Party, which rapidiy became the largest political organization. In November, 1945, the SL or pseudo-Peasant Party, within the government bloc, and led by fellow-travellers, rejected Mikolajczyk's offer of a merger. The Communists had been able to infiltrate the Peasant Party sufficiently to cause a split, as they did with other parties. But the PSL continued to grow and the SL has not succeeded in gaining the support of more than five per cent. of the peasants. But a minority government can govern only by coercion, and in the first months of 1946 the Security Police (UB-Urzad Bezpieczenstwa), alarmed by the growth of the PSL, launched a new campaign of terror. Hence when the Communists offered Mikolajczyk's party 2 5 per cent. of the posts in the Government if he would rejoin the government bloc and agree to a single list of candidates for the promised elections, his first condition was the dissolution of the secret police. Mikolajczyk argued that it was not a question of how many government jobs the PSL might be given, or representation in Parliament ; the real issue was whether Poland was to have a constitutional democracy or a police state. The tremendous majority given the PSL in the June, 1946 referendum, and the insignificant number of votes cast for the PPS-PPR bloc, caused panic among the Communists. Their propaganda and terror. had failed. In many cities and villages the PSL got as high as 98 per cent. of the ballots. But only in Cracow, due to an accident, was there an honest count, giving the PSL, officially 84 per cent. of the votes. More drastic tactics became necessary for the unpopular PPR. MASQUERADE OF DEMOCRACY. On August 20, 1946, Cyrankiewicz flew to Moscow with other Socialist leaders to complain to Stalin about the fight being waged by the secret police against the PPS as well as the PSL. They were bluntly informed that while their right to maintain 21 BibliotecaGino Bianco
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