0 OPINION Page 4 Friday, September 17, 1982 The Michigan Daily i Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Sinclair ~fI~l All ThI0OE[ OLITI(AL (\fTEAL A\ PRIMEgR kTEw~1T Vol. XCIII, No. 8 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Travels wit T TOOK reporters a little ,I questioning, but finally the truth Ppped out: A senior Reagan ad- ministration official admitted that 'resident Reagan didn't bring up the subject of human rights with Philip- dine President Ferdinand Marcos during their meeting yesterday. The topic simply wasn't raised, and the dame.administration official described the meeting between the two men as 'extremely amicable." U "Extremely amicable," indeed. One would think that the president had been meeting with Helmut Schmidt, or lMargaret Thatcher, or Pierre Trudeau. He, of course, wasn't. He was meeting with a man who, since 1972, has ruled the Philippines under martial law; a man who rules in a country where torture, mysterious disappearances, and killings are common; a man who hardly bats an eye when sending his opponents to prison, exile, or worse while claiming to fight for democratic ideals. Even by the Reagan ad- ministration's dubious standards, Marcos is a despot's despot. In the course of his 17 years in power, Marcos has thrown out the country's con- stitution, made himself president for life, and put his wife next in the line of succession in the best Peronesque tradition. He has enriched himself and his family, and lived a life of amazing ostentation in a land plagued by per- sistent poverty. Marcos' visit is his first to this coun- try since before he was elected to the h Ferdinand COLUMN'AS NR THEWIRi(3AT. S~~I AS B3USiN[ISSMEN', WE- "LIE L. "EVR, CL coP T1 1oT~VCV OUR ____.-WETI E MOuST. CUA"D PAAINSY uPUMiN6- P- 1 ,, NTLA -N S EICONOMY MAONO RULy PROFITS TA 1LS J40,\ FF(Mi( E Gil MANY AUTOS Co LO R TVs Lf\Wsu iT S - Im I /i I /-,a - - I ft Gk h7, .( R{ tx ../s I ,. / i f /, % If ' ' Marcos arrives on a state visit Philippine presidency, but he didn't come to check up on the sights. He came to add legitimacy and stability to a regime that's starting to sag. He came because his rule is coming under increasingly sharp criticism and because there's nothing quite like a visit to the United States-the Philip- pines' former imperial master-to put a new shine on a tarnished image. And, instead of using any leverage he has to make life a little better in the Philippines, Reagan is playing right along with the game. He's providing Marcos with what he needs to continue in power, while exacting precious little in exchange. Marcos is getting a lot for a little, and in the process is making the United States look cheap. No more Solidarities. Polish leaders plan ahead .6 Same old grind B ACK TO SCHOOL. Second week of classes, and already there's too much work to handle. Who do those professors think they are? It's not like students have no social lives, no girlfriends, no drinking buddies. God, the summer went quickly. Each professor demands that his or her work is done first, as if nothing else at the University exists except Calculus 115. In the next class, the teaching assistant has dreamed up some new cure for insomnia and just thought he'd try it out on his students. OK, fine. They want work, they got it. To the UGLi. But the UGLi's already got a capacity crowd, with the fraternity crowd on one side, and Bo's boys on the other. And those damn cubicles, with three white walls in front of you and a snoring freshman behind you. The two Markley girls to your right just won't stop talking about dorm food. Time to take a break. The Stop 'n' Go is always waiting, with "Guzzler" cokes and bite-size Cheetos to revive you. And if that's not enough, just stop by the Simulation Station for an hour of completely min- dless, totally unedifying electronic pleasure. Time to grab a lemonade at Drake's, or maybe a coke at Mac's. Anything will do, as long as it's not studying. No more Boswell, no more Johnson. Anybody but Paul Samuelson. Ahhh. Okay, take a walk down South University. Watch them drain beers at Charley's and split up pitchers at the Jug. One beer with some friends at Rick's-they said they'd be there at 9:30. Just one. Uh-huh, no way. Study. Back to the UGLi and watching the assistants pick books off tables and put them onto those shelves on wheels. Then some joker decides to wear wooden clogs, and everyone's head rises slowly from behind the pink and orange partitions. God, the summer went quickly. Second week of classes, and already there's too much homework. Back to school. By Roman Szporluk On the heels of the second anniversary of the Gdansk Accord, which accepted the creation of the independent trade union Solidarity, it is clear that the rulers of Poland and their sponsors in Moscow are in a fighting mood. They are determined that never again will there arise another Solidarity in Poland or any other communist nation. They make it clear now-which they did not do even as late as December 1981-that they will not permit any free trade union, something they view as a threat to socialism as they understand it. IN SHORT, they have returned to the Leninist concept of the dictatorship of the. proletariat under which the party is the leading force of all organizations and in par- ticular of trade unions and youth organizations. Any departure from this system, in their view, leads directly to coun- ter-revolution. Although no authoritative statement from either the Polish party or the Soviet party has been issued, it is possible to piece together a comprehensive picture of the emerging con- sensus from articles in elite party publications in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The main conclusion on which all par- ticipants in those intra-party debates agree is that the Polish crisis was caused by the previous Polish leadership's departures from the Leninist prescription as to what a socialist state should be like. ACCORDING TO this view, the Polish crisis was not caused by the communists' failure to adapt their policies to Polish conditions. On the contrary, former party leader Edward Gierek is accused of having been too much concerned about Polish specifics. His major error was to establish too close economic, technological, and cultural ties with the West. One of the consequences of this dependence was that the political regime within Poland, which is criticized for its extensive' contact with the West, became too tolerant of op- position. Pravda even has pointed out that one of the factors behind the Polish crisis is the presen- ce of thousands of Polish-American retirees who make their home in Poland and live off U.S. Social Security benefits. They are viewed as having been a subversive factor. GIEREK'S mistake, as interpreted by his present successors, was to assume that a developed socialist society had managed to establish itself firmly in Poland. In fact, we are now told Poland is an underdeveloped socialist country, both in social and economic respects, because it still has private agriculture and the ideological consciousness - a I \.\ of the masses is lacking. Thus, social and political integration of the Polish nation will be achieved only through class struggle, including application of coer- cion against anti-socialist forces. Ole might say that the Polish, communists are back to 1945, back to square one. The difference is that today they may be unable to appeal to young people with a convincing explanation of the failures of the economy, as they could af- ter World War II. What specific goals is the present leader- ship setting for itself? Several target areas have been identified. One is the question of contacts with the West. The leaders are determined to control them more closely, especially in ideologically sensitive areas. There will be a corresponding effort to promote closer contacts between the U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe, under strictly controlled conditions to make certain that the Poles will not infect their Soviet partners with anti- socialist ideas. THE SECOND problem area which they are going to face is agriculture. The question of collectivization of agriculture is back on the agenda. Even though the leadership is not united on how to proceed, collectivization is now recognized as something that cannot be avoided if the country is to move ahead. The party is aware that Polish agriculture is in a very desperate situation. The trouble lies in the fact that the policy of the previous leadership was to tolerate private farming and at the same time to prevent its moder- nization. The result is that 60 percent of Poland's privately owned farms are under five hectares (about 10 acres), which i$. almost exactly the same proportion as in 1931. Most of these farms are, in fact, under two hectares, which means they are totally un- productive. ete The party thus is facing the choice of either allowing the establishment of stronger, productive private farms the size of 20 hec- tares on average, or of opting for collec- tivization. It appears that those who prefect the latter choice are now in the stronger position, although the other view also has its supporters. THE NEXT major problem area is the Catholic Church, which communist leaders view as incompatible with communism. They admit that the church not only has survived as a powerful element in Polish society, but has managed to win the support of social groups which previously did not look to it for political guidance. This applies specifically to the industrial working class. What practical measures will they adopt toward the church? The goal, since Decembet 1981, has been to defuse the power of the chura ch, to separate it from the political opposition, The party has been relatively successful in this effort and has managed to weaken the church resistance by cleverly manipulating0 the carrot of Pope John Paul's planned visit tq Poland. However, it is unthinkable that the pope will be allowed to come to Poland in the style of his 1979 visit. It is most likely that he will not be allowed to come at all. As for the problem of the ideological con= sciousness of the masses, the party is aware that during the Solidarity period the official ideology lost its credibility for the vast majority of the people. Leaders were especially stung by the argument which was common in Poland before December 1981 that 0 the communist regime is a foreign import, a force lacking Polish roots. Official propaganda will be stressing the domestic national roots of the communist system in Poland, trying to present it as an authentic national force. At the same time there will be a renewed emphasis on the im- portance of Poland's integration with the socialist community headed by the U.S.S.R This probably will coincide with a renewed emphasis on the teaching of Russian as a means of inculcating new ideological awareness. Whether or not all of thgese goals can be achieved, one may assume that the Polish leadership will be firm on the one overriding lesson of the last two years: There will be no more Solidarities. Szporluk is a professor of history at the University. He wrote this article for the Pacific News Service. Li e inside the institution By Robert Honigman The research-oriented and graduate/professional university is notorious for breeding unhap- piness and alienation. Clark stitutional values. The institution values only people who serve it, the faceless drones and the superstars. The more human you are, the less it will value you. " If you are deeply unhappy and are failing to "adjust", don't breakdowns, drug addiction, divorce, and suicide. If you believe only the strong survive, your rationale will fail you. Animals survive. People live. " Don't imagine you'll find an answer in sex, drugs, drink, or have been burned in fire. If you find them-trust and love them for awhile and then move on and heal others. " Words can heal. Not words alone in dead books, but words spoken quietly by living people.. 6 I n I1!:l; K-.. Nf-iI'LL Iuff lIUJ~