POST-COMMUNIST RECOVERY

THROUGH ingenuity and persistence, Poland is creating a market-based economy and a democratic society.

The country has turned the corner in its transition from communist rule. It is the first Eastern European state to emerge from severe post-communist recession, with private enterprise acting as a powerful motor. More than half of working Poles hold jobs in the private sector, and most trade has been redirected from East to West.

With each passing month, Warsaw looks more prosperous - from its brand new international airport to its well-dressed pedestrians.

But Poland is not just Warsaw. In depressed agricultural regions and dying one-industry towns, unemployment and frustration pull at reforms like a dangerous undertow. Even in the capital, recovery has left some citizens behind.

This current of discontent may well sweep Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka out to sea when the parliament takes up a vote of no confidence in her government tomorrow. Political instability, however, is nothing new to Poland.

As observers point out, Poles have had four governments in as many years and still manage to move forward.