Poland Friends Indeed

By EDWARD W. DESMOND

Only Poland could harbor the contrasting scenes that took place within miles of each other last week. In the cavernous Congress Hall of Warsaw's Palace of Culture, 1,776 delegates attending Poland's Tenth Communist Party Congress sang the Communist International. Then, as Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev settled into his chair, Polish Leader Wojciech Jaruzelski launched into a 4 1/2-hour report declaring that after the "tough ordeal" of the past five years, Poland's Communists are successfully pursuing the "line of socialist renewal."

That same evening three miles away, thousands of Poles congregated in a church courtyard. After saying Mass, Warsaw Bishop Jerzy Modzelewski solemnly blessed the dark marble tombstone that marks the grave of Father Jerzy Popieluszko, a revered priest who was murdered by secret police in October 1984. Earlier, the crowd of 8,000 waved the red-and-white banners of the outlawed Solidarity trade union.

In Poland, it seems, while nothing is really new, a good deal has changed. Though frequent demonstrations show that opposition still runs deep, Jaruzelski was able to put on a triumphant face before the congress. Solidarity, perhaps the greatest threat to Communist rule in the East bloc since Czechoslovakia's uprising in 1968, had at last been all but crushed after the capture two weeks earlier of Zbigniew Bujak, the underground's mastermind. Former leaders who are free, like Lech Walesa, the sturdy electrician from Gdansk, have withdrawn from public life. Partly because of Solidarity's collapse, the Catholic Church has resumed its role as the sole counterweight to Jaruzelski's regime.

Gorbachev has attended only one other East bloc party congress this year, in East Berlin, and his presence in Warsaw clearly demonstrated Moscow's satisfaction with Jaruzelski's progress since he became First Secretary in 1981. The Soviet leader expansively praised Jaruzelski and lauded Warsaw's success in "repulsing the onslaught of the enemies of socialism."

If the opposition is down, however, it is far from out. Thanks to its organization into cells, Solidarity can survive the arrest of many members. A meeting of underground leaders after Bujak's capture, for example, reportedly drew the heaviest attendance for such a gathering since martial law was imposed in December 1981. The measure was lifted in July 1983.

Jaruzelski is banking on Moscow's support to help implement the economic- reform plan endorsed by the congress last week. The program includes giving greater authority to plant managers and holding down wages to help beat inflation. Jaruzelski also hopes to boost exports to aid in repaying some of Poland's $31 billion foreign debt. He would like to enlist the aid of the U.S. as well. But a resumption of normal relations is unlikely, since Warsaw refuses to meet the U.S. demand for a "national reconciliation" that would recognize the opposition and end human-rights abuses.

The prospects for a reconciliation between Poland's leaders and its people seem very bleak. Communist Party membership fell from 3 million to 2 million while martial law was enforced, and it has barely increased despite an all-out drive to strengthen the party's ranks. Planned economic cutbacks will reduce already low living standards, and appear certain to heighten tensions. While Jaruzelski has put down Solidarity at least for the moment, the anger and resentment that led to that movement could erupt again.

With reporting by Kenneth W. Banta/Warsaw