Them: Stalin's Polish Puppets

Lies, equivocation, cant and ""doublespeak'' come to the fore as proSolidarity journalist Toranska interviews five ex-party bosses or ideological hacks who held top positions in Poland's postWW II Communist Party. In one interview, Jakub Berman, former head of the Polish secret police, admits that Stalin was pathological, then goes on to condone the mass purges of the 1930s as a ``tragic web of circumstances'' that drew victims into its vortex. Soviet-sponsored executions of Polish dissidents, deportations to Siberia, antiSemitic campaigns, jailings based on false testimony and torture of prisoners are some of the grisly events recounted. These recollections belie the popular image of Gomulka as a ``good man'' persecuted by Stalinists. Toranska's openly combative stance toward her interviewees makes the sparks fly. This expose was originally circulated underground in Poland. (March 25)