30 JULY 1977, Page 9

Dissent in Poland

Amaury de Riencourt

Warsaw The Poles have always been known as the most dangerously volatile people in eastern Europe. They stayed independent and outspoken even during the Nazi occupation, and their courage is proverbial. Out of a Population of 1,300,000 in pre-war Warsaw, seven hundred thousand died —60 per cent of the total — half of them during the bold 1944 insurrection against the German army. These extraordinary figures are always remembered by the Kremlin when the Russians map out their strategy, since Poland is a 'satellite' unlike any other. With about 34 million people — by far the largest of any of the satellite states — and great natural wealth (sulphur, coal, copper), it is a minor power in its own right. And its geographical location, on the main invasion route leading to the heartland of Russia, adds considerably to its strategic importance.

Ironically, however, it is in Poland that the Russians encounter a degree of atavistic hatred unmatched in any other satellite, a national antagonism transcending the question of freedom versus totalitarianism. In that sense, dissent is always present in Poland. Some time ago, a statue of the notorious Bolshevik fanatic, Polish-born Felix Djerzhinsky, was erected in one of Warsaw's main squares. As head of the Cheka in Moscow, Djerzhinsky was directly responsible for the death of millions of Political prisoners during the early years of the Russian Revolution. Yet not even the most rabid anti-Communist objected to the honours being heaped upon him — quite the Contrary, since all Poles hold him in high regard for having been able to kill more Russians than anY other Pole.

Since Poland is a nation with constantly Shifting borders, it needs to create a far greater sense of self-identity than those Countries which are endowed with natural frontiers. The post-war decision to rebuild every city and monument destroyed exactly as it had been before is the concrete expression of that self-identity, and foreigners can only marvel at the way cities like Warsaw and Gdansk have been so faithfully reconstructed. Even the old feudal aristocracy, although it has lost all its privileges aild possessions and has become an impoverished lower middle class, retains sujne mysterious prestige since it is, after ,,a", part of Polish history. And so, the rntockis, the Radziwills, Lubomirskis, Tarnowskis, Zamoyskis and others live on as engineers, translators, travel agents or Minor employees of the Communist state, aristocratic to their finger-tips, their tamilY names protected by law, part of a

history that no one allows to die.

Today, Poland is unique among all the satellites by the fact that its industrial workers represent a formidable force and never hesitate to use their power when the occasion demands it. Twice since the present Communist regime was established, their violent rebellions have forced a change of leadership in the country — once in 1956 when they transferred it to Wladyslaw Gomulka after the great riots in Poxnan, and forced Nikita Khrushchev and the Kremlin to back down;.and again in 1970 after the rebellions in Gdansk and Szczecin when they ejected Gomulka and replaced him with Edward Giereck. Again, in 1976 they revolted in Radon i and Ursus with such wild violence that within three days Giereck capitulated and withdrew the price increases that he had so clumsily introduced. It is no accident that, in each case, the first buildings to be gutted were the Communist headquarters. The Russians would think more than twice before attempting to do to Poland what they did to Hungary or Czechoslovakia.

To that extent, far from being subordinate to Soviet Russia, Poland can blackmail the Kremlin — as it did last year when it compelled the Russians to provide an alleged thousand billion roubles in emergency aid, rather than have to face the prospect of a catastrophic military repression. The paradox is that the Polish people enjoy a far higher standard of living than the Russians and are an economic power in their own right: when Moscow raised the price of its oil, the Poles promptly raised the price of the nine million tons of coal they export each year to the Soviet Union. I have heard members of the Central Committee of the Party , actually boast of Poland's leverage vis-a-vis Moscow.

It is this wild streak just below the surface of Polish consciousness that, to an extent, intimidates the Russians in spite of the Red Army's overwhelming strength; and regardless of their ideological commitment to Marxism-Leninism — usually tepid, at best — many Polish Communists are quick to make 'use of their formidable independence. Only a few months ago in the main stadium of Cracow, the local secretary of the Party introduced the Soviet consul and other dignitaries to a large crowd before a football match. As one man, fifty thousand Polish spectators rose to their feet, hooted, hissed and booed until the Russians sat down. If the Poles are rather garrulous when sober, they are astounding when in their cups; not long ago, a prominent Communist who holds a top provincial post told a group of