A Different Path in Poland

Jacek Kuron, a leading Polish dissident, said recently that sanctions imposed on Poland by the United States and other Western nations should now be lifted. In his words, “Sanctions were necessary at the time of martial law to send a moral message. But they are outdated today.”

Essentially the same thing has been said by the Roman Catholic Church and by Lech Walesa, Nobel Prize-winning founder of Solidarity, the democratic-minded trade union driven underground by the imposition of martial law in 1981. Washington should heed their advice, although that is made difficult by the continuing misdeeds of the unattractive crew that runs Poland.

Dissidents are still being arrested and harassed. (A demonstrator was detained the other day for carrying a poster reading simply “Free All Political Prisoners.”) Universities are under tight control. The church is under continuing pressure to silence priests who criticize the regime. Walesa, who himself has been under police questioning, expressed fear this week that the authorities are cranking up to put him and other major dissidents on trial.

A year ago President Reagan cited the release of political prisoners as a prerequisite for improved relations with Poland. The rubber-stamp Polish parliament enacted a so-called amnesty a week ago, and some prisoners have already been freed. But it is amnesty in name only, with leading dissidents qualifying for release only if they sign a loyalty oath and inform on their former comrades in the Solidarity underground.

The regime declared two previous amnesties. The United States responded in 1984 with a partial lifting of economic sanctions, coupled with a call for a resumption of dialogue between the Communists and their critics. But neither of the previous amnesties led to any relaxation of the drive to crush dissident elements, and the current amnesty won’t, either.

Still, the United States should not persist indefinitely with sanctions that have essentially been abandoned already by its allies and that are no longer supported by the people in Poland whom they were intended to help--the forces of liberalization within Solidarity and the church. The sanctions may even have become counter-productive.

The Polish economy, while enjoying some recovery, is still a basket case and is likely to remain so, thanks to the gross mismanagement by the Communist authorities. The remaining U.S. sanctions, while a relatively minor cause of the prevailing poverty in Poland, serve as a convenient scapegoat for the country’s economic problems. There is some reason to suspect, in fact, that the regime prefers continued friction with Washington to better relations.

The church and the leaders of Solidarity believe that at this stage American influence can best be enhanced through expansions of trade and cultural and political contacts. If the authorities do stage show trials of the sort foreseen by Walesa, that will obviously make it impossible for the Reagan Administration to proceed. But the time has come to give reengagement a try as fast as we decently can. Then, if the Communist authorities don’t respond, the regime at least will have to assume the responsibility.