POLAND-WHAT CAN WE DO ? IT ais seldom that American public opinion is confronted with perfect international test-case. The Polish election crisis, which came to a head last Sunday,1 was precisely that rare thing-a touchstone for judging how serious we are about political rights, civil liberties, a free world, our whole democratic faith. The issues were 4,000 miles away, but the American Press gave it banner headlines. The problem was thick with foreign intrigue and special European complications, but there was no turning away from American responsibility. Poland was the first battleground of World War II, and Americans wanted to know how far along the road the Poles had come after years of violence and destruction. Were they free ? Could they speak their minds openly ? Could they go to the polls and vote in or vote out whomever they pleased ? Or was totalitarianism still in the saddle ? The story of that awkward imitation of an election is told on another page by Liston M. Oak. It proves all over again what we have often said about the way things are done in countries controlled by Soviet Russia. But the reporting of this revelation of oppression and discussion of it in the American Press prove a great deal. They show, above all, that we have in this country a solid basis for honest and critical thought. The democratic way is not among us something for parliamentarians and students of political science. It is a vigorous weapon for the reconstruction of a war-ravaged world. Outside of the newspaper PM, whose correspondent, Ralph Ingersoll, gave a really nauseating exhibition of misrepresentation, our correspondents gave an excellent account of themselves. The suppression of opposition papers and meetings 1 the use 1 January19th,1947, 5 BibliotecaGino Bianco
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