OVER THE WEEKEND I was hearing a couple of the
latest Warsaw political jokes. The first tells of a conversation between Gomulka and Car- dinal Wyszinski before the latter's departure for Rome. The Secretary-General of the party is said to have asked the Cardinal to get him ex- communicated on the grounds that it would make his relations with Moscow much easier. 'Cer- tainly,' answered the Cardinal, 'but you must arrest a number of my bishops. It'll make my visit to Rome go much smoother.' The second story tells how the Russians protested against the American hydrogen bomb tests and how the Americans replied that they would stop them, if the Russians stopped de-Stalinisation. 'But you don't need to worry about that,' said the Russians, 'it takes place at such a high level that it doesn't affect the civil population.'
PHAROS
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