'Poland at brink of disaster’

Press, 12 September 1980, Page 5

'Poland at brink of disaster’

NZPA-Reuter Warsaw Poland’s Communist leaders, renewing calls for strikers to return to work, have warned them that they were pushing the country to the brink of an economic precipice Stoppages continued yesterday in 10 centres in defiance of the latest warnings by the party chief, Stanislaw Kania, that further strikes would wreck efforts by the authorities to improve living standards. The official news agency, P.A.P., said yesterday that the country’s leaders appealed at rallies in main provincial cities for the workers to show patience and understanding in solving difficult problems. They said the strikes were unnecessary because agreements signed by the Government and inter-factory strike committees on September 1 applied to all workers. The agreements, unprecedented in Communist East Europe, covered the right to strike and set up independent trade unions as well as improvements in working and living conditions. Efforts to form independent unions, free of Communist Party control, were reported to be increasing among intellectual and professional groups as well as workers. Polish film directors decided to discuss a plan to set up their own trade union, while writers held a meeting in Warsaw to demand an easing of censorship and more freedom of expression. The council of the Polish Artists’ Union said it believed the present upheaval would strengthen and perpetuate Poland’s centuriesold democratic traditions. A Polish economic delegation has arrived in Moscow for talks on “a number of important questions related to Soviet ; Polish economic relations,” Tass has reported The Polish delegation is headed by the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Mieczyslaw Jagielski) who signed the Bab tic ports agreement last week.