Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-22

II Tor political propaganda.
What would be your impress
sion If you saw q Christmas
tree decorated with political
caricatures? Well. ! saw such
q inonstrosity last January /.
Ugly cartoons Of Eisenhower,
Churchill and Gen. Anders were
hanging on 1t.
Church going on Sundays Is
ofiicially prohibited In the
Polish army and In the schools.
Religion is now Q matter Of
private worship.
But the worst Is the situation
Of the youngsters who have lost
faith y God and have fallen
under the influence Of the Com
munists. They are encouraged
to defy their parents who. they
are told. are stuck In their stiff
reactionary ways. There II
neither the fear Of God nor the
authority Of parents to keep
them from decentralization and
they go from bad to worse.
drinking, rioting and making
love as If they were animals. not
human beings.
Mother Stands in Queues.
We in our family have man
aged to keep ourselves strong,
away from alcoholism. democrat
ization and despair. although
life was difficult, oh so difficult!
My old mother, in spite Of her
age. leaves home every day to
stand in queues for break. for
milk, for every article Of every
day consumption. Often enough.
when she finally reaches the
counter. there Is no more milk
to be had and she goes away
with empty hands.
My invalid brother Is, of
course, a great burden. He
contracted chronic Inflammation
of the joints during the war.
when he was compelled to work
on a German ship. He should go
to a special sanatorium. Our
free health service" does not
allow for such luxuries. If my
father were a Communist Party
member, or a work hero" then
it would be q different story.
Butt he is a simple worker, and
unable to save the health Ct his
son.
This health service" is the
strangest phenomenon of all.
Doctors are severely forbidden
to give q worker permission to
stay at home unless he develops
high fever. If a man stays at
home Of his own free will, he is
punished. His wages may be
reduced, and If he persists in his
offense. he may end in a labor
camp.
Everything seems to conspire
to force the workers to do more
and more work. The trade
unionS whose main job seems to
be to watch to make sure their
members never relax. All at
tempts at striking are. considered
sabotage, and severely punished.
"Plans" Spur Workers.
The whole system Of work Is,
based On production plans and
work norms" and socialist
competition" Workers in fac
tories and shipyards are divided
into 'sbrigadesp which are or
dered TO compete with each
other. The one which gets best
production results" during q
certain period, receives a small
red flag and is photographed in
the newspapers. Sometimes one
factory is compelled to chal-
lenge another, and then q mad
race starts to increase produc-
ton.
Ir workers are told to hurry at
all costs, is there any wonder
that they produce mems coats
in which one sleeve is inches
longer than the other. or sauce
pans from which handles fall
of at the slightest touch?
To top all this. there are spe-
cial socialist pledges to work
longer hours without extra pay
In order to celebrate various
Communist festivals like the
anniversary Of the liberation, !"
or birthdays Of Communist Lead
sers.
You may find 1t hard to- be-
lieve how, In such conditions,
people can still. find the strength
to live. to bear children in such
a world. Well. there is-as I
have said-religion to sustain US.
And also the hope which has
survived all our ordeals, that
this misery and hardship will
come to an end one day.
Hopes Tied to West.
This hope is, Of course, tied
to the West. to the free world.
All people OF Poland listen to
radio broadcasts from the West,
in the evenings at home. behind
closed doors and drawn cur
tains. They listen to the Voice
OF America, Radio Free Europe
and the British hroadcasts.
These mean q lot to them; they
show that they are not COM
pletely abandoned and forgotten.
and without them all hope for
freedom would disappear.
Sometimes however. one gives
way to feelings of despair, since
nothing comes from the West
but words. and nothing is done
practically to bring help and re-
lief to the people behind the
Iron Curtain. Many people have
grown skeptical and say that in