Dear Editor

...Dear Editor Theocrats Anyone familiar with the peculiar parallels between Catholicism and Communism in Poland had to find Jan T Gross' analysis of John Paul II's recent visit to his native country stimulating ("The Parallel Poland," NL, June 18) Yet 1 must take exception to the author's conclussion "It would be a disaster for the future of pluralist democracy in Poland if citizens were led to believe that a replacement of red banners with black robes is an answer to the nation's political problems " Gross thus implies that the Polish Church has theocratic tendencies The record, however, indicates otherwise In the 19th century, the Church in partitioned Poland identified itself with the national striving for independence and at times even cooperated with anticlerical patriots Today the Church is the only organized force in Poland outside of the Communist Party and its institutions As such, it enjoys the support of the entire Polish society, including those who are indifferent to religion And no one in the various Polish democratic opposition groups has ever suggested a theocratic possibility The Church's hierarchy, led by Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski and—until he became the Pope—Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, as well as the entire Polish clergy, have promoted the observance of civil rights and democratization not only in their official statements but also in their actions In the fall of 1977 some Polish intellectuals and civil rights activists organized a hunger strike to dramatize their demands The event was staged in a Warsaw church The Communist media, in a vain attempt to discredit the strikers, stressed that many of them were "known disbelievers," and some were not even "Christians"—meaning that persons of Jewish origin participated So the only ones who play the theocratic and obscurantist fiddle in Poland are the Communists Santa Barbara, Calif Andrew Pleszcztnski 1 was disappointed and displeased to read in Jan T Gross' article a reference to Poland's "35 years of Socialism " It is disheartening that knowledgeable and politically sensitive writers and broadcasters in the media have allowed themselves to be bamboozled by the Communist efforts at subtle propaganda and ob-fuscation For Communism, after all, can't be very The New Leader welcomes comment and criticism on an> of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words bad if it is only a form of Socialism, no different than, say, the British or the Israeli variety I know that freedom of expression restrains The New Leader from censoring the views of writers However, if an author referred to the " 35 years of democracy" in Poland, would you not pencil it out or else reject the article containing such a distortion...

...It is important to note that the article refers to "peoples democracies" m quotes The word "Socialism" deserves the same consideration New York City Charles Cogen Secretary, Local New >or& Social Democrats USA Caution Andrew Mollison reports that enthusiasts of the European Parliament hope the new assembly will function like the U S Congress ("The First Euro-Vote," NL, July 2) I hope the Europeans send someone over here to study our government first hand before they commit themselves Alien town, Pa Charles Surnamer SALT I agree with Constantine C Menges that America must bolster its military and nuclear capability ("What salt c Doesn't Do," NL, July 30) Yet unlike the author, I do not delude myself into thinking that the problem of arms control can be significantly addressed by mere technological development, in this case the Anti-Ballistic Missile System (ABM) Menges must certainly be aware that the odds are the Soviet Union will get there ahead of us, and we can hardly look forward to their using the weapon for the noble purpose of arms reduction But even if we develop the ABM first, this will only pressure the Soviets to come up with a counter ABM, which will in turn force us to build a counter counter ABM, ad infinitum Business as usual in other words There is no chance of real arms reduction so long as the two superpowers mistrust each other We might as well be realistic about the matter and raise military spending to the level where our safety is assured Arguments that by increasing our military capability we will be increasing the chances of arms reduction strike me as at best misguided New York City Samuel Glickstein...