POLAND: Rebellious Compromiser

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Russia seems to be impregnable, but she is not at all. Poland is her weak spot.

—Bismarck (1887)

In a smoke-filled basement room in Warsaw's Polytechnic Institute last week, 30 determined young Poles probed deep for the weak spot in Russia's hitherto impregnable Communist empire. No plotters, and meaning to be peaceable, they were asking questions: How much farther can Poland go on the road to democratization without risking a Soviet crackdown? Can the Polish Communist Party slow down the momentum of Poland's drive for complete national independence? The answers could...

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