Polish People Deprived Of Individual Liberty Under “Red Fascist” Rule

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26631, 29 November 1947, Page 7

Polish People Deprived Of Individual Liberty Under “Red Fascist” Rule

Rec. 10 p.m. , NEW YORK, Nov. 27. “The Communists to-day are deciding the physical lives of the Polish people, but they can never control Polish hearts and souls,” declared Mr Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, the self-exiled leader of the Polish Peasant Party to-day in his first interview since arriving in the United States on Wednesday. “ I do not believe that more than five per cent, of the Polish people would vote for Communists in free elections.” He said that Poland was overrun with both Polish and Russian secret police, political trials were being held under military tribunals and the gaols were full.

“ Prisons are the first things to be built,” Mr Mikolajczyk said, and added: "There is no democracy in Poland at present. The country is ruled by a totalitarian Communist dictatorship, which in Poland was called ‘ Red Fascism.’ That dictatorship has deprived man of his individual liberty and tried to make him a slave-worker. It has under-mined the economic life of the country and restrained its rehabilitation and development.”

Mr Mikolajzyk was pessimistic about the possibilities of overthrowing the present Government and said he was opposed to an armed revolt within Poland. That would merely play into the Communists' hands. Asked by a New York Times reporter if he thought any measures short of war could bring freedom to the Polish people, he replied: “ I think we should use everything possible to bring the case before the United Nations.” Mr Mikolajczyk refused to be specific about the practical results of such an appeal, adding: “ But one must have faith in something.”