could never be any basic conflict in interest between these various organizations. The social insurance system is being transferred from the hands of the government to the unions, with increased pensions for the aged and sick, more nurseries and playgrounds for the children of working women. Better housing is to be provided by building new homes and by " ejecting from their lodgings black market speculators and reactionaries." Which will be tough on small business men and oppositionists, as well as employees of that sector of the economy which is not yet nationalized. The unions also take credit for the fact that in every large factory or office there is a canteen where employees get at least one warm meal at a nominal cost, or free, and that workers holding ration cards can buy the necessities of life in quantities which, for devastated Poland, are relatively fair-enough to sustain them at the minimum level of health, and at prices that are a small fraction of the free or legalized black market rate. Since workers receive only 2,000 to 4,000 zloties monthly, without this scheme they would starve. They likewise get lodgings at a nominal rental. All this corresponds to the Soviet Russian pattern. There are six categories of workers, holding cards from one to six. The difference in the cards is in the amount that the holder can buy at the reduced rate. Workers in heavy industries and high government officials hold card number one, as do priests and others whom the Government seeks to placate or win over. Unfortunate indeed are those who do not hold one of the first three cards. In the sixth category are the declassed elements, the speculators, and the small business men, the enemies of the Soviet Union, the opponents of the trend toward totalitarianism, all in one vast economic and political amalgam. The Polish trade unions have all passed regulation resolutions for aid in the rebuilding of their capital, and levied .a tax upon themselves in addition to pledging to work on holidays, on this . project. The results, however are not very impressive-I saw little reconstruction going on in Warsaw. (Only national pride in Warsaw prevents moving the capital temporarily to 32 BibliotecaGino Bianco
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