POLAND: Capitalism in Zakopane

One day late last November, several truckloads of tough, blackbooted militiamen roared into the streets of Zakopane, a normally placid town of 30,000 in the heart of Poland's Tatra mountain-resort country. Using dogs to keep the townspeople at bay, and snatching film from anyone who tried to take pictures, the men led a procession of bulldozers and demolition workers through the town. Within a matter of hours, the wrecking crews had reduced six spanking new houses to rubble. The owners were arrested and forced to pay fines of up to $1,364. The...

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