1981: an overview: Poland (12/27/81)

1981: an overview

Poland

Undoubtedly this year's most heart-wrenching and bittersweet story, at first the source of such heady optimism but ultimately the symbol of dashed hopes and the tenacity of evil, has been the dramatic situation in Poland. It has to be one of the most disheartening and tragic events in a particularly bizarre year that saw the attempted assassinations of President Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II and the murder of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

The story of Poland in 1981 is the story of the Polish nation's efforts, spearheaded by the 10-million strong Solidarity free trade union, to vent the stale air of Communist confinement and chart its destiny in an atmosphere of burgeoning freedom. It is the valiant struggle of workers in a workers' state, fighting hard to sustain the momentum of social renewal embodied in the concessions so bravely won in Gdansk in August 1980.

Bolstered by that agreement, Solidarity held an extraordinary convention in June run on democratic principles which vowed to reform a provenly bankrupt political and economic system, and put Poland firmly back on its feet. Swept up in the maelstrom of reform, the Polish Communist Party held its congress in July and, in an unprecedented move for an East Bloc country, elected Stanislaw Kania party secretary by secret ballot from a slate of candidates.

But as events unfolded, the gloomy pall cast by the shadow of an increasingly restive Soviet leadership hung over the Polish democratization process like a menacing storm cloud. Poland's Communist Party, discredited and seemingly emasculated, stiffened its opposition, and threatened to roll back the concessions promised at Gdansk. By October, the pressure brought to bear by the saber-rattling Kremlin proved too much, and Communist party boss Kania, the moderate and reluctant reformer, was ousted in favor of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, a move roundly applauded in Moscow. The choice of Gen. Jaruzelski as prime minister, party first secretary and defense minister was an ominous development. Never before in Eastern Europe had a military man taken the helm of state, and the consolidation of so much power in the hands of the army was an unmistakable signal that the Polish government was drawing the line. Indeed, a major confrontation seemed inevitable. With Western banks pressing the Eastern European economic community to pay off Poland's astronomical debts to the West, the stage was set for a showdown.

On December 13, backed by the sickening rumble of tanks in the streets of Warsaw, Gen. Jaruzelski cracked the whip and, wrapping himself in the Polish flag, declared a state of martial law in the name of saving Poland from itself. Despite the general's nationalist overtones, it was Soviet intervention by proxy.

Union officials were rounded up and interned, some reportedly in other East European countries. Lech Walesa, the leader of Solidarity and the symbol of Poland's renaissance, is being held incommunicado. Thousands of Polish intellectuals, clergymen, scientists, artist and filmmakers, including internationally known director Andrzej Wajda, were detained by authorities. Miners in Silesia have barricaded themselves in the mines, threatening to blow themselves up if authorities intervene. Although all communication from Poland has been cut off, government sources have admitted that seven miners were killed thus far in clashes with government forces. The final figure will probably be much, much higher. Engaging in social protest, strikes, or work slowdowns has become an offense punishable by death.

All too plainly the crackdown by the Jaruzelski junta, (the Military Council for National Salvation is composed of 15 generals, an admiral and four colonels) stage-managed by Moscow, has splintered the myth of Communist legitimacy in Poland once and for all. Despite all of Gen. Jaruzelski's hollow assurances that Poland will not regress into the dreary and strictly regimented society of pre-Solidarity days, the government's brutal betrayal of its own citizens will never be forgotten or forgiven. As in the Soviet Union, the government will stay in power only by the bayonet and mass repression not unlike the tyranny of Stalin's reign. The agony of Poland will serve as a tragic reminder for all those either too young to remember - or too naive to accept - the heinous legacy of Stalin, and a naked indictment of the barren ideology that spawned him and those like Gen. Jaruzelski who follow in his footsteps.

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