Reagan, the Pope, and Poland.

EVERY ONCE in a while, our major media surprise us. Time has been one of the high priests at the altar of Gorbachev; it has insistently propagated the notion that reform came to the Soviet empire miraculously full-blown from the brow of the Savior from Stavropol, and that Western policies of political and moral pressure either had nothing to do with it or may even have retarded it (see Strobe Talbott, passim). Now comes Time with a cover story on the "holy alliance" between President Ronand Reagan and Pope John Paul II--their intimate and active collaboration to keep the Solidarity labor union alive in Poland after Brezhnev's henchmen imposed martial law in 1981.

It is a dramatic and even glowing investigative account--under the byline of red-diaper baby Carl Bernstein, no less--detailing how the Church operated as a vast network shielding and nurturing Solidarity's underground activities inside Poland; how the Vatican and the United States Government constantly exchanged information and coordinated many of their actions; and how the United States, especially the CIA and the National Endowment for Democracy, along with the AFL-CIO, provided another lifeline of vital resources. Solidarity through all its lean years managed to field duplicating and printing equipment, communications gear (including fax machines!), and other means to survive until a post-Brezhnev leadership in Moscow found itself facing impossible choices.

What is news is not that this occurred, but that our "mainstream" media are willing to give Ronald Reagan a share of the credit. Most of us never doubted that both Ronald Reagan and John Paul II played crucial roles in the demise of our adversary. But it is refreshing to have Time say so.

Some precision is also in order. IN an era not so long game, a revelation that the CIA was involved in a struggle was enough to discredit the struggle in some circles. One searches in vain, fortunately, for any such insinuation in the Time story. But it is almost certain that many of the players involved (especially the National Endowment for Democracy) were unaware of the CIA's stealthy background role. The Time story may even exaggerate. And nothing in that story should be construed to diminish the achievement of the brave Poles who kep up the struggle, at enormous personal risk, all the braver because they too did not know the full strength of the outside forces committed to their survival.

Henry and Clare Luce would be proud.