The gray grime of communism has been wiped away.

Poland needs help to remain strong

CRACOW, Poland -- Two events in one week symbolize the dramaticrevival of Poland. Last Saturday the new Bishop of Cracow,succeeding to the position held until 1978 by Karol Wotyla, betterknown today as Pope John Paul II, was elevated to the status ofcardinal. His enthronement was a magnificent ceremonial occasion inwhich the whole of Cracow in the south of Poland seemingly joined.

Wednesday begins a series of ceremonies and conferences markingthe 25th anniversary of the legalization of Solidarity, the firstindependent trade union in the Communist world, by Poland's thencommunist government. These celebrations will be held in Gdansk inthe north of Poland where a Solidarity strike in the Lenin shipyardcontinued the slow unraveling of communist power that Pope JohnPaul's 1979 visit to Poland had begun.

That unraveling reached its triumphant conclusion in 1991 whenLech Walesa, a leader of the 1980 Solidarity strike in the Leninshipyard, was elected the first non-communist president in Polandsince the second world war.

And there is a great deal to celebrate. Anyone visiting Polandafter a long absence -- in my case, more than a decade -- notices avast change in the nation. Physically, the gray grime of communismhas been wiped from the face of Poland. It is visibly a much moreprosperous country. Lines outside shops with no goods inside havebeen replaced by consumers snapping up the brand names of Paris, NewYork, Rome and London. As in America, there is a property boom.Poland is now a member of the European Union. And informationindustries are springing up over those bones of heavy industriesscattered over the centrally planned desert. Economic problems remainbut the transition to a new modern economy has been successfullyachieved.

The spiritual legacy of communism has been harder to eradicate --envy. Communists thrived on dividing Poles by arousing envy towardthose who did a little better when most people were doing very badly.That has continued under democracy with post-communist partiesbenefiting from nostalgia among older people for those times when allclasses had equal shares of nothing.

Poland elected such a post-communist government a few years ago.But the appeal of such parties rests in part on at least some claimto integrity. Yet the current Polish government has been involved infinancial and security scandals in recent years and it is sufferingseverely in the polls as a result.

Those scandals -- together with Solidarity's anniversarycelebrations -- have created the worst possible background for it tofight the forthcoming elections next month. It is almost universallyagreed that the two main center-right parties ("Civic Platform" and"Law and Justice") will form the next government. It is also likely -- but less certain -- that one of their candidates will beat theLeft's protagonist to become the next Polish president.

From Washington's point of view, this will be an improvement --but only a modest one. Poland's post-communist government (like otherleft-wing parties in the former communist bloc) has been friendlytoward the United States. It put Polish troops into Iraq andAfghanistan. The Polish president -- a former communist of theopportunist tendency -- helped to prevent Putin and his Ukrainianallies from stealing the Ukraine election. And the center-leftusually reflected the strong pro-Americanism of Polish publicopinion.

No new center-right government is likely to do a great deal betterthan that. Moreover, it will be rightly pre-occupied with the seriousdomestic problems left behind by the center-left. Unemployment isvery high, about 18 percent. The country's infrastructure, notably,its road system, is extremely poor -- though subsidies from the EUmay help improve that. And Poland's health care system needs a vastcapital infusion.

All these problems may tempt the new government to cut defensespending and ignore the unsettling problems that Poland still facesinternationally. Russia under Putin does not really want Poland tobecome fully part of the West. Putin plainly resented the role Polandplayed in settling the Ukraine crisis against Russia's wishes. Russiahopes to use its current role as an energy supplier to keep Poland inline in future crises.

There is no clear and present danger, of course, but a strongerPoland that was more independent of Russia in energy and economicterms would be in a better position to follow its own foreign policyrather than bow to Russia's.

Some candidates see these dangers even if through a glass darkly.Radek Sikorski, former deputy defense and foreign minister, isstanding for the Senate. His current job is in Washington asexecutive director of the New Atlantic Initiative at AEI. He hasmaintained his house in Poland. And his sense of Polish politics isas keen as ever. (Full disclosure: I once hired Sikorski as rovingcorrespondent of National Review and his cover story for the January1989 issue of the magazine was "The Coming Crack-Up of Communism.")

Sikorski wants Poland to be fully integrated in the West. That canonly happen if Polish forces in NATO are up to standard. He wants toensure that the United States is fully aware of the delicate balanceof forces operating between Poland, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Andhe wants Poland in the EU to help ensure that Europe and Americaremain strong allies. In short he wants no geopolitical surprises.

That is the natural policy of a sensible center-right Polishgovernment. It would also be to the advantage of Western Europe andthe United States. Today's Poland is prosperous and stable. But thatis not the normal condition of Poland -- and it won't persist unlessPoland, Europe and America cooperate to keep it that way.