The Riots in Poland The peasant riots which took place
in Galicia last week have once more emphasised the fact that without some change in policy, internal and external, Marshal Smigly-Rydz' Government will be exposed to attack both from the right and the left. The peasants' demonstration, which was supported by the trade unions, the Socialists, and the demo- cratic parties, was broken up after arrests estimated at 2,000 had been made, and 4o people killed. The peasants' demands are three : that M. Witos, their leader, and Prime Minister of Poland when the Soviets were attacking Warsaw, should be allowed to return from exile ; that the Government, in foreign policy, should work in concert with France and the democratic countries ; and that the electoral law, by which the peasants are now virtually disfranchised, should be reformed. The third demand is the essential one. A reform of the electoral law, followed by new elections, would necessarily involve the granting of the other two demands. For this reason the Government may be averse to reform ; yet it would appear that only by such means can Marshal Smigly-Rydz achieve the " national unity " and the popular basis for his Government which he desires.
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