Evening star., 1928-04-01
BY FRANK II. SIMONDS.

w warsaw. Poland has just
n | Just gone hell bent" as our
wv old political phrase has it, for
Pilsudsh and the Americana
zation Of the Polish constitu-
ton.
In this country, which one can fairly
describe as the paradise of the paradox,
the same election has confirmed the
rule of dictator and prepared the
way for the attempt to establish on the
banks of the Vistula that form OF de-
mocracy which has long hourished on
the shores of the Potomac.
An election under dictatorship has
certain very definite meanings for the
average American. yet as / wandered
from polling place to polling place in
order might have been expected and
police activity seemed almost inevitable.
nothing was more astonishing than the
degree to which the spectacle recalled
the American election There the same
long lines of orderly and impatient
people waiting at every polling place,
the same good natured policeman help
ing the voter and shooing of the over
Jealous party worker. In New York
there is nothing different.
Referendum on Dictatorship.
This election must fairly be called
the most critical since the recreation
of Poland It was in every sense refer
endum upon the Pilsudski rule, upon
the Pilsudski policies at home and
abroad Had 1t ended in defeat for
| the dictator, it must have meant either
| his retirement or a resort to greater
coercion and more frankly dictatorial
| methods. The election resolved itself
| into democratic Endorsement OF die
| tator.
For the American there can be no
more complex and bewildering puzzle
than that today supplied by Polish poll
| tics The government Of PilsudSki is
dictatorship created by violent revo-
luton and based upon the bayonets
of an army which has something of
| the veneration for its marshal that
the Grande Arnee had for Napoleon.
| But soldier and dictator, Pilsudski has
steadily endeavored to end all the trou-
ble-making disputes with the neighbors
of Poland Coming to power by a
military coup, he has endeavored to
abolish both the thought and the
causes OF war abroad.
| While Pilsudski must unqueStionably
be reckoned the exponent Of Polish
militarism, size the army made him
marshal. his political strength, his
recent victory. these are explicable only
through the fact that his chief sup
port comes from the liberals and the
democrats. his greatest opposition
| from those whom we should call ex-
| treme nationalistS and even chauvinists
| Moreover, militarist as he is in name
| Pilsudski is assured of the support OF
the Socialists in the next Legislature.
All Elements Favor Him.
The first Polish dictatorship since
the war Is radical. 1t is not one thins
but thirty: it is the combination of al
the various elements in the nation
which believe that Poland can only
be saved and established by firm hanc
and that Pilsudski has the necessary
firmneSs. In the bloc that voted fol
the marshal there were men of every
conceivable shade of political opinion.
When the marshal seized the power
from the infirm and corrupt hands oi
the Parliament two years ago, Poland
was unquestionably sinking into ar
anarchy and chaos unhappily reminis-
cent of the condition which preceded
and precipitated the partitions of the
eighteenth century. which were re.
sponsible for the elimination Of Poland
as free country for century and q
half
Poland was economically fiat, its cur.
rency was racing downward, its LegiSia-
ture was divided into Quarreling groups
OF politicians whose personal and party
feuds prevented all cooperation. Al
bottom this situation was the result OF
bestowing upon a people that had
long been not only subject to foreign
domination but divided between these
alien rulers. which was cursed with an
incredible proportion of illiterates. q
complicated parliamentary system. II
was like giving boy who had still 70
learn his alphabet a novel of Henry
James to read.
Democracy Broke Down.
Democracy in Poland, parliamentary
democracy broke down because politi-
cal experience among the masses Was
| lacking and there were the most colos-
sal problems which confronted ans
country In postwar Europe. In Poland
everything had TO be remade. At the
eleventh hour Marshal PtiSudski seized