Word: gomulkaism
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Ultimate Cross. Gomulka's government has been moving-but slowly and ineffectively-to improve the economy. After lengthy discussions, the Central Committee approved a new Five-Year Plan for 1971-76 and a progressive approach that economists refer to as "the New Economic Strategy." It made sense in theory but, as Alexis de Tocqueville noted, the most dangerous time for a government is hot when conditions are bad but when the regime is trying to make them better. Demonstrating both arrogance and a lack of touch with popular feelings, the government neglected to explain adequately what it was doing...
...ultimate verdict on Gomulka, of course, rests not with Warsaw but with Moscow, which regards him as a good friend but would sacrifice him if hard-lining Polish Communists insisted. The Russians, however, gave little indication of their sentiments. Brief Polish communiques on the riots were broadcast in Moscow, but without comment. The three army divisions that Russia maintains in Poland were alerted, but they remained in their barracks. Obviously, the Russians were waiting to see how well the Poles handled the problem...
THROUGHOUT the week of rioting in Poland, the name of Wladyslaw Gomulka was conspicuously absent from the hortatory broadcasts of Radio Warsaw. To students of Communist behavioral psychology, the silent treatment was sure evidence that the remarkable and rebellious compromiser was struggling mightily behind the scenes to save...
There were ironies aplenty in the situation. As every Pole knows, it was the "bread and freedom" riots of Poznan that carried Gomulka to power in 1956; he was heralded then as the man who could hold the country together. In his own cautiously individualistic way, Gomulka did just that. His 14 years in office are proof that he has retained the wily political acumen that led Poles to describe him as "The Maestro." No wonder that so many thoughtful Eastern Europeans have said: "To understand Poland, understand Gomulka...
That is easier said than done. Dour and ascetic, commonsensical and un imaginative, intensely secretive about his private life-his wife Zofia has never been interviewed-Gomulka is totally a product of Poland's experience with Socialism. He was born 65 years ago in the small industrial town of Krosno, the son of an oilworker who had returned to the homeland after failing as an emigrant to America. The family was poor; young Wladyslaw left school at 14 and became a locksmith and a Socialist almost simultaneously...