Poland: Jaruzlewski’s Law

What is martial law in Poland? By week’s end the Polish people faced more than 20 separate orders, some predictable, some startling. Among them:

> Basic civil rights, in particular those pertaining to personal liberty (freedom of speech, press, assembly, and means of communication), are temporarily suspended.

> All public gatherings, including demonstrations, strikes, sports and artistic events, are banned. Exception: religious services inside churches. A curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. is imposed.

> Distribution of any publications and the use of any kind of printing equipment, including office copying machines, are banned without prior government approval.

> Mail, telephone conversations and other forms of communication are subject to censorship. Telephone and telex services are temporarily suspended.

> Radio and television broadcasts are to be restricted to one station and channel. Programming will be supervised by government-assigned teams. All broadcasting is to be done from Warsaw; regional broadcasting is suspended.

> Polish citizens must carry their identity cards at all times. Poles are prohibited from leaving their place of residence for more than 48 hours without permission.

> The sale of gasoline to private motorists is forbidden. The sale of alcoholic beverages is halted. (The military later changed its mind.) Movies, theaters, nightclubs and discotheques are shut down. Except for nursery schools, all educational institutions, including universities, are closed for an indefinite time.

> Poland’s frontiers are sealed to all private traffic. Polish airspace is closed to international and domestic commercial flights.

> Summary proceedings will be undertaken against citizens violating martial law. Poles over the age of 17 may be interned at isolation centers if their past behavior gives rise to suspicion that they will disobey martial law or engage in activity that threatens the “interest, security and defense of the state.”

> Members of the military, police, fire and civil defense services, as well as thousands of workers newly “militarized” to deter them from striking, will be subject to penalties, including death, applied to soldiers on active service in time of war. The armed forces are authorized to use “coercion to restore calm, law-and-order.”