"It is Forbidden"

All over the country, loudspeaker vans boomed out a monotonous tattoo: "Tak, tak, tak!" (Yes, yes, yes!) It was Communism's voice urging the Polish people to vote yes on all three questions of the national referendum and thus to uphold Poland's Communist-dominated regime.

All over the country, throttled but still clear and firm shouts of "Nie!" (No!) rang out in answer. It was the voice of Vice Premier Mikolajczyk's Peasant Party, which had chosen the first question on the referendum ("Do you favor abolition of the Senate?"*) for a test of strength. As in France, the Reds wanted a legislature with only one house. Thus it had become a matter of saying yes or no to Communism, and the Communists had no intention of permitting Poland to say no.

Long Live the Bomb! The Sunday of voting was preceded by a week of bitterness, guerrilla battles and bloodshed. Extreme rightist bands circulated typewritten leaflets: "Long live the atom bomb, Poland's ultimate guarantee of freedom!" The Communists retaliated by displaying large posters showing a gorilla-like German soldier above the caption: "If you want him back, vote no." Other posters showed Winston Churchill squeezing a rubber doll (Mikolajczyk) and making it cry "No!" The Red humorists found other weapons too. On the eve of the referendum, Mikolajczyk announced that 1,213 of his party officials had been arrested by the Government's "security" police, and that almost everywhere in Poland the Polish Peasant Party was deprived of the right to campaign. Mikolajczyk had a long bill of particulars. Samples:

P: At Kielce, Colonel Sobczynsky of the security police declared: "It is forbidden to agitate for a no vote." Near the town, 14 Polish Peasant Party members had been killed within the last two months.

P: At Gibun, near the German frontier, the Reds threatened to expel all Polish settlers favoring a no vote.

P: The Government calmly announced that blank ballots "found" in the boxes would be counted as yes votes.

"My Friends!" The Western powers were pressing hard for a fair vote by holding up credits to Poland (the British withheld $12 million; the U.S. withheld $40 million, granted $50 million after Poland lifted censorship on U.S. correspondents last week). But Russia was pressing harder. Said the Soviet Ambassador to Poland, Victor Zakharovich Lebedev, recently: "My friends, if you want gold, you shall have gold. If you want wheat, you shall have wheat."

The day of the referendum was more peaceful than many observers had predicted. The people went calmly to the polls--under the eyes of Polish Army troops who guarded balloting places with bayonets fixed. It was typical that the Army's own ballots were not secret but bore each soldier's serial number.

But Mikolajczyk, undeterred by the dim prospect for an honest polling of the people's will, stuck to his guns. Said he: "If the referendum is honest we will have a definite no majority." But in any case, he added, the "people will know who really won, and so will the Government."

*The other two questions on which all parties agreed: Do you favor nationalization of key industries? Do you favor Poland's new western frontier?

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