jaruzelski
be prime minister. society wants it, I will
than an administrator, Walesa might pre-
named prime minister late last month, ad-
have to go to the prime minister's office," he
fer to run for the above-the-fray post of
mitted that he could not form a govern-
said, "but I would prefer someone else."
president when Jaruzelski's term expires
ment. Even reform-minded Communist
That made the deal sweeter to the Peasants
in 1995. For now, he will keep himself in
deputies were getting out of line. On Thurs-
and the Democrats. But when legislators
reserve, in case Poland's problems are too
day the Sejm voted overwhelmingly for a
voted to give him the nomination, he de-
much for Mazowiecki or some subsequent
resolution condemning the Soviet-bloc in-
clared: "I will not be prime minister. There
Solidarity prime minister. "Walesa is their
vasion of Czechoslovakia, which occurred
are better people than Walesa."
last card," says a U.S. official.
21 years ago this week and included a con-
Walesa believes that his place is with
Walesa eventually presented Jaruzelski
tingent of Polish troops led by Jaruzelski's
what he calls "the angry masses." He chose
with a list of three potential prime minis-
Defense minister.
not to run for Parliament last June. "Soli-
ters. In addition to Mazowiecki, they in-
As the regime floundered,
the Peasants and Democrats
thought about changing sides.
The circumstances were just
The New P.M.: Piety and Pragmatism
right for Walesa to carry out
what Communist Party leader
S
ome time ago, Tadeusz Ma-
Nazi concentration camp. He
intellectuals and striking ship
Mieczyslaw Rakowski later de-
zowiecki (pronounced tah-
trained as a lawyer, worked as
workers into alliance. Like
scribed as "a coup d'état." Wa-
DAY-oosh mah-zoh-VYET-
a journalist and served as an
Geremek, Mazowiecki stayed
lesa sent an aide to Warsaw to
skee) authored the first Polish
opposition member of Parlia-
on to advise Walesa. For
tell Solidarity's members of
book on Catholic-Marxist dia-
ment. (He was barred from
his efforts, he spent a year
Parliament that he would pro-
logue. By most accounts, the
seeking re-election after inves-
in a Communist internment
pose a broad coalition govern-
next prime minister of Poland
tigating the 1970 police massa-
camp. In 1988 Mazowiecki
ment, including the Peasants
is a man who will now practice
cre of workers in Gdansk.) An
helped mediate with striking
and Democrats and any other
what he preached. Tall, soft-
early and active supporter of
workers, and this year he took
"pro-reform elements."
spoken and sad-eyed, Mazo-
Poland's fledgling labor move-
part in the "round table" nego-
No one else: "It's better to stay
wiecki has a reputation for
ment, Mazowiecki emerged in
tiations that led to Solidarity's
in opposition," Walesa had said
piety and a knack for compro-
the 1970s as one of the coun-
legalization. He chose to keep
after the June election. "We
mise. He is also a crusader.
try's leading Catholic lay-
himself off the ballot in June,
should wait and prepare for
Tellingly, the symbol he chose
men-"the epitome," as one
but was reportedly Polish Car-
elections in four years' time,
for his magazine Wiez, or Link,
insider put it, "of the Warsaw
dinal Jozef Glemp's top choice
when we would be ready to take.
an independent Roman Catho-
Catholic intellectual.
for prime minister. Mazo-
power." Suddenly, he was pre-
lic monthly, is Don Quixote
Mazowiecki met Lech Wa-
wiecki finds support as well
pared to take at least partial
tilting at windmills.
lesa in August 1980, during
from a higher source: "I am a
power now. Solidarity's stun-
Born in 1927, Mazowiecki
the first days of the Gdansk
believer, he said last week,
ning victory in June was a man-
came of age amid political tur-
uprising. With Bronislaw Ge-
and I believe that Providence
date that could not be shrugged
moil. He lost a brother in a
remek, he brought dissident
cares for us.
off, especially since no one else
seemed able to govern. As he
18 NEWSWEEK AUGUST 28, 1989
PHOTOREPORTERS
CHRIS NIEDENTHAL-BLACK STAR
1970
Polish militia tear-
gas workers rioting
1980
Solidarity
shuts down
1981
Martial law is
imposed in a
over food shortages in Gdansk
the Gdansk shipyards
Communist crackdown
PETER MARLOW-MAGNUM
cluded Bronislaw Geremek, who leads Soli-
ity for the choice of a prime minister.
wants to keep a low profile on nationalist
darity's deputies in the Sejm, and Jacek
In any case, the choice was not difficult.
issues that could cause it considerable dis-
Kuron, a charismatic intellectual who has
Kuron, who has given the Communists
comfort this week. Demonstrations are
made dissidence his life's work. There was
almost as much trouble as Walesa, was un-
planned in the restless Soviet republics of
no constitutional requirement to give Jaru-
thinkable. Something of a carouser, he re-
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to mark the
zelski a choice. "Maybe Walesa wanted to
sponded to his nomination by bellowing:
50th anniversary of the Hitler-Stalin pact,
save the general's face, to present him as
"Ridiculous! Ridiculous! If my name is on
which eventually ended their independ-
the decision maker," suggested Klemens
the list, it can't be serious." Geremek is a
ence. And in Prague, protesters planned to
Szaniawski, a Solidarity member who is
serious contender; an able politician and a
observe the 21st anniversary of the Soviet
studying at the Woodrow Wilson Interna-
respected medieval scholar, he might be the
invasion, despite a threat by the hard-line
tional Center for Scholars in Washington.
next prime minister if Mazowiecki falters.
Czech government to use force against ille-
Walesa may also have wanted to co-opt
But Mazowiecki, an ardent Catholic, is sup-
gal demonstrations.
Jaruzelski, forcing him to take responsibil-
ported by the country's influential primate,
What Moscow wants most from Poland is
Cardinal Jozef Glemp, while Geremek is
stability, a period of relative calm in which
widely believed to be Jewish, a handicap in a
the Soviets can move ahead with their own
nation where anti-Semitism still runs deep.
political and economic reforms. Apparent-
Mazowiecki is not a member of Parliament,
ly the Kremlin has concluded that Commu-
but that could be an advantage, since he
nists alone can no longer keep the lid on in
cannot be blamed for one of the new Sejm's
Poland. Moscow acknowledges tacitly that
worst decisions. The Sejm indexed salaries
some form of coalition is needed, and al-
to the skyrocketing prices, thereby making
though it obviously would prefer the new
it even more difficult for the new govern-
regime to be led by some faction other than
ment to get inflation under control.
Solidarity, it cannot say so without appear-
Knowing where you are: As he put together
ing to intervene in Poland's internal af-
his new coalition, Walesa made a key
fairs. If Poland remains unstable despite
concession. He promised that the Defense
Solidarity's leadership, Moscow might
Ministry and the Interior Ministry, which
eventually intervene to stop anti-Soviet ri-
controls the police, would remain in Com-
ots or an attempt to withdraw from the
munist hands. And he said Poland would
Warsaw Pact. Soviet intervention would
not pull out of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet-
not necessarily be military. Even in 1981,
led military alliance. "Poland cannot forget
Soviet troops did not move; instead, Mos-
where it is situated, he told a West German
cow orchestrated a crackdown by the Pol-
television interviewer. "You know weare in
ish military.
the Warsaw Pact. That cannot be changed."
Gorbachev's reformers do not want any
In Moscow, a Soviet Foreign Ministry
kind of crackdown on Poland. Their pro-
spokesman called Walesa's position "sensi-
gram of perestroika (restructuring) de-
ble." Yevgeny Primakov, an aide to the
pends heavily on increased Western loans,
CZAREK SOKOLOWSKI-AP
vacationing Gorbachev, told a U.S. con-
träde and technology transfers. All of
Soft-spoken intellectual: Mazowiecki
gressional delegation that the choice of a
these would be put at risk by a crackdown
non-Communist government was "entirely
on Poland-and doomed by an outright
a matter to be decided by Poland." Moscow
Soviet invasion. Still, the "Polish model"
NEWSWEEK AUGUST 28, 1989 19
worries reform-minded Soviets, who fear
that the pattern of the early 1980s-
strikes and disorders leading to military
repression-could be repeated in their
country. "God save us from that, because
we would be thrown decades backward, as
the Polish experience shows," commenta-
tor Fyodor Burlatsky wrote in the newspa-
per Moskovsky Komsomolets. "In Poland,
they only now are beginning to do what
should have been done 10 years ago-to
pursue a policy of national consensus."
Bush's path: In Washington and Kenne-
bunkport, the Bush administration took
heart. One of the pet theories of the
Reagan administration, articulated by
former U.N. ambassador Jeane Kirkpat-
rick, was that right-wing "authoritarian"
governments can change for the better,
Supporting Poland's progress toward pluralism: Walesa with Bush in Gdansk last month
but Communist regimes cannot. Bush be-
lieves, from personal experience, that
communism can indeed be changed. He
highlight," said a senior aide. "But he rec-
and a reduction-and relaxation of the
likes to talk about his 1987 visit to Po-
ognizes the process is very fragile, and he
repayment terms-of its foreign debt,
land, when he stood on a church balcony
doesn't want to do anything to throw it off
which now stands at $39 billion. Last week
with Walesa, looking out over a huge
the path."
Bush was making no promises. Spokes-
crowd that chanted: "Long live Bush!
Solidarity's government must do what
man Marlin Fitzwater said it would be
Long live Solidarity!" During his visit to
the Communists could not do: reduce in-
"premature" to talk about new assistance
Poland last month, he supported progress
flation, put meat and consumer goods onto
for Poland. He promised only that the
toward political pluralism, offering $119
store shelves and make Polish industry
United States would "increase aid as ap-
million in economic assistance. "This is
more competitive. In July, Walesa told
propriate and as we can."
the path to democracy he's been encourag-
Bush that Poland needs $10 billion in in-
At this point, Poland needs discipline as
ing and his trip to Poland was intended to
ternational aid over the next three years
much as it needs money. Economist Jan
Solidarity's Man Can Lead, But Could He Govern?
t seemed almost jarring last
ply, he demands; when they
by his shipyard employers. In
Weschler. He expects that
week when Lech Walesa,
dissemble, he clamors. Even
1980 Solidarity was born. A
when the next crisis comes,
the embodiment of Solidarity,
the ubiquitous dark suits that
year later, when Walesa was
Walesa will again duck power,
did not assume power along
lend an air of authority to the
arrested and martial law de-
turning instead to his closest
with his party. Indeed, when
most ordinary political aspi-
clared, the movement seemed
adviser, Bronislaw Geremek.
the gruff, heavyset movement
rants have always hung stiffly
finished. Even last year his
Only if the crisis reaches
leader submitted the names of
on him. He's more comfortable
star seemed to fade as a young-
"Armageddon," Weschler pre-
three colleagues for the post of
in T shirts. "He is one of
er generation of Solidarity
dicts, will Walesa agree to take
prime minister-pointedly ex-
them," said veteran Walesa
members labeled him a traitor
on the job of prime minister.
cluding his own-even some of
watcher Lawrence Weschler
and accused him of caving in
Walesa's humility is not
his closest advisers were taken
of The New Yorker. "He has
to the Communists in strike
feigned. Born in a small clay
by surprise. At the moment of
been formed, primordially,
negotiations
cottage in the town of Popowo,
victory, Walesa walked away
by many of the same things
His reticence last week may
his formal education consisted
from the trophy. Some be-
that have formed the Polish
have been a shrewdly calculat-
of only the primary grades fol-
lieved it was because he was
reality."
ed move. By sidestepping polit-
lowed by vocational training
not prepared for the harsh re-
Like his countrymen, Wa-
ical responsibility now, Wa-
as an electrician. Thus, when
alities of governing. "What
lesa has had to learn how to
lesa will almost surely avoid
the Nobel laureate (he was
will Walesa do if there's a gen-
persevere in defeat. From his
blame for the inevitable prob-
awarded the Peace Prize in
eral strike?" asked Edward
first days as a lean and feisty
lems of debt, poverty and
1983) says that he feels un-
Wende, a leading lawyer and
union organizer outraged by
shortages later. By placing
qualified for the role of prime
Solidarity representative in
the killings of fellow strikers
others ahead of him on the
minister, he may only be ex-
the Senate. "How will he re-
in 1970, Walesa's political for-
rungs of power, Walesa gave
pressing a genuine sense of
act-as a union leader or a
ays have been followed by at
Solidarity a safety net. "If
his own very real unprepar-
statesman? It will not be easy."
least momentary retreats. In
Lech Walesa had been made
edness. According to White
Walesa, in fact, has never
1970 a protest against price
prime minister right now,
House aides, George Bush
been one to play the tradi-
hikes ended in brutal repres-
then when things inevitably
shares this assessment. Bush
tional, predictable politician.
sion Six. years later he was
blow up in the next couple of
privately describes Walesa as
When other politicians intone,
elected to head the Lenin Ship-
months there would have been
an exceptionally levelheaded
Walesa shouts; when they im-
yard's union but then was fired
no fallback position, explains
guy who understands his limi-
20 NEWSWEEK AUGUST 28, 1989
tary for ideology, said at a news conference
after the meeting finally ended. The par-
ty's top leaders still had to decide precisely
what those terms would be, including the
number of seats the Communists would
seek to occupy in the new cabinet.
Walesa was hopeful about what lay
ahead. "It is an incredible success for our
struggle," he told the Associated Press.
"But now let us see it in practice."
Mazowiecki contemplated his future in an
idyllic spot, a glade on the grounds of a
home for blind children several miles out-
side Warsaw. "I find my inspiration here,
where there is SO much suffering and yet
these young children maintain their opti-
mism," he told Polish television. He said
his government would be a "wide coali-
CHESNOT-SIPA
tion," not the "grand coalition" that would
What Moscow wants is stability: Gorbachev embraces Jaruzelski in Poland last year
imply heavy participation by the Commu-
nists. He admitted that the prospects were
Vanous of PlanEcon, a Washington firm,
By late last week it still was not
daunting. "I am terrified," he said frankly.
prescribes a leadership that can tough it
clear how wholeheartedly the Communists
But he added: think we can do a lot, we
out with both labor and the state enter-
would cooperate with the new government,
can release the forces in ourselves. I think
prises, hold down wages and prices and
or to what extent the bureaucracy would
it will not be easy, but it is possible." For a
make drastic changes in the economy
drag its feet to thwart reform. At a stormy
movement that was outlawed until only
through rapid privatization and an open-
meeting of the party's Central Committee
last April, Solidarity had come a long way.
ing to foreign capital. "I cannot envision a
on Saturday, hard-liners argued inconclu-
A quickening sense of possibilities might
government representing mostly labor
sively with reformers. "The party Central
just be enough to carry it through.
unions essentially pursuing what has to be
Committee is prepared to cooperate in a
RUSSELL WATSON with ScoTT SULLIVAN
a Thatcher-type economy," Vanous says,
coalition, but not on just any terms,"
in Warsaw, JANE WHITMORE in Washington,
THOMAS M. DEFRANK in Kennebunkport and
referring to Britain's prime minister.
Slawomir Wiatr, the committee's secre-
FRED COLEMAN in Moscow
tations as well as his poten-
union leader often makes
tial," said one close aide. Wa-
his decisions "absolutely
lesa may believe as well that if
independently," says Klemens
he were to assume a govern-
Szaniawski, a Solidarity mem-
ment role, he would squander
ber now visiting the Woodrow
his greatest strength: his un-
Wilson International Center
canny ability to inspire the
for Scholars in Washington. A
Polish people and pave the
case in point is the decision
way for radical change.
Walesa made last week-with-
But what if Walesa is finally
out telling his closest advis-
forced to enter government?
ers-to form an alliance gov-
He may find himself caught
ernment with the two small
between his allegiance to the
parties formerly allied with
workers, who want lower
the Communists.
prices and higher wages, and
To avoid replacing one form
his duty to a government that
of dictatorship with another,
cannot afford to provide ei-
Walesa will have to learn how
ther. As prime minister, he
to make the sort of trade-offs
would need to provide more
and logrolling deals familiar
than inspiring speeches, more
to lawmakers in Western de-
clarity than passion. So far he
mocracies. Bankers, workers
has not done that. "Walesa
and opposition groups will
PHILIPPOT-SYGMA
loves to be right in the end. So
want concrete results that can
On his own time:
he always says what he means,
come only from compromise
Taking a day to go
and then says the exact oppo-
and concession. To survive in
fishing after winning
site," observed Jan Rokita; a
this new, more complex en-
the Nobel Peace
Solidarity deputy from Cra-
vironment that he himself
Prize in 1983, and as a
cow. Walesa's sometimes dic-
helped to create, Walesa may
young union
tatorial style could prove trou-
have to learn that traditional
organizer during strike
blesome in a parliamentary
politics can work, too.
talks in 1981
government. Though he seeks
C. S: MANEGOLD with SCOTT
out and listens to advice, the
SULLIVAN in Warsaw
JOSEPH CZARNECKI-JB PICTURES
NEWSWEEK AUGUST 28, 1989 21
SPECIAL REPORT
Scenes From
a Hard Land
N
EWSWEEK photographer Arthur Grace spent two
weeks earlier this summer taking these portraits of
Polish life. Grace, who has visited Poland a dozen times
since 1977, says the country is "politically better, but in
almost every other way it seems to be worse." Privation
is the norm. Young couples there commonly wait 20
years for a home of their own. (Parents often put their
children on the waiting list for apartments at birth.)
The phone system is so bad that for many weeks this
summer, people whose phone numbers began with 4
were unable to get through to those whose numbers
began with 3. Not surprisingly, many Poles wish to
leave the country. The lines of visa seekers outside
Western embassies are often more impressive than
those outside meat shops.
wee
at
his
RESU
In Warsaw, a man
YCH
SOLDASADE
KATOWICE
SOLDARNOS
was
am
sells a dress at the
BZEGO DEATYFIKACJE POPIESPORT
NJ
KSIEZY-
weekly Sunday flea
INA -
MORDERS
market. Also for sale:
secondhand
sneakers, old tires,
used appliances.
Left: A nun at the
grave of Roman
Catholic priest Jerzy
Popieluszko, slain
by security officers.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ARTHUR GRACE-NEWSWEEK
26 NEWSWEEK : AUGUST 28, 1989
UNN
Complete with
sound truck, a
Communist tries
something new and
different in Poland:
standing for election.
In the countryside,
a family travels
the timeless way.
Half the farms
still use horse-
drawn plows.
Poland
Country Profile: Poland
Official Name: Republic of Poland
Government
Membership In
International Organizations
Type: Republic.
Independence: 1918.
UN and several specialized agencies,
Constitution: October 1990 (as
including the International Monetary
amended).
Fund (IMF); the World Bank (IBRD);
Branches: Executive-chief of state
General Agreement on Tariffs and
(president). Legislative-bicameral
Trade (GATT); Conference on Security
National Assembly (lower house)—
and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).
Sejm, upper house-Senate).
Judicial-Supreme Court, provincial
Government and Politics. Poland has
and local courts.
the largest population in Eastern
Administrative subdivisions: 49
Europe (37.8 million). The government
provinces (voivodships).
was communist from 1947-89, when,
Political parties: Almost all freely
after 9 years of strikes and struggle,
elected seats in the present parliament
the labor union Solidarity, led by
are held by members who were
electrician Lech Walesa, helped form a
supported by Citizens Committees
government led and dominated by non-
Geography
organized by Solidarity before the June
communists. In January 1990, the
1989 elections. These Sejm deputies
Polish United Workers' (Communist)
Area: 312,680 sq. km. (about 120,725
and senators formed the Citizens
Party dissolved itself, creating in its
sq. mi.); about the size of New Mexico.
Parliamentary Club (OKP). As plans
place the new party of Social Democ-
Cities (1988): Capital-Warsaw (pop.
are made for parliamentary elections in
racy of the Republic of Poland. Most of
1.7 million). Other cities-Lodz
which all seats will be freely contested,
the property of the former Communist
(851,500), Krakow (743,700), Wroclaw
many new parties are emerging.
Party was turned over to the state.
(637,400), Poznan (586,500), Gdansk
Suffrage: Universal over age 18.
Local elections in May 1990 were
(461,000).
National holiday: Constitution Day,
entirely free. Candidates supported by
Terrain: Flat plain, except mountains
May 3.
Solidarity's citizens committees won
along southern border.
Flag: Two equal-sized horizontal bands
most of the races they contested. In
Climate: Temperate continental.
of white (upper) and red (lower).
October 1990, the constitution was
amended to allow election of the
People
Economy
president by general suffrage and,
Nationality: Noun-Pole(s).
Growth rate (1989 est.): -1.6%
curtail the term of President Wojciech
Adjective-Polish.
Per capita GNP: $4,565 (purchasing
Jaruzelski. In December 1990, Lech
Population (1990): 37.8 million.
power parity estimate).
Walesa became the first popularly
Annual growth rate: Negligible.
Inflation rate (1990): 4.9%. (November
elected president of Poland.
Ethnic groups: Polish 98.7%,
1990; equals 60% annually).
The present government structure
Ukrainian 0.6%, Byelorussian 0.5%,
Natural resources: Coal, sulfur,
reflects compromises made in an
Jewish 0.05%.
copper, natural gas, silver, lead, salt.
agreement between the former commu-
Religions: Roman Catholic 95%,
Agriculture: Products-grains,
nists and the opposition. The bicameral
Eastern Orthodox, Uniate, Protestant
sugarbeets, potatoes, livestock, oilseed.
legislature (the National Assembly)
5%.
Industry: Types-machine-building,
comprises the 460-member Sejm (lower
Language: Polish.
iron and steel, extractive industries,
house) and the 100-member Senate
Education: Years compulsory-8.
chemicals, ship-building, food-process-
(upper house). The president nomi-
Attendance-97%. Literacy-98%.
ing, glass beverages, textiles.
nates a prime minister who, together
Health (1989): Infant mortality rate-
Trade (1989 est.): Exports-$28.5
with his cabinet members, must be
13/1,000. Life expectancy-males 68
billion: machinery and equipment, coal,
approved by the Sejm. A new constitu-
yrs., females 77 yrs.
minerals, metals. Imports-$24.4
tion is being drafted, and a new
Work force (1988): 17 million.
billion: machinery and equipment, fuels,
parliament will be elected in 1991,
Agriculture-28.5%. Industry and
minerals, metals, agricultural and
probably in October.
construction-36.5%. Trade,
forestry products.
Judicial proceedings are carried out
community services, transport,
through a Supreme Court and provin-
communications-18.2%. Government
cial and local courts.
and other—16.8%.
208
US Department of State Dispatch
March 25, 1991
Poland
The Economy. Poland is undergoing a
(official bilateral creditors including the
The United States responded to grad-
profound transformation as the govern-
United States), which extended to
ual human rights improvement in
ment rapidly introduces a free-market
Poland a rescheduling agreement in
Poland in 1983-84 by easing sanctions.
system to replace the centrally planned
1990. The fifth rescheduling since 1981,
After an amnesty for political prisoners
economy of the communists. During
the 1990 agreement included a tempo-
was declared in September 1986, the
1990, economic reform stopped
rary moratorium on debt-service
United States began a re-engagement
hyperinflation, stabilized the currency,
payments.
that led to the lifting of sanctions in
brought an end to chronic shortages of
At a March 15, 1991, meeting, Paris
February 1987, when President
consumer goods, and produced a sizable
Club members agreed to a minimum
Reagan restored Poland's most-
trade surplus. At the same time,
50% reduction of the Polish debt they
favored-nation tariff status. In 1988,
however, the economy suffered a
hold (individual creditors can offer a
the United States and Poland upgraded
recession, with sharp declines in
larger reduction if they choose). They
their diplomatic relations and ex-
industrial production and real incomes
also agreed to a restructuring of Polish
changed ambassadors.
and steadily increasing unemployment.
debt that will reduce interest payments
President Bush, who visited Poland
The United States and other Western
due over the next 3 years by 80%.
as vice president in 1987, paid a state
countries have been supporting the
visit in July 1989, shortly after the
growth of a free-enterprise economy by
Defense. Poland is reducing arma-
parliamentary elections in which
providing direct economic aid, restruc-
ments to levels agreed upon in the
Solidarity candidates scored an over-
turing the debt, rescheduling
Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces
whelming victory.
payments, and encouraging private
in Europe, signed in Paris in November
After Walesa's visit to the United
investment in Poland.
1990. About 50,000 Soviet troops
States in November 1989, Congress
Poland is a member of the Interna-
remain in Poland under Polish-Soviet
passed the Support for East European
tional Monetary Fund and the World
agreements, mainly to provide logisti-
Democracy (SEED) Act, which
Bank, has applied to join the Council of
cal support to Soviet troops stationed
authorized a $928 million assistance
Europe, has a trade and cooperation
on the territory of the former East
program for Poland and Hungary. Key
agreement with the European Commu-
Germany. Negotiations are underway
provisions of the act were a $200
nity (EC), and wants to join the EC by
on their withdrawal and on terms for
million contribution to the $1 billion
1995.
the transit through Poland of Soviet
international fund to stabilize Poland's
forces being withdrawn from Germany.
currency and a $240 million grant to
Foreign Trade and Debt. Poland had
create an enterprise fund to promote
a current account surplus of more than
Foreign Relations. Poland is develop-
development of Poland's private sector.
$1.8 billion for the first three quarters
ing a new, independent foreign policy,
The Polish-American Enterprise
of 1990, but its trade balance suffered
while strengthening friendly ties to the
Fund supports training and technical
during the fourth quarter because of
United States and other Western
assistance, primarily in Polish-owned
rising oil prices and other factors. Oil
countries. Poland now has a permanent
companies, Polish-American joint
deliveries from Iraq (made to offset
observer at NATO headquarters and is
ventures, and occasionally in subsidiar-
Iraq's $500 million debt to Poland)
pursuing associate status in the
ies or affiliates of US companies with
stopped in August 1990 in keeping with
European Community. Poland took
business operations in Poland. The
UN sanctions, while at the same time
part in the Two-Plus-Four meetings
fund focuses on small and medium-sized
Soviet deliveries fell below projected
concerning the borders of unified
companies. These and other SEED
levels. With the unification of Germany
Germany. A Polish-German border
programs were designed to support the
in October 1990, traditional Polish
treaty confirming existing frontiers
Polish government's economic-reform
trade ties with East Germany, one of
was signed in November 1990 and
program and the country's rapid
Poland's major trading partners, were
awaits ratification by Germany.
transition to a free-market economy.
disrupted.
During Mazowiecki's visit to Wash-
Poland's external debt exceeds
US-Polish Relations. The birth of the
ington in March 1990, the United
$46 billion, and its debt-service ratio
Solidarity labor movement in 1980
States and Poland concluded a business
(the ratio of hard debt-service obliga-
raised US hopes that progress would
and economic agreement to promote
tions to hard-currency earnings) is one
be made in Poland's foreign relations as
closer economic and trade ties. The
of the world's highest, even after
well as in its domestic development.
Senate has ratified the agreement,
successive reschedulings by Poland's
US policy throughout the Solidarity
which is awaiting ation by the Sejm.
commercial and official creditors.
period had two goals:
Poland is reorienting its political and
Scheduled debt-service payments in
1989 amounted to $5.2 billion (equiva-
To encourage greater respect for
economic relations to pursue an
human rights and individual freedom;
independent foreign policy and to
lent to about 60% of the value of total
and
develop a competitive free-market
exports in hard currency), but only
To avoid interference in Poland's
economy. As it does so, the close
about $1.5 billion was paid. Most of
internal affairs.
cooperation that exists in US-Polish
Poland's foreign debt (about $33 billion)
relations is expected to continue.
is owed to Paris Club governments
Toward this end, for example, the
US government provided $765 million
of agricultural assistance during 1981.
March 25, 1991
US Department of State Dispatch
209
POLAND 729
POLAND
Pilsudski begins revolutionary activity in Russian-occupied areas; forced to flee.
1905
Germans create puppet government as Russians retreat; Pilsudski and others oppose it.
1916
Polish National Committee formed in Switzerland is recognized by Allies.
1917
As Germans and Austrians surrender, republic is proclaimed; first Polish state since 1772.
1918
Pilsudski abandons attempt to form socialist government in favor of Paderewski, who becomes first premier.
1919
Treaty of Riga ends war with Bolsheviks; gains Poland much territory.
1921
Construction of new port begins at Gdynia.
1924
Severe depression; Russian-German treaty causes fears; Pilsudski seizes power and institutes limited dictatorship.
1926
Pilsudski dies; military government continues.
1935
Secret Nazi-Soviet agreement leads to invasion from West, then East; first shots of World War II fired at Danzig (Gdansk).
1939
Nazi death camp at Auschwitz/Birkenau begins extermination of between one and three million Jews, Gypsies, Poles
1941
and others.
Graves of 4,300 Polish officers found in Katyn Forest; Soviets blame Nazis; at Teheran Conference, Roosevelt and
1943
Churchill secretly agree to Stalin's demand for Poland.
1944
Soviet army delays entering the capital until Warsaw Uprising is crushed by Germans; 200,000 die.
1945
Boundaries shifted west at Potsdam Conference; U.S. and Britain recognize Soviet-installed government.
1949
Government, now openly communist, begins period of severe Stalinist repression.
1956
Worker protests crushed; Gomulka assumes power and begins limited Stalinization.
1970
Strikes at Gdynia and Gdansk lead to Gomulka's ouster.
1979
Visit of Polish-born Pope John Paul II stirs religious and nationalist feelings.
1980
Czeslaw Milosz wins Nobel Prize for literature; strikes in essential ports and coalfields force legalization of unions;
Solidarity, a union of all trades, is formed; electrician Lech Walesa becomes leader.
1981
With up to 10 million Solidarity members demanding free elections, General Jaruzelski imposes martial law and arrests
union leaders.
1983
International sanctions lead to lifting of martial law but contribute to rapid decay of Polish economy; Solidarity continues
underground; Nobel Prize for peace to Walesa.
1988
As economy crumbles, wave of strikes questions communist ability to govern.
1989
Solidarity relegalized; Jaruzelski agrees to sweeping changes: free-market economy, elections, press freedom; Solidarity
gains control of new parliament; Mazowiecki becomes first noncommunist prime minister in Eastern Europe since 1945.
1990
Communist Party disbanded; republic proclaimed; Solidarity splits as Walesa defeats Mazowiecki for presidency; many
Poles express dissatisfaction with Solidarity and ruined economy by voting for maverick Polish-Canadian businessman
Tyminski; Soviets admit Katyn Forest massacre.
the Field (1963). In 1967 he played lead-
Polish forces in WORLD WAR I for Austria
of Poland was quickly followed by a So-
ing roles in three hits: a schoolteacher in
against Russia. In 1920, taking advantage
viet invasion from the east. Poland fell
inner-city London in To Sir, with Love; a
of Russia's internal upheaval, Poland
and WORLD WAR II began. Wladyslaw
black detective from the North investi-
fought for and regained additional terri-
Raczkiewicz formed an exile government
gating a murder in the deep South in In
tory, which- was ceded in a 1921 treaty.
in Paris, which moved to London when
the Heat of the Night; and a man about to
In August of 1939 NAZI Germany and the
France was occupied in 1940. In 1941 Ger-
enter an interracial marriage in Guess Who's
U.S.S.R. signed a treaty containing a co-
many attacked the U.S.S.R. and took all
Coming to Dinner. In the 1970s he directed
vert agreement to divide Poland between
of Poland. Polish communists fought
and costarred in several films with Bill
them. In September the German invasion
alongside the Soviets. The Poles formed
(OSBY. After an absence from the screen,
he reemerged in 1988, directing and star-
nng in the chase thriller Shoot to Kill.
Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski
For further reading:
(left) and Solidarity
Bergman, Carol, Sidney Poitier. New York:
leader Lech Walesa sit
Chelsea House, 1989.
together during the first
Marill, Alvin H., The Films of Sidney Poiti-
session of Poland's
a New York: Carol Publishing Group,
newly created senate
1978.
(July 3, 1989).
Poland. Eastern European nation bor-
dered on the north by the Baltic Sea, the
east by the SOVIET UNION, the south by
(ZECHOSLOVAKIA and the west by GER-
MANY. Divided among Russia, Prussia and
AUSTRIA after 1795, Poland did not gain
independence until 1918 under the lead-
"rship of Jozef PILSUDSKI, who had led
730 POLANSKI, ROMAN
an alternate government in 1944, the Pol-
Paris, Polanski grew up in Crakow, Po-
ish Committee of National Liberation,
land. A survivor of the HOLOCAUST, he
biased, and instead favored a "multicul-
which the Soviets recognized. Declaring
later attended the Polish Film School at
tural" approach to history and literature.
itself the Provisional Government of Po-
Lodz (1954). During the late 1950s he
Political correctness aimed at a larger crit.
land, it moved to Lublin, where it was
wrote, directed or acted in several short
icism of Western society, which was
joined by some of the exiled government
films. His first feature, Knife in the Water
viewed as controlled by white males
from London. The Allies recognized it at
(1962), brought Polanski international no-
the expense of women and minorities.
the YALTA CONFERENCE in 1945. A 1944
tice. He subsequently moved to England,
On some campuses, faculty members
treaty between Poland and the U.S.S.R.
whose courses did not conform to
where he directed Repulsion (1965) and
established their border at the CURZON
Cul de Sac (1966). His first HOLLYWOOD
called "politically correct" ideologies were to
LINE, but Poland gained territory from
film was The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967),
denounced as racist or sexist and were
Germany to the west in an Allied agree-
a horror film spoof. It was followed by
often denied tenure. Critics of political
ment after the war, so the country was
Rosemary's Baby (1968), a suspense thriller
correctness viewed it as a latter-day left.
effectively shifted westward and millions
about witchcraft in New York City that
wing version of MCCARTHYISM. The term
of Poles resettled. Elections in 1947 estab-
became a popular hit and is regarded as
was used derisively by those who saw it
lished a "people's republic" in Poland,
a classic of its genre. The following year
as an extremist attempt to rewrite history
and in 1952 a new constitution was
Polanski's wife, actress Sharon Tate, was
and stifle intellectual debate. President
adopted, thus beginning a repressive,
murdered by Charles MANSON. The sen-
George BUSH weighed in against the idea
STALINIST government with close ties to
sationalism and publicity surrounding the
of political correctness in an address at
the U.S.S.R. Poland's government also
case drove Polanski to seek refuge in Eng-
of 1991.
the University of Michigan in the spring
sought to abolish the Roman Catholic
land, where he directed a controversial
For further reading:
church. In 1956, following strikes and riots
adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth (1971).
over food shortages and Soviet control,
Polanski's Chinatown (1974), starring Jack
Kimball, Roger, Tenured Radicals: How Pol.
Wladyslaw GOMULKA was elected leader
itics Has Corrupted Our Higher Education.
NICHOLSON, was an acclaimed mystery in
New York: HarperCollins, 1990.
of the United Workers Party. Gomulka
the FILM NOIR style. The Tenant (1976), in
eased restrictions on private farming and
which Polanski also acted, was a morbid
Pollard, Fritz (Frederick Douglas)
released Cardinal Stefan WYSZYNSKI, who
(1894-1986). American athlete and coach.
psychological drama. Shortly thereafter
had been imprisoned in 1953. Strikes again
Polanski was arrested in California for
In 1916, after a sensational season as a
broke out in 1970, and Gomulka was suc-
halfback for Brown University, Pollard
statutory rape. While awaiting trial he
ceeded by Edward GIEREK. Opposition to
jumped bail, fled the U.S. and settled in
became the first black to be named to an
his government mounted through the de-
all-American college football team. He was
France. His subsequent relationship with
cade and peaked in 1979 after the first of
the only black head coach of an NFL
actress Nastassia Kinski, whom he di-
three visits by Polish-born Pope JOHN PAUL
team, until Art Snell was named a head
rected in Tess (1981, an adaptation of
coach in 1989.
II. In 1980 a strike that started in the
Thomas HARDY'S Tess of the D'Urbervilles)
Gdansk shipyards spread to all indus-
Pollock, Jackson (1912-1956). American
also caused considerable comment. His
tries, and the government conceded
later films include Pirates (1986) and Fran-
painter. After finishing school in the West,
workers' the right to strike. Lech WALESA
tic (1988).
Pollock moved to New York City and
formed the SOLIDARITY (Solidarnoa) union.
enrolled in the Art Students League (1930-
For further reading:
It sought workers' rights and liberties. In
33). Pollock was interested in abstract art.
Wexman, Virginia W., Roman Polanski.
1981, following a national strike for a five-
His paintings became splotches and
Boston: G.K. Hall, 1985.
day work week, Premier Pinkowski was
splashes and drippings and textures, said
Police. U.K. rock group; formed in 1976
replaced by General Wojciech JARUZEL-
by some critics to be thoroughly con-
by bassist Sting (Gordon Sumner), gui-
SKI. Martial law was imposed, Solidarity
trolled. His paintings started the art
tarist Andy Summers and drummer
banned and its leaders arrested. The U.S.
movement that later became known as
Stewart Copeland. They stirred little in-
responded by initiating economic sanc-
the "action school." Beginning in 1973
terest in the then punk-dominated music
tions. In 1982 curfews were eased and
his paintings brought the highest prices
scene until all three dyed their hair blond.
further rioting occurred. Lech Walesa was
ever paid for contemporary art. His The
Their music was more cerebral than that
released from prison and martial law sus-
Search was sold in 1988 for $4,840,000.
of their peers, with a pronounced THIRD
For further reading:
pended. Following another conciliatory
WORLD influence. Their breakthrough al-
Frank, Elizabeth, Jackson Pollock, 1912-1956.
visit by the pope in 1983, the government
bum, Outlandos Amour, included the hit
New York: Abbeville Press, 1983.
granted amnesty to political prisoners,
"Can't Stand Losing You." Although they
Naifeh, Steven, Jackson Pollock: An Amer-
releasing 35,000 of them in 1984 on the
claim to still exist as a group, all have
ican Genius. New York: Crown, 1989.
40th anniversary of the People's Repub-
pursued solo careers since the early 1980s.
lic, the remainder were released in 1986.
Pol Pot [born Saloth Sar] (1928-). The
Their last number-one hit as a group was
notorious leader of the Cambodian KHMEB
The U.S. loosened its sanctions, which
"Every Breath You Take" in 1983. Sting's
were lifted in 1987. Martial law ended in
ROUGE was born in Kompong Thom prov-
solo career included a critically dismissed
1984, but many restrictions were still in
ince, the youngest of seven children in 8
Broadway appearance in Threepenny Op-
family that could be classified as "rich
force. Food shortages continued, and op-
era and film work in Dune and The Bride.
peasants." He attended a Catholic pri-
position to the government grew. Follow-
He has made many concert appearances
mary school in Phnom Penh and Noro-
ing widespread strikes in 1988, the gov-
on behalf of Amnesty International, as
dom Sihanouk High School in Kompong
emment was forced to recognize Solidarity
well as ecological causes.
and allow it to participate in elections in
Cham City. In 1949 he received a schol-
political correctness ["pc"]. A contro-
1989, when Solidarity-backed candidates
arship for a two-year technician's course
versial concept, and the term used to
at the Ecole Francaise de Radioelectride
won overwhelmingly in parliament. The
describe it, that surfaced in many Amer-
Polish government, still facing shortages,
in Paris. There Pol Pot joined a small
ican universities in the late 1980s and
group of Cambodian students in the
has announced programs to restructure
early 1990s. "Political correctness" or "pc"
"Marxist Circle." He returned to Phnom
the economy, including plans to privatize
was especially prominent in humanities
Penh in 1953 and later joined the Vist
industries. Walesa was elected president
departments at Duke and Stanford uni-
namese-Khmer UIF cell in the eastern
in 1990.
versities, among other institutions. Fac-
zone. In 1955 he returned to Phnom Penk
Polanski, Roman (1933- ). Polish actor
ulty members who advocated "political
and became involved with the Khaser
and director. Polanski is widely con-
correctness" generally saw the classroom
People's Revolutionary Party or KPRP.
sidered one of the most original and dis-
as a forum for instilling "progressive" or
Throughout the 1950s he gained increase
turbing film directors of his generation;
"correct" political ideals in their students.
ing control over party activities in the
both his movies and his personal life have
PC advocates criticized traditional courses
city. After the murder of party leader Tou
generated much controversy. Born in
in Western literature and civilization as
Samouth in 1962 (perhaps by the Pol Pot
INTERNATIONAL
POLAND
Michener's Harsh Reading
ames Michener specializes in long books
understanding of the church,"
J
with short titles that almost always end
says Sliwinski, who faults
up on the best-seller list. "Poland,"* the
the book for neglecting the
76-year-old author's latest magnum opus, is
church's primary place in Pol-
no exception. Like its predecessors "Ha-
ish history. Sliwinski said that
waii," "Chesapeake" and "Space," "Po-
Michener committed another
land" is the result of years of research, travel
"stunning" oversight when he
and just plain hanging out by the author,
skipped Poland's 19th-century
who made a dozen visits to the country since
uprising against Russia-a
he began working on the novel in 1977.
clash that many believe is cen-
Michener interviewed everyone from the
tral to Polish attitudes toward
archbishop of Cracow-now known as
its powerful neighbor.
Pope John Paul II-to survivors of Mai-
Michener also draws fire for
danek, a Nazi concentration camp where
his neglect of Poland's Jews.
hundreds of thousands of Poles, Jews and
The 1944 Warsaw uprising gets
Gypsies were exterminated. But as English-
only a passing glance, and the
language copies of the book begin to make
pogroms that were a regular
their way into Poland itself, some Poles are
part of 17th- and 18th-century
saying that Michener got it wrong.
Jewish life in Poland are cov-
The critics include both government offi-
ered in a single sentence: "Ani-
cials and their detractors. "Michener is
mosities did sometimes flare."
Stanislaw Moszuk
sympathetic toward Poland," said Stanis-
His Polish critics find Mi-
The author (right) in Poland: Did he get it wrong?
law Glabinski, director of the government-
chener's treatment of the Soviet
run Interpress news agency. "But liking and
Union ideological to a fault. "The book is
mation," said Andrzej Werner, a critic at
understanding the country are two different
permeated with anticommunist, anti-Soviet
the Institute for Literary Studies.
things." Krzysztof Sliwinski, the former
outbursts," Glabinski wrote in the news-
Michener would like the book to be pub-
head of Solidarity's foreign department in
paper Polityka. A highly placed government
lished in Poland, but he has yet to receive a
Warsaw, says that Michener "wants to say
adviser complains that Michener "tends to
firm offer. If a deal goes through, Michener
that all Poles are good patriots. [That's a]
interpret the postwar period as if it was all
could be paid in Polish zlotys. He says he
terrible oversimplification."
imported on Soviet bayonets." Even former
doesn't mind: "I'd go there and spend
Neglect: The novel is a compassionate ac-
Solidarity official Sliwinski pummels Mi-
them." The book would probably be cen-
count of the Polish people's long struggle
chener's version of Polish history: "All that
sored, but that doesn't seem to bother Mich-
against oppression. It begins and ends in
is bad is attributed to evil power in the East,
ener either. "I wouldn't be a party toit butit's
1981 with a confrontation between rebel-
and that is a very simple philosophy."
what a vigorous writer expects to happen."
lious farmers and the Polish minister of
Michener defends the accuracy of his
In the meantime, a Polish-American
agriculture. In between, Michener sand-
novel. He admits excluding important his-
group is negotiating for the rights to distrib-
wiches 700 years of Polish history, told from
torical events, but says that in the case of
ute a Polish-language translation in the
the viewpoint of three families. All the char-
the Warsaw uprising his rural setting ruled
United States, a project Michener supports.
acters end up being related to each other, but
out any extensive treatment. Polish critics
One reason, of course, is that when the
it isn't Michener's novelistic invention that
leave Michener unfazed. "In any divided
translation is published, copies will un-
bothers the Poles. It's what he leaves out.
country," he said, "there's a divided re-
doubtedly reach Poland-and the only
The Roman Catholic Church, for instance.
ception." And "Poland" does have Polish
omissions would be Michener's own.
Michener "seems honestly lacking in an
defenders. "Even with its mistakes and mis-
D. D. GUTTENPLAN with DOUGLAS STANGLIN
*Random House. $17.95
understandings, there is pretty good infor-
in Warsaw and TESSA NAMUTH in Houston
The Godfather Game
loes as "10 bodies at the bottom of the bay."
Not all of Italy thinks it's fun. The real Mafia
Mafia
The object is to gain control of Sicily-its air-
was involved in crimes that took 280 lives in Sicily
ports, real estate, construction projects, banks
last year. Sociologist Pino Arlacchi says that to
and, most important, its billion-dollar drug trade.
make a game of the mayhem is "in appalling
But the players use dice, not guns. From Milan to
taste." Father Ennio Pintacuda, who works with a
Messina last week, a board game called Mafia was
social-studies center in Palermo, agrees: "Chil-
becoming Italy's answer to Monopoly. The rules
dren should be educated into revolt and rejection
call for each Mafia "family," abetted by hench-
of the Mafia," he says. For the defense, Sergio
men, to move around a map of Sicily selling heroin
Battista, a representative of toy sellers in Rome,
and eluding the police. The state fights back with
replies, "That a child identifies with the robbers in
two policemen, a secret agent and a prefetto, or
a game doesn't mean that he is going to become
provincial governor. Mafiosi increase their luck
one." Score one for enterprise. But it left unan-
when they draw cards giving them a "mole in local
swered another unsettling question: whether kids
headquarters" or a "hired gun from Las Vegas."
or godfathers are playing, what chance do the real
They lose points to the state for such peccadil-
police have for winning the game?
NEWSWEEK/JANUARY 16. 1984
45
WORLD
SAUDI ARABIA
Pilgrimage
to tragedy
Catastrophe strikes
in Islam's holy city
ORBAN/SYGMA
I
t was sweltering hot, nearly 44° C, as
devout Moslems attending the last days of
the annual haj, or pilgrimage, surged
through the 550-m-long pedestrian tunnel con-
Mazowiecki and Walesa: a warning not to question the legitimacy of government
necting Mecca to a tent city in Mina last week.
Without warning, Saudi officials said later, a
railing on a bridge above the tunnel gave way,
POLAND
sending seven pilgrims tumbling to their
deaths on top of people below. Some witnesses
said that the air-conditioning system had also
A cabinet shakeup
failed, adding to the panic as people gasped for
breath in the airless tunnel. A stampede ensued.
As the frightened pilgrims pushed and shoved
their way to exits, hundreds of people were
trampled to death. Many more suffocated. "It
The prime minister bows to Walesa's demands
was an unbearable sight," said one survivor
from his hospital bed. "I lay on a heap of more
than 20 bodies." In all, at least 1,426 people
n recent weeks, the coalition government
peaceful Polish road to democracy," he said.
died, and scores more were seriously injured.
I
of Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz
"At a time of great change in our part of the
Saudi Arabia's King Fahd described the July
Mazowiecki has had to grapple with a
world, Poland cannot afford for the legitimacy
2 tragedy as "the will of almighty God." Said
major rail strike. It also dispatched police to
of the legislative authorities to be questioned."
Fahd: "Perhaps it was their fate to become
break up two protests by angry farmers de-
Mazowiecki's supporters have been outspo-
martyrs." But, to Iranian leaders, the accident
manding guaranteed prices for their produce.
ken in their opposition to Walesa's ambitious
showed that the Saudis were not fit to adminis-
But Mazowiecki's most serious problem was a
plans to replace former Communist leader
ter Islam's holiest shrines around Mecca,
potentially ruinous power struggle between
Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski as president. The war
which is the birthplace of Mohammed, the
workers and intellectuals in Solidarity, the
of words turned into action last month, when
seventh-century prophet and founder of Islam.
once-banned trade union movement whose
63 top intellectuals resigned from Solidarity's
"This is a bitter incident which cannot be taken
dramatic rise to power last September inspired
200-member Citizens' Committee, signalling a
lightly," said Iran's President Ali Akbar
democratization throughout Eastern Europe.
fundamental break within the union.
Hashemi Rafsanjani. Iran boycotted the haj for
Its leader, former shipyard electrician Lech
Observers said that Mazowiecki's conces-
the third year in a row to protest a Saudi ban on
Walesa, has accused "eggheads" in the Solidar-
sions last week were an attempt to keep Soli-
political protests and a quota limiting the num-
ity-led government of destroying Poland's
darity from disintegrating and to gain Walesa's
ber of pilgrims from each country. When Iran
"beautiful revolution" with austere economic
crucial support as Poland struggles to create a
last allowed its nationals to attend the haj, in
policies and collusion with former Communists.
free-market economy. To that end, he won
1987, pilgrims staged anti-Western demon-
In turn, supporters of Mazowiecki have ac-
parliamentary approval to fire the ministers of
strations, and 402 of them, mostly Iranians,
cused Walesa of "despotic" behavior. But last
interior, defence and transport, all former
were killed in clashes with security forces.
week, under fire from his former ally,
Communists, and the minister of agriculture,
Most of the two million pilgrims who come to
Mazowiecki waved the white flag.
who is a member of a party formerly allied to
Mecca annually are frail and elderly, making
In a major speech to parliament on July 6, the
the Communists. In an embarrassing reversal
the once-in-a-lifetime haj demanded of Mos-
prime minister attempted to restore momen-
for Mazowiecki, however, the parliament,
lems. The Saudi government provides medical
tum to his government's flagging reform pro-
where ex-Communists still hold two-thirds of
care, builds tented pilgrim cities and distrib-
gram by bowing to Walesa's key demands. He
the seats, refused to back the firing of the
utes free umbrellas and cold water. Soldiers
announced the resignations of several cabinet
communications minister.
patrol the sacred sites, and plainclothes securi-
ministers, including three of the four former
With the cabinet shuffle, Mazowiecki ap-
ty men mingle with the crowds. Despite all
Communists who remained in the government
peared to have won some measure of political
those efforts, hundreds of pilgrims die each
as the old regime's price for Solidarity coming
peace. But it could well be short-lived. At
year from sunstroke, occasional epidemics-
to power last fall. He also urged more rapid
week's end, the country's 2.5 million farmers
or violence. But while Moslems around the
privatization of state enterprises and proposed
threatened nationwide roadblocks to protest
world mourned last week's disaster, their grief
that presidential and parliamentary elections
the government's economic austerity.
was tempered by their belief that pilgrims who
be held "significantly earlier" than next spring.
die during the haj go straight to paradise.
But, at the same time, Mazowiecki issued a
ANDREW BILSKI with BOGDAN TUREK
warning to Walesa. "I see danger on the
in Warsaw
MARY NEMETH with correspondents' reports
26
SPECIAL REPORT
ROLEND
Freedom's
Turn
For the first time ever, a Communist regime is
peacefully ousted. Now Solidarity's firebrands
must transform themselves from rebels to rulers
to support Solidarity when the independ-
ent trade union was formed in 1980. Nor
will the new regime be entirely non-
Communist. Poland still has a Communist
president, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, and
Communists run the huge and torpid bu-
reaucracy. As junior partners in the new
coalition, they also will retain control over
the Army and the police. But the new gov-
ernment will be led by Solidarity and domi-
nated, from the wings, by Walesa-an unof-
ficial second president.
And that in itself is an astounding devel-
The East bloc's peaceful revolution: Walesa (left)
opment. For the first time in history, a
Communist regime has been peacefully
turned out of office. Inside what is left of the
Iron Curtain, Eastern Europe's largest,
most populous and most rategically locat-
ed country is to be governed more or less
democratically. For now, at least, Moscow
KOMUNISCI
has acquiesced; under reform-minded Pres-
MU
A
ODEJ.
ident Mikhail Gorbachev, even Soviet satel-
FILIP HORVAT-PICTURE GROUP
lites supposedly have a right to choose their
No room to retreat: President Jaruzelski
own leaders. Yet the mere existence of a
Solidarity government is an implicit threat
oland's Communist government
to tranquillity throughout the communist
P
once ridiculed Lech Walesa as a
world-in the Soviet Union, where restless
sparrow who was trying to pass for
nationalities are stirring up trouble for
an eagle. After imposing martial
Gorbachev, and in countries like East Ger-
law in December 1981, the regime
many and Czechosl ovakia, whose conserva-
confined the upstart electrician to a remote
tive rulers have no use for Gorbachev, much
hunting lodge, and when it let him out 11
less Walesa. With Marxist regimes under
months later, Walesa promised to be "very
pressure in countries as far off as Afghani-
prudent." Despite his setbacks, Walesa is a
stan and Angola, a Polish government led
political genius, an instinctive leader who
by non-Communists: is a potent symbol, sug-
knows what the crowd is thinking before
gesting the end of an era.
the crowd knows it. Last week, after saying
From his summer home in Maine,
that he did not want to lead a Polish govern-
George Bush watched democracy's prog-
ment, Walesa went out and formed one.
ress in Poland with quiet satisfaction-tak-
Strictly speaking, it is not a Walesa gov-
ing pains, his spokesman said, not to "do
ernment; the man who will take over
anything or say anything to upset the apple
as prime minister this week is a Roman
cart." The reaction in Poland itself was
Catholic lawyer-journalist named Tadeusz
similarly muted and considerably less san-
Mazowiecki, 62, one of the first intellectuals
guine; the prospect of a Solidarity govern-
16 NEWSWEEK : AUGUST 28, 1989
crushing foreign debt and a sul-
len, cynical work force. Now
Solidarity has inherited the
failures of communism, and
there is real doubt whether it
can clean up the mess. If the
party is over for the Commu-
nists, it also has ended, in a
sense, for Solidarity's fire-
brands, who must transform
themselves, almost overnight,
from rebels to rulers.
Overturning a government
can be much easier than run-
ning one. But throughout their
tortured history, nothing has
come easily for the Poles, or for
their conquerors. At the start
of World War II, Poland was
brutally carved up by Germany
and Russia. Only last week
the Kremlin finally admitted
what Western historians have
known for decades: that Hitler
and Stalin secretly agreed, 50
years ago this week, to divide
Poland and other parts of East-
ern Europe into spheres of Nazi
and Soviet influence. Poland
MALANCA-SIPA
was easily swallowed but diffi-
peaceful revolution: Wiecki (center) at a demonstration in Gdansk, anti-Jaruzelski protest in Warsaw
cult to digest. Stalin once com-
plained that imposing communism on the
stubborn Poles made as much sense as
putting a saddle on a cow. After bitter re-
pressions under a dreary succession of Com-
JHKUZELSKI
munist bosses, Jaruzelski was forced to ad-
mit, earlier this year, that the Communist
ISCI
Party's leading role in Poland "already is
MU
history."
An election surprise: The general has been
retreating for months. Last November, af-
ter a wave of summer strikes, his govern-
ment refused to negotiate with Solidarity,
which was still outlawed. In January, the
regime offered to negotiate. In April, it
legalized Solidarity and invited the union
to participate in a partly free election. Ja-
ruzelski gambled that the Polish United
Workers' Party, as the Communists offi-
cially are known, could hold its own. In
June, the voters proved him humiliatingly
wrong. Solidarity won 99 of the 100 seats in
the Senate, the upper house of Parliament,
thereby gaining the power to delay legisla-
tion. In the ruling lower house, the Sejm,
Solidarity won all of the 161 seats it was
allowed to contest.
Although the government still had a
working majority, the balance of power in
the Sejm lay with two small parties, the
Peasants and the Democrats, which in the
past had been docile junior partners of the
DRUSZCZ WOJIEK-AFP
NEWSWEEK : AUGUST 28, 1989 17
Four Decades of
Repressive Rule
INTERNATIONAL NEWS PHOTOS
1945
With Warsaw stroyed by
1958
Russian tanks crush a
World War II, the Soviets
general strike in Poznan,
installed a Communist government
killing more than 70 Poles
Communists. Now the Communists were
gathered support for a Solidarity govern-
darity is a labor union," he likes to say,
losing control of the political situation.
ment, Walesa hinted that he himself would
"and I am a union leader." A better leader
Czeslaw Kiszczak, the man Jaruzelski
be prime minister. "If society wants it, will
than an administrator, Walesa might pre-
named prime minister late last month, ad-
have to go to the prime minister's office," he
fer to run for the above-the-fray post of
mitted that he could not form a govern-
said, "but I would prefer someone else."
president when Jaruzelski's term expires
ment. Even reform-minded Communist
That made the deal sweeter to the Peasants
in 1995. For now, he will keep himself in
deputies were getting out of line. On Thurs-
and the Democrats. But when legislators
reserve, in case Poland's problems are too
day the Sejm voted overwhelmingly for a
voted to give him the nomination, he de-
much for Mazowiecki or some subsequent
resolution condemning the Soviet-bloc in-
clared: "I will not be prime minister. There
Solidarity prime minister. "Walesa is their
vasion of Czechoslovakia, which occurred
are better people than Walesa."
last card," says a U.S. official.
21 years ago this week and included a con-
Walesa believes that his place is with
Walesa eventually presented Jaruzelski
tingent of Polish troops led by Jaruzelski's
what he calls "the angry masses." He chose
with a list of three potential prime minis-
Defense minister.
not to run for Parliament last June. "Soli-
ters. In addition to Mazowiecki, they in-
As the regime floundered,
the Peasants and Democrats
thought about changing sides.
The circumstances were just
The New P.M.: Piety and Pragmatism
right for Walesa to carry out
what Communist Party leader
Mieczyslaw Rakowski later de-
S
ome time ago, Tadeusz Ma-
Nazi concentration camp. He
intellectuals and striking ship
zowiecki (pronounced tah-
trained as a lawyer, worked as
workers into alliance. Like
scribed as "a coup d'état." Wa-
DAY-oosh mah-zoh-VYET-
a journalist and served as an
Geremek, Mazowiecki stayed
lesa sent an aide to Warsaw to
skee) authored the first Polish
opposition member of Parlia-
on to advise Walesa. For
tell Solidarity's members of
book on Catholic-Marxist dia-
ment. (He was barred from
his efforts, he spent a year
Parliament that he would pro-
logue. By most accounts, the
seeking election after inves-
in a Communist internment
pose a broad coalition govern-
next prime minister of Poland
tigating the 1970 police massa-
camp. In 1988 Mazowiecki
ment, including the Peasants
is a man who will now practice
cre of workers in Gdansk.) An
helped mediate with striking
and Democrats and any other
what he preached. Tall, soft-
early and active supporter of
workers, and this year he took
"pro-reform elements."
spoken and sad-eyed, Mazo-
Poland's fledgling labor move-
part in the "round table" nego-
No one else: "It's better to stay
wiecki has a reputation for
ment, Mazowiecki emerged in
tiations that led to Solidarity's
in opposition," Walesa had said
piety and a knack for compro-
the 1970s as one of the coun-
legalization. He chose to keep
after the June election. "We
mise. He is also a crusader.
try's leading Catholic lay-
himself off the ballot in June,
should wait and prepare for
Tellingly, the symbol he chose
men-"the epitome," as one
but was reportedly Polish Car-
elections in four years' time,
for his magazine Wiez, or Link,
insider put it, "of the Warsaw
dinal Jozef Glemp's top choice
when we would be ready to take.
an independent Roman Catho-
Catholic intellectual."
for prime minister. Mazo-
power." Suddenly, he was pre-
lic monthly, is Don Quixote
Mazowiecki met Lech Wa-
wiecki finds support as well
pared to take at least partial
tilting at windmills.
lesa in August 1980, during
from a higher source: "I am a
power now. Solidarity's stun-
Born in 1927, Mazowiecki
the first days of the Gdansk
believer," he said last week,
ning victory in June was a man-
came of age amid political tur-
uprising. With Bronislaw Ge-
"and believe that Providence
date that could not be shrugged
moil. He lost a brother in a
remek, he brought dissident
cares for us."
off, especially since no one else
seemed able to govern. As he
18 NEWSWEEK : AUGUST 28, 1989
PHOTOREPORTERS
CHRIS NIEDENTHAL-BLACK STAR
Polish militia tear-
1980
Solidarity
gas workers rioting
shuts down
1931 imposed in a
Martial law is
over food shortages in Gdansk
the Gdansk shipyards
Communist crackdown
PETER MARLOW-MAGNUM
cluded Bronislaw Geremek, who leads Soli-
ity for the choice of a prime minister.
wants to keep a low profile on nationalist
darity's deputies in the Sejm, and Jacek
In any case, the choice was not difficult.
issues that could cause it considerable dis-
Kuron, a charismatic intellectual who has
Kuron, who has given the Communists
comfort this week. Demonstrations are
made dissidence his life's work. There was
almost as much trouble as Walesa, was un-
planned in the restless Soviet republics of
no constitutional requirement to give Jaru-
thinkable. Something of a carouser, he re-
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to mark the
zelski a choice. "Maybe Walesa wanted to
sponded to his nomination by bellowing:
50th anniversary of the Hitler-Stalin pact,
save the general's face, to present him as
"Ridiculous! Ridiculous! If my name is on
which eventually ended their independ-
the decision maker," suggested Klemens
the list, it can't be serious." Geremek is a
ence. And in Prague, protesters planned to
Szaniawski, a Solidarity member who is
serious contender; an able politician and a
observe the 21st anniversary of the Soviet
studying at the Woodrow Wilson Interna-
respected medieval scholar, he might be the
invasion, despite a threat by the hard-line
tional Center for Scholars in Washington.
next prime minister if Mazowiecki falters.
Czech government to use force against ille-
Walesa may also have wanted to co-opt
But Mazowiecki, an ardent Catholic, is sup-
gal demonstrations.
Jaruzelski, forcing him to take responsibil-
ported by the country's influential primate,
What Moscow wants most from Poland is
Cardinal Jozef Glemp, while Geremek is
stability, a period of relative calm in which
widely believed to be Jewish, a handicap in a
the Soviets can move ahead with their own
nation where anti-Semitism still runs deep.
political and economic reforms. Apparent-
Mazowiecki is not a member of Parliament,
ly the Kremlin has concluded that Commu-
but that could be an advantage, since he
nists alone can no longer keep the lid on in
cannot be blamed for one of the new Sejm's
Poland. Moscow acknowledges tacitly that
worst decisions. The Sejm indexed salaries
some form of coalition is needed, and al-
to the skyrocketing prices, thereby making
though it obviously would prefer the new
it even more difficult for the new govern-
regime to be led by some faction other than
ment to get inflation under control.
Solidarity, it cannot say so without appear-
Knowing where you are: As he put together
ing to intervene in Poland's internal af-
his new coalition, Walesa made a key
fairs. If Poland remains unstable despite
concession. He promised that the Defense
Solidarity's leadership, Moscow might
Ministry and the Interior Ministry, which
eventually intervene to stop anti-Soviet ri-
controls the police, would remain in Com-
ots or an attempt to withdraw from the
munist hands. And he said Poland would
Warsaw Pact. Soviet intervention would
not pull out of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet-
not necessarily be military. Even in 1981,
led military alliance. "Poland cannot forget
Soviet troops did not move; instead, Mos-
where it issituated," he told a West German
cow orchestrated a crackdown by the Pol-
television nterviewer. "You know we are in
ish military.
the Warsaw Pact. Thatcannot be changed."
Gorbachev's reformers do not want any
In Moscow, a Soviet Foreign Ministry
kind of crackdown on Poland. Their pro-
spokesman called Walesa's position "sensi-
gram of perestroika (restructuring) de-
ble." Yevgeny Primakov, an aide to the
pends heavily on increased Western loans,
CZAREK SOKOLOWSKI-A
vacationing Gorbachev, told a U.S. con-
trade and technology transfers. All of
Soft-spoken intellectual: Mazowiecki
gressional delegation that the choice of a
these would be put at risk by a crackdown
non-Communist government was "entirely
on Poland-and doomed by an outright
a matter to be decided by Poland." Moscow
Soviet invasion. Still, the "Polish model"
NEWSWEEK AUGUST 28, 1989 19
worries reform-minded Soviets, who fear
that the pattern of the early 1980s-
strikes and disorders leading to military
repression-could be repeated in their
country. "God save us from that, because
we would be thrown decades backward, as
the Polish experience shows," commenta-
tor Fyodor Burlatsky wrote in the newspa-
per Moskovsky Komsomolets. "In Poland,
they only now are beginning to do what
should have been done 10 years ago-to
pursue a policy of national consensus."
Bush's path: In Washington and Kenne-
bunkport, the Bush administration took
heart. One of the pet theories of the
Reagan administration, articulated by
former U.N. ambassador Jeane Kirkpat-
rick, was that right-wing "authoritarian"
governments can change for the better,
Supporting Poland's progress toward pluralism: Walesa with Bush in Gdansk last month
but Communist regimes cannot. Bush be-
lieves, from personal experience, that
communism can indeed be changed. He
highlight," said a senior aide. "But he rec-
and a reduction-and relaxation of the
likes to talk about his 1987 visit to Po-
ognizes the process is very fragile, and he
repayment terms-of its foreign debt,
land, when he stood on a church balcony
doesn't want to do anything to throw it off
which now stands at $39 billion. Last week
with Walesa, looking out over a huge
the path."
Bush was making no promises. Spokes-
crowd that chanted: "Long live Bush!
Solidarity's government must do what
man Marlin Fitzwater said it would be
Long live Solidarity!" During his visit to
the Communists could not do: reduce in-
"premature" to talk about new assistance
Poland last month, he supported progress
flation, put meat and consumer goods onto
for Poland. He promised only that the
toward political pluralism, offering $119
store shelves and make Polish industry
United States would "increase aid as ap-
million in economic assistance. "This is
more competitive. In July, Walesa told
propriate and as we can."
the path to democracy he's been encourag-
Bush that Poland needs $10 billion in in-
At this point, Poland needs discipline as
ing and his trip to Poland was intended to
ternational aid over the next three years
much as it needs money. Economist Jan
Solidarity's Man Can Lead, But Could He Govern?
t seemed almost jarring last
ply, he demands; when they
by his shipyard employers. In
Weschler. He expects that
week when Lech Walesa,
dissemble, he clamors. Even
1980 Solidarity was born. A
when the next crisis comes,
the embodiment of Solidarity,
the ubiquitous dark suits that
year later, when Walesa was
Walesa will again duck power,
did not assume power along
lend an air of authority to the
arrested and martial law de-
turning instead to his closest
with his party. Indeed, when
most ordinary political aspi-
clared, the movement seemed
adviser, Bronislaw Geremek.
the gruff, heavyset movement
rants have always hung stiffly
finished. Even last year his
Only if the crisis reaches
leader submitted the names of
on him. He's more comfortable
star seemed to fade as a young-
"Armageddon," Weschler pre-
three colleagues for the post of
in T shirts. "He is one of
er generation of Solidarity
dicts, will Walesa agree to take
prime minister-pointedly ex-
them," said veteran Walesa
members labeled him a traitor
on the job of prime minister.
cluding his own-even some of
watcher Lawrence Weschler
and accused him of caving in
Walesa's humility is not
his closest advisers were taken
of The New Yorker. "He has
to the Communists in strike
feigned. Born in a small clay
by surprise. At the moment of
been formed, primordially,
negotiations.
cottage in the town of Popowo,
victory, Walesa walked away
by many of the same things
His reticence last week may
his formal education consisted
from the trophy. Some be-
that have formed the Polish
have been a shrewdly calculat-
of only the primary grades fol-
lieved it was because he was
reality."
ed move. By sidestepping polit-
lowed by vocational training
not prepared for the harsh re-
Like his countrymen, Wa-
ical responsibility now, Wa-
as an electrician. Thus, when
alities of governing. "What
lesa has had to learn how to
lesa will almost surely avoid
the Nobel laureate (he was
will Walesa do if there's a gen-
persevere in defeat. From his
blame for the inevitable prob-
awarded the Peace Prize in
eral strike?" asked Edward
first days as a lean and feisty
lems of debt, poverty and
1983) says that he feels un-
Wende, a leading lawyer and
union organizer outraged by
shortages later. By placing
qualified for the role of prime
Solidarity representative in
the killings of fellow strikers
others ahead of him on the
minister, he may only be ex-
the Senate. "How will he re-
in 1970, Walesa's political for-
rungs of power; Walesa gave
pressing a genuine sense of
act-as a union leader or a
ays have been followed by at
Solidarity a safety net. "If
his own very real unprepar-
statesman? It will not be easy."
least momentary retreats. In
Lech Walesa had been made
edness. According to White
Walesa, in fact, has never
1970 a protest against price
prime minister right now,
House aides, George Bush
been one to play the tradi-
hikes ended in brutal repres-
then when things inevitably
shares this assessment. Bush
tional, predictable politician.
sion. Six years later he was
blow up in the next couple of
privately describes Walesa as
When other politicians intone,
elected to head the Lenin Ship-
months there would have been
"an exceptionally levelheaded
Walesa shouts; when they im-
yard's union but then was fired
no fallback position," explains
guy who understands his limi-
20 NEWSWEEK AUGUST 28, 1989
tary for ideology, said at a news conference
after the meeting finally ended. The par-
ty's top leaders still had to decide precisely
what those terms would be, including the
number of seats the Communists would
seek to occupy in the new cabinet.
Walesa was hopeful about what lay
ahead. "It is an incredible success for our
struggle," he told the Associated Press.
"But now let us see it in practice."
Mazowiecki contemplated his future in an
idyllic spot, a glade on the grounds of a
home for blind children several miles out-
side Warsaw. "I find my inspiration here,
where there is so much suffering and yet
these young children maintain their opti-
mism," he told Polish television. He said
his government would be a "wide coali-
tion," not the "grand coalition" that would
What Moscow wants is stability: Gorbachev embraces Jaruzelski in Poland last year
imply heavy participation by the Commu-
nists. He admitted that the prospects were
Vanous of PlanEcon, a Washington firm,
By late last week it still was not
daunting. "I am terrified," he said frankly.
prescribes a leadership that can tough it
clear how wholeheartedly the Communists
But he added: "I think we can do a lot, we
out with both labor and the state enter-
would cooperate with the new government,
can release the forces in ourselves. I think
prises, hold down wages and prices and
or to what extent the bureaucracy would
it will not be easy, but it is possible." For a
make drastic changes in the economy
drag its feet to thwart reform. At a stormy
movement that was outlawed until only
through rapid privatization and an open-
meeting of the party's Central Committee
last April, Solidarity had come a long way.
ing to foreign capital. "I cannot envision a
on Saturday, hard-liners argued inconclu-
A quickening sense of possibilities might
government representing mostly labor
sively with reformers. "The party Central
just be enough to carry it through.
unions essentially pursuing what has to be
Committee is prepared to cooperate in a
RUSSELL WATSON with Scott SULLIVAN
a Thatcher-type economy," Vanous says,
coalition, but not on just any terms,"
in Warsaw, JANE WHITMORE in Washington,
THOMAS M. DEFRANK in Kennebunkport and
referring to Britain's prime minister.
Slawomir Wiatr, the committee's secre-
FRED COLEMAN in Moscow
tations as well as his poten-
union leader often makes
tial," said one close aide. Wa-
his decisions "absolutely
lesa may believe as well that if
independently," says Klemens
he were to assume a govern-
Szaniawski, a Solidarity mem-
ment role, he would squander
ber now visiting the Woodrow
his greatest strength: his un-
Wilson International Center
canny ability to inspire the
for Scholars in Washington. A
Polish people and pave the
case in point is the decision
way for radical change.
Walesa made last week-with-
But what if Walesa is finally
out telling his closest advis-
forced to enter government?
ers-to form an alliance gov-
He may find himself caught
ernment with the two small
between his allegiance to the
parties formerly allied with
workers, who want lower
the Communists.
prices and higher wages, and
To avoid replacing one form
his duty to a government that
of dictatorship with another,
cannot afford to provide ei-
Walesa will have to learn how
ther. As prime minister, he
to make the sort of trade-offs
would need to provide more
and logrolling deals familiar
than inspiring speeches, more
to lawmakers in Western de-
clarity than passion. So far he
mocracies. Bankers, workers
has not done that. "Walesa
and opposition groups will
M.
loves to be right in the end. So
want concrete results that can
On his own time:
he always says what he means,
come only from compromise
Taking a day to go
and then says the exact oppo-
and concession. To survive in
fishing after winning
site," observed. Jan Rokita, a
this new, more complex en-
the Nobel Peace
Solidarity deputy from Cra-
vironment that he himself
Prize in 1983, and as a
cow. Walesa's sometimes dic-
helped to create, Walesa may
young union
tatorial style could prove trou-
have to learn that traditional
organizer during strike
blesome in a parliamentary
politics can work, too.
talks in 1981
government. Though he seeks
c. S. MANEGOLD with SCOTT
out and listens to advice, the
SULLIVAN in Warsaw
JOSEPH CZARNECKI-JB PICTURES
NEWSWEEK AUGUST 28, 1989 21
SPECIAL REPORT
Scenes From
a Hard Land
N
EWSWEEK photographer Arthur Grace spent two
weeks earlier this summer taking these portraits of
Polish life. Grace, who has visited Poland a dozen times
since 1977, says the country is "politically better, but in
almost every other way it seems to be worse." Privation
is the norm. Young couples there commonly wait 20
years for a home of their own. (Parents often put their
children on the waiting list for apartments at birth.)
The phone system is so bad that for many weeks this
summer, people whose phone numbers began with 4
were unable to get through to those whose numbers
began with 3. Not surprisingly, many Poles wish to
leave the country. The lines of visa seekers outside
Western embassies are often more impressive than
those outside meat shops.
YCH!
SOUDARNOSC
SOLDARIEC
In Warsaw, a man
sells a dress at the
3
weekly Sunday flea
RZ600 BEATYRKACE
KSIEZY-1
MORDERS
market. Also for sale:
INA
secondhand
FREE
sneakers, old tires,
used appliances.
Left: A nun at the
grave of Roman
Catholic priest Jerzy
Popieluszko, slain
by security officers.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ARTHUR GRACE-NEWSWEEK
26 NEWSWEEK : AUGUST 28, 1989
Complete with
sound truck, a
Communist tries
something new and
different in Poland:
standing for election.
In the countryside,
a family travels
the timeless way.
Half the farms
still use horse-
drawn plows.
THE VIEW
FROM POLAND
Ameryka
C
My
America
BY ERNEST SKALSKI
potato bug (Colorado beetle) was being
PHOTO BY KRZYSZTOF MILLER
1 Kódź
dropped from American planes onto
10
Stocznie
Warszawa
Polish farms did nothing to undermine
the Poles' admiration for the U.S.
Americans aware of their country's
weaknesses are irritated by this admira-
tion, just as we were annoyed by West-
GREET PRESIDENT OF
THE
IS
ern Leftists who, until recently, came to
Poland looking for confirmation of their
utopias. Nevertheless, I am not going to
make the usual qualifications. For sev-
eral generations now, America has lived
up to Polish expectations by fulfilling
our two fundamental needs: bread and
freedom
Let me start with bread, since it is the
more obvious matter. Masses of people
from my poor country have been stream-
ing across the Atlantic over the last hun-
dred years. It is a difficult expedition,
but it pays. Ready to take any job, a Pole
WARSAW
The idea of an America as good as it
soon finds work in America and earns
HE DOMINANT chants at thecom-
was mighty could not be uprooted from
more than he ever could at home. He
T
pulsory demonstrations of my
the minds of fascinated Poles. The Com-
also has the chance to become rich, to
youth were silly sing-songs at-
munist authorities tried vilifying jazz
make a stunning career. Although few
tacking President Truman for using the
and pointing to the racial discrimina-
Polish immigrants achieve that kind of
atomic bomb. Invariably, after looking
tion in the U.S., to no avail. They closed
success, they all can hope for it. They
around to make sure no informant was
down the Information Center at the U.S.
could not hope for anything before.
within earshot, the loudest chanters
Embassy and executed two young men
would then recite sotto voce an equally
who were frequent visitors for allegedly
ERNEST SKALSKI, a previous NL contrib-
silly verse, calling on President Truman
planning a murder under its influence,
utor, isa senior editor of Gazeta Wybor-
to drop that bomb because life here was
but those scare tactics didn't work ei-
cza, the independent Polish daily. This
so unbearable.
ther. Even an announcement that the
article was translated by Anna Husarska.
8
The New Leader
Simply making the pilgrimage to
foreign emperor after another. A Pole
as Truman and Eisenhower were under
America, to an advanced civilization,
would leave behind the protective struc-
Stalinism-ranks at the top. It was he
immediately improves a Pole's standing
tures of family, community and church
who staunchly said No to Communism.
in his countrymen's eyes. Photographs
to start over in the U.S. True, once there
It was he who forced Mikhail Gorba-
of his home and car will dazzle those left
he tended to seek out the old dependen-
chev to give up missiles in Europe, who
behind. So will the Western gadgetry he
cies in the Polish ghettos. Still, he felt
obtained from the Soviets genuine con-
might send to his family, and the dollars.
more liberated than he had ever been.
cessions on disarmament.
Should he decide in time to return to
He could make his own choices-he was
Reagan never visited Poland. George
Poland for good, he will similarly enjoy
free, for instance, to escape from free-
Bush did, and was received with propor-
a new status. Formerly, he would have
dom.
tionately less enthusiasm than would
had to work most of his life to save
After World War II, political princi-
have greeted his predecessor. The aver-
enough money for some minor com-
ples spurred departures more than ma-
age Pole did not seem to mind, though,
forts. After just a few years in the U.S.,
terial concerns. The first wave of post-
that the President promised relatively
he can buy himself a well-equipped house
war emigrants would have stayed to help
little aid. He did not believe America
and a good car. Moreover, the dollars
rebuild their impoverished and devas-
would disappoint him.
in his account, or hidden under his floor,
tated country, but they could not abide
Such a tenacious faith in the U.S. can
will afford him not only a standard of
being enslaved by the Communists. Nei-
be vexing, and not only for Americans
living but a sense of security otherwise
ther could those who fled martial law in
critical of their own country or for West-
unattainable.
the 1980s.
ern Europeans critical of America. In
No wonder the average Pole perceives
The painful irony is that consequent-
Poland, as well, many people, particu-
America as a paradise. Neither the con-
ly many in Poland who have never been
larly intellectuals, are exasperated by
sul at the U.S. Embassy who humiliates
to the U.S. are better off. Goods and
this attitude. But they are unable to in-
him by repeatedly denying a visa, nor
dollars sent or brought from the other
fluence the vast majority of their fellow
the immigration fficer who might not
side of the Atlantic improve the general
citizens. The man in the street knows
let him stay can spoil his dream. Para-
living conditions. Indeed, they have be-
what he knows. And who can say if heis
dise is never easy to get into.
come part of Polish everyday life. You
right or wrong? More often than not
But this one is a rather frightening
buy a used car, for example, with dol-
America fulfills our expectations.
place at first. While the Pole longs to go
lars, not zlotys. Debts are calculated in
Aside from its tangible value, that ful-
to America, he has-been warned most
dollars, even if the money is borrowed
fillment adds to Polish self-esteem. The
of his life that the wolfish laws of capital-
and returned in zlotys
Poles are a proud people, but they are
ism are especially cruel in the U.S. where
But I'm speaking about bread again,
also insecure. They praise themselves,
everyone is out for himself. He soon dis-
when I am supposed to be speaking about
they think of themselves as being impor-
covers, though, that the reality is very
freedom. The point I mean to make is
tant, yet at the same time they are not al-
different.
that thanks to America, Poles feel freer
together sure of their place among the
To begin with, the other Poles he
in their own country.
nations. They need to have their worth
meets have not grown fangs. They can-
attested by others.
not solve all his problems, yet they do
LL THE WORLD knows that at
So one can imagine the powerf emo-
what they can to help him take his initial
A
Yalta President Roosevelt sold
tions news of Lech Walesa's trip to the
steps. As for the Americans, they may
us down the river to Stalin. In
U.S. inspired in Poles. Here was this
compete vigorously in business or on
Poland, however, we also know that the
most important country about to ac-
the job, but they do not scream at each
deterrent of American bombs and mis-
knowledge us in the person of an electri-
other. They do not fight over a piece of
siles prevented the spread of Commu-
cian from Gdansk. Acknowledge us in
merchandise in the store; there is enough
nism. America's blunders, even its
the most official and ceremonial way
for everyone.
crimes, do not taint its benevolent deeds
possible. The President himself-sec-
The new arrival quickly learns, too,
in our eyes. Poles regard the anti-Amer-
ond only to the Polish Pope in the na-
that if he becomes gravely ill, a doctor
icanism of the Germans, the Dutch and
tional affections-would decorate Wal-
may well forgo payment. If he suffers a
the Japanese-who owe their freedom,
esa with the Congressional Medal of
serious accident and lacks insurance,
security and prosperity to the U.S.-as
Honor, the highest honor a civilian can
there are always people who will help
a mental aberration. Or as a conspiracy
earn.
tide him over. In short, it turns out that
directed from Moscow.
Wedo not remember Yalta-Yalta is
the United States is quite hospitable af-
It is therefore not surprising that Poles
falling to pieces, anyway-we do not
ter all.
consider Ronald Reagan the greatest
remember the years of waiting. Today
Now about freedom. America has
American President. Every American
we feel only the self-respect America has
held out the greatest promise of liberty
President is for us by definition great,
helped to restore to us, and its returning
here since the days when Poland was un-
but Reagan-viciously portrayed on
Poland to a position of significance in
der the exploitative domination of one
Communist posters during martial law,
the world.
November 13, 1989
9
THAT N
By TAD SZULC
Photographs by
JAMES L. STANFIELD
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHER
A symbolic call to national
vigilance sounds from a fire-
man's trumpet in St. Mary's
Church in Kraków, Poland's
old royal capital. From the
same tower seven centuries
ago, according to legend,
another trumpeter raised
the alarm as Mongol hordes
stormed the city, his clarion
cut short by an arrow in the
neck. Echoing that event, a
watchman now re-creates the
call every hour, day and night,
always halting in mid-note.
Today, six years after the fall
of the free trade union Soli-
darity, the nation seeks to res-
cue its virtually paralyzed
economy while allowing
greater political pluralism.
Unlike the recent past,
Poland's reforms are no longer
at odds with its powerful
neighbor: Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev is now
Poland's principal ally in
economic change. American
journalist Tad Szulc returned
to his native Poland to assess
the political climate. Author of
several studies of politics and
international affairs, Szulc
won an Overseas Press Club
award for his 1986 biography
of Cuba's Fidel Castro.
80
ORPUS CHRISTI is the great Roman
A voyage in Poland, then, is an emotional
C
Catholic festival held after
journey through history and tragedy a so-
Whitsunday in mid-June, and
journ among old and new memories that never
in Communist-ruled but over-
die, a glance at hope and despair, and-al-
whelmingly Catholic Poland it is
ways-the discovery of extraordinary human
an official national holiday. The permanently
beings. It is a pilgrimage along Polish stations
fatigued Polish people-for daily life there is
of the cross. I undertook it not long ago, a
relentlessly hard-are given a day off, and
somewhat aged American reporter returning
joyous, colorful processions fill the streets.
to the place of his birth at a time when history is
This is a stubborn land where history and
again being written there-seven years after
ancient traditions have always battled foreign
the rise and fall of the Solidarity free trade
occupations and regimes imposed by force and
union movement, with Poland possibly ap-
where the citizens have been wedded to non-
proaching still another turning in its history.
conformity for a thousand years.
That a church feast is observed as a high
82
National Geographic, January 1988
1, is an emotional
holiday in a Communist country may strike an
SIGNPOST FOR THE FAITHFUL, a rude cross
id tragedy, a so-
outsider as paradoxical. But as I quickly real-
becomes the site of a roadside prayer meet-
emories that never
ized, it seemed perfectly natural to all the
ing outside the village of Zqb in Poland's
proud Poles as well as to their head of state,
mountainous south. The nearby town
despair, and-al-
Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, who also serves as
of Wadowice is the birthplace of Karol
aordinary human
ng Polish stations
First Secretary of the Communist Party.
Wojtyła, the Archbishop of Kraków, who
became John Paul II, the first Polish Pope.
t not long ago, a
In fact the 64-year-old general had chosen
Despite the official atheism of the Commu-
reporter returning
Corpus Christi to receive me at his Warsaw
nist Party, the Catholic Church remains a
me when history is
offices overlooking the lovely royal Lazienki
powerful force in Poland.
-seven years after
Park. It was a relaxed late spring morning
lidarity free trade
with lilacs in bloom round the sunlit statue of a
land possibly ap-
brooding, romantic Frédéric Chopin. Jaru-
ing in its history.
zelski greeted me with the remark that he was
bserved as a high
delighted to have a midweek holiday to afford
phic, January 1988
Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
83
Bc
program, including austerity, decentraliza-
tion, and a turn toward a free-market econo-
my, was formally launched in October 1987.)
He said that he welcomed the cooperation of
the "moderate opposition" and the Roman
Catholic Church to help shape and implement
these reforms. But he said he would not deal
with opposition financed from abroad, noting
with anger that the U.S. Congress had just
voted one million dollars to assist what was left
of Solidarity. The union said the funds would
go for ambulances and medical equipment.
HE PRINCIPAL PARADOX in this land
T
of paradoxes is that the Jaruzelski
who seeks to introduce far-reaching
reforms in Poland-and allows a
degree of political pluralism and relaxation
unique in Communism (though Communist
adra EAST GERMANY
rule itself is not open to question)-is the same
man who declared martial law on December
13, 1981, and used the army and the secret po-
lice to intern 10,000 Solidarity activists and
smash the organization's entire framework.
This was undoubtedly the worst blow to Polish
aspirations since the end of World War II, and
the nation has not quite recovered from it.
SYMBOL OF UNITY, the Sandomierz Crown,
In 1982, when last we talked, the general
displayed at Kraków's Wawel Cathedral
hinted that destruction of Solidarity was the
Museum, recalls the 14th-century reign of
only alternative to a Soviet invasion because
o
King Casimir the Great, who worked to
the Russians thought the union's demands for
strengthen a nation forged from a group
democracy, along with reforms, placed the
NGS CART
DESIGN:
of small principalities.
RESEARC
whole Communist system in danger.
PRODUCT
MAP EDIT
But now, Jaruzelski emphasized, the men-
tality of the people in general, including those
him time for a quiet, uninterrupted chat, and
in power, had changed. He told me that he felt
said immediately that I had come to a "much
that the Solidarity workers' protests about
changed Poland, changed for the better."
their conditions and the economy were correct
Jaruzelski, a ramrod-straight officer with a
and justified-and many of the ideas emerging
receding hairline whose military bearing was
from the great ferment of the early 1980s were
softened by an easy, comfortable demeanor
an inspiration and would be implemented.
P
and an informal light-gray suit and blue neck-
Back in those days, the general said, the
AREA
tie, offered me tea, and we spent the next two
problems were Solidarity's "nonsensical" po-
POPU
hours together. In his elegantly classical Pol-
litical demands, such as the appeal to workers
CAPI
ish-rich in historical and literary allusions—
elsewhere in Eastern Europe to rise up in their
ECO
he summarized the endless contradictions and
own Solidarity movements, and the wave of
steel
paradoxes, many verging on the surreal, that
of CO
strikes that paralyzed the country.
ricul
form the phenomenon of today's Poland and
The months that I spent in Poland in the
the lives of its 37 million inhabitants.
preparation of this article, driving thousands
It was the most candid private conversation
of miles from the southern Tatra Mountains to
I have ever had with any Communist leader.
the Baltic seashore and from the wooded Sovi-
The general told me bluntly that his country
et border to the farmlands of the East Ger-
faced immense economic and social problems
man frontier, confirmed to a significant extent
that could be solved only by his program of
General Jaruzelski's assertion that the "New
radical reform of the economy. (Such a daring
Poland" he heads
(Continued on page 94)
84
National Geographic, January 1988
Mining area
Baltic Sea
Centers of the Roman
decentraliza-
Catholic Church in Poland
Gdynia
smarket econo-
World War II death camp
SHIPBUILDING
October 1987.)
: cooperation of
Suleczyno
nd the Roman
and implement
TATOES
would not deal
Olsztyn
Szczecin
SUGAR
abroad, noting
SHIPBUILDING
BEETS
ngress had just
Bydgoszcz
"Blalystok
TEXTILES
ist what was left
MACHINED
Torun
RYE
he funds would
RYE
Notec
Lankowice
Blalowieza
1 equipment.
Warta
OF FIRST
ECHBISHOP IN
Vista
Forest
SEAT
OF
aTreblinka
ox in this land
Odra EAST GERMANY
ARCHBISHOP
POLAND RD. 1000
THE
PELINE
Kamienczy
Gniezno
Rlock
OF
Poznan
: the Jaruzelski
MACHINER)
PETROLEUM
ARCHBISHOP AND
PRODUCTS
PRIMATE OF POLAND
Janow
ice far-reaching
Warta
ARSAW
Podlaski
-and allows a
Chelmno
FOODPROCESSING
MACHINERY
and relaxation
POTATOES
Para
AUTOS
tgh Communist
SUGAR
Lódź
n)-is the same
BEETS
COPPER
TEXTILES
Sobibo
V on December
CATHOLIC
Legnica
SEATOE
POTATOES
UNIVERSITY
ABC HBISHOP
Lublin
id the secret po-
SHRINE OF
aMaidanek
COPPER
IRCRAFT
ty activists and
Wrocław
OUR LADY OF
AUTOS
WHEAT
MACHINERY
CZESTOCHOWA
ire framework.
-(BEACK MADONNA
st blow to Polish
Czestochowa,
IRON
(SILES)
IRON, STEEL
WHEN
orld War II, and
COAL
ORE
POTATOES
WHEAT
X
Belzeca
ered from it.
LEAD
SEAT OF
SULFUR
Zabrze
ZINC
ARCHBISHOP
led, the general
Dunajec
NATURAL
Katowice
idarity was the
IRON/STEEL
XCOAL
Krakow
River
GAS
o
50 km
CRALK
IRON, STEEL
vasion because
COAL
Rzeszów
o
50 mi
Kalwana Zebrzydowska
WHEAT
in
n's demands for
ms, placed the
CZECHOSLOVAKIA Oswiecim-Brzazinka
(Auschwitz-Birkenau)
CARPAI
NATURAL
NGS CARTOGRAPHIC DIVISION
Wadowice
ROAS
DESIGN: BOB PRATT
RESEARCH: DAVID MILLER
anger.
PRODUCTION: RAMSEY MURRAY, ISKANDAR BADAY
Raturew
Manlowy
MAP EDITOR: GUS PLATIS
sized, the men-
Zab
Zakopane
2,499 m 8,1991 ft
including those
1 me that he felt
MOUNTAINS
protests about
ny were correct
ideas emerging
arly 1980s were
POLAND DERIVES its name from
Poland was overrun again, first
mplemented.
POLAND
the Polanie, or "plains people," a
by Germans, then by the Soviets.
Slavic group that settled in north-
Following the war, Stalin moved
eneral said, the
AREA: 120,725 sq mi (312,677 sq km).
ern Europe before the birth of
Poland westward by placing more
onsensical" po-
POPULATION: 37.3 million.
Christ. With few natural obstacles
than 50,000 square miles of east-
peal to workers
CAPITAL: Warsaw, pop. 1,659,400.
to invasion from east or west,
ern German territory under Polish
0 rise up in their
ECONOMY: Industries: iron and
Poland has often suffered from the
rule and annexing 100,000 square
nd the wave of
steel, shipbuilding, textiles, mining
ambitions of neighboring coun-
miles of eastern Poland to the
itry.
of coal, copper, zinc, and lead. Ag-
riculture: potatoes, sugar beets, rye.
tries. The 1795 partition of Poland
U.S.S.R.
n Poland in the
among Russia, Prussia, and Aus-
The movement of millions of
ving thousands
tria wiped the nation from the
people to Poland from the prov-
ra Mountains to
map. It reappeated as a sovereign
inces swallowed by the Soviets
U.S.S.R.
e wooded Sovi-
state only in 1918, at the end of
and the displacement of German
OLAND
North
Moscow
i the East Ger-
World War I.
populations from their homes into
Sea
Katyn
The German invasion of Poland
occupied Germany constituted
gnificant extent
Vilnius
in 1939 sparked the beginning of
one of the most disruptive migra-
that the "New
EUROPE
Lvov
World War II, during which
tions in postwar Europe.
ued on page 94)
Poland
VATICAN
before
ic, January 1988
CITY
World
85
War II
Sea
A
SEA OF ADULATION greets
unwavering faith by holding up
marched beneath Solidarity ban-
Pope John Paul II as he
a crucifix during the entire
ners through the streets of Gdarísk
celebrates Mass before a
service (right).
until police broke up the
crowd of more than 750,000 wor-
The Pope delighted his audi-
demonstration.
shipers in Gdansk in June 1987.
ences and angered government
In a further act of support John
Wherever he traveled during his
authorities by repeatedly voicing
Paul met with Solidarity leader
third visit to his homeland since
support for the Solidarity union,
Lech Wałęsa and visited the
becoming Pope, John Paul en-
driven underground since being
gravesite of the Reverend Jerzy
countered welcomes, such as this
outlawed in 1981. "I pray for my
Popieluszko, a pro-Solidarity
window in Lublin (left) decorated
motherland and foryou workers,"
priest killed by Polish secret
with a Polish flag and pictures of
the Pope told the crowd in
police in 1984. The Pope also said
the Pope and the Black Madonna
Gdarísk, the Baltic seaport city
that if Poland instituted reforms
of Częstochowa, the most revered
where the union was organized.
leading to more freedoms, the
icon of Polish Catholicism. Dur-
"I pray for the special heritage of
Vatican might establish diplo-
ing the Pope's appearance in
Polish Solidarity." Following the
matic ties with the country, a first
Gdynia, a man proclaimed his
Mass, some 10,000 persons
among Eastern-bloc nations.
H
ORRIBLE LEGACY of the
Holocaust is preserved
as a memorial to the
dead and a warning against
forgetfulness at a museum in
Oświęcim-Brzezinka (Auschwitz-
Birkenau). Rabbi Pinchas Gold-
berg (left), a Hasidic Jew from
Brooklyn, New York, views a
mountain of footwear taken from
those imprisoned at the Nazi
death camp in southern Poland.
Of the more than 20 German
concentration camps, Oświęcim is
the most notorious because of the
number of prisoners exterminated
there and because of the hideous
human medical experiments car-
ried out by Dr. Josef Mengele.
During the German occupation of
Work Sets You Free."
and articles of clothing.
Poland in World War II, as many
Upon arrival at the death
Architect Stefan Jasienski
as four million persons were
camp, prisoners deemed unfit for
carved this crucifix (above) in cell
killed at Oświęcim in less than
productive labor, women and
21, where he died on January 1,
five years. Declared a national
children included, were often
1945. It stands as a reminder
monument in 1947, the camp
summarily executed. A separate
that, although the Holocaust was
retains over the main entrance
exhibit called "The Fate of
aimed primarily at Jews, more
gate an arch carrying the German
Mothers and Children" (below)
than a million of those killed at
slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei-
memorializes them with pictures
Oświęcim were not Jewish.
88
OPPOSITE PAGE FOLDS OUT
91
DID NOT HAVE the slightest difficulty in
STEPPING OUT on May Day, the inter-
national socialist holiday, head of state
Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski waves to onlook-
I
meeting openly with former Solidarity
chief Lech Walesa, the Nobel Peace
ers (right) as he leads a parade through
Prize laureate-or with the opposi-
Warsaw. In that city's Palace of Culture
tion's most brilliant intellectual figures, such
(below) Jaruzelski addresses members of
as the philosopher Adam Michnik and the me-
the Patriotic Front of National Rebirth,
dieval historian Bronisław Geremek. I found
a group that was created to counter the
these leaders, to say nothing of countless pri-
Solidarity movement.
vate citizens with whom I talked (frequently
all night, as is the Polish hab-
it), absolutely outspoken on
every imaginable topic-
especially whenever it came to
criticizing the government
and the Communist system.
But both Wałęsa and Józef
Cardinal Glemp, Primate of
Poland, told me in separate
conversations that some form
of Polish unity should be built
around the government's re-
form program. Each left me
with the impression that they
may favor a degree of opposi-
tionist cooperation with the
regime under the right con-
ditions. The general told me
that "no doors are closed,"
although he prefers his critics
(Continued from page 84)
is becoming "a
to work through the "consultative council," an
very open country."
advisory body he has created to attract promi-
To be sure, Poland is still far from being a
nent but independent-minded Poles.
Western democracy. Truly free elections even
Cardinal Glemp told me that in his opinion
for the Sejm-the Polish parliament-are not
"General Jaruzelski is a Pole and an intelli-
yet in the cards. The Communist Party's week-
gent man who has a large sensitivity to moral
ly journal, Polityka, is subject to censorship
questions."
because the regime itself isn't certain from day
"He is a Communist," the cardinal said,
to day what it wants and what people should
"but he is a positive man."
be told it wants. There are tensions within the
Glemp's stance of compromise is backed by
party between factions advocating greater
many, but not all, Polish bishops. His judg-
freedom and flexibility and those opposing it,
ment runs counter to the view held in more
and there are enough cases of harassment of
radical opposition circles that Jaruzelski is a
various oppositionists, as dissidents are called
Soviet agent because he served in wartime
in Polish Communist parlance, to suggest
Polish units with the Soviet Army and rose
strongly that the powerful secret police appa-
through the ranks of the military and party
ratus, still enjoying considerable autonomy,
hierarchies to become defense minister and a
sides with the hard-liners. And, as every Pole
Politburo member long before Solidarity.
knows, the state still possesses the power of
Michnik, the philosopher who has spent
capricious arrest and extended detention with-
-four years behind bars since 1981, does not
out trial.
believe in cooperation with Jaruzelski be-
Nevertheless, loud and active opposition
cause, he says, "a Communist regime cannot
movements do exist. Shortly after I left the
really reform itself from within." It has to be
country, police broke up a demonstration of
pressed and pushed, he told me.
4,000 Solidarity supporters in Gdańsk by driv-
Amazingly, many senior government and
ing trucks into their line of march.
party officials tend to be stunningly frank.
94
National Geographic, January 1988
ghtest difficulty in
former Solidarity
the Nobel Peace
with the opposi-
ctual figures, such
ichnik and the me-
Geremek. I found
g of countless pri-
talked (frequently
S is the Polish hab-
tely outspoken on
aginable topic-
vhenever it came to
the government
ommunist system.
Wałęsa and Józef
Glemp, Primate of
Id me in separate
>ns that some form
nity should be built
government's re-
am. Each left me
pression that they
a degree of opposi-
peration with the
der the right con-
ne general told me
doors are closed,"
e prefers his critics
Itative council," an
The general himself admits that Poland's
happily in new high rises-and their minds
ed to attract promi-
economy remains a veritable nightmare of
would not be poisoned by religion.
led Poles.
managerial and production chaos, character-
"But they were wrong on all scores," a for-
that in his opinion
ized by inexplicable shortages of the most
mer Solidarity newspaper editor told me as we
ole and an intelli-
elementary items, shoddiness of most goods,
toured the forbidding scene of ugly, grimy
sensitivity to moral
and a continuously falling living standard for
apartment buildings and industrial installa-
most of the population.
tions. "Instead of a socialist city, they've creat-
the cardinal said,
He must know that his country is turning
ed a monstrosity. And, finally, they had to
into an environmental disaster whose magni-
capitulate to the pressure of the people and let
omise is backed by
tude I could observe in my travels. The great
us have new churches."
oishops. His judg-
river Vistula is polluted by salinity and other
view held in more
industrial waste. Hundred-year-old trees in
FTER 40 YEARS of Soviet-enforced
that Jaruzelski is a
the forest of Białowieża in the east are threat-
A
Marxism-Leninism, the steadily
served in wartime
ened by poisonous runoff from a chemical
deteriorating quality of life in Po-
et Army and rose
plant. (The forest also happens to be the home
land is a grim daily drama.
military and party
of the largest surviving herd of European bi-
"You know, in the end you lose your will to
nse minister and a
son, some 460 animals.) The Polish water table
live," said a woman of my acquaintance in
ore Solidarity.
is dropping dangerously because of unregulat-
Warsaw who works in a government office
er who has spent
ed deforestation throughout the country. And
and tries to be a housekeeper and a mother as
nce 1981, does not
the air in the cities of Kraków and Katowice
well-as best she can.
ith Jaruzelski be-
is thick with the soot from smoke-belching
"I get up at dawn in that tiny apartment of
nist regime cannot
stacks of their huge steel mills.
ours-you can forget about getting a larger
ithin." It has to be
The Kraków mill complex, called Nowa
apartment even if you live to be a hundred-
1 me.
Huta, was designed by Soviet planners and
and I prepare breakfast for my husband and
r government and
ideologues in the early 1950s as "a socialist
the two kids, send the children off to school,
stunningly frank.
city" where workers' families would live
then I rush to catch this horribly crowded red
phic, January 1988
Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
95
streetcar to get downtown to my office. I quit
work around two o'clock, and I go shopping
for food and various things we need. Some-
times I stand in a queue at the butcher shop to
buy meat with my ration card, but often they
run out of meat before my turn comes, so I
race elsewhere to get into another line to buy
something else we can eat. When I get home,
chances are I probably have to walk up the
stairs to our apartment on the sixth floor be-
cause the elevator is usually out of order. Then
I cook dinner, serve it, wash the dishes. And
then it's another day tomorrow, just like to-
day. Some life!"
R. MAGDALENA SOKOLOWSKA, a
D
leading Polish sociologist and phy-
sician, says that women are the
greatest victims of the system
because the burden of life with its daily respon-
sibilities falls most heavily on them. "Femi-
nism, or women's liberation, does not exist in
Poland," says Dr. Sokołowska. "Polish wom-
en think simply in terms of survival." They
also worry about finding seemingly nonexis-
tent plumbers or electricians as well as about
illness in the family, because the public health
system in Poland is collapsing from bureau-
cratic inefficiency. (Polish medicine has high
traditions, however, and even today pioneer-
blind from drink, along sidewalks in broad
ing surgery is performed by such renowned
daylight. Jaruzelski, who is a teetotaler, has
physicians as heart specialist Dr. Zbigniew
tried to combat alcoholism by raising the price
Religa [pages 106-107]).
of vodka (a bottle containing less than an
Men concentrate on going to work their fac-
eighth of a gallon costs the equivalent of a day's
tory or office shifts, says Dr. Sokołowska, but
salary of a skilled industrial worker). The re-
morale is so low that in the view of a govern-
sults are not noticeable: Queues form in front
ment economist "we have a situation where
of liquor stores awaiting the 1 p.m. opening,
people come to work-rather than actually
just as they do at food stores.
work. It's a marvelous society in which you
This rampant alcoholism accounts for low
don't have to work to get paid by the state."
productivity and high absenteeism from
Another economist observes that "if you have
work. Statistically, every Pole consumes eight
access to U.S. dollars, then you can buy
quarts of pure alcohol annually (the equivalent
anything you want in the Pewex-the dollar
of 16 quarts of 100-proof whiskey), and drunk-
stores-but, of course, this creates new frus-
en driving, according to the authorities, was
trations and divisions between Poles with dol-
responsible for 1,500 deaths and 10,000 inju-
lars and Poles without them."
ries in 1986.
It was Alfred Miodowicz, a former steel-
Sociologists attribute the worsening alcohol
worker and now the head of the government-
problem to the immense strains, psychological
sanctioned trade union organization and a
pressures, and everyday frustrations of life in
member of the Politburo, who summed up the`
Poland's postwar industrial society. For four
situation best in a conversation we had at his
decades Poles have lived from crisis to crisis
Warsaw office: "Our tragedy is that we are a
and from one broken promise to another in cy-
socialist state without social justice."
cles of hope and disenchantment. Stress, pol-
Among the sad sights in Poland are not only
lution, diet, and industry-related degenerative
grown-ups but even teenagers wandering,
diseases are blamed for the alarming drop in
96
National Geographic, January 1988
ewalks in broad
a teetotaler, has
OFTEN AT ODDS with the
/ raising the price
government, some of Poland's
ing less than an
brightest minds strive to
uivalent of a day's
increase intellectual freedom.
worker). The re-
Elected chancellor of Kraków's
ues form in front
Jagiellonian University during
1 p.m. opening,
Solidarity's days of official
acceptance, historian Józef
accounts for low
Andrzej Gierowski (facing
bsenteeism from
page) fought for the school's
le consumes eight
independence from government
strictures until his term ended
lly (the equivalent
in September 1987. Medieval
skey), and drunk-
scholar Bronisław Geremek
e authorities, was
(above) paid for his role as
; and 10,000 inju-
advisor to Solidarity with time
in prison. In the past novelist
worsening alcohol
Tadeusz Konwicki (left) has
ins, psychological
found it difficult to get his
'strations of life in
books published in his native
: society. For four
country. He and other writers
om crisis to crisis
have attracted a growing read-
se to another in cy-
ership in the West.
ment. Stress, pol-
lated degenerative
: alarming drop in
phic, January 1988
97
life expectancy in Poland; the central statisti-
percent) or as tourists (32 percent, though
cal office reports that whereas a 30-year-old
some "tourists" do not return home).
man in 1965 could have anticipated another
"There's no country in the world in a state of
41.7 years of life, today he can look forward to
crisis, with the economy as bad as here, where
only 39.7 years.
the society would have trust in the govern-
In sum, this is a bitter nation, and General
ment," Deputy Premier Zdzisław Sadowski
Jaruzelski told me that his overwhelming
told me. "Trust must be created." Sadowski,
priority is to create greater trust among his
an internationally known economist who is
compatriots. It will not be an easy job. In War-
not a party member, was brought into the gov-
saw I read a front-page article in the Commu-
ernment last year and put in charge of reform.
nist Party's daily newspaper, Trybuna Ludu,
"I am fully aware of the tremendous difficul-
acknowledging that the fundamental Polish
ties that face us," General Jaruzelski himself
problem is that "nobody here has any trust in
told me.
anybody else." This mistrust embraces every-
That is an astonishing thing for a Commu-
thing from government policies to personal
nist leader to say. But Communism in this
relationships.
Western-oriented and Catholic land has al-
The Center of Public Opinion Research,
ways been a contradiction in terms. Poles were
created by Jaruzelski in 1982 to assess the
spared the worst of the show trials and mur-
national mood, has reported that most Poles
derous repressions of the Stalin era and experi-
feared further deterioration in their quality of
mented as early as 1956 with liberalizing
life and that a vast majority of high-school
reforms. Land collectivization could not be
graduates felt so hopeless about the future that
imposed in Poland, and today some 70 percent
they wanted to go abroad to earn dollars (51
of arable land is in private hands, cultivated
22
100
National Geographic, January 1988
32 percent, though
by small farmers who are the framework of
their boycott of state television and are willing
'urn home).
the increasingly important market economy.
to perform again.
the world in a state of
Farming nevertheless is hard work, and young
On another level there is political humor, an
as bad as here, where
people are fleeing the land en masse.
ancient Polish tradition. Pod Egida is a politi-
trust in the govern-
In my travels I did meet a large number of
cal cabaret run by a bespectacled middle-aged
Zdzisław Sadowski
"rich peasants" and even rural millionaires
humorist named Jan Pietrzak in a small War-
created." Sadowski,
who own sumptuous houses (at least one with
saw theater. Over a brandy before the perfor-
in economist who is
an indoor pool and a sauna), foreign luxury
mance, Pietrzak told me that he still had to
brought into the gov-
automobiles, and Arabian show horses worth
submit his material to government censors,
[ in charge of reform.
hundreds of thousands of dollars-all perfect-
but added delightedly that on one occasion a
tremendous difficul-
ly legal.
friendly censor had confided that the censor-
al Jaruzelski himself
Interestingly, much of this farm wealth
ship office had used a videotape of his show to
stems from the age-old Polish tradition of pre-
teach a class in political humor to aspiring
thing for a Commu-
senting flowers on every imaginable occasion.
ideological watchdogs.
Communism in this
A case in point is Czesław Witczak (below
Though Pietrzak is given much latitude in
Catholic land has al-
right), a 49-year-old graduate of the agrarian
anti-regime humor, he can also be bitter
n in terms. Poles were
academy at Poznań. Over a lunch of smoked
toward his admiring audience: When they rose
show trials and mur-
eel, turkey, and venison in his marble-floored
in applause one evening, he remarked, "Ah,
Stalin era and experi-
mansion with swimming pool in the village of
but I remember when you applauded pro-
56 with liberalizing
Lankowice, near Bydgoszcz in northwestern
Stalinist jokes too!"
ization could not be
Poland, Witczak told me that he made his for-
Tadeusz Konwicki, Poland's foremost liv-
today some 70 percent
tune selling about 200,000 roses annually from
ing novelist, wrote in a recent book, Moonrise,
ate hands, cultivated
the long row of glass-covered hothouses he
Moonset (published in the United States in
built several years ago.
O
LD POLISH CUSTOMS are reviving
with unprecedented vigor these
days, presumably as a reaction to
Communist egalitarianism of the
past era. I had heard that these days Commu-
nist men kiss women's hands with an alacrity
unmatched by prewar aristocrats, but I was
startled and enchanted when I saw a uni-
formed militia captain bowing to kiss the hand
of a uniformed lady militia lieutenant as a
morning greeting under a Vistula River bridge
in the city of Torun.
Revivals of Old World gallantry notwith-
standing, Poland's heart and mind and tastes
are completely in the West. It desperately
wants Western technology and is hopelessly
22
drawn to Western culture. A Warsaw weekly
was serializing capitalist Lee Iacocca's auto-
biography last spring, and James Clavell was
on the best-seller list along with A. A. Milne.
On Polish television Grease with John Tra-
volta was seen in March by 20 million viewers.
But censorship hobbles Polish writing and
undermines the famous Polish cinema. How-
A BOUNTIFUL STOCK of baked goods
attracts shoppers in a state-run Warsaw
ever, if they have. time and energy (and the
market (facing page), although many
connections needed to obtain tickets), Poles
consumer items are often in short supply.
can see superb performances at Warsaw's
Making the most of a limited private econ-
Grand Opera and Ballet Theater, attend
omy, Czesław Witczak amassed a fortune
extraordinary concerts, and even watch good
selling roses grown in his hothouses in
TV since pro-Solidarity actors have ended
the village of Lankowice.
eographic, January 1988
Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
101
1987): "For two hundred years now, every
1968 when a banned performance of the classic
generation of Poles has had the commandment
play Forefathers' Eve by 19th-century poet
to save the fatherland encoded in its genes."
Adam Mickiewicz, rich in anti-Russian over-
This was true of the Poles who rose against
tones, triggered student riots and a violent
Russian occupation on two occasions in the
wave of repression by the Gomulka regime.
19th century; of the cavalrymen who charged
There followed a demented anti-Semitic cam-
Nazi tanks with lances and sabres in 1939; of
paign, showing the darkest side of Polish Com-
the men, women, and children who fought
munist practices and appealing to the lowest
in the great anti-German Warsaw uprisings
human instincts; at that time there were no
in 1943 and 1944; and of those who battled
more than 40,000 Jews in Poland from the pre-
against Hitler in the British, American, and
war population of three and a half million. To-
Soviet Armies from Italy and France to
day there are five or six thousand, the rest
Ukraine and Berlin.
having fled the country. *
Patriotic history was relived too in March
The common denominator among most of
102
National Geographic, January 1988
ABSORBED IN CREATION, Witold
Lutostawski (left), an internationally
acclaimed composer, ponders a passage in
a new piano concerto. Renown came to
author Edmund Jan Osmanczyk, at home
with his wife, Jolanta, for his monumental
Encyclopedia of the United Nations and
International Agreements.
erformance of the classic
: by 19th-century poet
the leading figures of contemporary Polish
publications on the theory that this will not
ch in anti-Russian over-
culture-and they are world-class figures-is
undermine its rule. Instead, underground
ent riots and a violent
opposition to the Communist system in writ-
publishing helps defuse political pressures.
the Gomułka regime.
ten works (including novels and poetry) that
I found Andrzej Wajda, famous for his
ented anti-Semitic cam-
appear in the extensive underground press, in
movies Man of Marble and Man of Iron (a film
kest side of Polish Com-
public statements and in private conversa-
about Solidarity that was awarded the top
appealing to the lowest
tions, and even in music. Ironically, many of
prize at the 1981 Cannes International Film
at time there were no
them belonged to the Communist Party in
Festival), on location near Warsaw where he
in Poland from the pre-
their youth-as idealists.
was filming Dostoevsky's novel The Pos-
The government finds it useful to let the
and a half million. To-
sessed. His hope, he said, was to make a pic-
six thousand, the rest
opposition print and distribute underground
ture telling the truth about the uprising in the
*See "Remnants: The Last Jews of Poland," by
Warsaw ghetto in 1943; this great Jewish epic
inator among most of
Malgorzata Niezabitowska and Tomasz Tomas-
has never been properly told on film, he said.
zewski, in the September 1986 GEOGRAPHIC.
But he was depressed about the state of
)graphic, January 1988
Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
103
Poland and about the state of Polish movie-
were the Oświęcim-Brzezinka (Auschwitz-
making: "There is no money in this bankrupt
Birkenau) and Majdanek death camps, the
country of ours to make good pictures, even
one near Kraków and the other outside
inexpensively. And there's still the censorship
Lublin, where millions were murdered by the
problem facing us."
Nazis. (At Oświęcim I was deeply moved by a
The scene he was shooting that day was the
group of American Lutheran women who soft-
S
burning of a Russian village, and the director
ly sang spirituals in front of the death ovens
patiently rehearsed young actors in their per-
and passed out tiny paper peace doves.)
formances. "Maestro," the crew and actors
called him. His cap jauntily at an angle, his
HE POLISH VIA CRUCIS led me to
high boots giving him a cavalier air, Wajda
T
the streets of Poznań in the west,
was very much the genius at work.
where workers first rose against the
Epics in Poland, of course, are part of the
regime in 1956, opening the way to
political geography. As I traveled across
the first reformist wave; the neighborhoods in
the country, history was ever present. There
the port city of Gdańsk, where security forces
of Polish movie-
were the Oświęcim-Brzezirs protesting price increases
stood in the way of postwar Communist rule.
y. in this bankrupt
Birkenau) and Majdanek dinditions in December 1970;
Katyń and Warsaw are bitter memories for
od pictures, even
one near Kraków and the Shipyard, where Solidarity
Poles, and Jaruzelski and his like-minded
still the censorship
Lublin, where millions were ten years later.
friend Mikhail S. Gorbachev of the Soviet
Nazis. (At Oświęcim I was de'ommunal Cemetery in War-
Union seemed to understand this when they
g that day was the
group of American Lutheran are lit by hidden hands in
announced last April that a historical commis-
, and the director
ly sang spirituals in front of iore than 4,000 Polish officers
sion was being formed to discover the truth
ctors in their per-
and passed out tiny paper pean Forest in Byelorussia-and
about "gray areas" in Soviet-Polish relations.
crew and actors
1944 Warsaw uprising vic-
The assumption is that these areas include
at an angle, his
HE POLISH VIA CRUhen Soviet forces, massed on
Katyń as well as the deportation of perhaps as
valier air, Wajda
T
the streets of Poznf the Vistula River, would
many as one and a half million Poles to the
work.
where workers firsteir assistance. Poles believe
Soviet Union in 1939, after Soviet forces in-
e, are part of the
regime in 1956, opeted the Warsaw underground
vaded Poland from the east while Hitler was
traveled across
the first reformist wave; the nuse the underground Home
invading from the west.
T present. There
the port city of Gdańsk, where Communist and would have
T WAS JOSEPH STALIN who literally
I
pushed Poland even farther westward
through the Soviet annexation of east-
ern Polish provinces-including the cit-
ies of Lwów (now Lvov) and Wilno (now
Vilnius), to which Poles had great patriotic
and sentimental attachment. Stalin compen-
sated Poland by awarding it German lands
where Poles had lived for centuries.
It is one thing to redraw borders or grab ter-
ritory, but it is another to slide an entire nation
as a child slides building blocks. As many as
ten million human beings were moved to the
west: Polish populations from the provinces
swallowed by the Soviets were transported to
the former German regions, while Germans
were expelled from their homes to make room
for them.
Even though Poland's economy was greatly
helped by the acquisition of these rich lands,
the migration was one of the most massive and
dramatic in postwar Europe. It involved terri-
ble emotional and cultural shocks, and the so-
cial consequences persist today.
Among those deported was the entire Jaru-
zelski family, including 16-year-old Woj-
ciech, whose father died in Central Asian
exile. Jaruzelski thus spent his youth in what
amounted to a Soviet labor camp where
prisoners felled trees in surrounding forests.
He says Russian
(Continued on page 110)
HORSEPOWERED WHEELS carry coal to
customers in the village of Ratułów near
the Czechoslovakian border. Horses and
carts remain a common sight in the rural
areas of Poland, a nation of 37 million
residents that counts about four million
privately owned motor vehicles, up from
half a million in 1970.
105
HEAVY-METAL MANIA animates onlookers aping guitar
players at a rock concert near Poznań, reflecting Polish
affinity for Western pop culture. Poland's premier film-
maker, Andrzej Wajda (below), works on location in the
village of Kamieńczyk during the shooting of Fyodor
Dostoevsky's novel The Possessed. Wajda walks a fine
line to avoid censorship in creating his often
politically sensitive films.
families who were as poor as the prisoners
acquired even greater significance in 1978
were kind to him, and "that's when Ilearned to
when Karol Cardinal Wojtyła of Kraków was
like the Russian people." Jaruzelski's great-
elected Pope to become John Paul II, the first
grandfather died in Siberia after being impris-
Polish pontiff in history.
oned for his part in the anti-tsarist uprising in
Freedom of worship is absolute in Poland,
1863. History in Poland casts a long shadow.
and in our travels around the country, GEO-
In fact, General Jaruzelski was able in
GRAPHIC photographer Jim Stanfield and I
July 1987 to write-for a Soviet ideological
often felt we were enveloped by ritual. Ur-
journal-that the 1939 Soviet invasion of
ban cathedrals and rural churches overflowed
Poland, and the deportations, were "contra-
at almost every Mass year-round. Easter
dictory to Poland's right of independence."
brought moving acts of faith everywhere in the
country: At Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, a Ber-
INETY-THREE PERCENT of Poland's
nardine Fathers monastery in the hills south-
N
people are Roman Catholics, most
west of Kraków, 30,000 believers slogged
of them fervent believers, and the
through mud in a cold rain to follow a two-day
church is the most powerful non-
Passion play procession with the fathers and
Communist force in Poland. The dialogue be-
village actors in the roles of the martyred
tween bishops and high government officials
Christ, Pilate, and Roman soldiers. In the
touches on all aspects of national life, and
past, we were told, the crowds have become
110
National Geographic, January 1988
even greater significance in 1978 hysterical, believing they were seeing the real
During the 120 years when Poland ceased to
rol Cardinal Wojtyła of Kraków was Christ, and attacked the "soldiers."
exist, divided late in the 18th century between
ope to become John Paul II, the first
Each year millions of Poles undertake pil-
Russia, Prussia, and Austria, the church was
ntiff in history.
grimages to the holiest place in the country,
the bastion of Polish nationality, the protector
om of worship is absolute in Poland,
Jasna Góra (Luminous Mountain) Monastery,
of the language and the culture. A mural in a
ir travels around the country, GEO- in Częstochowa to pray at the medieval shrine
sitting room at the Primate's Residence on
photographer Jim Stanfield and I of the Black Madonna, acclaimed as the
Miodowa Street, where Cardinal Glemp re-
we were enveloped by ritual. Ur- Queen of Poland.
ceived me, depicts the tradition: King Jan III
edrals and rural churches overflowed
The church in Poland is patriotic in the
Sobieski, who stemmed the Turkish tide roll-
st every Mass year-round. Easter deepest sense and has always been intensely
ing over Europe in the 17th century with a se-
noving acts of faith every where in the nationalist-minded, in the forefront of defend-
ries of great battlefield victories; Marshal
At Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, a Ber- ing the Polish identity. It emerged with the ad-
Józef Pilsudski, who led Poland into indepen-
Fathers monastery in the hills south-
vent of Christianity in Poland over a thousand
dence after World War I; a wounded Polish
Kraków, 30,000 believers slogged years ago under the Piasts, the first Polish roy-
soldier at the battle of the Vistula River near
nud in a cold rain to follow a two-day
al dynasty, and has remained ever since an or-
Warsaw, when a Soviet invasion was halted in
play procession with the fathers and ganic part of national life. When the throne
1920; and a dying Polish Army chaplain bless-
ctors
in
the
roles
of
the
martyred
was temporarily unoccupied because of a royal
ing the troops.
Pilate, and Roman soldiers. In the absence or death, the Primate of Poland served
There has long been a theory in the West
were told, the crowds have become as interrex, the "king between kings."
that Poles display their faith principally as
National Geographic, January 1988 Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
111
an anti-regime gesture. But Cardinal Glemp
million telephones in Poland-one for roughly
denied this when I raised the point in a private
every seven inhabitants-and much of the
conversation with him at his Warsaw resi-
countryside has no phone service at all. In the
dence. "There is a vast range of attitudes
cities one may wait 15 years for a home phone.
toward religion," he told me, "but I think that
Moreover, Poland has been seized with
there are fewer and fewer Catholics practicing
"videomania," and it is estimated that there
their religion as a form of opposition, to be
are some one million videocassette recorders
against the regime. This is because there is a
in this enormously indebted and impoverished
certain deepening of authentic faith, which
nation. A VCR costs the average industrial
runs against superficiality, and churchgoing
worker the equivalent of 20 monthly pay-
for opposition reasons would be artificial."
checks. A Polish-built Polonez automobile re-
Today Cardinal Glemp plays a crucial if
quires the proceeds of seven or eight years of
subtle political game with the general's
such salaries-but the number of privately
regime. He said that, of course, the church
owned cars surged from half a million in 1970
would always be opposed to Communist ideol-
to nearly four million in 1986.
ogy but recognized that Jaruzelski has taken
This hunger for consumer goods-and the
"little steps" that are "signs of a certain democ-
prestige that their ownership brings-reflects
ratization." Glemp and Jaruzelski have met
a reaction to the material denials during the
privately more than a dozen times. As both
postwar decades as well as the immense frus-
men tell it, there is no reason for continued
tration of the people in the cities, where fam-
antagonism between the church and the Com-
ilies may wait as long as 20 years for an
munist state, though neither cedes an inch
apartment barely large enough for a couple
ideologically. And last July the Polish regime
and two children. Young families, like it or
reversed itself to authorize a ten-million-
not, tend to live with in-laws. A young engi-
dollar, U. S.-funded church foundation to aid
neer in Lódź, the second largest city, told me
small farmers.
that "if we can't have our own home, we can at
least have our own TV in our room, and a
MONG STARTLING CONTRASTS in Po-
A
small car just to get away once a week."
land is the symbolism of the cross
No matter how crowded the home may be, a
and the television antenna in the
visitor is instantly offered tea, coffee, an alco-
countryside, where over 40 percent
holic drink, or a cake that the hosts probably
of the population still lives. Along rural roads,
can ill afford; yet in Poland it is rude to decline
particularly in the less developed areas east
hospitality. There is no rational explanation
of Warsaw (known cruelly as "Poland B"-
for Polish economics in terms of what people
"Poland A" being the more affluent west), one
can afford-VCRs or cars, for instance-and
sees a cross or a shrine with a figure of Christ or
it is therefore accepted that such purchasing
the Madonna every few miles, with fresh-cut
power is made possible through the "Polish
flowers always at the foot.
way"-multiple jobs, moonlighting on gov-
The vast majority of rural houses, some of
ernment time during working hours, bartering
them mere huts, proudly display TV antennas
goods and services, bribery, and the colossal
(sometimes side by side with a rooftop stork
black market in foreign currencies and import-
nest). In 1986 nearly ten million TV sets were
ed or smuggled merchandise.
registered in Poland, roughly one for every
Perhaps as much as half a billion dollars
four inhabitants, which is astonishing when
enters Poland annually in gifts from families
one considers that a black-and-white set costs
living in the United States and elsewhere. And
the equivalent of the monthly salary of a
this finances some of the purchases (the cur-
skilled worker (and 50 percent more than the
rent black-market dollar rate is about four
average wage), and a color set sells for about
times the official rate in złotys).
six times the higher salary.
Poland thrives on contrast. In Warsaw on
On the other hand, there are fewer than five
the eve of the Pope's visit in June 1987, I
GRACEFUL FORM AND NIMBLE GAIT characterize Parys, a purebred Arabian sire raised
at the Janów Podlaski stud farm. Poles captured Arabian horses from Ottoman invad-
ers, but the first stock may have arrived even earlier with knights returning from the
Crusades. Polish-bred stallions have commanded as much as a million dollars.
Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
115
watched work crews replacing the Chinese
flower-filled courtyard at the grave of the
flag on the lampposts (Premier Zhao Ziyang
Reverend Jerzy Popiełuszko, the popular pro-
had just completed an official visit) along the
Solidarity priest who was murdered by Polish
main thoroughfares with the yellow-and-
secret police in 1984.
white standard of the Vatican. For a week Jar-
Jaruzelski did not comment on that episode
uzelski played proud host to his fellow Pole-
but indicated to me that he was not wholly
"Two Great Poles Together," said the caption
enchanted by the Pontiff's approving public
under their photograph on the front page of the
references to Solidarity, though on the whole
Communist Party's official newspaper.
the papal visit was very "positive." He did not
Meeting with opposition intellectuals at a
seem disturbed by the Pope's preplanned en-
Warsaw church, John Paul II walked slowly
counter with Lech Wałęsa in Gdańsk. (When
down the church aisle, and old friends stepped
the Pope came to Poland in 1983, after martial
forward to greet him by his diminutive, Lolek.
law was suspended, Wałęsa was flown in a
Later the Pope visited St. Stanislaw Kostka
government helicopter to meet him more dis-
Church in Warsaw to pray silently in the
creetly in a village in the Tatra Mountains.)
grave of the
S
IX YEARS after the destruction of Soli-
e popular pro-
St. Brygida's Church in Gdańsk that, sooner
darity, Poles remain locked in contro-
dered by Polish
or later, "we shall meet [with Jaruzelski] on
versies and arguments. Naturally
the way to reform." Wałęsa also surprised me
much of the debate revolves around
on that episode
by indicating he shared Jaruzelski's high re-
Jaruzelski and his motives, real or suspected.
as not wholly
gard for Gorbachev and his Soviet reform poli-
While he proclaimed a general amnesty in
proving public
cies, and by saying that Solidarity should
September 1986-thus making Poland the
h on the whole
change its name to "Reform" to emphasize the
only Communist country without known
need for evolutionary change in Poland.
ve." He did not
political prisoners-and permits reasonably
"Solidarity is immortal as a symbol," he said
preplanned en-
free debate in the Sejm and the newspapers,
with his characteristic gesticulation, "and Sol-
Gdańsk. (When
radio, and television, the resentments against
idarity will be fulfilled through reform."
3, after martial
him have not altogether vanished.
vas flown in a
Atits peak Solidarity's membership reached
Therefore I was astonished when Lech
ten million, more than one-fourth of the total
him more dis-
Wałęsa told me during an afternoon we spent
population-including one million Commu-
a Mountains.)
together at the residence of the parish priest at
nist Party members.
Wałęsa receives daily streams of political
and foreign media visitors at the church resi-
dence, which is virtually his Solidarity office,
after completing his 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift as an
electrician at the Lenin Shipyard. His freedom
to act so openly is another Polish paradox,
though plainclothesmen in unmarked cars
keep track of visitors.
Seeing Wałęsa for the first time since the
euphoria of 1981, I found him much more
mature and sophisticated politically, but as
enthusiastic and optimistic as ever. His mus-
tache bristling, his voice rising to make a
point, he still acts the leader. His views are
more moderate, and he recognizes (as he did
in his autobiography published in French in
Paris in 1987) that he lost control of Solidarity
to "radicals" in the months preceding martial
law. His conclusion, therefore, is that the next
move by democratic groups in Poland should
be more thoughtfully prepared.
One of the most fascinating new Polish insti-
tutions is the Center of Public Opinion Re-
search that feeds Jaruzelski detailed data
(mostly unpleasant) on what people think.
Headed by an intense but good-humored army
colonel named Stanislaw Kwiatkowski, who
also is a Ph.D. in philosophy, the center
was urgently asked for public relations advice
by the Soviet Union after the Chernobyl
FLAMES OF MEMORY burn bright in
Warsaw's Powazki Cemetery on August 1,
the anniversary of that city's ill-fated upris-
ing against German occupation in 1944.
A stone cross memorializes the more than
4,000 Polish officers found buried in a mass
grave in 1943 near the village of Katyn in
the Soviet Union.
119
nuclear plant disaster. Colonel Kwiatkowski
urged the Soviets to tell the truth-rapidly.
VOICES OF DISSENT find expression through
At home, the center informed Jaruzelski in
a network of underground printing presses
1986-and the assessment was published in
such as this operation (facing page) near
Warsaw. Often imprisoned for his antigov-
the official press-that in the public view the
ernment statements, philosopher Adam
church is the institution serving the nation
Michnik (below) asserts that in Poland
best, with only the army and parliament ap-
today "civil disobedience is the only atti-
proaching it. The poll omitted any reference to
tude worthy of respect."
Poland's Communist Party or
the government; the omission
spoke for itself.
I THINK BACK ON
A
my Polish sojourn,
I am reminded
that detail often
helps one understand the
whole picture. And the tab-
leau of Poland is full of tiny
brushstrokes.
At the great Arabian horse
farm at Janów Podlaski, first
established by the tsars of
Russia 170 years ago, govern-
ment permission was quietly
granted a few years ago to re-
store the royal crown over the
letter J (for Janów) on the
brand on the animals' rumps.
Auctioned off once a year, the
beautiful Polish Arabians are
sold for the most part to buy-
ers from the U. S.-and the
royal crown symbol goes with them across the
lived during World War I; I had the address
Atlantic from the farm on the River Bug along
scribbled in my notebook. It was nice to know
the Polish-Soviet frontier.
that a tiny niche of our family history had
At the famous film school in Łódź, I over-
been preserved, just down the street from the
heard an exasperated director shout at a
Rubinsteins.
student actress who was reading her lines
Yet the most significant evocation of the
woodenly: "For God's sake, put some emotion
recent Polish past that I encountered was the
in this! It was Sartre who wrote the play, not
vivid memory of Antoni Słonimski, a great
Karl Marx!"
poet, a man of charm, honor, and humor, a
It was also in Lódź that I came upon a
man respected by Stalinists and liberals, the
two-story building on busy Piotrkowska
guru of Poland's postwar intellectuals, and the
Street downtown, and a plaque next to the
nearest thing to a Polish national conscience. I
main entrance proudly proclaiming that Artur
had the privilege of knowing him before he
Rubinstein was born there in 1887, a century
was killed in a car crash at the age of 81, a doz-
ago. The great pianist was the textile city's
en years ago, and I knew that he had become a
greatest pride, and I was staring so hard at the
legendary figure.
inscription that an elderly lady stopped and
His most famous remark was a simple one:
asked me in Polish: "So maybe you knew Mis-
"When you are in doubt how to act, act decent-
ter Rubinstein?"
ly." I like to think that Antoni Slonimski's
I replied that I had known him since I was a
injunction will define the behavior of his fel-
child, and then I realized I was standing four
low countrymen as they live through the latest
houses away from where my grandparents had
Polish drama.
Poland: The Hope That Never Dies
121
CHRISTE
About Men
Christie Brothers
Natural Squirrel Cape
BY MICHAEL T. KAUFMAN
333 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY
Atlanta, GA
For Your Convenience Open Today 11AM.-4PM.
Paul
PAUL COX
Kissing Customs
I
returned not long ago
enormously, can't we make-
once urged them to do, Poles
from from a three-year
do with a simple hand-
intuitively responded by as-
assignment in Poland,
shake?"
suming the manners of dukes
where men kiss the hands of
I was at the time mindful of
and barons. In such circum-
women as a matter of course
what my feminist friends
stances it was pleasant and
when they meet. When I first
back home might have said. I
instructive to watch factory
arrived in Warsaw, I did not
do not think they would have
workers, mailmen, soldiers,
think this was such a great
wanted me to kiss the hands
peasants and high-school stu-
idea. At the time I thought of
of all women simply because
dents kiss the hands held out
myself as a democratic kid
they were women. They
to them while the Communist
from the streets of New
would have, rightly, seen this
Party people, often identifia-
York, and the notion of bend-
as a sexist custom, pointing
ble by their wide ties and out-
ing over and brushing my
out that not even in the grip of
of date suits, maintained stiff
lips over the back of a
the most obsequious compul-
though ideologically correct
woman's hand struck me as
sions would anyone kiss the
postures.
offensively feudal and hope-
hand of a man.
Under this kind of social
lessly effete. Each time
But then I began to realize
pressure, I kissed. At first it
some perfectly fine woman
that the Polish custom had
was tricky. There was noth-
offered me the back of her
one particularly subtle and
ing in my Upper West Side of
hand to kiss, I stammered
attractive aspect. After 40
Manhattan public-school
my apology, saying some-
years of living under an un-
education that prepared me
thing like "Gosh, no offense
popular Communist Govern-
for the act. I had to experi-
intended, but where I come
ment that sought to restrict
ment. I think my first at-
from we don't carry on like
society to the proletarian
tempts were perhaps too
this. and while respect you
standard of some concocted
noisy. They may also have
Soviet model. the Poles were
been too moist. 1 realized that
Improve
The real advantage of
hand-kissing was that it
provided a ritual that
your
enriched the routine of
everyday life. I was struck
vision 40%
by how few such rituals
exist in my own society.
aristocrats take the hands ex-
feminists and getting your
tended to them and swoosh
nose broken. And, to our
down without making real
credit, we have limited toler-
contact. I was trying for
ance for lah-di-dah.
slightly more commitment.
Still, I think it would be
Eventually, I got it right.
good to have some gesture or
And, to my surprise, I liked it.
ritual that signifies at least
Each new encounter became
minimal mutual respect. The
a challenge. I found I needed
idea would be to affirm some-
to make subtle little altera-
thing less than intimacy but
tions in technique as the
TOSHIBA
more than passing acquaint-
situations demanded. For in-
ance. What I have in mind
stance, if the woman was
would be useful for both inter-
younger, I would bring her
sexual and intrasexual con-
Toshiba's SV-970 Super VHS VCR offers an obvious 40% improvement in picture quality
hand to my lips. If she was
tacts. It would replace the ex-
over conventional VCRs. It may even offer an improvement over all VCRs.
older, I would bring my lips to
According to Video Review, the SV-970 stands out from the rest." With every digital
change of monosyllables like
her hand. When I could not
special effect worth considering, including zoom, shuttle-controlled variable slow-motion and
"hi" and "yo."
on-screen multiple channel scan."
tell if she was younger or
My suggestion is that we
And just about every feature and technology that engineers
In Touch with Tomorrow
older, I went on the premise
shake hands every day with
have been able to shoehom into one model."
TOSHIBA
that she was younger. Some-
the people we hold in esteem.
In other words the SV-970 hardly has room for improvement.
Tables
America
There
Road,
E
07470
times you could play out little
The practice, as common in
dramas. It was nothing seri-
Poland as hand-kissing, is, I
ous or marriage-threatening,
realize, not unknown here.
but you could, by kissing with
But in America it is sporadic
more than normal pressure,
and all too casual
make yourself noticed and
Since returning from Po-
In 1979, both these
you could notice yourself
land, I've renewed many ac-
being noticed. Or you could
quaintances. Among them
imagine you were somebody
was a person whose actions
else, which, at least in my
had once offended my sense
Pinot Grigio wines
case, can be pleasant.
of ethics. We chatted civilly
The real advantage of
enough, talking of our fami-
hand-kissing, I came to real-
lies and our recent experi-
ences, but I did not offer him
ritual that enriched the rou-
my hand I did this as a point
Sente trademark of S. Margherite Raty
sold for under $6.
ize, was that it provided a
tine of everyday life. When-
of honor - and to send a mes-
ever I returned to the West on
sage. Had I been talking to a
holidays I was struck by how
Pole, he might have red-
Cavit still does.
few such rituals existed in
dened, stammered or walked
VENDEMMIA
my own society. Hardly any-
away. But my old acquaint-
1987
one shook hands, let alone
ance didn't even notice. In
kissed them. Instead, waiters
this country, the symbolism
would tell me their names be-
of such a small act is lost. Of
Both Cavit and Santa Margherita are
fore taking my order and wish
course, I could have thrown a
produced from the finest Pinot Grigio
me a good day as they took my
rock through one of his win-
money. But I never felt they
grapes which are grown in the Tre
dows, or cursed his parent-
really cared I would be called
age, or even turned abruptly
Venezie region of Italy.
by strangers who wanted to
from him, but all that would
Both have a delightful freshness and
sell me something over the
have been overkill for the
color, and both are exquisitely dry
Grigio
phone, and they would address
graveness of his offense.
me as Mike. I would try to
As for kissing the hands of
FL
and complex.
INOT GRIGIO
squelch them with what I
women, my reflex, unfortu-
Both wines are international gold
OF
TEE
thought was chilling irony and
nately, is waning. Under the
medal winners.
Margherita
say, "Make that Mr. Mike." No
social pressures of democra-
HAVE
one got it, but some said,
Only Cavit still sells for under $6.
cy, the Polish impulses that
"That's cute: Mr. Mike."
would have me turn wrists
AND
In this cultural context, I
and kiss are growing fainter
doubt that the United States
and fainter. The kid from
is
KEVIN J. PRICE
649
times, the most importaant and absolutely necessary element
munity, and we must keep in mind that ultimately we have an
of a decision is to say "no to a friend."
obligation not only to serve our clients, but to build a just and
Our society has many small "c" corruptions. They are the
stable society.
subtle sins, the vague vices.
I am intrigued about the relationship between the word
I have always been intrigued by the concept of the seven deadly
"integrate" and the word "integrity." One author states:
sins which, as you remember, included such things as sloth and
"The noun 'integrity' is derived from the verb 'to inte-
gluttony. Let me, with a nod to Ghandi who first attempted to
grate.' If we are going to think and behave with full
rewrite the seven deadly sins, give you mine. They are:
integrity, then we must learn how to integrate our dif-
SEVEN DEADLY SINS (REVISED)
ferent ways of perceiving the world so as to develop a
Wealth without conscience.
multi-dimensional integrated world view. To behave eth-
Success without sharing. Health without empathy.
ically is to behave with integrity."
Price without humility.
I believe that it is of immense importance that we try our
Knowledge without wisdom.
best to integrate the great complexity of human experience
Pleasure without moderation.
into our daily lives. I believe a nation remains great only as
Luxury without sharing.
long as it remains moral. Arnold Toynbee, after spending a
Beware of the sins that sneak up on you while you think you
lifetime in the study of decline of nations, says:
are out "doing good." Beware of the corruption of the small
"The autopsy of history is that all great nations com-
"c's."
mit suicide."
AMENDMENT V - "The ultimate challenge of a nonprofit
Numerous historians, including Toynbee, traced the decline
organization is to create a good society."
of nations to a growth of hedonism, self-indulgence, and loss
You ultimately cannot have a successful organization in a
of values. The role of the national character has forever been
corrupt society. Nonprofits must not only work for successful
a contributor to the rise and fall of nations.
specifics - they must work for a successful society.
The United States is just faced down its greatest external
Winston Churchill once said,
enemy. And, today, our greatest dangers are not foreign ene-
"We built our buildings and then they built us."
mies, but internal inadequacies. It is greed, over indulgence,
I am convinced that is true. All you need to do is see the
selfishness, hostility, arrogance, carelessness, and narcissism.
English school children going to look at Westminster Abbey
Saul Bellow, the Nobel laureate novelist from Chicago,
and other English institutions with awe to recognize how tra-
observed recently that
dition inculcates people with patriotism, morality, and even
"the excess of liberty in American culture is as serious
chivalry. It clearly applies to ethical behavior. One scholar
as the deprivation of liberty in the Soviet Union."
stated it this way:
I believe we have an excess of liberty in the U.S. In attempt-
"We all know if only from experience that to be human
ing to be tolerant, we wiped out all the rules. I saw someone
means being born and reared in families and as part of
the other day referred to as "a Catholic lesbian feminist nun."
neighborhoods and communities with whom we share a
It is hard these days to find a standard to which we can hold
way of life instead of habits and beliefs - a system of
people. We live, as one author put it, in "the Golden Age of
values. Without those concrete and specific values, few
Exoneration." Everything is relative. Our moral compasses
individuals could long survive. A common life together in
gyrate wildly - there is no true north. But history shows that
the United States depends upon habits and attitudes we do
is not a sustainable trait in a society.
not have to think about: concern for the welfare of chil-
So I commend you not only on the good work you do for
dren, a sense of lawfulness, and a respect for property."
Colorado - which is immense - but also because you are
Our institutions are clearly part of a larger culture and com-
asking tough questions about "tough choices." Thank you.
Free Enterprise
EASTERN EUROPE'S FUTURE
By KEVIN J. PRICE, Executive Director, Free Enterprise Education Center
Delivered before the Rotary International and the Rotary Club of Warsaw City, Warsaw, Poland, May 12, 1991
I
AM pleased to be with you here today and to share with
as a nation that has had a similar experience. We have seen you
you the free market discussion. This topic is important,
struggle for many of the same ideas, beliefs, and desires that
because many of the activities that are part of the free
made the U.S. possible.
market - marketing, capitalization, etc. - cannot be done
Just over 200 years ago, the American colonies was in a
without a free enterprise system. In this session we will exam-
serious conflict with a tyrant of its own. This dictator was not
ine the elements of the free market, the role of government in
Marxism, but monarchy. Yet, the list of grievances we had were
a free society, and other aspects of the free enterprise system.
very similar to those of Eastern Europe towards their own
The U.S.: Not Always Free
leaders.
America did not just get a successful free enterprise system
The Declaration of Independence made the following
by magic or luck. The United States rose out of revolution to
charges against England:
gain the freedoms we all enjoy today. We empathize with you
- The King prevented free elections.
650
VITAL SPEECHES OF THE DAY
- He kept "standing armies" from a foreign land among us,
that are unpopular with the majority. Democracies have
without consent of the people.
allowed for the majority to harm the minority, Republics pro-
- He taxed us without our consent.
tect everyone.
England used us as a colony for their economic benefit.
These are just a few of the important elements of govern-
These offenses are only a small part of the total case made
ment in a free society. Again, the American system is not nec-
by the colonies towards the monarch.
essarily perfect for every country. However, it has enjoyed a
I am sure this list sounds familiar, because I saw most of
track record that is unprecedented.
them in our newspapers in relationship to Eastern Europe.
When Will Eastern Europe Prosper?
Like you in Eastern Europe, our Revolutionary War required
When Eastern Europe will prosper is a question on the
individuals to put their careers, families, and personal well
hearts and minds of virtually every person in this part of the
g at risk. The result of this effort was one of the most
world. So much has already been accomplished towards cre-
sperous and free nations in history. This did not come sim-
ating an environment conducive for you to succeed; but, in
ply from overthrowing a dictator. It was important for our
light of enormous unemployment and inflation, you want to
nation to develop a government that would cultivate a free
know when things will turn around for you.
society: economically, socially, and politically. In a moment we
It is a legitimate question and one that needs to be
will examine the elements of the American system of govern-
addressed. However, it would be impossible for me to simply
ment, particularly those elements that have allowed the U.S.
put a time frame on it. Much of it depends on the type of
to be so successful economically.
government Poland forms.
But first, I would like to note that the people of Poland have
We can make an assessment of what it will take for Eastern
long respected the importance of a free society. This fact is
Europe to experience a turn around by taking a look at other
reflected in your great Constitution that went into effect two
nations that rose out of economic despair. We could spend a
hundred years ago this month
whole day doing this. Chile had the worse inflation of any
I have had an opportunity to study it while here in Poland
country in the world twenty years ago, today it is among the
and have been impressed with its commitment to individual
lowest. West Germany was in total economic ruin after the
freedom as reflected in the following quote:
war, today it has a very powerful economy, even with the chal-
"We publish and proclaim a perfect and entire liberty
lenges raised by reunification. However, when we look around
to all people."
the world for a prosperous country, virtually everyone notes
I believe this is an excellent objective, one that should be
the enormous success of Japan.
pursued by the people of Eastern Europe today. It may have
Following World War II Japan was in ruin, two of its largest
been too progressive for Europe in the 18th century. But it is
cities were flattened by atomic bombs, the infrastructure was
an excellent goal as we approach the 21st century. Now, let's
virtually non-existent, it was in a terrible state. According to
examine the U.S. system.
economists James Gwartney and Richard Stroup in their book
The U.S. Constitution
Economics: Private and Public Choice,
The founding fathers of the U.S. forged together a govern-
"The Japanese people in 1950 were poor and their
ent built on a Constitution that assured individual liberty. It
methods of production primitive. Forty-two percent of
a small document that gives very specific powers to the fed-
the Japanese labor force was employed in agriculture,
eral government, leaving the rest of the powers to the fifty
compared with 12 percent in the U.S."
states of the Union and the people.
The individual earning of the average Japanese was one-
It is not my belief that the people of Poland must have a
eighth that of the average American.
Constitution identical to ours to have a successful, free mar-
The authors state that "the transformation of the Japanese
ket, economy. It is obviously very important that your govern-
economy during the last three decades is the success story of
ment is sensitive to your own particular culture. It is interest-
the postwar era. Today the Japanese economy is the third
ing to note, however, that the German and Japanese
largest in the world. Adjusted for inflation, the GNP of Japan
Constitutions are extremely similar to ours, since we helped
grew approximately 9.5 percent annually between 1950 and
them establish their governments after World War II. This has
1980. During that period, the income of the typical Japanese
allowed both of them to enjoy incredible economic growth
family measured in dollars of constant purchasing power, dou-
since that time. Therefore, it does seem that our Constitution
bled every eight years."
has qualities that are successful in any culture. The most
How did they do it? Gwartney and Stroup list three major
important of those qualities is the respect of the individual.
factors that have led to Japanese success. Each of them are
Two very important elements of our Constitution are:
grounded in the belief that the free enterprise system is the
- The role of government in business is to assure that the
best way for economic growth.
business environment is fair and to prohibit corrupt practices.
Japanese management and workers cooperate as a team
Essentially, government's role is to protect individuals from
to succeed in the market place, rather than oppose one another
other individuals.
as in the case of labor unions. This is reflected in the fact that
Although our government is largely "democratic," it
the Japanese have company unions rather than labor unions.
is described as a "republic." A republic has two important
Company unions are inclusive, when they say "us against them"
characteristics:
they mean competitors. When labor unions say "us against
- It means that those in office are accountable to all of the
them" they mean management. These subtle differences are
people
crucial in the success of Japanese corporations.
It means that the U.S. is a nation of law.
There is great emphasis on savings and investment. The
This last point is very important. This means that all opinion
typical Japanese laborer in urban areas saves approximately 20
and beliefs are protected under the law even those views
percent of his income.
KEVIN J. PRICE
651
Finally, the tax system encourages economic growth by stay-
of property encourages us to work hard and be productive so
ing very low. In fact, their taxes are the lowest of any indus-
that we can own property, leading to economic growth, which
trialized country in the world.
increases opportunities for everyone.
The Japanese began to notice a dramatic change in their
Economic freedom. In America, economic freedom is gen-
economy immediately after the war. The average salary of the
erally considered one of the many freedoms we enjoy; such as
typical Japanese worker doubled in the period of 1950 to
freedom of speech and religion. There are, in a free society,
1960 alone. I believe that the lesson to be learned from most
freedoms for both businesses and individuals. Let's examine
countries that have enjoyed great prosperity is that govern-
the economic freedoms of businesses first.
ment has played a limited role and has allowed the free mar-
- The right to start or discontinue businesses.
ket to prevail.
- The right to purchase resources that they can pay for.
Foundations of a Free Enterprise System
- The right to choose technology.
Texas A & M University is one of the leading schools in the
- The right to produce products and to offer it for sale at
United States in the field of economics. The University founded
any price.
an institute on economics called the Center for Education and
- The right to invest and save in any way.
Research in Free Enterprise. That organization has estab-
- You also are allowed to fail in a free society.
lished five "Foundations" of the free enterprise system.
Individual economic freedoms include
According to the Center, these foundations are essential for
- The right to buy any good or service available provided he
any economy to succeed.
can pay for it.
Private Property: Private property is wealth and power. Pri-
- The right to offer his services for any type of job.
vate ownership disperses power and conserves resources.
- The right to quit any job.
Economic Freedom: Freedom of choice for individuals and
- The right to use his own resources in whatever way he
businesses.
wishes, consistent with the rights of others.
Economic Incentives: Rewards: profit, high income, job
Again, these rights do not include the guaranteeing of suc-
satisfaction. Punishments: losses, failure, low income,
cess. That is up to the initiative of the individual. This initia-
unemployment.
tive is linked to the next point of our discussion, and the third
Competitive Markets: Markets provide information and
foundation, economic incentives.
promote cooperation. Competition protects consumers and
Economic incentives. Economic incentives for businesses
workers. It encourages product variety and low prices.
and individuals include the following:
Limited Government: Rule-maker and umpire to protect
- Businesses seek high profits.
property and freedom, and to promote competition.
- Property owners want the highest price for their resources.
These foundations are very important and, I believe, they
- Workers want the highest salary as possible.
help provide for us freedom in a nutshell. Let's discuss these
Consumers want the lowest prices and highest quality.
in more detail. Each of these foundations have one thing in
The free enterprise system comes closer to meeting these
common: they provide for an economic system that serves the
desires than any other system, because individuals have reason
people, not the other way around.
to believe that their situation will always improve.
Private Property. Private property is more than land or real
Although businesses seek high profits, they make sure thay
estate, it is all kinds of personal possessions. It includes food,
are not so high that they cannot compete. Although property
clothing, cars, and money. In a free society, property rights
owners want high selling prices for their resources, they will
have three characteristics.
keep that price reasonable to make a property more compet-
1) The owner's right to determine how his/her property is
itive. Workers in a free market will tend to cooperate with
used.
their employers to establish salaries that do not hurt a busi-
2) The owner's right to transfer ownership to someone else.
ness's ability to compete, since wages is one of the biggest
3) The owner's right to enjoy income and other benefits that
expenditures of most businesses. The big winner in the free
come his way as a result of his ownership of the property.
enterprise system is the consumer - each and everyone of us
To enjoy all of the aspects of ownership, requires that the
- because each of these other parts of the free enterprise
owner has the right to exercise each of these rights. What are
machine work together to accommodate customers.
the benefits of private property? The Center brings out two
Rewards for economic activity include money, better
important points.
benefits, better facilities and more. These are all positive
-Allowing private property allows for power to be dis-
incentives.
persed. Since ownership of property is the same as the own-
But there are also negative incentives, or punishments. In a
ership of power. Property dispersed among the people, makes
free enterprise system, punishments take the form of losses:
the people powerful. Property concentrated in the govern-
loss jobs, profits, opportunities, etc. In a free market economy,
ment makes the government powerful. Private property, thus,
it is the responsibility of the business and the individuals in a
prevents power and property from being abused.
business, to succeed or fail. This is why a work ethic is very
Private property encourages the conservation of our
important in a free market economy. In a command economy,
resources, because when property is privately owned it is nat-
where government authorizes the production of goods and
urally better taken care of. The Center notes,
competition does not exist, there is little incentive among indi-
"If property is mistreated and loses value, the indi-
viduals to produce beyond the minimum necessary. Economic
vidual owner loses some wealth. If we do not have these
incentives allow for great success, both personal and economic,
rights of ownership, we have little reason to maintain or
in a free market. They also allow for failure, if individuals and
take care of property."
businesses fail to compete successfully.
In sum, property is wealth. The rights of private ownership
The work ethic. In the free market, the work ethic plays an
652
VITAL SPEECHES OF THE DAY
important role in keeping the economy productive. Every indi-
cessful free market economy, is a strong commitment to busi-
vidual has a work ethic, the only question is whether or not it
ness ethics. Good ethics makes the difference between winners
is a good work ethic. A positive work ethic has the following
and losers.
characteristics:
Competitive markets. The individual or customer is king
-great importance is placed on personal productivity
in the free market. The free market acknowledges the fact
-individuals sacrifice, even personal time, to aid the growth
that quality means different things to different people. With
of the business they work for
this in mind, the economy will provide numerous products in
-an attitude of cooperation prevails, both among employ-
an effort to create a larger market. In a free market, each
ees and employers
individual has his own votes, and those votes come in the
Employees and employers know that if they do not produce
form of money. Unlike political systems, where there is only
C
maximum, a competitor will, and that could result in the
one winner in a majority vote; in a free market election we
of jobs and companies. That is one of the most important
are all winners because there are plenty of competitors who
elements of the free market economy: each individual is
are more than happy to broaden their share of the market
responsible for his own economic destiny. His or her ability to
place. We see how such "voting" works, when a consumer
succeed depends upon the individual and the individual alone.
chooses a Coke over a Pepsi. This sends a message to both
In a command economy, the government determines:
products, potential success for one and potential problems
-where an individual works,
for the other.
-who an employer hires,
It is in competitive markets, that prices are kept to a min-
-and the grounds for one being fired.
imum and quality to a maximum. Each of the businesses are
In a capitalist economy, the market determines all of these
competiting for your "votes" or money to outdo one another.
factors. Therefore, an individual is completely responsible for
The beneficiary of all this competition is the consumer, every
his or her economic well being. If an individual does not pro-
individual who seeks out products to improve the quality of his
duce in a way necessary to maintain his job, he could be
life.
replaced. More important than this list of negative reasons for
Efforts to reduce costs by finding better means of produc-
having good work habits are the numerous benefits:
tion leads to greater. innovation and technological progress.
-greater profits for your business
Furthermore, a large number of suppliers and employers pre-
-higher profits lead to higher salaries and more benefits
vents any single firm from exploiting individual consumers and
-greater productivity leads to more products and better
workers.
choices for the whole economy
Competition serves as one of the best regulatory forces in
The benefits of a good work ethic are tremendous and far
an economy. Companies will keep a close eye on one another
outweigh any benefit to be derived from a bad work thic.
to make sure that each company's products are safe and ben-
Ethics in business. In addition to a work ethic, which pro-
eficial to consumers.
vides an incentive for individuals to be productive, business
The most attractive aspect of the free enterprise system is
ethics provides an incentive for individuals to work honestly.
that it is beneficial to all. Individuals are not forced to be
Business ethics have become a positive force in economics.
involved in business dealings, such as buying and selling, in a
is more than just preventing businesses from doing wrong,
free market. Instead, all economic activity is conducted on a
it means doing all that is possible to satisfy customers. The
voluntary basis. Free enterprise is a true economic system,
belief in a good business ethic is expressed as the major theme
meant for the country as a whole and not for a few aggressive
of many businesses:
individuals.
- Avis rent-a-car says "we try harder."
Finally, lets discuss the role of government in the free mar-
- Ford car company says "Quality: job one."
ket. Government in a free market plays two very specific and
- Other more generic slogans include:
limited roles. They are:
-customer is king
- Rule Maker: government makes and enforces laws gov-
-service with a smile
erning the conditions under which voluntary transactions are
customer is the employer
made. Such laws are designed to protect the rights to private
It is true that laws exist in every country to make sure busi-
property and individual freedom and to preserve and promote
nesses work ethically; however, in the free market, other forces
competition.
seem to have a stronger impact on business ethics. These
Umpire: government acts to settle disputes resulting from
include organizations like the Better Business Bureau, the
conflicting interpretations of the rules.
media - which reports on bad business practices, and other
This is very similar to a basketball game, where rules are
competitors. On this last point, businesses are always quick to
made by a committee, but are enforced by referees. However,
point out the flaws - either in price or quality - that exist in
you will not have officials taking free throw shots to help a
a competitors product. Simply put, in a truly competitive econ-
team that is behind in the free market game. There is no
omy, bad business ethics will not work. Companies and indi-
other major economic responsibility for government in a free
viduals that do not maintain a high standard of business ethics
society, it should never play a parental or coercive role of
face terrible consequences for their behavior, because so many
granting certain benefits to individuals or groups at the
forces keep them in check.
expense of others.
Although it is true that people have made a "profit" through
To sum up the assessment of free enterprise from this insti-
unfair business practices, the typical result in the U.S. for such
tute; the free market is designed to serve the individual, not
behavior is that these businesses go under financially or the
the state, through these five basic foundations.
owners face stiff criminal penalties.
That is why free enterprise is so beneficial to society as a
Therefore, one of the most important elements of a suc-
whole. Individuals working together to benefit themselves cre-
DANIEL J. ESTES
653
ates an economic system of winners. After all, individuals and
decided to "support a radical restructuring of the economy,
groups enter into voluntary exchange because they will be bet-
including a strong emphasis on free-market mechanisms and
ter off by making the trade. Economic incentives encourage
private enterprise."
voluntary exchange and the continued growth of the economic
Furthermore, Poland's Communists have "surrendered
pie.
their monopoly of power. In another era it would be a political
Megatrends 2000 states that Poland could be a major eco-
earthquake; but today it is the direction the world is going."
nomic influence by the 21st century.
One specialist with Poland's State School of Planning has gone
One of the most popular books in the U.S. today is Mega-
so far as to say,
trends 2000, which projects the trends of where the world is
"The dream of an economic system better than cap-
going as we approach the 21st century. The authors have a
italism is dead. There is no third way, no model between
chapter on free market socialism that does an overview of how
Stalinism and capitalism that works well."
the government's role in traditionally command economies is
All this is to say that Poland is on its way to becoming
declining. One of the bright spots, and a subsection of the
economically influential. It is obvious that it has made impor-
book is Poland.
tant progress in being a leader for Eastern Europe and, I
According to the authors, Poland is enjoying a renaissance
believe, a future player in the world economy. It is true that
in its society. Economic and social reforms are largely from the
there is much to be done, but progress is notable.
people up, rather than the government down. The importance
The significance to Megatrends 2000 is that it is a very pop-
to this is that the society as a whole is already receptive to the
ular book among American readers in general and those in
challenges that come with true economic reform. Electoral
business in particular. Many are exploring the prospects of
reform that is the envy of Eastern Europe has already been
business opportunities and investments throughout Europe,
instituted, to allow individuals to impact the way their gov-
this important book makes the case that Poland is a viable
ernment behaves. According to the government's plans, 90
location to do business.
percent of all state-owned factories and businesses will be
In closing, I believe that the prospects for Poland are good.
auctioned off to private owners. The Polish government has
It is simply up to you. Your future is in your own hands.
In Praise of Teaching
THOSE WHO CARE, TEACH
By DANIEL J. ESTES, Associate Professor of Bible, Cedarville College
Delivered upon Receiving the Sears Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, Cedarville, Ohio, May 21, 1991
UR lives are often punctuated by proverbs. From the
several best-selling books have attacked the teaching profes-
O
time we are young we are told, "A penny saved is a
sion for harboring irrelevance, indolence, and incompetence.
penny earned." "Look before you leap." "Sticks and
At the present time our country faces a glut of lawyers, but a
stones may break your bones, but names will never hurt you."
widespread shortage of teachers in critical areas. Governmen-
"Early to bed, and early to rise, makes you healthy, wealthy and
tal assistance to all levels of education is being cut, and local
wise."
tax levies are defeated nearly three out of every four attempts.
When proverbs like these enter the collective memory of a
Not only are teachers paid a fraction of the salaries of other
society, they become accepted as unquestioned axioms. In
professionals with equal education and experience, but it is
reality, proverbs are short-cuts to thinking. They derive their
not at all uncommon for a recent graduate to accept an entry-
potency from being concise and memorable, but often this
level position in industry with compensation greater than that
power is purchased at the price of precision. For example, in
of his professors. At best, teachers are viewed as harmless
times of high inflation saving may actually result in diminished
lightweights. More commonly, they are scorned as under-
buying power. If we look too long before we leap, then we come
worked eccentrics who couldn't hold down a real job. After all,
to realize that he who hesitates is lost. Regardless of what I
as the proverb says, those who can, do; and those who can't,
was told, sticks and stones never hurt me as much as the cruel
teach.
taunts of other people. And, alas, many a young man has
To be sure, many of us could no doubt relate anecdotes and
learned that early to bed and early to rise means that the girls
horror stories of teachers who did not teach, classes in which
go out with the other guys!
no learning occurred, and courses which were largely a joke.
Nevertheless, even though proverbs may be imprecise, they
As in every line of work, there are teachers who admirably fit
are as deeply rooted as dandelions. I would like to re-examine
the denegrating caricature drawn so frequently in our society.
a proverb which has come to be regarded as a truism by much
However, to point to individual cases of patent ineptness does
of our American society. I first heard it during my senior year
not justify categorical criticism of teachers. It is my contention
of college, and most recently I read it in the May 8 issue of the
that when the facts are scrutinized, the popular proverb does
Chronicle of Higher Education. No doubt most of us have heard
not stand.
it, and many of us may have said it: "Those who can, do; and
Metaphors and similes are pictorial proverbs. They use pic-
those who can't, teach."
tures to communicate general truths in concise and memora-
The cynical depreciation of teachers reflected by this prov-
ble ways. Many such figures have been used to illustrate what
erb is seconded by many voices in our society. In recent months
a teacher is and does. Socrates pictured the teacher as one
In God's Playground
death. Wat had had an eventful career
certainly found it in the message and
and Milosz's tape machine did not lack
method of the new Party. Wat compares
Lucifer Unemployed
Wat, one of the most original Polish
for material. Wat had been locked up by
his early experience to a Graham
by Aleksander Wat,
writers of the postwar era, gave his own
the Polish authorities for being a Com:
Greene short story in which some young
translated by Lillian Vallee,
fantastic version of it in Lucifer Unem-
munist in the Twenties, had escaped to
hoodlums destroy for a joke the whole
foreword by Czeslaw Milosz.
ployed, a series of wholly bizarre stories
the Russian zone after the German oc-
interior of a man's house: when he se-
Northwestern University Press,
first published in Warsaw in 1927. The
cupation of Poland, was again arrested,
turns it looks perfectly normal from the
123 pp., $17.95; $8.95 (paper)
second, "Kings in Exile," begins with a
and subsequently did time in what he
outside but the inside is a void. He com-
Killing the Second Dog
sentence that might make us think we
calculated to be as many as fourteen
pares himself to those young thugs who
are back in the sea world of Conrad's
by Marek Hlasko,
prisons.
have stripped the house, "throwing the
translated by Tomasz Mirkowicz.
Nigger of the Narcissus. "The first mate
After the war he returned to Poland
key into the Vistula," and throws him-
Cane Hill Press, 117 pp., $8.95 (paper)
of the English ship Cromwell peered at
from Soviet Central Asia, where he had
self upon the only faith that can now
the horizon
But in another second
been searching for his wife and son, who
exist. The lasting impression of the
Missing Pieces
black joke in Lucifer Unemployed lies in
by Stanislaw Benski,
Tadeusz Konwicki
its intuition, below the book's conscious
translated by Walter Amdt.
level, of what was ultimately to become
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich/A Helen
of that faith
and Kurt Wolff Book, 160 pp., $19.95
Bokin Manor
antasy remains a favorite form
by Tadeusz Konwicki,
among Polish writers, although its tex-
translated by Richard Lourie.
ture and technique have altered. Swift
Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
or Voltaire would be familiar with
240 pp., $19.95
Wat's satiric vision, which indeed de-
pends in some degree on the reader's
Rondo
own recognition of their traditional way
by Kazimierz Brandys,
of making fun of things, as when Lii-
translated by Jaroslaw Anders.
cifer, the only being left in the universe
Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
who believes in God, nonetheless offers
265 pp., $19.95
his services to an atheist magazine. That
The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman
kind of irony would be ignored by
by Andrzej Szczypiorski,
Marek Hlasko and his readers, who
translated by Klara Glowczewska.
have, as it were, moved into a world in
Grove Weidenfeld, 204 pp., $16.95
which the literary medium has become
as random, and almost as meaningless,
John Bayley
as what it is saying. Killing the Second
Joseph Conrad once wrote to an Eng-
Dog reads like a film script, with the
lish friend enquiring, rather queru-
same kind of unpointed and inconse-
lously, "What is all this about Jane
quential dialogue, and many of Hlasko's
Austen?" Conrad could not see the
short novels became films, such as Next
point of Jane Austen, nor was his friend
Stop-Paradise, even though they had
able to enlighten him: indeed, it sounds
0
been refused publication by the Warsaw
rather as if the skepticism of the great
censorship.
Polish-English novelist made the friend
After leaving Poland, where his rise
himself begin to wonder whether there
to fame as a writer had been meteoric,
could really be anything in Jane
he ended up in Israel, working as a
Austen's novels after all. No other liter-
truck driver and manual laborer. Israel
ary form is so instinctively and involun-
is the setting of Killing the Second Dog,
tarily national, perhaps because nation-
which has a certain zest as an account of
alism was a growing force when the
pimping and boozing in Tel Aviv, but
novel entered its dominant period.
o
whose aimless improvisation becomes
But the novel's brand of nationalism
predictable and soon begins to pall
is not a simple matter. It often seems to
Hlasko had led an equally rough and
contradict or undermine the national
tough life in Poland when young, and he
archetype. John Bull and Jane Austen
died, worn out, of an overdose of sleep-
have nothing very obviously in com-
ing pills in Wiesbaden in 1969. He was
mon. Yet there is a certain logic in the
only thirty-five.
fact that the novel in Poland should
we are engulfed in an anarchic world in
had been deported there. He was soon
concern itself with philosophical and
which nothing makes sense even though
in trouble with the new Polish regime
Stanislaw Benski's delightful stories,
metaphysical questions, with the ques-
all the ingredients seem familiar and
and forbidden to publish his books, and
Missing Pieces, are very different. They
tion, "What should we do, if?"-with
recognizable, the sort of world which
although things improved in 1956 a seri-
were written, the author remarks, in
extreme situations, hypothetical or ac-
surrealists and futurists had perceived
ous illness forced him to emigrate soon
order to preserve the memory of the
tual. Poland's very existence, histori-
as coming into objective existence after
afterward.
last Jews in Poland. Benski, who died in
the chaos of the Great War. Wat was
cally. might seem to depend on such a
W
1988, was the director of a nursing home
query. Being Polish has often in the past
one of the writers who rose to the chal-
at's poems and prose writings made
for old people in Warsaw, and many of
been a state of mind and spirit rather
lenge and tried to find his own correla-
him a cult figure in Poland, even to the
his stories have to do with Jews whom
than a matter of topographical belong-
tive fictional world to express what had
younger generation who had grown up
he met under his care, invalids in mind
ing. Conrad remained haunted by the
happened.
after the war, but as with many cult fig-
as much as in body, who still feel impris-
fact that he had "jumped": that like his
He wrote about the nature of that
ures it is not easy for the outsider today
oned in the ghetto or the extermination
own Lord Jim he had abandoned ship,
world in My Century, a book of mem-
to see what all the stir was about. Wat's
camp. The author's understanding of
in his case the native country. It made
oirs published in London in 1977, and
own comments on Lucifer, as quoted,
their psychology, and the ways in which
him a novelist who asked the basic
by the University of California Press
have a decidedly passé sound about
they still strive in their last years to
questions-How does one survive? By
at Berkeley eleven years later, with the
them. Yet he remains an archetypal
come alive again, is profoundly moving.
what does one live? His nationality, put
subtitle The Odyssey of a Polish
man of his time, a figure, as Milosz says,
In a perceptive introduction to Killing
Intellectual.
into works of fiction, expressed itself in
"sorely tried by history,B who did not
the Second Dog, in which he observes
abstract terms. Life, the destructive ele-
What I put together in Lucifer
live to see the collapse of communist
that it can be "read" like a film, which
ment, had to assume in his novels the
was a confrontation of all human-
dogmas "considered untouchable in his
may account for its contemporary ap-
plots and places that fiction requires,
ity's basic ideas-morality, religion,
day." Wat is interesting on the dialectic
peal, Professor Thompson Bradley also
but its cold reality cannot be localized,
even love But that cerebral
he analyzed in himself, the desire that
compares Hlasko's "phantasmagoric vi-
even in relation to the sea. No wonder
questioning and discrediting of love
burned in the intellectual, not in the
sion of the grotesque reality of everyday
he could not understand Jane Austen,
was thorough, taken right to the
man in the street, for that single "global
life" with the work of Bruno Schulz,
for whom a house, a village, a family,
end. The discrediting of the very
answer to negation" that communism
who was killed on the street by a
were the essential beginning and end of
idea of personality everything in
represented. Like Conrad's destructive
Gestapo officer during the war. Cer-
any fictional enterprise.
general brought into question.
element, the deep sea itself, it seemed
tainly Schulz's stories-The Street of
Nothing. Period. Finished. Nihil.
the only medium that could keep the in-
Crocodiles and Under the Sign of the
tellectual afloat.
Hourglass-present their own kind of
olish fiction is of course rich and vari-
Czeslaw Milosz put on a tape-recorder
There is a certain irony in the fact
phantasmagoria, but it is, so to speak, a
ous, but it may be that all of it is at least
many of Wat's recollections at Berkeley
that Lucifer Unemployed, which was
phantasmagoria of coziness and domes-
touched by the ultimate bareness and
in the two years Wat visited there (he
first published in 1927, takes as its key
ticity, not the harshly alienated world of
extremity of intellectual perception that
died in Paris in 1967), and his collected
figure the Christian devil, who is search-
modern Polish fantasy.
is so marked in Conrad. Aleksander
poems were published in Polish after his
ing for an appropriate occupation. He
And so Schulz for me is more like
July 19, 1990
23
Bense trail = = Sise Hassn and P.
imagines hs Instructional fames. The
that
CHECKENS
Princh
mellen
ticularly more tike these touching takes
strange lewish figure who roams the
writers today. although both Brandys
by Benski of Jews enclosed in their own
world, suffering, dying and returning to
and Szczypiorski are subtle marrators
past, the "missing pieces" of present day
life, finding a brief incongruous resting
whose cerebration, like that of Conrad,
diasporic memory. Benski tells us that
place in the boudoir of the lady of
is key to the dramatic action and adven-
he writes "about the last residents of
Bohin manor, reminds us that the Poles
ture which make up their stories. The
Special prices on
small villages, the shtetlach, about the
too have had their perpetual diaspora;
beautiful Mrs. Seidenman is a young
pious and impious, the honest and dis-
and that, as Andrzej Szczypiorski, au-
Jewish widow whose blonde hair. and
summer reading
honest, the intelligent and the simple,
thor of The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman,
blue eyes, together with a set of false
about those who are forever seeing the
puts it, "Poland without its Jews is no
papers, save her in the war years from
Melers, Michael
ghetto walls and the chimneys of the
longer the Poland it once was."
the Germans' extermination of Polish
WAS JONESTOWN
crematoria." Neither Schulz nor Benski
Nor is Konwicki indulgent toward the
Jews, until she is betrayed by an in-
A CIA MEDICAL EXPERIMENT?
is in the least like Kafka or Gogol, the
old Polish magnates themselves, the
former. She is rescued from the
A Review of the Evidence
other two writers Professor Bradley
Radziwills and Potockis who once ruled
Gestapo only to be forced to flee
Proposes that Dr. Laurence Layton
mentions in connection with Hiasko, for
their provinces with a rod of iron.
Poland again twenty years later, when
(Former Chief of the U.S. Army's
theirs is the central and by now wholly
Meanwhile a nice boy, who will after-
the Communist regime has begun a
Chemical and Biological Warfare
cosmopolitan way of looking at the
ward become Lenin, is growing up in
campaign of anti-Semitism against the
Division) cultured the AIDS virue to be
world through the eyes of a matter-of-
the house of a school inspector; and
small national Jewish population left
tested and deployed in a CIA-backed
fact incredulity. The specifically Polish
Konwicki boldly improvises a prose
over from the Holocaust.
experiment in Jonestown, Guyana.
version of this vivid incredulity draws
poem by the young Adam Mickiewicz,
Szczypiorski, who was born in 1924,
0-88946-013-2 $24.95 postpaid
both on the traditions of the movies and
whose verse epic set in Lithuania, Pan
took part in the 1944 Warsaw uprising
Tress, Harvey B.
of abstract philosophy, the two reinforc-
Tadeusz (1834), is, as Richard Lourie
and was locky to end the war in a Ger-
BRITISH STRATEGIC BOMBING
ing each other unexpectedly. In Tadeusz
points out, even more central to Polish
man concentration camp. He then be
POLICY FROM WORLD WARI
Konwicki's romance, Bohin Manor, a
literature than are Pushkin's poems to
came one of the most popular and cele-
THROUGH 1940
third element is added, that of historical
Russian. Pushkin's son himself is a char-
brated novelists of the new Poland and
Politics, Attitudes, and the
fantasy: figures and periods of the past
acter in Bohin Manor, seeking to atone
served as cultural attaché in Denmark
Formation of a Lasting Pattern
are sandwiched together in the enclave
for his father's poem "To the Slanderers
a provocative study of a period
also becoming head of the Polish Au
in the air war which is generally
of a small Lithuanian estate presided
of Russia,"- dashed off after the Polish-
thors' League. He was arrested and in-
overlooked." Times Higher
over by Helena Konwicka, the author's
Lithuanian uprising of 1831, and still
terned in 1981, after martial law and the
Education Supplement
reconstructed, or rather reimagined,
relevant today for its imperious claim
troubles which produced Solidarity. In
0-88946-464-2 $24.95 postpaid
grandmother.
that all "Slav streams" should merge in
1989 he was elected to the Polish Sen-
Portmann, Adolf
Again the movie camera seems the
the "Russian sea."
ate, remarking that "polities is a boring
ESSAYS IN PHILOSOPHICAL
medium that persuades us of the possi-
"Count us out," the Lithuanians
profession created for ambitious people
ZOOLOGY BY ADOLF PORTMANN
bility. the absolute normality indeed, of
might say, as they are saying today.
with no talent-still, I have never de-
The Living Form and the Seeing Eye
every anachronism that comes within its
Speaking the oldest Indo-Germanic lan-
clined my civic duty and I won't now.
Translated by Richard B. Carter
focus. It may be the rear end of a Polish
guage in Europe, they are not Slavs at
He and Kazimierz Brandys are perhaps
With Interpretive essay.
Fiat, unexpectedly projecting from the
all, and they only accepted Christianity
the two most respected senior con-
0-88946-323-9 $24.95 postpaid
hay barn of the manor in the years that
in the fourteenth century, when their
temporary Polish novelists, although
Scarf, Mimi
followed the subjection of the 1863
dynastic leader formed the alliance with
Brandys still lives In France, 8 self-exile
BATTERED JEWISH WIVES
uprising against Russia, or the appear-
Poland that resulted in the conquest of
as so many Poles have been, after he
Case Studies in the
ance of a heavily mustached Josef
half of Russia. But so many great
had been exiled in earnest after his
Response to Rage
Dzhugashvili (the real name of Stalin)
Poles-the poets Micklewicz and
work for Solidarity, a time chronicled in
A study by the founder and director of
in the role of the local chief of police.
Milosz, the liberator Marshal Pilsud-
his Warsaw Diary: 1979-1981; and in
Shiloh, a hotline and shelter for
There is also a man-eating monster
ski-have come from Lithuania that the
Paris/New York: 1982-1984.
battered Jewish wives.
roaming the Lithuanian woods called
Poles have a traditional affection for a
0-88946-119-8 $24.95 postpaid
Schicklgruber-the real name of Hitler.
country whose native inhabitants are in
he strengths of both Brandys and
Hoff, Linda Kay
The titles themselves of Konwicki's
fact as much anti-Polish as anti-Russian.
HAMLET'S CHOICE
Szczypiorski lie in their experiences,
previous novels-A Dreambook for
This awkward fact is as familiar to
Hamlet A Reformation Allegory
which have made them, as artists, ex-
Our Time, Anthropos-Specter-Beast,
Milosz, who speaks of it in his mar-
An exploration of the abundant
perts in sobriety and in a certain sort of
The Polish Complex-convey the kind
apocalyptic and Mariological imagery
velous memoir The Issa Valley, as it is
realism. What happens to young Tom,
in Hamlet.
of element in which his imagination
also to Konwicki.
and to the beautiful Mrs. Seidenman, is
works. A recent film of his, Lava, which
0-88946-145-7 $24.95 postpaid
wholly believable, and carries the full
Cord, William O.
was based on Mickiewicz's poem Fore-
It happens that Pilsudski, the gruff
impact of historic truth, both in relation
THE TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY OF
fathers' Eve, was shown at the 1989
warrior who preserved the new Polish
to the war and to the Russian-imposed
RICHARD WAGNER'S THE RING OF
Moscow Film Festival.
state from Lenin's invasion in 1920, is
regime that succeeded it: The alterna-
THE NIBELUNG
also a hero behind the scenes in Rondo,
tive response where the Polish novel is
An exhaustive, three-volume
he weird and wonderful qualities of
whose narrator, Tom, is rumored to be
concerned is represented by Aleksander
presentation of the totality of
Bohin Manor, which never loses its
his natural son. This produces an ironic
Wat and by Witold Gombrowicz, two
mythological thought associated with
readability as well as its "seeability,"
situation, for Tom has little or no inter-
pioneers in the native idiom of fantasy
Wagner's Ring.
make unsurprising Neal Ascherson's
est in politics but is anxious to capture
who have exercised a potent influence
0-88946-441-3 (vol. 1) -442-1 (vol. 2)
statement that Konwicki is the most
the attention of a leading actress in the
on their contemporaries and successors.
-443-X (vol. 3) $24.95 each volume
popular writer in Poland today. But he
Warsaw theater, who is in turn only in-
Gombrowicz's "mad" novel, Ferdy-
is also highly exportable. The love story
terested in him as a figure who repre-
durke, and his diaries written when
he tells-of Helena's betrothal to a
sents, under the German occupation,
self-exiled in Argentina during the war,
Forthcoming:
neighboring gentleman and her falling
the heroic traditions of Polish resis-
can still be apprehended through some
for a strange and fascinating Jewish visi-
tance. Tom's attempt to meet her ex-
THE POEMS OF GENERAL
of the more recent Polish literary per-
tor-gives the book the kind of roman-
pectations of him ends in disaster, espe-
sonalities, and in their narrative
tic suspense of which Walter Scott and
GEORGE S. PATTON, JR.
cially after the war, when his supposed
style-not only that of Brandys and
Sienkiewicz were masters. But of course
connection with right-wing politics leads
Szczypiorski but of Konwicki as well.
Lines of Fire
Konwicki is much more conscious and
to his persecution and imprisonment by
What strikes one about these novels,
sophisticated in his manipulation of the
the Communist party.
however, is their richness and variety,
Edited, annotated, and
complex strands of Polish history and
Both Rondo by Kazimierz Brandys
the breadth of experience one encoun-
society. In an introduction to his excel-
Introduced by Carmine A. Priof
and The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman by
ters in them. "God's Playground," as
"Professor Carmine Prioli has been
lent translation, Richard Lourie em-
Andrzej Szczypiorski are novels about
the old Respublica used to be called in
eminently successful in doing what
phasizes the coolness and evenhanded-
recent Polish experience, told in a more
its heyday, is still a magic setting for lit-
the World War I general and his wife
ness with which Konwicki depicts and
straightforward and realistic manner
erary enterprise.
twice falled to do publish a book of
George Patton's poetry."
ROGER H. NYE (Ph.D. and
Colonel, USA-Ret), Chairman of the
Friends of the West Point Library and
author of The Pation Mind
ARGO BOOKSHOP
0-88946-162-7 prepub. price $19.95
1916 Ste-Catherine W. Montreal, Québec H3H 1M3
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1-800-9-EDITOR Orders 1-800 753-2788
24
The New York Review
omic system.
1954 (preceded by the 9th Plenary Meeting of the Party's Central Committee).
The new policy was to consist in the search for diversified methods of socializing
Poland
agricultural production, with the proviso that such measures should promote the
that the Polish People's
growth of production. It was also decided to increase allocations to agriculture, com-
wer belonged to the work-
bined with increased allocations to consumption in general, and a reduction of ex-
cised directly by represent-
penditure on investments. At the same time the Congress tried to assess critically
1e social ownership of the
the influence of the personality cult that was still persisting in the international
poly of foreign trade were
workers' movement, and to see to it that the provisions of the Constitution concern-
sist in passing laws, super-
ing socialist democracy were enforced. That implied large-scale participation in the
: plans and approving the
process of government, inter alia by work in the PZPR and the allied parties. The
incil of State elected by the
point was to ensure the efficient action necessary for the implementation of the very
abinet (literally called the
ambitious plan to industrialize the country and thus to lift it out of the backwardness
the highest executive and
inherited from the past. These ideas could not easily be carried out because many
ranteed to the citizens of
activists of the PZPR upheld the belief that the class struggle was increasing as so-
on of health, to education,
cialism was being built, and because of the strong dogmatic tendencies within the
at women and men had
party. This led to the preservation of the concept of the rightist and nationalist
social institution, that all
deviation.
ity, race, and religion, and
The year 1956 saw a new stage in the evolution of political life in Poland. In
the State.
February of that year the Communist Party of the Soviet Union held its 20th
between the merger of the
Congress, which proved of vital importance for the international workers' move-
1 the most radical was the
ment as, it revealed the consequences of the personality cult and thus stimulated a
ents and machines, mainly
more penetrating revaluation of the methods of introducing socialist conditions
nify the agrarian organiza-
both in Poland and in other people's democracies. Society at large pressed for the
and rapidly to transform
same since it was increasingly disenchanted by the growing problems, falling real
a small scale into socialist
wages, insufficient measures intended to raise living standards, bureaucratization of
which promised support
the state agencies, and infringements of the rule of law (for instance, with respect
sured protection to indivi-
to the former members of the Home Army and to the Church). The measures, un-
dertaken by the PZPR after 1954, intended to democratize political life and to raise
n in 1949-56, failed to
living standards, proved insufficient, the more so as industrialization and advances
lustrialization of the country
in education and culture (cf. sections 3 and 4 below) had resulted in a numerical in-
sumer goods among other
crease of the working class and a general rise in the political awareness of the na-
1953, it was believed that
tion, which wanted to take a more active part in the process of government and in
Id improve the market sit-
the programming of social change. This meant that the entire system of the feedback
ion of the workers, which
between the national economy, on the one hand, and the social structure and the pro-
life. But the combination
cesses taking place in social consciousness, on the other, became extremely intricate.
vigorous promotion of the
The strike in the Cegielski Works (then called the Stalin Works) in Poznań, which
farms to achieve the desir-
broke out as a result of bureaucratic incompetence and tardiness, was a drastic indi-
rities, many peasants were
cator of the growing contradictions and problems. The strike was not only eco-
to such an extent that 85
nomic but also political in character and led to mass demonstrations by the inhabi-
6.
tants of Poznań. An attempt to suppress the unrest by force resulted in attacks on pub-
R with a growing clarity.
lic buildings and clashes with security forces, and consequently in casualties.
's 2nd Congress in March
Under those circumstances further steps were taken to restore the socialist rule of
"AN OutliNe History OF FOLAND"
267
Jerzy Topolski
PRAGUE SPRING 737
nauts, the public came to regard him as
of the Poznan riots, in which workers
VIET INVASION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA in Au-
the "eighth astronaut."
dissatisfied with living conditions, the
gust of that same year. In 1977, Czech
Powys, John Cowper (1872-1963). Brit-
presence of Soviet troops, and the poli-
dissidents formed the human rights group
ish author. Although he also wrote po-
cies of the Polish government, broke out
CHARTER 77 in Prague. In 1989, the city
hou
etry and essays on a variety of topics,
in armed rebellion. Although official gov-
was the site of popular mass demonstra-
inan
Powys is best known for his idiosyncratic
ernment figures listed approximately 50
tions against the communist government.
1957
historical novels, which frequently evoke
killed and 400 wounded, Western wit-
In 1990, its citizens celebrated the end of
the Dorset countryside where he was
nesses reported 200-300 dead. The riots
more than 40 years of communist rule.
Poy
raised. His first novel was Wood and Stone
resulted in the installation of a more lib-
Prague retains many of its original, pre-
(1915), but his first major success came
eral government under Wladyslaw GO-
20th-century architectural features.
with Wolf Solent (1929). His best known
MULKA.
Prague Spring. Term used to characterize
for
work is A Gastonbury Romance (1932), an
pragmatism. See William JAMES.
a series of economic and political reforms
ratio
ambitious historical novel influenced by
Prague. Capital city of CZECHOSLOVAKIA,
in CZECHOSLOVAKIA, and the period dur-
left
myth and legend. He also produced a
situated on the Vltava River. Prague's
ing which they occurred. The Prague
notable Autobiography (1934). Later works
history in the 20th century in many ways
Spring developed under the guidance of
include Porius (1951) and The Brazen Head
mirrors and encapsulates that of Europe,
Alexander DUBCEK, who had been named
(1956). There are conflicting critical as-
particularly central Europe. In 1918, after
first secretary of Czechoslovakia's Com-
olled
sessments of Powys's ability as a writer.
WORLD WAR I, it became the capital of the
munist Party on January 5, 1968. It also
Powys's two brothers were also men of
new Czech republic. Occupied by the
coincided with the ouster of hardline
907
letters. Llewelyn Powys (1884-1939) was
Germans in 1939, before the start of WORLD
communist President Antonin NOVOTNY
justic
an essayist and novelist whose work in-
WAR II, during the war it escaped the
(Mar. 22, 1968), who had long kept
ia,
cludes The Pathetic Fallacy (1928).
bombing that devastated many European
Czechoslovakia in the grip of STALINISM.
T(heodore) F(rancis) Powys (1875-1953)
cities. It was liberated by the Soviet army
At a conference in Brno (Mar. 16, 1968),
was the author of Mr. Weston's Good Wine
in 1945. Prague was the scene of the com-
Dubcek promised the "widest possible
(1927).
munist takeover of Czechoslovakia and
democratization" for the country, includ-
Poznan. Polish industrial city on the Warta
the mysterious death of Jan MASARYK in
ing the relaxation of censorship. He
River, 167 miles west of Warsaw. From
1948; the PRAGUE SPRING of 1968; and a
promised to build "socialism with a hu-
sitions
June 28 to 30, 1956, the city was the site
focal point of Czech resistance to the so-
man face" and to "bring in new people
imin
On August 21, 1968,
Soviet tanks rolled into
Wenceslas Square in
Prague, ending the
Prague Spring.
to
sburg,
films
The
ICAD-
oloned
Death
ether
meric
pro-
WELL
(ONE-
ions,
nion-
tober
980).
ublic
stro
July 10 / Administration of George Bush, 1989
lic. Constitutional democracy in France
bodies. God, in His infinite wisdom and
began two centuries ago this summer, and
love, is with us in this chamber. May God
in a few days, leaders from all over the
bless you and your efforts. Long live
world will be in Paris to celebrate the anni-
Poland! Long live Poland! Thank you very,
versary of its birth.
very much.
On May 3, 1991, the Polish Constitution
will also be 200 years old. Your Constitution
Note: The President spoke at 2:28 p.m. in
of 1791 was crushed, but never forgotten.
the main chamber of the Parliament Build-
And now this generation's calling is to
ing. In his opening remarks, he referred to
redeem the promise of a free Polish Repub-
Wojciech Jaruzelski, Chairman of the Coun-
lic. Poland has not been lost so long as the
cil of State; Mikolaj Kozakiewicz, Speaker
Polish spirit lives.
of the Lower House of the National Assem-
America wishes you well as you face the
bly; Andrzej Stelmachowski, Speaker of the
tough problems today. I salute General Jar-
Senate; and Prime Minister Mieczyslaw Ra-
uzelski for his leadership and his extraordi-
kowski. The Paris Club was a group of
nary hospitality to me. I salute the leaders
major Western industrialized nations that
and members of these two great legislative
lent money to developing countries.
White House Fact Sheet on Proposed Assistance for Poland and
Hungary
July 10, 1989
In his speech today to the Polish Parlia-
could contribute to this process as well.
ment, the President presented a compre-
hensive package of six measures to help
Scope
Poland meet the historic challenges of the
Efforts will involve work with the Polish
1990's. The measures take into account the
and Hungarian Governments, and with
ongoing, hopeful, democratic change in
other official and independent organizations
Poland.
in those countries, to gather information
The measures recognize that successful
and provide feedback on issues of mutual
market economic reform and democratiza-
concern. Involved governments will also
tion in Poland, and elsewhere in East Cen-
work as appropriate with representatives of
tral Europe, can lay the basis for European
the IMF, World Bank, EC Commission, and
stability and security.
other multilateral and private sector institu-
The package of measures consists of the
tions.
following:
Specific issues addressed could include:
INTENSIFIED CONCERTED WESTERN
Needed economic reforms;
ACTION FOR POLAND AND HUNGARY
Timing and conditions for new credits;
and
Proposal
Concrete support for privatization and
The President is proposing that nations of
private business, environmental
the Summit Seven intensify their concerted
projects, management and training ini-
action to support economic reforms based
tiatives, social safety nets to accompany
on political pluralism in Poland and Hunga-
restructuring, housing, etc.
ry. Complementary efforts by leading in-
These efforts would not undercut or re-
dustrial democracies will provide a power-
place existing institutions such as the World
ful impetus to economic recovery and
Bank, Paris Club, or IMF.
progress in these nations as they face a
Next Steps
turning point. Other interested countries
The President will discuss this proposal in
924
Administration of George Bush, 1989 / July 10
infinite wisdom and
is chamber. May God
Paris with the leaders of the other Summit
technology and equipment used in re-
efforts. Long live
Seven nations-the United Kingdom, Fed-
structuring projects in plants produc-
!and! Thank you very,
eral Republic of Germany, France, Japan,
ing chemical fibers, petrochemicals,
Italy, and Canada.
polypropylene for packaging, particle
POLISH-AMERICAN ENTERPRISE FUND
board, and nitrogen; and the foreign
spoke at 2:28 p.m. in
currency costs associated with outside
the Parliament Build-
Proposal
technical assistance for these projects.
emarks, he referred to
Poland's economic recovery will require a
The agricultural industrial develop-
Chairman of the Coun-
strong entrepreneurial sector, growing fast
ment loan ($75 million) would be used
Kozakiewicz, Speaker
and generating wealth to benefit the whole
for purchase of equipment and tech-
f the National Assem-
nation. To support this process, the Presi-
nology licensing abroad, and foreign
wowski, Speaker of the
dent has proposed the U.S. and Poland es-
exchange costs for technical assistance
nister Mieczyslaw Ra-
tablish a Polish-American Enterprise Fund.
for plants engaged in frozen fruit and
'lub was a group of
The President is asking Congress to provide
vegetable processing, meat and other
trialized nations that
$100 million for this initiative. The Fund
food processing.
ing countries.
will be managed by a board of distinguished
The loans are for 17 years with a 6-
U.S. and Polish representatives.
year period of grace before repayment
begins.
Purpose
A Polish bank will relend the money to
Poland and
The Fund will promote the development
individual firms. These loans to and re-
of the private sector in Poland. It will be
payment by sub-borrowers will be in
empowered to disburse hard currency loans
dollars-facilitating repayment of the
or venture capital grants for approved
overall loan to the World Bank.
projects, including:
U.S.-POLAND BILATERAL
S process as well.
Private sector development (business
loans/grants, possible establishment of
RESCHEDULING AGREEMENTS
a private sector development bank);
Proposal
work with the Polish
Privatization of state firms (e.g., pro-
ernments, and with
vide funding for entrepreneurs to buy
The President will ask his counterparts in
into state firms);
the Paris Club to support an early and gen-
pendent organizations
) gather information
Technical assistance or training pro-
erous rescheduling of Polish debt.
on issues of mutual
grams in support of or run by Poland's
Background
overnments will also
private sector;
Poland's foreign debt of nearly $40 billion
ith representatives of
Funding of export projects partly or
EC Commission, and
wholly private;
is owed mainly to Western government
creditors.
private sector institu-
Joint ventures between private Polish
The United States Government's share
and American investors (e.g., encour-
age participation of private Polish
of this debt is about $2.2 billion, mostly
ssed could include:
firms in joint ventures).
in the form of credit guarantees ex-
reforms;
tended by the Commodity Credit Cor-
tions for new credits;
WORLD BANK LOANS
poration and the Export-Import Bank.
Proposal
The Paris Club agreed to reschedule
for privatization and
Poland's debt service to official credi-
'SS, environmental
The President will encourage the World
tors 4 times in the past 8 years.
nent and training ini-
Bank to approve two economically viable
However, until March 1989, Poland
ty nets to accompany
project loans for Poland totaling $325 mil-
had not proceeded to negotiate and
sing, etc.
lion. The loans for industrial restructuring
sign the bilateral agreements from the
not undercut or re-
and agricultural industrial development are
last two reschedulings, in late 1985 and
ons such as the World
intended to improve the competitiveness of
1987.
1F.
Poland's exports.
Negotiations on the two outstanding bi-
Background
laterals were revived earlier this year
when the Government of Poland
iscuss this proposal in
The industrial restructuring loan ($250
sought to resolve this issue with its
million) is to be used for import of
creditors.
925
July 10 / Administration of George Bush, 1989
The Agreements and Next Steps
stallation of the equipment.
On July 10, the U.S. and Poland will sign
The final phase of the project would
the two pending bilateral agreements cov-
include operation and analysis of the
ering the 1985 and 1987 reschedulings.
data. It is assumed that Poland will
This paves the way for further agree-
take over responsibility for the oper-
ments between Poland and its credi-
ation of the project and that the data
tors on rescheduling the country's offi-
would be made available to the U.S.
cial debt.
The U.S. will provide technical support
A Paris Club rescheduling on debt
to Poland as needed.
service obligations falling due in 1989
would allow Poland to defer payments
Air Quality Monitoring Network
of about $5 billion.
This is a $1 million project for an air
A new Paris Club rescheduling agree-
quality monitoring network in the Krakow
ment would normalize Poland's finan-
metropolitan area, as part of Poland's na-
cial relations and would provide export
tional air monitoring network, to include
credit agencies a legal basis for re-
monitors and related equipment for meas-
sumption of credit if governments
uring sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, par-
decide such credits are warranted.
ticulate, carbon monoxide, ozone, and lead;
and data storage/processing equipment.
ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES
Proposal
Water Quality and Availability
The President has stressed the need for
This is a $4 million initiative to improve
fresh international efforts to preserve and
water quality and availability in Krakow.
improve the environment, humanity's
Using the city's 1986-2010 program of
common heritage. Following up on his
environmental protection and water
Mainz speech, which singled out East-West
economy as a guide, EPA and Polish
cooperation on the environment, the Presi-
experts will perform a comprehensive
dent has proposed three environmental ini-
assessment of Krakow's current and
tiatives for Poland totaling $15 million, con-
future drinking water and wastewater
centrated in the magnificent medieval cap-
needs to select and test treatment
ital of Krakow. This splendid city, designat-
methods best suited to local conditions.
ed by UNESCO as a world monument, is
To determine the optimal, least-cost
suffering from severe pollution.
engineering solutions, the program will
Retrofit an Existing Coal-Fired Plant
examine streamflow records and data
This is a $10 million initiative to retrofit
on the health of a variety of aquatic
an existing coal-fired plant in the Krakow
species, test for stream and drinking
area with advanced clean coal technology.
water purity, and identify water qual-
This retrofit will reduce sulphur dioxide
ity standards according to use.
emissions from a 100 MW plant by 60 to 65
The program will emphasize recycling,
percent. Nitrogen oxide emissions will also
pollution prevention, and low-cost ap-
be reduced.
proaches such as land treatment of ef-
fluents.
The initial phase of the project will in-
clude an assessment of the major coal-
AGREEMENT ON EXCHANGE
fired plants in the Krakow region to
OF CULTURAL CENTERS
determine the best control strategies
for these facilities. A specific plant
Purpose
would then be selected and the opti-
The President has called for the U.S. to
mal technology for installation at this
support imaginative educational and cultur-
facility would be chosen.
al programs with Poland. The agreement
Following selection, the project will
signed on July 10 will allow the U.S. to
proceed into the design phase. This
establish a cultural and information center
would involve the fabrication and in-
in Warsaw and allow Poland the right to
926
Administration of George Bush, 1989 / July 10
the equipment.
hase of the project would
establish a similar center in the United
construction and operational costs are
ation and analysis of the
States.
expected to be $1.1 million.
assumed that Poland will
Background
Operation
esponsibility for the oper-
project and that the data
This will be the first time either country
The centers will serve as focal points for a
ade available to the U.S.
will be able to conduct public information
wide range of cultural and information ac-
provide technical support
and cultural programs at a site physically
tivities, including:
needed.
removed from the Embassies or consulates.
Operating a full-service library includ-
The centers still will be considered an inte-
ing reference use and lending of books,
'oring Network
gral part of the diplomatic services of the
periodicals, films, videocassettes, and
illion project for an air
two countries.
other materials;
; network in the Krakow
The American center in Poland will be
Sponsoring of concerts, recitals, exhib-
as part of Poland's na-
under the direction of the U.S. Infor-
its, film, television, and video showings;
ring network, to include
mation Agency, which operates similar
Seminars featuring professionals, scien-
ted equipment for meas
centers in many countries around the
tists, and cultural personalities from
ide, nitrogen dioxide, par
world.
various fields;
onoxide, ozone, and lead;
A site in Warsaw still must be identi-
Courses of English or Polish language.
rocessing equipment.
fied and renovated for the new Ameri-
Note: The Paris Club was a group of major
/ Availability
can center, but we would hope to open
Western industrialized nations that lent
it sometime in early 1990. First-year
money to developing countries.
lion initiative to improve
vailability in Krakow.
1986-2010 program of
1 protection and water
Remarks to Polish Little League Baseball Players in Warsaw
guide, EPA and Polish
July 10, 1989
erform a comprehensive
Krakow's current and
Hey, listen, you guys sit down now! Ev-
the Niekro brothers? Does that ring a bell
g water and wastewater
erybody sit down. I'm not going to be that
with any of you guys-Phil and Joe? These
ect and test treatment
long, but it's more comfortable sitting.
are Polish guys. They won more games than
suited to local conditions.
First, I want to thank Ambassador and
any pair of brothers in big league history.
the optimal, least-cost
Mrs. Davis and Dr. Hale, who you just
I'm indebted to Rawlings for bringing this
lutions, the program will
heard from-Ann Kokoshko over here, who
equipment. I want to thank the coaches
mflow records and data
is the founder of the Polish Little League
that were here. And again, I want to thank
of a variety of aquatic
Foundation. And I really came to thank all
Stan back here, of Windham, Connecticut,
or stream and drinking
of you, because I've been looking forward
who is just-his whole life is baseball.
and identify water qual-
to this very much.
ccording to use.
You know, 13 days from now, in the
The Little League program has now
vill emphasize recycling,
United States, is a big day. For on that day,
come to Poland. And listen to these words
America's Baseball Hall of Fame will induct
ention, and low-cost ap-
from the Little League pledge: "I trust in
as land treatment of ef-
the first former Little Leaguer-first guy to
God. I love my country and will respect its
play Little League now going into the Hall
laws. I will play fair to strive to win. But
of Fame. He's a Polish-American-Carl Yas-
CHANGE
win or lose, I will always do my best." Re-
member those words, because their spirit is
trzemski. [Laughter] He's a great ballplayer
TERS
Poland's spirit.
for the Boston Red Sox. We got any Red
Sox uniforms? No, okay-but anyway, a
You know, I don't know how closely you
great player for the Red Sox. And in that
S called for the U.S. to
follow big league baseball in the United
educational and cultur-
States, but I think of some great Polish-
Hall of Fame-which is the big thing for
our game-he's joining three other Polish-
Poland. The agreement
American ballplayers when I'm here today,
will allow the U.S. to
legends in American sports: Ted Klus-
Americans: Al Simmons, Stan Coveleski,
and then Stan Musial. You know, he's been
and information center
zewski, Greg Luzinski, Tony Kubek-either
he's pronouncing it wrong or I am-I don't
here in Poland. Last time I was here, I saw
W Poland the right to
know which one. [Laughter] You remember
him here. That guy was already climbing
toward Major League fame when the Little
927