Statement by the President Regarding Trials Following the Poznan Riots in Poland.

RECENT NEWS from Poland indicates that at least some of the persons arrested in connection with the Poznan riots are soon to be put on trial. Friends of freedom throughout the world will be hoping that all of the accused will be given a genuinely fair and open trial with bona-fide legal counsel to defend them and with an opportunity to speak their minds freely without fear of subsequent retribution and deportation eastward.

This would provide tangible evidence that some so-called Stalinist methods will be abandoned in practice as well as in theory. However, the limited information released publicly in Poland thus far regarding the trials is in no way reassuring. Apparently not even a complete list of those arrested has been made public.

Whatever the outcome of the trials, whatever the immediate and long term effects of the Poznan riots, one fact has become clearer than ever. There can be no permanent solution of the situation in Poland until the Polish people are given an opportunity to elect a Government of their own choosing.

The basic problem in Poland is not what particular type of economic or social system shall prevail; that is something which the Polish people can and should decide for themselves. What is essential is that they be given the opportunity to do so in free and unfettered elections.