REFLECTIONS

...Coal production, for example—a leading source of hard currency for Poland—has declined from 193 million tons in 1979 to a projected 168 million tons this year...

...For the moment, however, the Party has little hope of winning over the top leader-ship of the new labor movement...

...I remain in the Party because I am a socialist and I hope the Party will eventually introduce the kind of socialism in which I believe...

...Solidarity says totally...

...Half a revolution has already occurred here...

...Workers, frustrated in their quest for consumer goods, reduce the pace of work and refuse to put in overtime...

...Harrowing shortages are in evidence in Warsaw...

...If the Party can then pursue a relatively democratic, humanist course, entering into close relations with workers' Councils, it will have a chance of becoming the accepted coordinating force of a socialist society...

...All day long, every day, on every Shopping street, queues of twenty to 150 people wait patiently out-side the Stores for such scarce items as meat, sugar, fish, soap powder, and other staples...

...Whether these measures will produce visible results in time to ease the anguish of Poland's frustrated population remains to be seen...

...A second source of anger is the apparent difficulty—perhaps impossibility—of bring-ing about change...

...The delegates represented a distinct break with the past: They were younger—about thirty-eight, on the average—and 80 per cent had not attended a previous Congress...

...Almost a year after the strikes of August 1980, which brought down the old state-controlled union movement and in-stalled the colorful ten-million-strong Soli-darity as the real labor Organization, the Party is still dawdling over plans for economic reform...

...The shortages set off a chain reaction that affects all segments of the economy...

...Miners ask, "Why work more when there is nothing you can spend your money on...

...Solidarity says the workers em-ployed in each plant...

...When Polish workers went on strike in August of last year, it was their fifth revolt in a quarter of a Century...

...The fundamental question in Poland today is whether it is possible to have a political revolution in a com-munist country...

...On each previous occasion—in 1956,1968, 1970, and 1976—they were promised wideranging reforms that proved to be shallow or short-lived...

...It has political power—it controls the apparatus of the State—but it does not have the people: Their sympathies are with Solidarity...

...the Party says the State should have the right to intervene in a crisis, and should retain other levers of control...

...I heard such sentiments expressed by many Poles, including a former magazine editor who has been in the Party for forty-nine years...

...Worse still, the Party has been unable to work out its serious differences with Soli-darity...

...Beyond vague rhetoric about "renewal," nothing has,happened...

...The answer will depend on how the Soviet Union reacts to developments and how the Poles cope with their economic difficulties...

...But it will take more than reforms within the Party to satisfy Poland's disaffected population...

...A large portion of the Party's membership pays dues to both organiza-tions...

...Contributing Editor Sidney Lens...

...The Soviet role is considerably more complex than indicated in the American mass media's simplistic speculations about an "invasion" of Poland...

...It would, for instance, devastate the rapidly growing peace movement in Western Europe, which has a chance right now of blocking the stationing of cruise and Persh-ing missiles in NATO countries...

...the Party says the State...

...Each time, the Party went right on committing the same transgres-sions, or reverted to them after a short in-terval...

...Polish credit, too, depends heavily on the Kremlin...

...How free should the free market be...

...Obviously, the main purpose of the Ninth Congress was to win a constituency for the Party...

...The anger had three distinct sources, and the most important was the desperate State of the economy...

...they could work their will quite effectively by means of economic pressure...

...can the other half be completed...

...There have been discussions, to be sure, of introducing a System that would combine the less centralized form of Hungarian com-munism with some features of Yugoslavian self-management...

...is on a fourteen-nation 'round-the-world tour...

...Recapturing the f?ll allegiance of such individuals is an essential goal for the Party, and was a significant factor in the deliberations of the Congress...

...National income, which declined by 2 per cent in 1979 and 4 per cent in 1980, is expected to drop by 14 or 15 per cent this year...

...One-third of Poland's trade and much of its energy originate in the Soviet Union...

...Funding for farm machinery, seed, and fertilizers is to be doubled, with most of the money going to small farmers rather than to State farms, as at present...

...Poland, with a population of thirty-six million and a long history of resistance, would pose far greater problems...

...I belong to Solidarity," says a writer for Zycie Warszawy, "because it is doing something for the people...

...While those leaders have not called for the resto-ration of capitalism, their orientation is Catholic, non-socialist, and to a degree even anti-socialist...

...A decision has apparently been made to close down fifty large projects— and hundreds of lesser ones—that seem economically unsound and that depend on imported raw materials...

...But the secondary leadership of Solidarity includes socialists, social democrats, and Christian socialists with whom the Party does want to establish closerrelations...

...But if the government does introduce a form of self-management, the workers' Councils—not the nnions—will become the centers of power in the factories, and the role of Solidarity will diminish...

...Who is to be the legal owner of the factories...

...And because of that chance, their efforts merit sympathy, en-couragement, and support...

...The prospects of rebuilding the Polish economy remain extremely uncertain, but there are some hopeful elements in the plans now under discussion in government Offices...

...Even without the likelihood of Soviet military Intervention, it will not be easy for the Polish Communist Party to come to terms with Solidarity...

...The 1976 strikes, for instance, like the most recent turmoil, were triggered by the fact that price increases were imposed in the dark of night, without any prior public notice or discussion...

...Both Systems rely, to some extent, on the free market, and both provide incentives for workers and managen to earn more by generating larger profits...

...They devoted detailed attention to local problems, and sometimes returned in off hours to their factories so they could give an interim report on the Congress...

...Warsaw There was quiet anger in Poland as the Ninth Congress of the Com-munist Party—more precisely, the Polish United Workers' Party— convened here on July 14...

...With such democratic radicals, the Congress definitely scored points for the Party...

...But so far, the Polish communists have not come up with any specifics: After many months, economic reform remains in the discussion stage...

...Furthermore, the Soviets have no need to resort to military force against Poland...

...Capital Investments, which have claimed one-fifth to one-third of national income, are to be sharply trimmed, and planners hope that in the future workers' Councils will finance many of their own projects from factory profits rather than from State funds...

...x Heavy-handed Soviet Intervention in Poland would entail consequences that the Russians probably would not want to risk...

...The expul-sion of former First Secretary Eduard Gierek and the ouster of other hard-liners from the Central Committee has also helped the Party to build a new image...

...But there is at least a chance that the Poles will sueeeed in fashioning an im-mensely important new set of political and economic forms...

...At the same time, the government is mounting a crash program to earn more hard currency by increasing sales of coal, copper, and sulphur abroad...

...No effort was made to stifle controversy, and the re-election of Stanislaw Kania as the First Secretary in an open—and con-tested—vote was unheard of...

...The Russians are painfully aware of the fact that they have 85,000 soldiers bogged down in a no-win Situation in Afghanistan...

...Farmers hold back some of their food, in-cluding meat, to seil it at black-market prices...

...The third source of anger is bureaucratic inertia...

...A delicate set of Operations is tak-ing place, and the three centers of power in Poland—the Party, Solidarity, and the Catholic Church—must strike a careful balance among contending forces...

...More significantly, the delegates dem-onstrated extraordinary responsiveness to the people who elected them...