Basic HTML Version
BEFORE AND AFTER,
thirty years apart: In 1945 buildings in Warsaw 's 0/d Town square !ay in ruins. Nearly same
view, right, in 1975, dramatizes the richness of their reconstruction.
In return for this loyalty. the So–
viet. havc shrewd ly pcrmittcd Po–
land to cx press its own truc se lf in
thc broad arcas of culture and eco–
nomics. Polish nationalism is a vcry
powcrful force. more ·o than else–
whe re in the East bloc. anJ Moscow
realizes it must be :-a fe ly vcnt cd.
A:- a result. it is not communist
id eology but nationalism reinforced
by rc ligion that animates Polish so–
ciety.
The Roman Catholic Church con–
st itutcs the most powerful religious
body a nywhe re in the communist
world. At times it is rcferred to as
' 'the othcr governmen t in Poland."'
early four fifths of all Poles auend
mass every week; nea rly all children
are baptiLed and sub equently re–
cc ivc after-school religious insl ruc–
tion - includ ing the children of
many Communi st Party members.
Poland is conspicuously free of
the ·• loganitis.. one fi nds in other
East bloc countrics. \Vhere buildings
are strewn wi th red banners pro–
claiming the virtu es of ·ocialism and
plcdging "ete rna! friendshi p'' with
thc Soviet Union.
Thc cou nt ry's numbcr one cit izen
Communist Pany boss Edward
G icrek - even
r cf'u~cs
to allow his
ponrait to adorn govc rnmcnt of–
ficc~.
lm.tead. Poland 's traditional
symbol. the eagle. is in va riably dis–
playcd.
Keeping the Customer Happy
Mr . G ierek knows what he has to do
to rcma in in power. becausc he can
nevcr forget the Dccember 1970
wo rkcr ri ots in severa! pon ci ties on
The
PLAIN TRUTH July 1976
Poland 's Baltic coas t which brought
him
into
power and swept out the
old rcgime of Wladyslaw Gomulka.
The disturbances and strikes in
Gdansk. Gdynia. and SzcLecin were
triggc rcd by a price increase for es–
sentía! consumer 2.oods ami wcrc an
exprcs ion or
d~ep
dis ati. fac tion
with living and workin g conditions.
As a long- time party
bos~
of Ka to–
wice (Poland·s mo!>t indu trialized
prov in ce) and a f'ormer mi ner him–
selr. G ierek had a solid record of'
achi evement in improv ing the lot of
the workcr . His assumption of top
party office wa . in e!Tect. a reas–
sura nce to the workers that their
gri evances wou ld be heard.
ln its first year the new leadership
rescinde<.! the previously announced
pri ce increases and institutcd a price
freeze. gave pay increases to the
lowest pa id workers, pos tponed an
unpopula r wage reform. and eased
thc fa rmers' obliga tory sa les to the
sta te. (About 80% of Poland's agri–
cultura l land i still in prívate hands.
thou gh the percentagc of sta te and
co ll ec ti vc f'anm is slowly rising. )
Git:rck a lso dcclared his int cntion
lo continu e good governmcnt al rel a–
tion with Poland's powerful Roman
Ca tholic hierarchy.
Thc lot of Poland's 34 mi ll ion
pcop lc has steadi ly improved under
Gierek's dctermincd efrorts. This
ca n be read ily seen in thc wcll–
stockcd shelvc of' the dcpartment
stores in Warsaw·s Cen tra l Shop–
ping Centcr. a huge inner ci ty mall
locatcd directly
acros~
thc
~t ree t
from the despised Pa lacc of Culture.
There i no doubt th a tthe qua lity of
many itcms could be improvcd. but
th e lJUantity and va ri cty is staggcr–
in g to anyonc who had only the day
bef'ore rummaged through th c
~ lim
picki ngs of' me rchandise avai lab lc in
the shops of
Buch a re~ l.
Roman ía.
Po le~
will te ll you
themse l ve~
tha t
the) are gripcrs by nature. and
when thcy gripe about price in–
crea es or shon ages or f'ood and
m e rchand i ~e.
thei r leaders listen.
Thc govcrnment has recently com–
miss ioned public opinion polls. in
f'act. ai med at gauging the maxi–
mum price increa es on key items
th at Polish con umers will tolerate.
The Move West
Poland is now the tenth mo t pow–
erful industrial nat ion in thc world.
Blessed with huge coal reserves -
28% of Europe's known supply - it
is the world 's econd la rgest coa l ex–
pon er. after the U.S. Huge sulfu r
a nd co ppcr deposits have been
found in recent years.
To kl.:cp th c .. Polish miracle"
ali ve (and to keep the all- impo nant
man-on - t h e-~ t reet
sa tisfi ed) G ierek
has turn ed heavily lo the West for
tradc. investments and tcchnology.
Onc half' oí Poland ' tradc is \\'ith
the
capi ta li~t
West - up from onl)
29r(
in 197 1. Mr. Gicrck has bccn
ca ll ed a ··credit card Communist' '
beca use or th e massive. wholesa le
impon - on credit - of Wcstcrn
technology. Ove r 300 Wcs tern in–
du str ial conce rns have located
plants in Poland under agrcemcnts
tha t pcrmit production to be sold in
Wes tern ma rkcts
LO
pay back Po-
(Cominued on
fHlf!,e
38)
33