The Converts to Democracy Need to Learn Its Habits : Poland: Both the leaders and the led need material and tutorial help if representative government is to take root.

When Lech Walesa went before Congress to urge the creation of a second Marshall Plan, he had Poland’s economic crisis in mind. But his country also faces a political task of immense proportions for which the United States can be of great assistance. This is the need to build a democratic governmental structure, to train members of Parliament and to reform the school curriculum so that Polish teachers can teach the principles of democracy. Without such efforts, the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic system will be incomplete and Poland will not be well protected against a retreat from political pluralism.

“People want democracy,” says Wiktor Kulerski, a Solidarity activist who was propelled into Parliament by last June’s elections, “but they grew up in a society where only two models were available--the Communist model, which is totalitarian, and the church model, which is not democratic.”

Kulerski, a teacher who is now a state secretary in the Education Ministry, is trying to launch a school program called Education for Democracy. “You have to teach them the principles, habits and practices of democracy,” he says. “In other words, how to conduct an election, how to pass a bill, how to conduct a campaign, how to treat minorities, and concepts of civil rights and minority rights.”

He warns that in view of Poles’ exhilaration over the new power of the majority, special attention must be given to teaching respect for minority interests--”respect and tolerance for someone else’s opinion,” as he puts it, “concepts of majority rule and protection of minority rights.”

Kulerski wants to publish enough copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for every schoolchild in Poland. He wants to write or translate textbooks and pamphlets on democracy. He plans to put teachers through in-service courses in which some instructors would be Americans. And he needs equipment, such as videotape machines and computers.

To begin, his project has just received a $24,000 grant in American government funds channeled through the National Endowment for Democracy, which was created by Congress five years ago to support democratic movements in various parts of the world. But as the program develops, it will need much more in long-term aid.

Similar efforts in other spheres are getting increasing attention from Washington, although the amounts of money are quite small. The National Endowment has approved a $42,500 grant to help set up regional training centers to provide instruction in electoral procedures and in management issues for officials and candidates of local governments, which are to be chosen in the first free municipal elections sometime next year. Polish and American cities also may be matched under the sister cities program.

In Parliament, where most members have no staff, no offices and no experience, Solidarity legislators have asked for help in learning the legislative process. West Germany is planning assistance through the German Marshall Fund and other foundations, and the United States has provided money for seminars.

In September, Polish parliamentarians attended a workshop in Warsaw led by former Vice President Walter F. Mondale and former Sen. Howard Baker. That session was funded by the National Endowment through the Democratic Party’s international branch, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. Early next month, congressional staff members are scheduled to visit Warsaw to ascertain what the Parliament needs in advice, equipment and technical help.

In recent years, the largest bloc of non-economic American aid to Poland has been earmarked by Congress for Solidarity’s medical fund and union-building efforts. This was vital when Solidarity represented the only hope for moving the country toward democracy. But Congress has not quite readjusted to the changed circumstances. Although the aid bill drawn up last week includes $4 million a year in non-economic assistance, $1.5 million of that would go through the AFL-CIO for Solidarity’s union activities.

As Poland is learning, elections alone do not make democracy. The United States needs to act on that knowledge with boldness and generosity.