Communist Organ in Poland Admits Re-emergence of Anti-semitism

The re-emergence of anti-Semitism in Poland since the democratization of Polish life began in the last year is admitted in the current issue of Nowe Drogi, official organ of the United Workers Party, the Polish Communist party, which published an article urging party members to combat anti-Jewish prejudice, the New York Times reported today in a cable-from Warsaw.

The general lines of the propaganda campaign to be conducted against anti-Semitism were laid down in Nowe Drogi as follows: “Anti-Semitism is incompatible with the very essence of the movement whose incarnation is our party. It is incompatible with its ideological and guiding principles. A party member who is enslaved by anti-Semitic prejudice or shows leniency to adherence of anti-Semitism disgraces the banner of the party and betrays the humanist ideas of socialism. The awareness of this must prevail among all party members in all party organizations and agencies.”

However, the Warsaw cable emphasized that the party is still keeping quiet on the bitter discussion of the “Jewish problem” that occurred during the recent Central Committee debate on the causes of last June’s Poznan riots. Zenon Nowak, one of Poland’s two Deputy Premiers, touched off the discussion. Hilary Minc, a Jew, is the other Deputy Premier. Mr. Minc, who has been seriously ill for a long time, did not attend the Central Committee meeting.

Mr. Nowak, the cable points out, is identified with the group in the Polish leadership that is said to be closest to Moscow. The argument he made for this group in the debate was that democratization had been carried too far, particularly in the press, and that this was at least a contributory factor to the riots in Poznan. Many of the articles advocating democratization, he noted, had been written by Jewish intellectuals. According to reliable accounts of the discussion, Mr. Nowak said the mass of Poles believed that there was a disproportionate number of Jews in leading party and government positions.

To support this, Mr. Nowak read off a list of the numbers of Jews in the various ministries. He said this was an irritant in relations between the party and the people and a cause of rising anti-Semitism. Mr. Nowak’s strongest supporter in the discussion was Lieut. Gen. Kazimirz Witaszewski, chief of the army’s political education and propaganda section. At least 30 speakers were said to have rebutted implications in Mr. Nowak’s remarks. They included Premier Jozef Cyrankiewicz and Edward Ochab, first secretary of the party. Their viewpoint that anti-Semitism now must be combated vigorously and openly apparently has been accepted by the Central Committee.