Evening star., 1947-11-07
By William McGoffin
Foreign Correspondent Of The stor and
the Chieoao Dolly News

Foreign Correspondent OF The Stor and
the Chicago Daily News
LONDON, Nov. Tt will be
very difficult for Poland to re-
cover without American financial
help and without being able to trade
with Western Europe.
Such is the conviction of Poland S
Peasant Party leader, Stanislaw
Mikola jczyk, as expressed to me
here yesterday during an hour-long
interview.
Il would not say that it would be
impossible-but it will take many,
many years." declared the former
Polish Vice Premier who reached
sanctuary here Monday after es-
Gaping from the country which is
now dominated by Communists un-
der the thumb of the Soviet Union.
Recovery Plan Explained.
The Polish three-year plan for
economic recovery from war calls
tor huge credits both from within
and without the country, Mr..
Mikola jczyk explained in English, at
his wife's suburban home.
They got some credits from in
side the country, but none from
abroad-so that part of the plan
requiring foreign investments will
have to be eliminated"
Then Mr. Mikola jczyk said with a
wry smile, but they still hope to
get money from the United States.
The first year of the three-year
plan will be up at the end of 1947
and Mr.. Mikola jczyk thinks that
even Polish leaders will be forced
to admit that it has been a failure.
I asked If Soviet Russia is helping
Poland.
Reds Keep Prices Secret.
He answered: There is trade be-
tween Poland and Russia which
helps recovery some-but no one
knows how much the Russians are
charging for the things they sell us
Those prices are a state secret
even I, the Vice Premier, did not
know"
Asked if he thought the Marshall
plan would work without the CO.
operation of Eastern Europe, he re-
piled:
Il think Western Europe needs
the cooperation of Eastern Europe
but I believe it can manage without
! it,"
Lack of financial help is not the
only reason for the failure of Polish
recovery efforts, in the opinion of
Mr.. Mikolajczyk. Equally impor-
tant, he feels, is the low worker
morale caused by secret police ter
ror, the high cost of living, bad
housing and gross social injustice.
Black Markets Cited.
"In the so-called peoples democ-
racy, the ruling class and the black
marketeers have everything, while
other people are really living under
conditions of semistarvation," he
declared.
He said the farmers should. Of
course, be exempted from this
description since they are eating
all right. But they have no tools
and nothing to wear"
"In towns 10 per cent of the
people are on semistarvation
diet, while 80 per cent have every
thing" he asserted. THE ruling
class lives on the black market
in fact, the black market couldn't
exist without collaboration Of the
ruling class which issues permits
to buy and sell in return for heavy
bribes."
Mr.. Mikolajczyk said people are
still living in dugouts in parts of
Kierca Province and the frontier
between Krakow and Rzeszow
providences, in the worst-hit sec
ton of Western Poland Some
100000 new homes are needed in
this sector alone--and $4,000 have
been built, he said
Rents Are Cheap.
One of the few cheap things in
Poland today is rent-if you are
living in the same house you were
in before the war, said the Polish
leader. There is a rent control
that keeps prewar rents from rising.
AS consequence, a worker need
pay only 200 zlotys ($2 at the Off
cial rate) a month rent, on the
average.
But the housing crisis is so acute
that each person is allowed only
five square meters unless he is a
doctor or lawyer, in which case he is
allowed 10 square meters plus an
extra room.
1t is a different story, however,
with new homes built since the end
OF the war. ITO rent a new postwar
house of three rooms will cost any
where from 10000 to $4,000 zlotys a
month. Only the ruling classes can
afford such a. rent-some govern
ment big-shot or blackmarketeer." "
Mr.. Mikolajczyk pointed to the
simple gray business suit he was
Konstantin Rokossovsky and Rodion
Malinovsky were absent
The military parade was notable
for the utter absence of any foreign