Communist Party Poland

Three years after the former Communists and their rural allies won control of the Polish government in splashy parliamentary elections, their remarkable comeback has quietly penetrated virtually every aspect of political life.

Jozef Oleksy, a top official in Poland's last Communist government, moved a step closer Wednesday to becoming the country's next prime minister. But President Lech Walesa continued to make life difficult for the former Communist Party boss and his left-wing coalition. The Sejm, the lower house of Parliament, voted to oust the 16-month-old government of Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak and turned to Oleksy to form a new one. The vote had been expected after Pawlak agreed on Feb.

President Lech Walesa appointed Poland's new government Monday, the sixth to take office since democratic reforms in 1989 and the first to be headed by a former Communist Party official. The evening ceremony at the presidential palace ended months of wrangling between Walesa and the left-wing coalition that has governed Poland since former Communists and their allies won parliamentary elections in September, 1993.

The campaign materials of Aleksander Kwasniewski, the former Communist who hopes to be elected Poland's next president on Sunday, never lack for images of his wife, Jolanta. His most recent eight-page newspaper supplement features a giant cover photograph of the couple. Inside, there are pictures of Jolanta on their wedding day, Jolanta campaigning, Jolanta chopping cabbage in the kitchen, Jolanta at home with their daughter, and Jolanta and the family dog in a snow-swept meadow.

Aleksander Kwasniewski, the former Communist who was elected last week as president of Poland, resigned Saturday from the party of ex-Communists he founded nearly six years ago. Kwasniewski said his resignation from the Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland was intended to send a signal to a nation severely divided by his victory over incumbent President Lech Walesa, though critics doubted that it will have any significant healing effect.