How Poles will resolve to protect the arts cannot yet be known. It is not yet clear what the emerging marketplace will and will not support. Privatization continues at a rapid pace. No doubt debates about funding for the arts are occurring right now behind closed doors within the Ministry of Culture, debates which, given recent history, must be highly politically charged. Publishers' expectations about what the market will bear might be unrealistically high.
Expectations are generally high.
Polish publishers were shocked to learn from a colleague, for example, that the vast majority of writers and scholars in America do not earn a living through writing. While Poles' worst fears may be misplaced, high hopes will inevitably be dashed. Toward the close of the conference there occurred an awkward moment. Admitting important differences, my Polish colleague was right. In our efforts to sing the praises of market economics, we had lost track of this basic fact.