LIFE UNDER COMMUNISM

THE festering misery and hatred of the Polish people for what they have suffered under Communism broke dramatically into the light of day last week. Twelve young men, brought to trial for their part in the revolt of factory workers at Poznan (TIME, July 9, et seq.)poured forth a torrent of testimony against the secret police and the Communist system. From court, and prosecution as well, came verification that some of the testimony--of police brutality, of enforced hunger, of officially induced lying--was indeed true. Paradoxically, the evidence was made possible by the Polish Communist Party itself. With the relaxation of Russian control it has been trying to suggest that it is capable of leniency and of sympathy with Polish workers.

The court was three judges, and proceedings were open to three Western legal observers and twelve Western correspondents. Witness after witness described the travail of interrogation by the secret police. The most telling indictment of all came from Janusz Suwart, 22-year-old son of a former Polish Communist. He is a thin, passionate youth with deep-set eyes and pale face. Here is how he answered when the prosecutor asked derisively: Isn't it true that you have already served two years in prison for theft?

I'll tell you why I did it! My father was a prewar Communist. He spent many years in prison before the -war. In 1945 he rejoined the party and worked for the U.B. [secret police]. In January 1952 he was accused of having worked with the prewar police. I have known my father 22 years. He brought me up as a Socialist. He fought for this government, and he was falsely accused . . . (There is a sound of sobs, from men as well as women, in the courtroom.)

Why did I steal in 1953? When my father was arrested, it drove my mother insane. We had no way of living. My brother, who had also worked for the U.B. was discharged because of my father, so he committed suicide. Until my father was freed under the amnesty in 1954 we had no word from him. I was sick. I had chronic skin disease when my father was arrested. My mother could not do anything for herself, and I have two young sisters who could not work. So I had to look for a job. But I could not get work anywhere because I was ill. The Communist Party turned against us. Our neighbors never liked us because they knew my father was a Communist and was in the U.B. They would not help us. My mother went to church to ask for soup. Can you imagine how I felt? Did my family deserve this? It was poverty that made me steal. I had no other way out. (Suwart paused to wipe his face with a handkerchief, so the prosecutor asked another question: "Are you still a Socialist?")

Yes. My father brought me up in this spirit.

In the back of the court a small, grizzled old man hunched up on a spectators' bench stared at the young man. It was Suwart's father. Someone asked him if he had regained his Communist Party card. "I have not bothered to apply.'' said the old man. "What for?"

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