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147 CHaPter 8 radio free europe in the eyes of the Polish Communist elite Jane leftWiCh Curry radio free europe played a complex role in Polish elite politics. in the process of providing Poles with information about the realities of life and politics their media did not report, it served as an alternative source of information for the Polish elite, a goad for them to open up the media they controlled, and it even influenced their decisions about policy.1 Clearly, in this area, Poland was different from the rest of the soviet Bloc. the greater divisions within the Polish elite, and the weaker links between the political elite and the population, undermined the elite to the extent that they felt obliged to listen, respond, and worry about what their people heard in ways east european elites with greater control did not. at the same time, the Polish story is a clear illustration of the tension leaders feel between what they allow to be said and what people are ready to believe (based on what they see around them) and the distrust leaders have in the media they control in all authoritarian states. 1 the information and analysis in this chapter are based on open-ended interviews conducted with 40 former Polish leaders in 2002–2004 by the author. these interviews were focused on the role and use of rfe and other Western radio stations in the context of the decision-making process, and the way politics was conducted in Poland during the communist era. the interviewees included, among others, Wojciech Jaruzelski, two Communist-era first secretaries of the PuWP (mieczysław rakowski and stanisław Kania); minister of interior Czesław Kiszczak; heads of the departments of the Party responsible for propaganda, ideology, and the media from the 1950s and 1960s; workers in media-related Party offices in this period; members of the Politburo from all of the communist-era regimes; heads of Polish television; editors of Trybuna Ludu; directors of the institute of marxism-leninism; officials at the two major public opinion research institutes; a censor; individuals in the ministry of interior; and prominent journalists or politically involved individuals. the (untranscribed) oral interviews are deposited and available for research at the Hoover archives. i4 J&P.indb 147 2010.07.05. 7:54 148 the Polish political elite, at different times and to differing degrees, viewed radio free europe as one of the chief elements undermining Poles’ support for the Communist government, as an indicator of american government and Cia positions on Polish politics, as a weapon in internal elite politics, as a mouthpiece, and even organizer, for the opposition in Poland, and as a source of “truth” on what was happening in Poland and the rest of the world (especially other Communist countries and germany). they never simply ignored it. instead, they took action to ensure that they knew what it said, and to try either to block it or to counter its messages to the population. Because they feared the potential impact of its revelations on the Polish population as a whole, the elite responded to radio free europe broadcasts by jamming them, spying on the station, and trying to discredit its operation and its reports. at the same time, the top leadership valued the broadcasts. Complete transcripts of all broadcasts (excluding music and purely entertainment programs) were circulated to the Politburo and those responsible for the media and military. depending on how top leaders governed, and the political situation at the time, these transcripts were sometimes reviewed carefully and sometimes disregarded at the very top. Culled versions of the broadcasts were sent out to a larger group of elites with instructions—in general and for specific organs—on what was to be said in response to what radio free europe broadcast, and how information from rfe should be treated. although being well reported on was not a good thing for Polish Communist leaders, the elites interviewed for this project who had been reported on by rfe expressed gratitude for its restraint, and also for the veiled support they got from rfe in 1956 and in moments of crisis afterwards. the leadership used rfe in its own deliberations and to inform itself, and also took seriously its impact on Polish listeners. this prompted the establishment of two active public opinion research agencies, one focused largely on audience, and it also helped increase the range of the “allowable” in the Polish media. the story of the Polish elites’ use...

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