Letting Their People Go

If punishment does not do the trick, then try a little tenderness. That seems to be the philosophy behind the Polish government's decision last week to free 652 of the country's political prisoners. Despite grumbling from Communist Party hardliners, the amnesty bill was passed by the parliament 365 to 4. Only those arrested for treason, spying and sabotage will not be released. Among the freed will be seven leaders of the outlawed Solidarity trade-union movement who have been in jail since December 1981, when martial law was declared. The regime of Premier Wojciech Jaruzelski is now spared the embarrassment of continuing the two-week-old trial of four intellectuals accused of conspiring to overthrow the Communist system.

Jaruzelski has another reason for this calculated charity: he hopes that it will persuade Washington to lift the U.S. trade sanctions imposed after martial law took effect. But he may be disappointed if he expects clemency to soften opposition inside Poland. Adam Michnik, 37, one of the quartet on trial, has announced that he does not want amnesty. If Michnik still desires his day in court, he will have to break the law after his release.