Poland's Glossy Capitalism Displays a Darker Underside
By Roger Cohen
Warsaw -- In the entrance to the offices of his growing movement, called Self-Defense, Andrej Lepper displays a framed quotation from Pope John Paul II: "It is unacceptable to claim that after the fall of Communism, capitalism is the only alternative."
A decade after the change known to Poles as "the revolution," capitalism is very much in evidence here. Banners advertising Internet services hang from Stalin's vast Palace of Culture, mobile phones are de rigeur with the smart set, Western cars sit in bottlenecks where poky Fiat Polskis once made their way down empty streets.
But beneath this impressive veneer, all is not well with the Polish success story. Low wages, rising unemployment, a series of Government scandals and a crisis on the farms, which still provide about 20 percent of Poles with their livelihood, have enabled Lepper to gain prominence with a potent brew of populism and nationalism.
"The rights of our people are being trampled," Lepper said, sitting beneath a crucifix and a banner saying Poles will defend what is theirs. "Our industry and land are being sold off, much of it to Germans. I often say that what Hitler failed to do by murdering millions is today being achieved by economic means."
This farmer from northern Poland represents a minority view, but he has proved highly effective of late. Last week, he figured prominently in the largest demonstration here in some time, when about 50,000 people gathered in central Warsaw. All the disaffected turned out: farmers, miners, the unemployed, underpaid teachers and nurses, steelworkers and arms industry employees.
Revolutions, of course, are topsy-turvy affairs. But it was a measure of the long road traveled in Poland that the workers were protesting against a Solidarity-led Government when, in 1980, it was the Solidarity union that first gave them an independent voice. Then, in 1989, Solidarity delivered the Soviet bloc's first bloodless transition.
That, however, is history. Protest is one thing, the realities of Government another. And Poland, like the rest of central Europe, has discovered that a rising capitalist tide does not lift all boats. Some are bound to sink, not necessarily in silence.
But just months after Poland's entry into NATO, the country is suffering more than the inevitable costs of change.
Apparent misjudgments by the center-right Government of Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, whose approval rating has plunged to 20 percent, has sharpened frustrations, bringing people into the streets and raising eyebrows in Washington.
The goings-on combine the burlesque with what often looks like plain incompetence. Pensioners are left unpaid because of computer glitches, the Interior Ministry has been left headless, generals and officials with high NATO clearance have been left jobless, and a sensitive safe has been left without a key.
"In the world today, you go further on credibility than anything else," said Wanda Rapaczinsky , a prominent publisher. "And right now our credibility is sinking in a way that could impede our economy. I understand our NATO friends are seriously unhappy, and frankly I don't blame them."
First the Interior Minister, Janusz Tomaszewski, was forced out this month after reports surfaced that he had collaborated with the secret police of the former Communist regime. In his wake, under similar suspicions, a general in charge of one of Poland's elite combat units that has worked closely with NATO also departed.
The general, Slawomir Petelicki, was not happy and took with him the key to what was reported to be a safe containing top-secret NATO documents.
This in turn led the acting Interior Minister, Janusz Palubicki, whose sloppy dress has given cartoonists here a field day, to order agents to blast open the safe in the depths of the night. At this point, naturally, the cartoonists went wild.
At the same time, another official with top NATO clearance, the former Deputy Defense Minister, Robert Mroziewicz, was also forced out after his role under the Communists was questioned.
In effect, after leading the way in central Europe's "velvet" transitions, Poland has abruptly found the past rearing its head in disruptive ways. Entrance into NATO was supposed to symbolize stability, an accolade after a decade of consolidation.
But the governing coalition of Solidarity Election Action and the Freedom Union reflects a broad and unwieldy spectrum. While there are many pragmatists, who value stability over a quest for justice, there are also vocal Solidarity hard-liners who want all collaborators with the Communists rooted out.
"We are trying to walk forward with our heads turned backward," said Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, the man who imposed martial law in 1981 and later negotiated a peaceful passage to democracy with Solidarity. "No wonder we keep knocking into trees and falling into holes. The danger now is one of a witch hunt."
Krzysztof Luft, the Government spokesman, denied that there was any witch hunt, but conceded that "the longer investigations are delayed, the more doubts and tensions appear." He added that it was "essential to complete the process of vetting" designed to insure that anyone with a public post has an untainted past.
The tensions over Poland's decade-old transition have been exacerbated by economic difficulties that have come to a head in recent months. The zloty has fallen by about 15 percent this year, a once highly-flying stock market has been pummeled, unemployment is now over 10 percent, fuel prices are rising, and anger over layoffs in loss-making heavy industries like steel and coal has boiled over.
In addition, the Russian crisis has hit Poland hard, effectively removing an important export market for farm goods and other products, and cutting off what was known as "the unofficial market." This consisted of itinerant Russians traveling to Warsaw and other cities to buy Polish goods for resale at home.
If a single difficulty has captured the problems of a Government now widely perceived as caring more for the view of international markets than the poor, it is the debacle at Poland's Social Insurance Office, known by its Polish acronym of Z.U.S.
A new computer system has proved incapable of discovering which companies are not paying premiums, and payments to many pensioners have been delayed by administrative confusion. An abruptly discovered shortfall of about $1 billion will have to be plugged from the state budget.
"We have called for the Government's resignation because of the ineptitude evident at Z.U.S.," said Marek Borowski, a leader of the opposition Alliance of the Democratic Left. " Buzek has lost the support of the people by pursuing a doctrinaire approach of deficit reduction, while public money was needed as a buffer for our social crisis."
There is no question that word of pensioners without their paychecks, farmers unable to sell their produce, and nurses with wages of $200 a month has hurt the Government at a time when the conspicuous consumption of the relatively small group comprising Poland's newly rich is evident to all.
Buzek said this week that he was "aware of the mistakes," and that he intended to listen more "to the needs of ordinary people." But he is also aware that the markets that could so easily pull the plug on Poland are watching closely for any relaxation of fiscal discipline. His room for maneuver appears limited.
As a result, a winter of discontent seems likely. Lepper, who said the price for his hogs was now so low he could no longer make a living, is working on building "a peasant-national bloc" to disrupt the Government.
"We already have over 500,000 sympathizers, people who will no longer tolerate Poland being sold while they live below the poverty line," he said. "We plan to continue our street protests and if necessary move to a general strike."
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Carl
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