Abstract

Poland on a Tightrope: Report from Warsaw

This article reflects the mixed feelings of the Polish people towards the whole political struggle in Hungary and in Eastern Europe. They are indeed pleased to realize that their country, possibly for the first time in history, is conducting a fight for freedom in the only way, which promises success--that is, with courage and firmness, but carefully avoiding the heroic attitudes which are natural to Polish sentimentality. After a few days, here, one realizes that the whole country--and not only the United Workers Communist Party, is united behind a man who has become the very symbol of Poland and Polish socialism: Wladyslaw Gomulka. But at the same time there is a wave of disgust at what is happening in Hungary, and a feeling of guilt at not being able to do more for the Hungarian people.