Poland: An Unwinnable Game

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Solidarity's protest fizzles, and Walesa is to be freed

To: General Wojciech Jaruzelski, Warsaw

It seems to me that the time has come to clear up certain issues and act toward a national agreement. Time was needed for many on both sides to understand what was possible and to what extent. I propose we meet and have a serious discussion of subjects of mutual interest. With good will we are bound to find a solution.

Corporal Lech Walesa Arlamowo, Nov. 8

The announcement came suddenly and without warning. At a hastily called press conference in Warsaw last Thursday, Government Spokesman Jerzy Urban read a routine message of condolence to the Soviet Union on the occasion of the death of President Leonid Brezhnev. Then, droning on in his habitual monotone, Urban proceeded to recite an astounding letter of conciliation to General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the leader of Poland's martial-law regime, from Lech Walesa, the jailed leader of the outlawed Solidarity union. The message had been written from Arlamowo, a government-owned hunting lodge about 200 miles southeast of Warsaw, where Walesa has been detained since May. When Urban came to the end of the note, he smiled slightly at the ironic signature of "Corporal," the rank held by the rebellious leader in the army reserves after serving in the military in the early '60s, but most of the correspondents in the room were too startled to laugh. Then came the real shocker: Urban announced that the burly, pipe-smoking electrician, the man who had come to symbolize the first independent trade union in the Communist world, only to see his hopes crushed by Jaruzelski's repressive regime, would be set free.

The stunning news came at the end of a week of big headlines. On Monday, Jaruzelski and Archbishop Józef Glemp, the Primate of Poland, jointly announced that Pope John Paul II would visit his native land next June. Then, on Wednesday, a nationwide strike called by the underground leaders of Solidarity to mark the second anniversary of the union's legal registration fizzled, thanks to the extraordinary security measures taken by Warsaw. Even the announcement of Walesa's release was more of a testament to the success of martial law than to any lessening of repression. As Urban put it last week: "The person of Lech Walesa no longer poses a threat, and there is no need to keep him in internment."

Why Walesa wrote the letter, or exactly what he wants to discuss with Jaruzelski, remains a mystery. Throughout his detention he steadfastly refused to negotiate with the government, and last October Warsaw finally outlawed Solidarity completely. Once the letter was received last week, Lieut. General Czeslaw Kiszczak, the Minister of Internal Affairs, met with Walesa at Arlamowo. Urban said the meeting showed that the union leader's attitude had changed, but refused to give any details of the talks.