will probably be arrested ultimately if not soon, as " traitors " linked with the illegal underground (officially estimated at 10,000 armed lJ}en) and with "Anglo-American imperialism." Both men have chosen the hard way-to struggle for democracy within Poland. But they honour and respect the Poles in London and New York who cannot return and who carry on the battle from abroad. To all such Poles the easy cynicism that argues that Poles are not ready for democracy, that they must accept Russian domination, is an insult and a lie. I also interviewed other PSL leaders and independent Socialists, as well as Cardinal Hlond, Cardinal Sapieha, the editors of Poland's most influential Catholic weeklies, and dozens of ordinary unknown Poles, and found a surprising identity of attitudes between Socialists, Peasant Party members, and Catholic liberals, on basic ideals-the independence of their nation, the value of democracy, the supreme importance of human dignity and the liberties that are trampled under the iron heel of every variety of totalitarianism. It is utterly ridiculous to accuse Cardinals Hlond and Sapieha or even the Church hierarchy generally of being anti-Semitic or Fascist. Those to whom I talked range from conservative to radical. Many subscribe to the idea that nationalization of basic industries is a step necessary to the national W<!lfare. I am convinced that the Communists will never succeed in making the Church in Poland the kind of agency of the State which the Eastern Church in Russia and Yugoslavia has become. It will be the main obstacle to Communism if and when the Peasant Party (PSL)1 is liquidated. (A concordat between the Kremlin and the Vatican is improbable.) Within the Church here, as in America, there are Communist and Fascist sympathizers 1 ABBREVIATIONS USED ; PSL ... the real Peasant Party lead by Mikolaczyk-it has been the only legal opposition permitted by the dictatorship. SL ... the fake peasant party controlled by Communists, whose purpose is to split the peasant forces. PPR ... the Polish Workers (Communist) Party; a tiny minority, it dominates the Polish political scene by coe.rcive measures. PPS ... the official Socialist Party which is part of the Government Bloc and paralyzed by its pact with the PPR. The independent Socialists were twice refused permission to function as a legal party and hence joined force~ with the PSL, , 8 BibliotecaGino Bianco
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