Poland: Uprooted Flowers, Wilted Hopes

Jaruzelski eases up on martial law, but not much

The rumor made its way around Poland with accelerating speed: to mark National Day, the anniversary of the founding of the Polish People's Republic on July 22, 1944, the military government of General Wojciech Jaruzelski would ease the state of martial law that has been in effect since December. In an address to the Sejm (parliament) that was broadcast over nationwide radio on the eve of the holiday, Jaruzelski appeared to be doing just that. He announced that "most of the internees will be released, including all of the women." The government followed up by promising to free 1,227 detainees and announcing that Poles who received invitations from relatives or professional groups abroad would be allowed to leave the country. The government also lifted curbs on travel in border areas and on telephone calls to foreign countries.

But Jaruzelski's measures fell far short of satisfying most Poles. He did not mention Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa, who is being held in a hunting lodge in southeastern Poland. Although Jaruzelski said the governing military council hoped to end martial law "before the end of the year," he added that the Sejm would first have to grant the Council of Ministers unspecified "special powers." It did not take long for Poles to see for themselves that little had changed. Before dawn on National Day, security forces destroyed a cross of evergreens and flowers that had been placed in Warsaw's Victory Square to honor Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski, the Polish Primate who died last year. It was the fourth time that the authorities had swept away the cross. Later in the day, as special honor guards marched past the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Victory Square, squads of the ZOMO security forces, who have frequently been used to break up demonstrations, waited in the side streets with their riot gear and water cannons. Said a middle-aged steelworker: "How can you believe in the government's good intentions when you have to have a celebration at gunpoint?"

Equally disappointing, particularly to the 10 million Poles who were members of Solidarity before the independent trade union was suspended last year, was Deputy Premier Mieczyslaw Rakowski's address to the Sejm. Rakowski claimed that a majority of the workers who had been in contact with the government favored a new structure in which unions would be organized by industries rather than by regions. Solidarity supporters disputed Rakowski's statement, seeing it as an attempt to weaken the independent trade-union movement. Said a 30-year-old skilled worker from Warsaw: "Maybe [Communist] Party members want such unions, but the people want unions of the Solidarity type."