Stanislaw Pyjas said goodbye to his friends late in the afternoon of of May 6, 1977. After that no one is exactly sure what happened to him. Early the next morning a waitress hurrying to work found his crumpled body lying face down inside the dingy passageway of a ramshackle Krakow apartment building. It was raining, and a political crisis began to brew in Poland.

A specter is haunting the Western world— the specter of the New Class. The apparition is new, as yet not clearly perceived; even the language by which it is to be described is only beginning to be constructed. This is not surprising. Whenever a class makes its debut on the societal stage it is at first not recognized as such, either by outside observers or by those- who are themselves part of it. Instead, society continues for a while to be perceived and interpreted in terms that were appropriate to the class system that is already passing away. This was very much so during the last great transformation of the Western class system, as the bourgeoisie rose to power under the facade of the ancien regime and, until the very moment of its victory, continued to be seen as the "third estate" of a feudal order. Then as now it is the hard facticity of power rather than the play of ideas that finally must shatter the old perceptions. Then as now it is the antagonists of the rising class who have the clearer vision of what is going on.

Its basic critical stand toward the trip has not changed. The Left now believes that the small degree of reciprocation by Begin is proof that the party was right.

The Left party believes that the euphoria that began with Sadat's trip is built on issues that are not solid. This state of mind is a bit similar to that during the January riots of 1977. In both cases it is an expression of deep dissatisfaction with the everyday life of the Egyptian people and the economic difficulties they're living with.

Two years ago, with the death of General Franco, thirty-six years of dictatorship came to an end in Spain. The effective leadership of King Juan Carlos, the tactical skills of Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez, and the cooperation of most political and economic groups have since brought about peaceful transition to free elections and a functioning democratic government. Spaniards have had a sense of satisfaction with the dramatic political changes they have accomplished.

Christianity is a sleeper in China. It has not expired since the massive antireligious campaign of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, any more than has the traditional body of Chinese beliefs, ranging from philosophical Buddhism to primitive superstition. The Chinese landscape still abounds with gods, ghosts, and heavenly omens. And the church lives cautiously, but intensely, underground. The evidence suggests that wherever Protestant or Catholic belief once took hold, the faith is practiced to some degree; secret prayer meetings take place and young people are converted. The fact that the Peking Kuang Ming Daily of September, 27, 1977, published an article proposing new "research" efforts directed toward the criticism and the eradication of all religions, including Christianity, is sign enough that the central propagandists still see themselves as battling a live adversary.

Since time immemorial men have believed in an inner spiritual core of the human personality. All primitive religions hold that man is inhabited by a spirit, however defined. The higher religions claim that man has a soul, that the spiritual nature is the true self, of which the body is a vessel. Since the seventeenth century these notions have been subjected to ever-increasing attacks. The critics of conventional morality include materialists of many different persuasions. However much they differ among themselves, they hold certain principles in common.

Tens of thousands of books have been written about the Soviet Union–about its industry, agriculture, the political system, and its history. Even about prisons, concentration camps, and insane asylums there is a lot of literature. And yet, in talking with various persons in the West, I have realized how little is known here about Soviet life.

Those aspects of today's China I consider basic to a proper understanding of that country now, and which I also believe will persist into the foreseeable future–possibly -to the end of the century–are the following:

• China is now more "China" than at any time since 1949, but by no means less socialist for that.

  It is embarked on a path that will probably make it the most significant economic and politico-cultural power in the Asia/Pacific Region by the turn of the century.

  In its handling of its foreigjn relations China is moving away from some recognizable patterns of the past and developing a character tjiat will make it both easier and tougher to deal with as times goes on.

Aid is more than an organized effort to transfer resources from the affluent to the poor. It is also a message to the world and a medium of communication. Who we are as a people and what we stand for as a nation are implicit in the choices we make in our aid programs and are revealed by the manner in which we pursue them.