498 SOLIDARNOSC
every aspect of Communist ideology — in philosophy, religion, history, political
theory, economics, and general literature. Favoured authors included exiled
Poles and Catholics, together with all the forbidden Western classics — from
Orwell and Popper to Arendt, Solzhenitsyn, and Teilhard de Chardin.
The story of one title among tens of thousands, may convey something of the
movement's aims and excitement. White Eagle-Red Star, originally published
in London, told the tale of Poland's victory over the Red Army during the
Polish-Soviet War of 1919-20. In the official media, the subject had long been
taboo. So it was adopted by a fearless woman translator from Gdansk, who ten
years earlier had sailed around the world in a single-handed yacht. The author
was contacted by telephone by an unidentified person calling from Paris. He was
asked the unusual question: 'Would you agree to your book being published
without your agreement?' (The Drugi Obieg tried to protect its authors by stat-
ing that they were not responsible for the illegal editions.) The translator then
set to work under a pseudonym. Her first attempt at translating the book hit the
rocks when the police raided her flat and put her in prison. Her second attempt
sank when the police swooped at night on the secret printing press and
confiscated all copies. But the third attempt completed its triumphant voyage
after six years of subterfuge and incredible determination. The author, who was
in California, had been kept informed by a mysterious correspondent, who
turned out to be the translator's sister. Sheer admiration was the only possible
reaction. These people were going to win.
The ambiguous stance of the authorities was revealed by the tragic fate of the
Solidarity priest Father Jerzy Popieluszko, vicar of the parish of St Stanislaw
Kostka in Warsaw. After the suspension of martial law, Father Popieluszko had
started to organize weekly 'Masses for the Homeland'. The fury of the police
grew in proportion to the rapidly expanding size of his congregation. One dark
night in October 1984, three agents of the Ministry of the Interior ambushed the
car of the turbulent priest, strangled him, and threw his body into a reservoir.
But the crime was bungled. There was a witness. Father Popieluszko's body-
guard, a former paratrooper, had thrown himself from the car at speed. He had
witnessed the ambush, and had evaded the ambushers. Very soon news of the
murder was spreading. The usual official formula of a murder committed by
'unknown perpetrators' was flatly disbelieved. The discovery of Father
Popieluszko's mangled body raised the spectre of popular disturbances. General
Jaruzelski was forced to act.
The significance of Jaruzelski's decision cannot be exaggerated. For the first
time in the history of the People's Republic since 1956, he ordered that agents of
the Communist regime should answer in public for their misdeeds. The three
guilty policemen were brought to trial, and were sentenced to long periods of
imprisonment. In a society where the Communist dictators had never been held
to account, this event was a milestone. It was meant to curry favour with the
populace, and was intended as a small sop to stem larger demands. The minis-
ters and senior officers who had sanctioned the murder were not investigated.