From Pole to Pole

Were the stubborn Poles bowing at last to stubborn Russia? In London, the Polish National Council hotly debated the position of Russophobe General Kazimierz Sosnkowski, Commander in Chief of the Polish armies and designated successor to exiled President Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz. An ultranationalist of the old Pilsudski military clique, General Sosnkowski had long been anathema to Moscow, more potent than moderate Premier Stanislaw Mikolajczyk.

Last week the Premier and his fellow moderates got a lift from home. Three members of the Polish Underground brought word to London that the Polish people wanted General Sosnkowski stripped of his political power. Forthwith the Council, already astir with proposals to do just that, voted to let the General keep his military command, appoint a civilian Pole as successor to the Presidency.

The Council could only advise. The exiled Government, long under British pressure to moderate its attitude toward Russia, had yet to heed the advice. But the vote was a step toward conciliation.

A fortnight after the celebrated chat of Father Stanislaus Orlemanski with Joseph Stalin, the University of Chicago's Polish-born Professor Oscar Lange dropped in at the Kremlin, talked long and earnestly with the Soviet dictator. Afterwards he reported:

"Marshal Stalin said Poland is going to play a very important role in Europe. He declared it in the interests of the Soviet Union that Poland be strong."

The Soviet Government took some canny, specific measures. Smartest move yet: Moscow's announcement that Polish children in Soviet territory may have Roman Catholic religious instruction if their parents so desire. That news, if believed in Poland, was calculated to appeal to millions of devoutly Catholic Poles.

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