By BARBARA BRYANT
Adam Michnik, editor in chief of Poland's best-selling daily newspaper, the Gazeta Wyborcza, recently offered an explanation of Solidarity's successful talks with government officials in 1989 that led to the end of Communist rule in Poland.
He quoted Aleksander Kwasniewski, the Polish president and member of the post-Communist Democratic Left Alliance party. "The president told me that the roundtable discussions were successful because 'we didn't have enough imagination,'" Mr. Michnik recalled, adding, "If we'd had enough imagination to realize that these negotiations would lead to the end of their political power, the Communists would probably have broken them off. No one could foresee that these events would ultimately lead all the way to the unification of Germany."
The former Solidarity leader, who endured six years in prison for his opposition to the Communists, spoke through an interpreter to a full house in the Mumford Room on February 18. His talk on "Europe: Eight Years After Communism" was sponsored by the Library's European Division.
Although some of those present may have expected to hear Mr. Michnik decry his country's election of a former Communist as president, he was optimistic about his country's current and future political conditions. He pointed out that the overwhelming changes brought by a newly democratic form of government could have unpredictable and paradoxical consequences. "We can look back to an economy full of absurdities and shortages to one that has become robust and well-grounded," he said. "But, for the shock therapy involved, a price must be paid. In this case, by the first generation of people who won the battle against the Communist regime then lost the [1995 presidential] elections."
Mr. Michnik has explored the reasons for this outcome in several articles published in the United States. In a March 1996 article on "Post-Communism: A Search for Meaning," published in Transition, he reminded readers that the leaders of Solidarity were heroes but not gods; that the people who "carried out the historic task of the anti-Communist revolution in Poland" did so "amidst errors, inconsistencies, ill-considered decisions, and demoralizing arguments.
"With that revolution, the time of Solidarity and [former President Lech] Walesa had passed," he wrote. "The great myth turned into a caricature. The movement toward freedom degenerated into noisy arrogance and greed. ... It is not so much that the post-Communist parties won as that the post-Solidarity parties lost. They were unable to build an elementary pre-electoral coalition ... because they were mired in pettiness and lack of imagination. Thanks to that, the party that received 20 percent of the vote [achieved] a stunning victory."
Mr. Michnik surprised some in the audience by admitting that, although he did not vote for Mr. Kwasniewski, he was in some ways relieved, if surprised, that the elections resulted in the formation of a government led by a coalition of two post-Communist parties. "The fact that no one party could be guaranteed of maintaining power indefinitely is a sign of a healthy democratic process," he argued. "A democratic nation cannot be captured, ruptured or imprisoned by one person, no matter how important he is."
Although he conceded that the ex-Communists now in power may slow the progress of democratic reform, he insisted that they will not derail it. "The election proved that arrangements can shift, that another coalition may come to power, but the principle of testing every government and president every four years will continue. The logic of reforms has been maintained as originally set forth," he said.
Mr. Michnik also spoke of the major hurdles his and other Eastern European countries must overcome during their transition. "We had to ask ourselves what the nature of this new state would be -- one founded on civic principles or ethnic-national ones," he said, adding that the Balkan states offered an example of the latter philosophy, a path Poland has not chosen to follow.
"Up until now, the civic principle has been winning," he said. "For the first time in its history, Poland is not in conflict with its neighbors and we have very few conflicts with national minorities throughout the country."
Mr. Michnik listed several other questions that have yet to be settled or even fully debated, however. "What role should labor unions play in society or even constitutionally?" he asked, adding that this question could also be applied to the Catholic Church, which played such a significant role in generating worldwide support for the Solidarity movement.
He also mentioned the controversial issues of "decommunization," the proposed enactment of legislation to ban Communism as a political movement, and demands to identify and punish or discredit those behind the long Communist oppression. One member of the audience, in apparent disagreement with Mr. Michnik's refusal to back these demands, suggested that his position helped the post-Communist parties gain ascendancy.
Mr. Michnik defended himself, saying, "I am, in principle, opposed to such measures because the passage of laws to deny Communist parties their rights would deprive an entire category of people their rights. To me, that's like anti-Communism with a Bolshevik face."
He also condemned attempts to ferret out those accused of carrying out Communist repression; he said that "proof" of such wrongdoing would necessarily be culled from files maintained by the old Communist secret police, a source that must be viewed with suspicion. "The information was designed to discredit the very people whose names are in the files," he said.
He also discounted the notion that his decision not to call for the banning of Communist parties or investigation of former members had helped to influence the presidential elections. "I'm flattered that you consider me so powerful," he said with a smile. "But, one must be modest. I do not ascribe so much power to myself. Besides, if I had been so persuasive, Poles would have voted for different parties. I never called on anyone to vote for the Communists."
Despite the disagreement over who should lead the nation, Mr. Michnik pointed out one key issue on which virtually all Poles can agree. "A few days ago, public opinion polls on NATO-based issues were announced," he reported. "Ninety percent of all respondents want Poland to join NATO. On this matter there is incredible consensus. They want Poland anchored in a democratic civilization."
Ms. Bryant works in the Development Office.