Word: polished
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Perhaps to soothe Moscow, Polish newspapers blamed the crisis atmosphere on the Western press. Reported Zycie Warszawy: "All the drama is to be found in news wires, newspaper columns, television and radio. None of it is in our country." Nevertheless, there was a sense that one misstep could bring tragedy. Poland's Roman Catholic bishops released a pastoral letter calling for calm and cooperation. It ended with a prayer: "Give us the spirit of peace and responsibility that there be no bloodshed or war. Defend us so that we may not lose the freedom won by our fathers...
...Western view that Soviet intervention is inevitable was rooted in a cold-blooded diagnosis of the Polish disease. Not only is it critical, it is chronic, degenerative and infectious. With nasty irony, Poland is proving that Marx was right: political crisis does sprout from economic difficulty. And in Poland's case, the economy is on the brink of collapse...
Perhaps even more disturbing to the Kremlin, the Polish Communist Party is in disarray; it is seemingly unable to restrain the workers. Its discipline is poor and its morale worse. According to one report, local party groups have been attempting to reorganize without the blessing of the central committee. Astonishingly, an estimated 700,000 Communists, about a fourth of the party membership, have joined Solidarity...
...prospect of bloody skirmishes with the highly nationalistic and traditionally anti-Russian Poles must also daunt Moscow. Although outmanned by Soviet forces on its border and hindered by outdated arms and equipment, the 210,000-man Polish army might put up some resistance. Says a Western diplomat in Warsaw: "I don't look for divisions to fight. But at the battalion and company level, they would." Last week Soviet officers in civilian clothes were reported to have moved into the Polish Defense Ministry; presumably their mission was to limit the potential for mutiny if intervention is called...
...Polish police and security forces are considered more responsive to party control than the conscript-laden army. If these internal forces could not control workers' strikes and uprisings, the Soviets could be "invited" into Poland by the Warsaw government. The Soviets could strike with upwards of 40 divisions, each consisting of 7,000 to 13,000 troops, according to an expert at the International...