01 Page4 nlan OPINION Saturday, September 25, 1982 The Michigan Daily 0 d's future: Repression or reform? i LBy Richard Walawender " Already nine months have passed since General Wojciech Jaruzelski ;leclared martial law in Poland and few 'eople, understandably, are bold ehough to predict what the next nine months hold in store. An extrapolation of Poland's future is difficult because even average Poles probably do not know how their neigh- ;bors will react at any given time. On the one hand, Poles are inculcated with government propaganda denouncing Solidarity as terroristic and urging Poles to work hard and sacrifice to get the nation out of its terrible economic mess. ON THE OTHER hand, most Poles have had enough of sacrificing; they have been told to sacrifice for the sake of "Socialist Poland" for more than thirty years. Poles remember the days of Solidarity, when the worker finally got a voice in a "workers' state." They remember how their union, even though unsuccessful, took on the old, socialistic order and demanded reform (and that's whyi 10 million Polish workers joined Solidarity in the first place). So most Poles would probably like to carry on the tradition of Solidarity and rebel at Jaruzelski's humiliating mar- tial law. But how? Some Solidarity dissidents, like Jack Kuron, have called for strikes and demonstrations, even. violent, against the military regime. But~ the Catholic church in Poland and other Solidarity moderates have pleaded for restraint and, at most, passive resistance. Led by the new primate of Poland, Archbishop Jozef Glemp, the church feels a violent uprising would be futile, given Poland's geographic location. Instead, it ad- vocates a more patient and less roman- tic approach, learned from the ex- periences of the late Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. It hopes Jaruzelski, pressed by the church and the people, will see the light of reality and reform. WITH ALL OF this conflicting advice being given to the Poles, it.is difficult to predict how they will ultimately respond. However, by comparing the present Polish crisis with past East European uprisings, namely, in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968, one can approximate the course that the Polish government and Jaruzelski will take in the next nine months. Although the Polish case has its unique attributes, with different socio- 0 0 0 6 0o o4 "I0 'p FAIL was a series of economic reforms departing from the command economies of the other Soviet bloc coun- tries. With the NEM, Kadar managed to satisfy both the population deman- ding reform and the "Big Brother of the East," demanding orthodoxy. Many had compared Poland to Hungary; Solidarity was seen as a mass movement like the Hungarian Revolution and unlike the 1968 Czechoslovak intelligentsia - initiated reforms. Therefore, many had con- cluded, Jaruzelski would become "Poland's Kadar" and initiate a "Polish road to socialism." , But strict martial law still exists in Poland and reforms are nowhere in sight. Whether it is Jaruzelski's militaristic training or an orthodox community ideology which makes him so inflexible to reform, no one knows for sure. Just recently, he resumed for- cefully suppressing demonstrations, arrested thousands more, and made refresher visits to Leonid Brezhnev and even Colonel Qaddafi of Libya, a newly- found comrade. PERHAPS JARUZELSKI has decided to follow the ways of Gustav Husak, who took over Czechoslovakia in 1968. After more than a year of strict authoritarian rule, Husak initiated an all-out attack on party liberals and on the intelligentsia, purging the univ- sities of hundreds of "reformist" professors and students. Jaruzelski, like Husak, seems to prefer a thin shell of stability through coercion rather than risk reconciliation for some yoke of normative legitimacy with the people. The worst from Jaruzelski, intimidated by the Soviets, may be yet to come. Like Husak, he may shortly turn his attention - and government purges - on the Polish Communist Party and the universities. Something, somewhere must give. Poles have shown throughout their history of living under subjugation that they cannot be appeased for very long. Even under martial law many are risking their lives by taking to the streets daily. Jaruzelski will either have to be replaced by a more open-minded regime willing to face up to reality and reform, or he will be forced to use even more repression to quell the restless Poles-as Brezhnev and Qaddafi have undoubtedly suggested. Walawender, a University senior, is vice president of the Polish- American Student Association. 4 0 9.-0 0 p - ' 0 economic conditions than the other two countries after their unsuccessful revolts, Poland's future in the com- munist bloc can either follow that of Hungary, more liberal and open, or of Czechoslovakia, more repressive and orthodox to Soviet-style communism. Many Poles and Western observers thought martial law would be of short S - -~. - - - o .-- .*,- t - --~- - - ~ . . - - duration, a period of respite from the deadlocked Solidarity-government quarrels. Many thought that., after or- der was secured, Jaruzelski would emulate the policies of Janos Kadar, who led the Hungarians in a reformist- centrist path. KADAR instituted the New Economic Mechanism of 1968, which I ie f e bsa nichigan Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Wasserman Vol. XCIII, Editoria HINGS WERE to normal o yesterday, with 1 freight trains mov rt time since ra down by an engine The strike laste was ended by an imposed a settlem ,panies and the uni Of course it is tr Clement had to co nment, and not fr parties to the lab -roundly applaude lion was a well-fo -the nation's alrea from sliding furth The strike wa Srefusal of railr :guarantee that e .:tinue to enjoy the -cent wage differ and all other ra " tlement imposed [ A No. 15 ils represent a majority o 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 PEOPLE > djeVou5 WN I TAUIK ?ABOUT WUC'2A NUG~0 ) VAR;., °y4 BUT I V -rNOS TINGWS SO WNNT THINK I'M\ SOFT opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Back on track E starting to get back permit further negotiations on such a n the nation's rails contract, but it forbids a strike over the both passenger and matter. ring again for the fir- But by forbidding such a strike, il service was shut Congress has not so much limited the er's strike. rights of unions as it has reaffirmed d only four days and the economic priorities of the nation. act of Congress that The strike, which involved 26,000 vent on the rail com- engineers, was costing the economy on. billions. It was forcing layoffs in roubling that the set- dozens of industries, snarling me from the gover- passenger transportation systems, and om either of the two making a relatively quick economic bor dispute. Yet the recovery even more improbable. d Congressional ac- The strike by the unded effort to keep engineers-triggered by disputes of dy faltering economy tradition and status-seemed petty er into the abyss. when compared to the suffering in the s triggered by the rest of the country from the recession. oad companies to The engineers should have recognized ngineers would con- that, but, unfortunately, they did not. ir traditional 15 per- In the absence of wisdom on the part ential between them of the engineers, Congress and the il workers. The set- president acted wisely in ending the d by Congress will strike and keeping the economy alive. V j (A '1 0 0 FIRM' CWWIAN coNRoL PAE C-oG IS EXT~vA-MLy OF: TN ?PRTICULARLY INTH r-1gST SEW RECoNSWtUGT ON I ,1 a w P. -J N- LETTERS TO THE DAILY: v v -. Laying the blame for Beirut massacre To the Daily: We, as Israeli citizens, accuse the Israeli government of com- plicity in the massacre of hun- dreds of Palestinians in Beirut: complicity through training and supplying the Christian militias, complicity through letting these militias enter the refugee camps, and complicity by letting the massacre continue after being aware of the indiscriminate killing. We accuse the Israeli government and the hierarchy of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) of allowing the massacre to con- tinue for 36 hours, while claiming to stop it, and for letting the murderers go free. We accuse the Israeli government of im- mediately denying any knowledge and any respon- sibility for the massacre. "We didn't know," "We are not responsible," "We didn't do it" are words with which Israelis and Jews are all too familiar. These are the same words that we refused to accept from the Ger- man people regarding the Holocaust. We, as Jews, accuse the Jewish establishment in the United States of unconditional support of Israel's attacks on the Palestinians and their rights in Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. This blanket ap- proval of all Israel's actions is in contrast to the true spirit of Judaism. Shame on those Jewish leaders who say about the Beirut massacre: "Any suggestion that Israel took part in it or permitted it to occur must be categorically rejected. It is time for the Jewish community to realize that con- demning Israel does not equal an- ti-Semitism and that uncritical support of Israel makes them ac- complices to the massacre. We, as residents of America accuse the U.S. government of conducting a policy which allowed Israel to invade Lebanon and enter Beirut with the con- sequent immense suffering of many thousands. We denounce the U.S. government for condem- ning the latest event, while not doing anything to prevent it. Israel could not have invaded Lebanon in the manner that it did without U.S. arms and tacit ap- proval. We accuse the United States, Israel, and Lebanese collaborators of the Beirut massacre. This tragedy is the culmination and the direct result of fifteen years of Israeli oc- cupation of Palestine land, and it follows the mass destruction in Lebanon since June 6 of this year, for which Israel is responsible. It is time to repent and ask for forgiveness, but the shame of Beirut cannot be atoned by prayers and words alone. A pogrom was conducted in the refugee camps of Beirut. As Jews, we know more than others about pogroms. This time, however, we were not victims; we were perpetrators. To prevent more such tragedies, we call on all Israelis, American Jews, and other U.S. citizens to do all they can to ensure a national homeland for the Palestinian* people in the peaceful solution in the Middle East now. -Uriel KitroD Micah Kaminer, Sept. 22 No laughing matter *1 -, 4} To the Daily: I must admit I chuckled at your editorial "Fun with Nuclear War" (Daily, Sept. 21). However, I must say that the civil defense plan is no laughing matter. Let's get serious and vote yes on Proposition E, the nuclear weapons freeze, this November. The people of Becket have to laugh at the government's plan directing city-dwellers to flee to "farms and hamlets" such as B L.. 1,id. tT t LL..t~n cities to perform essential ser- vices. Would you hang back and@ mind the store if you knew a nuclear missile was on its way? This same government defeated the nuclear freeze proposal presented in the House of Representatives last month, 204- 202. We must rely on our own in- telligence-and voting for the nuclear freeze proposal on the November ballot is a step in the Memorial inappropriate r I