Flexibility

In police states, virtually all that is left of free speech is jokes about the Government. Nobody knows who starts these stories; the details are highly flexible; everybody spreads them. The Government may fight back (in Russia, telling political anecdotes can be a crime), but little can be done about the problem without arresting most of the population.

Last week Poles were laughing at such a story told on Wladyslaw Gomulka. Poland's Communist Vice Premier arrived in Katowice, capital of Upper Silesia, to make a speech. He ordered General Alexander Zawadzki, governor of the conquered area, to round up 50,000 people for the meeting. As the day wore on, Gomulka's demands got bigger. He demanded 100,000 people to listen to him, then 150,000, then 200,000. The population of Katowice is only 150,000. But a crowd of 200,000 turned out for the speech.

"How did you do it?" Gomulka asked Zawadzki. Said the General (who received his training in Russia): "It is easy to get 50,000; I have only to summon the Army and security police. When you increased the number to 100,000, I announced that Mr. Mikolajczyk [chief opposition leader] would speak. After you mentioned 150,000, I told the people that General Anders [antiCommunist expatriate] would address them. However, when you finally instructed me to get 200,000, I announced that at the meeting all members of the Government would be publicly hanged."

No fable, but equally flexible, was the story foreign correspondents got from Food Vice Minister Sokolowski. Some of the correspondents had cabled home a statement by President Bierut and articles from the Polish press, saying that Poland is now able to feed herself without foreign relief. That was not correct. "Articles in the Polish press," explained Sokolowski, "are destined strictly for home consumption. Naturally, we put the situation in a better light than it is, in order to calm our people, who are nervous."

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