Disillusioned Exile

Governments in exile have had a bleak time. They complain that Western governments have done little more than suffer their existence as sources of discontent and propaganda conveniences, have had no real solutions for their problems, no real advice except "Wait and hope." Waiting becomes progressively harder to bear, hope progressively fainter.

Of them all, Poland's government in London was the most substantial, based on the 200,000-strong colony of Polish refugees, many of whom fought with the Allies against the Nazis and got haven in postwar Britain. The Communists have made the Polish government in exile a special target of their recent "come-back-all-is-forgiven" campaign. Last fall the Communists scored a success when newly elected London Premier Hugo Hanke turned up in Warsaw and announced that he was staying. Last week the Communists scored another. Stanislaw Mackiewicz, Hanke's predecessor as Premier, abruptly and bitterly announced: "Since America and Britain have betrayed us and there is no hope of liberation of my people by the West, I find it my duty to return to my country." He was, he insisted, just as "antiCommunist as ever," but he was returning anyway. "Exile politics are just a dream," he said.

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