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and jan Rokita, the leader of the Cracow branch of Freedom and
Peace, work for independent enterprises and cooperatives
through enlargement of the private sector. Certainly, as Walicki
notes, "Polish liberals can be accused of a certain extremism in
praising the free market and in dismissing the merits of mixed
economies," but certainly he also is correct that this is but a
sound reaction against the realities of the results of the so-called
planned economy. Preaching a work ethic, capitalist values, ra–
tionality and realism, along with a dedication to Western culture,
these Cracow intellectuals offer a new creative anticommunism,
which may indeed be the future of Poland.
It is perhaps not surprising to find that some young people,
organized in groups like Freedom and Peace and Fighting Youth,
have a position far different from the other intellectuals. Skeptical
of the Roundtable agreement reached by Lech Walesa with the
government, the youth march in the Solidarity parades, but
shower them with their own leaflets calling for a boycott of the
coming elections. On Independence Day, the group refused to
end a scheduled march as dusk arrived and instead marched on
to the Soviet Consulate, where they chanted "Reds Go Home"
and other anti-Soviet slogans. Some were clearly gunning for a
confrontation with the police and being purposely provocative. A
few days after our return, I heard a report on National Public
Radio that a similar demonstration led by Fighting Youth in
Cracow was met by police clubs and tear gas, as the Polish gov–
ernment made it clear that oppositional groups that refused to ac–
cept the agreement would be suppressed. Yet, these same young
people wildly cheered the names of Rokita, Gil , and
Romaszewski, who were the three favored candidates for the new
parliament running on the Solidarity ticket from Cracow.
*
* *
Arriving in Hungary from Poland is like going from night
to day. The Hungarians may be complaining that the past year
has seen a twenty-percent inflation , a declining standard of liv–
ing, rising inflation as well as a need to service the $15 billion
debt to Western creditors, but in comparison to Poland, Hungary
is a thriving and dynamic economy. Vaci Utca, the famed shop–
ping center in downtown Pest, sports video and record shops,
book and clothing stores. There are no ration lines here, only a
block-long line to enter the
Adidas
shop, and hordes waiting to eat
